Hi affiliates,
As Cascadia Wikimedians works toward US Federal recognition as a charity,
we'll be interested in having the option to accept online transactions. So,
a couple of questions:
1. Are there any providers of SSL certificate authorities that you've found
particularly easy or difficult to work with?
2. What methods do your organizations accept for online transactions,
especially recurring donations and recurring membership dues? The easiest
to implement seems to be Paypal. I'm wondering if there are other easy
options as well, particularly if they have low transaction fees and low
currency conversion fees (since we'll want to accept both Canadian and US
currency, and preferably Bitcoin as well).
Thanks!
Pine
Forwarding to the Treasurers and Affiliate mailing lists for their
consideration.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Pine W" <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>
Date: Nov 30, 2015 10:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Endowment Discussion
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
That's a good question.
Alternatives to private sector equity investments include public-sector
bonds, as well as commodities and currencies. While I wouldn't recommend
that WMF do either of the latter two, there might be some reasonable
choices for WMF in the public sector bond market.
In the private sector, I hope that WMF would be very careful about the
ethics of the companies and industries in which it chooses to invest.
Pine
On Nov 30, 2015 10:01 AM, "Brion Vibber" <bvibber(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Thanks!
>
> I added a section to the talk page asking about how we would actually go
> about investing... the purpose of an endowment is to let it grow and just
> spend some of the interest, but that growth doesn't happen in a vacuum.
> Investment happens by putting money into other peoples' businesses and
> letting them pay you back with interest.
>
> So we'd be asking donors for tens of millions of dollars to invest in
> third-party businesses -- a fundamental change in our fundraising
> proposition. Thinking about our social responsibility as an investor is
> probably worthwhile.
>
> -- brion
>
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:09 AM, Lisa Gruwell <lgruwell(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all-
> >
> > For several years, the Wikimedia movement has been having discussions
> > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Endowment> about whether and when to
> > begin
> > building an endowment. I put an essay up on meta recently in an attempt
> to
> > rekindle this conversation with the community. We included launching an
> > endowment in the FY 2015-16 annual plan. We also plan to have this
> > conversation as a part of the larger strategic planning process because
> > building an endowment means prioritizing some future needs over some
> > current needs.
> >
> > Before we can begin to support an endowment, there is strategic
> groundwork
> > that should be completed to ensure that the effort is both thoughtful and
> > successful. To help get the conversation moving, I seeded the discussion
> > page with a few questions that we are hoping you will help us answer.
> > Please add the questions I didn't think to ask, too. We'd appreciate
> > hearing your thoughts on this and your help in thinking through some of
> the
> > strategic questions.
> >
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Endowment_Essay
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Lisa Gruwell
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> _______________________________________________
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Thanks for the suggestion. It may be quite awhile before I get to adding
this to the Learning Patterns Library, so I'd appreciate it if someone else
would copy over the info that I posted. (I'm supposed to be off-wiki
entirely for a week starting today, but that isn't happening, at least not
today.)
On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:53 PM, Kacie Harold <kharold(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> +1 to writing a learning pattern on this - your research can save others
> time!
>
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:05 PM, James Hare <james.hare(a)wikidc.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Thank you, Pine
>>
>> I would recommend creating a learning pattern <
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Learning_patterns> so that this
>> information can be shared with the rest of Wikimedia.
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> James
>>
>> —
>> James Hare
>> President, Wikimedia DC
>> http://wikimediadc.org
>> @wikimediadc
>>
>> On Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 3:03 PM, Pine W wrote:
>>
>> One subject that I've asked about on a few occasions is camera insurance.
>> I thought I'd share the results of my searches in case other affiliates are
>> also interested in the subject. In the United States, the lowest deductible
>> that I've found is $250, and that was for a policy with a minimum premium
>> of $500. So I'd say that camera insurance is not worth the cost for most of
>> the cameras that affiliates are likely to be lending, even for affiliates
>> that have multiple pieces of equipment available for loan. OTOH if
>> affiliates own and are lending midrange or higher end cameras (For example,
>> Nikon D750, Canon 5D Mark III, Sony Alpha 7R II, or Pentax 645Z) or
>> camcorders or lenses, it might be worthwhile to get insurance, especially
>> if the aggregate value of the equipment is a considerable sum and they're
>> not covered or have limited coverage in the event of theft or fire from the
>> property where they're stored when not being loaned. (Some property
>> insurance policies which would otherwise cover losses from theft or fire at
>> businesses may have lower limits and/or higher deductables for electronics
>> such as cameras.)
>>
>> Note that getting riders on insurance for private individuals (as opposed
>> to organizations like affiliates) is often far less expensive, at least in
>> the U.S., than getting the kind of commercial camera insurance that applies
>> to affiliates. My personal camera equipment is insured at quite reasonable
>> rates, and I would encourage Wikimedia photographers with even a few
>> hundred dollars' worth of private camera equipment to contact their
>> personal property insurers about getting camera insurance. This way, if I'm
>> at Wikimania and my personal camera goes missing, the loss is covered.
