The Investment Report
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:US_Trust_Short_Term_and_Long_Term…>
for
the Wikimedia Foundation, as of June 30, 2015 is posted. Please contact me
with any questions.
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/>*
Interesting read on debit/credit card usage:
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/4th_card_fraud_report.en.pdf
Snippet:
As in previous years, this report shows that levels of fraud were lower
in the euro
area than in SEPA as a whole. Data on fraud and transactions using cards
issued
inside and outside SEPA show that fraud losses incurred outside SEPA on
cards
issued inside SEPA were lower than losses incurred inside SEPA on cards
issued
outside SEPA. The finding suggests that SEPA residents benefit from the high
security standards of their cards, even though only a small proportion
of ATMs and
POS terminals outside SEPA make use of the enhanced security features.
However,
the drop in counterfeit fraud levels for cross-border transactions
performed at
terminals in non-SEPA countries compared with 2012 is in line with the
increasing
migration of terminals to EMV standards at a worldwide level.
Forwarding from wikimedia-l.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Dear all,
The Wikimedia Foundation has an Audit Committee that supports the Board in
overseeing financial, accounting, and risk reviews. This includes
reviewing the WMF's annual financials and tax return, its annual
independent audit, and its risks analysis.
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Audit_Committee
We are forming the committee for 2015-16, and looking for volunteers from
the community. Members serve on the committee for one year, from July
through July. An audit of the past year's financials is carried out
August-September, the WMF files its U.S. tax return in April, and publishes
its annual plan in June.
Time commitment is roughly 20 hours over the course of the year. Reviews
are done through 3-4 conference calls. The primary requirement is
financial literacy: experience with finance, accounting or auditing.
If you are interested in joining the committee for the coming year, email
me at *sj* at *wikimedia.org <http://wikimedia.org>* with 'Audit Committee'
in the subject, your CV, and thoughts on how you could contribute.
Sam
--
@metasj +1 617 529 4266
--
Samuel Klein w:user:sj @metasj +1 617 529 4266
Hi dear (former) treasurers,
As you are often the people concerned by internal control, I'm forwarding to you the email which I sent on wikimedia-l@ yesterday.
In case you are interested in this topic, or have questions about the document or our process, drop me a message :)
Best Regards,
--
Emeric Vallespi
Vice President
Wikimédia France
www.wikimedia.fr | Twitter: @Wikimedia_Fr
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Emeric Vallespi <emeric.vallespi(a)wikimedia.fr>
> Date: 1 Jun 2015 18:34:50 CEST
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Wikimédia France] Conflict of Interest policy
>
> Dear movement fellows,
>
> Here is my (almost) monthly email ...
> You can find on Commons <s>everything</s> the new policy of Wikimédia France about its Conflict of Interest and governance: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gestion_des_conflits_d%27interets_W…
>
> So far, we did not have any conflict of interest issues but we wanted to formalize our good practices and make them mandatory and public.
> The internal control group (3 board members and the Executive Director) has issued the document, and the Board of Trustees has just approved it after reviews.
> Thanks to Asaf with his talk last year during Wikimedia Conference, we integrated some of the "What's the benefit? What's the relationship?" in it!
>
> We did not translate this document, but if you are very interested with this topic and can't have a correct automatic translation, feel free to contact me.
> Best regards,
> --
> Emeric Vallespi
> Policy Cyborg
>
> Wikimédia France
> www.wikimedia.fr | Twitter: @Wikimedia_Fr
Forwarding to the Treasurers mailing list in the hope that a community
member with a finance backround will run for a WMF Board seat, and
forwarding to the Gender Gap mailing list with the hope of encouraging
diversity-minded candidates to run.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Gregory Varnum" <gregory.varnum(a)gmail.com>
Date: Apr 20, 2015 3:58 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Nominations being accepted for 2015 Wikimedia
Foundation elections
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Greetings,
I am pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the
2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections. This year the Board and the FDC Staff
are looking for a diverse set of candidates from regions and projects that
are traditionally under-represented on the board and in the movement as
well as candidates with experience in technology, product or finance. To
this end they have published letters
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/Call_fo…
>
describing
what they think is needed and, recognizing that those who know the
community the best are the community themselves, the election
committee is accepting
nominations
<
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015#Informa…
>
for
community members you think should run and will reach out to those
nominated to provide them with information about the job and the election
process.
