I too am baffled. Sent from my iPhone
On 24/12/2012, at 5:42 PM, Liam Wyatt <[email protected]> wrote: > Whereas I'm confused. > > On Monday, 24 December 2012, James Salsman 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] <javascript:;> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > -- > wittylama.com > Peace, love & metadata > _______________________________________________ > 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
