_____
From: Chapters [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Itzik
Edri
Sent: Friday, 4 October 2013 5:49 AM
To: Chapters mailing list
Subject: [Chapters] Fwd: [Wikimedia Announcements] Funds Dissemination
Committee: Report on first year of operations
Hey,
I don't know how many of you had the time already to read Sue's report.
I'll give some Chapters Executive Highlights:
* Upshot: I am pleased by the first year of the FDC. That
said, I also want to note that I have significant concerns about how our
movement entities are developing.
*
* Disproportionate resources and influence of Wikimedia
organizations: I believe that currently, too large a proportion of the
movement's money is being spent by the chapters. The value in the Wikimedia
projects is primarily created by individual editors: individuals create the
value for readers, which results in those readers donating money to the
movement. We have over 40 Wikimedia organizations today, 12 of whom received
funding allocations through the FDC last year. Of the US$5.65 million WMF
gave out in grants last year, 89% or US$5.04 million were to affiliate
entities, with US$4.71 million (83% of the total grants) to these 12
entities for their annual plans. I am not sure that the additional value
created by movement entities such as chapters justifies the financial cost,
and I wonder whether it might make more sense for the movement to focus a
larger amount of spending on direct financial support for individuals
working in the projects.
*
* High costs and unclear results: [...] I believe we're
spending a lot of money, more than is warranted by the results we've been
seeing. I am concerned by the growth rates requested by the entities
submitting funding requests to the FDC: I believe that in order to justify
the size of grants that have been sought, the entities involved should need
to be able to say clearly how their plan will make an important contribution
to helping the Wikimedia movement achieve its mission.
*
* Growing institutionalization of the movement: During
the WMF strategic planning process, at the beginning of 2010, there were
only three
<https://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Paid_staff/en>
chapters with staff. By the end of the first year of the FDC process, there
are at least 15 Wikimedia affiliates with full or part-time staff and
offices (not all of them in the FDC process). [..]
*
* FDC process dominated by chapters perspectives: I am
also concerned that the FDC itself --the most significant and powerful
funding mechanism for our movement-- has very few non-chapter-related
members: the majority of its members are also Board/former Board members of
a chapter. [...]. But I do also believe that people who are involved in
chapter organizations (and other Wikimedia organizations) have a particular
worldview that is in some ways different from that of Wikimedians who choose
not to become involved with incorporated Wikimedia organizations, and I
think a healthy funds dissemination process would benefit from multiple
perspectives.
Itzik
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sue Gardner <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 3:47 AM
Subject: [Wikimedia Announcements] Funds Dissemination Committee: Report on
first year of operations
To: Wikimedia Announce Mailing List
<[email protected]>
Hi folks,
As you know, in July 2012 the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees asked
me to set up the Funds Dissemination Committee, a volunteer-driven advisory
committee created to make recommendations to the Board allocating funds for
chapters and other Wikimedia movement entities. I did that, and the FDC has
now been fully operational for a little more than a year.
As part of the FDC framework, I committed that after the FDC's first year of
operation I would create a report for the Board that documented the state of
the FDC at that moment in time, and told the Board about any revisions we
had made to the process as a result of stakeholder input during its first
year.
The purpose of this note is to tell you that report is now posted. It's
here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Annual_report_on_the_Funds_Dissem
ination_Committee_process_2012-2013
If you've got comments on the report I'd suggest that rather than replying
to this list, you leave them on the talk page. And, my thanks to everyone
who contributed to the FDC's first year of operations, and also to the
report :-)
Thanks,
Sue
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately
directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community.
For more information about Wikimedia-l:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
_______________________________________________
WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
_______________________________________________
Chapters mailing list
[email protected]
https://intern.wikimedia.ch/lists/listinfo/chapters
_______________________________________________
Wikimediaau-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