This year, elections are being held for the following roles:
*Board of Trustees*
The Board of Trustees is the decision-making body that is ultimately
responsible for the long term sustainability of the Foundation, so we value
wide input into its selection. There are three positions being filled.
More information about this role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/Board_e…
.
*Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)*
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) makes recommendations about how to
allocate Wikimedia movement funds to eligible entities. There are five
positions being filled. More information about this role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/FDC_ele…
.
*Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) Ombud*
The FDC Ombud receives complaints and feedback about the FDC process,
investigates complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees, and
summarizes the investigations and feedback for the Board of Trustees on an
annual basis. One position is being filled. More information about this
role can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015/FDC_Omb…
.
The candidacy submission phase lasts from 00:00 UTC April 20 to 23:59 UTC
May 5 for the Board and from 00:00 UTCApril 20 to 23:59 UTC April 30 for
the FDC and FDC Ombudsperson. This year, we are accepting both
self-nominations and nominations of others. More information on this
election and the nomination process can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015.
Please feel free to post a note about the election on your project's
village pump. Any questions related to the election can be posted on the
talk page on Meta, or sent to the election committee's mailing list,
board-elections(a)wikimedia.org
On behalf of the Elections Committee,
-Gregory Varnum (User:Varnent)
Coordinator, 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
_______________________________________________
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Forwarding Lila's email to the Treasurer's list in case affiliates are
thinking about remote vs. local employee placements and would be
interested in hearing about WMF's team structures for possible adaptation.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Pine W" <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>
Date: Apr 9, 2015 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF office location and remodel
To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Interesting. I look forward to seeing these new structures. Thanks Lila.
Pine
On Apr 9, 2015 1:53 PM, "Lila Tretikov" <lila(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> All --
>
> As a matter of strategy we should be leveraging our open-source roots more
> as we grow. This means distributed, loosely-coupled teams. We know from
> software industry history that distributed teams work best when they are
> *entirely* distributed. We are working on some structures that will allow
> teams to either be entirely distributed or mostly co-located, consistent
> with what we know about best outcomes. In SF, remote working is not very
> common as the software companies demand people to be on-site and we have an
> advantage with remote talent, but it is also not for everyone as it can be
> isolating. Net-net.. before we worry about growth and costs we need to
> worry about effectiveness, but we are thinking about this.
>
> Thanks,
> Lila
>
> On Thu, Apr 9, 2015 at 9:02 AM, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 9 April 2015 at 16:47, Garfield Byrd <gbyrd(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > > Hi Fae,
> > >
> > > We have 215 staff in total, with a hub of activity in San Francisco and
> > > other staff in several other states and 18 countries. So I agree
> > talented
> > > people can be found globally and WMF does hire the best talent it can
> > find
> > > wherever they are located. At this point adding offices in other
> > locations
> > > add cost without any benefits to the community or the Wikimedia
> > > Foundation. We also do not have the luxury of Mozilla's $300 million
> > > budget that can support a London office or Microsoft's billions to
> have a
> > > globally distributed workforce with offices. So we are not closing the
> > > door to anything. Based on our test project of trying to develop
> centers
> > of
> > > activity in other parts of the United States there is no need for
> > > additional offices. We do need and will continue to hire a globally
> > > distributed staff of talented people to support our global community of
> > > talented volunteers.
> >
> > Thanks for the response, it makes sense to me.
> >
> > I agree with avoiding additional offices unless there is a very good
> > business case. Back in the late 1990s I was part of a small
> > consultancy where we chose to eliminate having a central office
> > altogether. It was a strange thing to try back last century, but
> > moving more of the administrative functions into the virtual working
> > space, and arming employees with excellent teamworking tools they can
> > use from home (or bookable office spaces locally) has become part of
> > the ordinary world of work these days.
> >
> > WMF development happens this way already, and you writing here shows
> > that management/executive level folks are comfortable and skilled with
> > virtual spaces. It would be jolly interesting if the WMF were seen to
> > try out more virtual methods in other parts of its operation, and find
> > meaningful ways of reporting on benefits or avoidable costs. I see
> > this as part of the learning organization... Maybe a topic for another
> > thread at some point. :-)
> >
> > Fae
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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>
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
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> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/GuidelinesWikimedia-l@lists.w…>
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On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 6:46 PM, Jeremy Baron <jeremy(a)tuxmachine.com> wrote:
> On Feb 28, 2015 12:07 PM, "rupert THURNER" <rupert.thurner(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> What is so special about npo s so that Accounting software would need to
>> be special? Or open source accounting software just does not exist?