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>> Pine
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> ----
> Kacie Harold
> Interim Program Officer - Project and Event Grants
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
One subject that I've asked about on a few occasions is camera insurance. I
thought I'd share the results of my searches in case other affiliates are
also interested in the subject. In the United States, the lowest deductible
that I've found is $250, and that was for a policy with a minimum premium
of $500. So I'd say that camera insurance is not worth the cost for most of
the cameras that affiliates are likely to be lending, even for affiliates
that have multiple pieces of equipment available for loan. OTOH if
affiliates own and are lending midrange or higher end cameras (For example,
Nikon D750, Canon 5D Mark III, Sony Alpha 7R II, or Pentax 645Z) or
camcorders or lenses, it might be worthwhile to get insurance, especially
if the aggregate value of the equipment is a considerable sum and they're
not covered or have limited coverage in the event of theft or fire from the
property where they're stored when not being loaned. (Some property
insurance policies which would otherwise cover losses from theft or fire at
businesses may have lower limits and/or higher deductables for electronics
such as cameras.)
Note that getting riders on insurance for private individuals (as opposed
to organizations like affiliates) is often far less expensive, at least in
the U.S., than getting the kind of commercial camera insurance that applies
to affiliates. My personal camera equipment is insured at quite reasonable
rates, and I would encourage Wikimedia photographers with even a few
hundred dollars' worth of private camera equipment to contact their
personal property insurers about getting camera insurance. This way, if I'm
at Wikimania and my personal camera goes missing, the loss is covered.
HTH,
Pine
All,
A short announcement: our Interrim Chief Executive (D'Arcy Myers) has now
left us, please remember to update your address books to our new Chief
Executive, Lucy Crompton-Reid <lucy.crompton-reid(a)wikimedia.org.uk>. She
started today, but is still catching up on things, so bear in mind that she
might be a little slow in replying to any emails.
You can read more about Lucy here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2015/07/welcoming-lucy-crompton-reid-as-new-c…
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
Congratulations for this good news!
I enjoy seeing such news in our Wikimedia community.
Sébastien
Deputy treasurer at Wikimédia France
------- Message réexpédié-------
De: "Michael Maggs" <michael(a)maggs.name>
A: "wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org"
<wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "Wikimedia Mailing List"
<wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Sujet: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia UK Trustee Treasurer excellence recognised
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 12:12:38 +0200
Treasurer highly Commended at Financial Leadership Awards
Press release issued by Wikimedia UK, 18 September 2015:
Greyham Dawes was awarded Highly Commended by the judges at the Financial
Leadership Awards last night.
The judges recognized that Greyham Dawes, who has been Wikimedia UK’s
treasurer since February 2013, had completely changed both the charity's
financial reporting and its planning. His pragmatic approach has helped
the charity focus on the future, and his overwhelming positivity moves
difficult conversations towards solutions.
Carol Cambell, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee said “Wikimedia UK is
a high profile charity within the open knowledge movement and Greyham has
been an important and influential part in enabling the organisational
transparency that is an essential part of our work."
Wikimedia UK is a young charitable organisation that is at the forefront
of the open knowledge movement. They are the UK chapter of the global
Wikimedia movement, and work with volunteers and a range of national
organisations to help create and preserve open knowledge and to provide
easy access for all.
_______________________________________________
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Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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I transmit this information here for those who doesn’t read wikimedia-l
(see also the responses on
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2015-September/079109.html).
I thank you, Garfield, for your continued work at WMF, and I wish you all
the best for your next enterprises (in the etymological sense of projects;
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/entreprinse#Middle_French).
Thanks,
Sébastien
Deputy treasurer at Wikimédia France
------- Message réexpédié-------
De: "Garfield Byrd" <gbyrd(a)wikimedia.org>
A: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Sujet: [Wikimedia-l] Departure
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 23:53:26 +0200
All,
For the last four years, I’ve led the Wikimedia Foundation’s finance,
administration, and office IT teams. I've had the opportunity to work
closely with many of you through collaboration with the Wikimedia
affiliates. They have been remarkable experiences, and I am grateful for
all I’ve learned from you during my time here. Therefore it is with some
sadness that today I am letting you know that I’ve decided to take a new
opportunity outside the WMF, at a California-based foundation focused on
public education.
It has been a privilege to work with so many exceptional people over the
years. I’ve watched the WMF mature and take on many new challenges, and our
community grow and diversify. Our commitment to our free knowledge mission
is as strong as ever, and now shared by even more people. While I’ll no
longer be on staff, I plan to find ways to stay involved in the Wikimedia
community. I look forward to seeing the movement continue to do its
important work.
My last day will be September 30. I look forward to staying in touch and
continuing to support our mission.
Best,
Garfield
Hello,
Benjamin Sher, a intern working for the Wikimedia Foundation, has created
this meta page on how to avoid embezzlement.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement_Avoidance_Guide>
At this point in the process, I would like feedback, edits, and comments to
see if this information is helpful.
This is not a significant issue for the community, based on the information
we currently have, but I want to encourage us to address issues, as needed,
before they may become a problem.
I look forward to your feedback.
Regards,
Garfield
--
Garfield Byrd
Chief of Finance and Administration
Wikimedia Foundation
415.839.6885 ext 6787
415.882.0495 (fax)
www.wikimediafoundation.org
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
*https://donate.wikimedia.org <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>*