James, I found the header of this email to be seriously misleading, and have thus retitled it.
Risker On 24 December 2012 01:33, James Salsman <[email protected]> wrote: > Kat Walsh > Chair > Board of Trustees > Wikimedia Foundation > > In accordance with your discretionary power to divert from the Board > deliberation procedures approved July 8, 2010,[1] and because of > certain recent serious misleading and contradictory statements from > senior Foundation staff and obvious financial accounting regularities > concerning the Board's direction that the Foundation maintain a six > month cash reserve, and for the other reasons stated below, I ask that > you and the Board approve the following or a substantially similar > resolution without a meeting in accordance with Article IV, Section > 4(f) of your Bylaws[2] as soon as possible, and no later than this > week: > > > Whereas the Foundation's mandatory fiduciary duty of care requires > that trustees act on a fully informed basis;[3] > > whereas the trustees were led to believe on May 12, 2012 that senior > Foundation staff were in doubt as to whether they could significantly > exceed last years' fundraising;[4] > > whereas in fact senior Foundation staff knew on May 11, 2012 that they > were already able to exceed the performance of the best performing > fundraising message from 2011;[5] > > whereas based on the information pertaining to Fundraising provided by > senior Foundation staff, the 2012-2013 Annual Plan was proposed and > adopted with a revenue target increase of $7.2 million, or $900,000 > less than the previous Annual Plan's revenue target increase;[6] > > whereas actual fundraising far exceeded the stated expectations of > senior Foundation staff, so much that the nominal fundraising goal > based on the stated expectations of senior Foundation staff was > achieved in about nine days of unlimited fundraising messaging to > Foundation project readers;[7] > > whereas ceasing Fundraising prior to the last four business days of > December in unprecedented in the history of the Foundation;[7] > > whereas the last four business days of December have over the previous > five years yielded fundraising performance typically about triple the > performance of the median fundraiser day's performance;[7] > > whereas senior Foundation staff have proposed fundraising next year in > part during April, which this year was in fact the last month that > senior Foundation staff were not able to produce a fundraising message > outperforming those of the prior year's fundraiser;[8] > > whereas the tax code of the United States and other countries provide > an incentive for wealthy donors to determine the optimal amount of > their donations during the last week of December; > > whereas the Foundation staff has failed to maintain a six month cash > reserve as directed by the trustees, even with lower than expected > expenses and higher than expected revenues;[9] > > whereas junior Foundation staff are compensated substantially below > that of typical advanced information processing technology workers in > San Francisco;[10] > > whereas because of their low levels of compensation, the retention of > foundation technical staff has been substantially below optimal > levels;[11] > > whereas because of their low levels of compensation, junior foundation > technical staff are often unable to afford housing which does not > involve a lengthy commute from unsavory neighborhoods;[11] > > whereas the ratio of the compensation of Foundation executives to > junior foundation staff and contractors has substantially widened in > recent years;[10] > > whereas Foundation staff have been unable or unwilling to effectively > staff programs such as the very successful Wikimedia Education Program > at levels preventing serious problems for the editor community, such > as, for example, including sufficient information to discern which > articles are currently pending in the Education Program;[12] > > whereas the Foundation Annual Plan as amended lacks sufficient funding > to explore telepresence options for those who can not attend events > such as Wikimania or chose not to attend for ecological reasons; > > and whereas senior Foundation staff have recently discontinued major > programs of the Annual Plan and the Strategic Plan without consulting > the community,[13] > > therefore, be it resolved, that the Foundation will resume fundraising > at maximal levels immediately until such time as sufficient funds are > raised such that: > > staff salaries and contractor compensation can be increased so no > contributor is compensated less than 50% of the amount of the highest > compensated executive staff member, calculated on a per-hour basis for > contractors; > > a one year contingency cash reserve can be maintained; > > sufficient staff can be added to the Education Program so that program > article talk page templates can be provided with their correct > academic calendar dates; > > the Wikimania program can include a telepresence pilot program; > > and the recent discontinuation of programs approved in the Annual Plan > such as the Fellows program can be put to a question of the community > with sufficient time for thorough consultation. > > > Please let me know your and the trustees' decision on this matter. > > Best regards, > James Salsman > > [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Vote:Board_deliberations > > [2] > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bylaws#.28f.29_Action_Without_a_Meeting > . > > [3] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_board_manual#Fiduciary_duties > > [4] > http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fundraising_2012/We_Need_A_Breakthrough&diff=3741759&oldid=3741756 > > [5] > http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fundraising_2012/We_Need_A_Breakthrough&diff=prev&oldid=3739753 > "...we can feature Jimmy, editors, staff, donors and others and make > as much as with our standard money-maker, the Jimmy appeal...." > > [6] > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2012-2013_Annual_Plan_Questions_and_Answers#What.27s_the_revenue_target_for_2012-13.2C_and_how_does_it_compare_to_previous_years.3F > > [7] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics > > [8] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_2012#Questions > > [9] > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_October_2012_-_Actual_vs_Plan.png > > [10] > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Forum#Wikimedia_employee_salaries > > [11] > http://www.glassdoor.com/GD/Job/jobs.htm?clickSource=searchBtn&typedKeyword=&sc.keyword=wikimedia&locT=&locId= > > [12] > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_Ambassador_Program_student_projects > > [13] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sue_Gardner/Narrowing_focus > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