>
> You might start by reading Nemo's link. (The "Background" section is a good
> place to start.)
oh, should have stated that i read that. maybe it is better to copy
out what seems to be the reason:
"Our auditors were only familiar with proprietary accounting software,
and so our system seemed foreign to them, as it relies on Ledger CLI's
text files, Emacs and version control. During their questions about
our setup, we asked them to hypothetically prescribe a specific
proprietary software setup as a model for managing Conservancy's
accounts. Our chief auditor started by mentioning a few well-known
proprietary solutions. But then he paused and continued: Given that
Conservancy's a fiscal sponsor with so many temporarily restricted
accounts, existing systems really wouldn't do that good of a job for
you."
this means that they use ledger cli, a software written in the C++
programming language. in a time where 95% of the software is written
in languages like PHP, Python, Ruby, Java. for human beeings, this
would be comparable to speak latin nowadays. they use command line
interface (cli) when 95 % of the software has some native or web GUI.
last but not least they state that "they have restricted accounts",
when 100% of the companies operate with restricted budgets.
i would have loved to read why other software is not good enough, amongst them:
* odoo: https://www.odoo.com/page/accounting, or its fork tryton:
http://www.tryton.org/
* adempiere: http://www.adempiere.com/ADempiere_ERP
* compiere: http://www.compiere.com/
* SQL ledger: http://www.sql-ledger.com/
or others out of the list here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_accounting_software
or did i overlook something?
best,
rupert
Forwarding to the to-be-revived treasurers mailing list. ~ Seb35
------- Message réexpédié-------
De: "Pine W" <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>
A: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Sujet: [Wikimedia-l] Accounting software for thematic orgs
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 06:54:41 +0200
Hi all,
There are online small business accounting software packages. Do any
thematic orgs have experience with them? Any recommendations? I am thinking
about proposing Quickbooks Online for the Cascadia user group, but as this
Forbes article says, there are competitors:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2014/01/06/why-your-company-m…
Thanks,
Pine
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Hi Treasurers and other finance people,
I realize that we had this discussion some months ago about accounting
software. I just wanted to follow up by letting you know that Cascadia
decided to go with Xero as we start. Your advice was helpful and I greatly
appreciate it.
I hope to meet many of you at the Wikimedia Conference in Germany this year.
Regards,
Pine
(now Executive Director for Cascadia Wikimedians User Group)
On Aug 20, 2014 4:12 AM, "Richard Symonds" <richard.symonds(a)wikimedia.org.uk>
wrote:
> Hi Pine,
>
> I started off doing the accounts at WMUK several years ago and looked at a
> fair few different systems, including open source.
>
> Initially we used Gnucash, I believe, but because no-one else used it -
> including our auditors - it was not very useful when we needed to create
> year end accounts. I also considered CiviCRM after viewing a talk from the
> Swedish chapter in 2012. However, the talk was not encouraging - CiviCRM
> needs a *lot *of work to be useable as an accounting system. I would not
> therefore recommend Gnucash or CiviCRM or any other open source system: you
> will find it almost impossible to find an accountant who uses them, and
> also almost impossible to find a CiviCRM developer who is also an
> accountant! Your auditors will not know how to use the data and will not
> have the programs to access it, so in the end you will have to pay extra
> for the "free" software.
>
> In short: open source programs are good for small charity accounts, but the
> moment you start hiring staff (of any sort), or have fixed assets or
> non-cash donations, the system does not scale and as a result you will
> incur large overheads trying to get it to work. You might run into a
> problem with CiviCRM if you need to generate invoices for a conference you
> run in three or four years time - will your system be able to handle it, or
> will you need to upgrade everything at much greater cost?
>
> We also looked at Quickbooks, Sage, and a few others. In the end, we picked
> Sage - not because it was cheap, or because it was ethical - but because it
> is the UK standard and practically all UK accountants know how to use it.
> It has a huge support network, and it is scalable from a self-employed
> person up to an organisation with many thousands of employees. Sage is not
> used much in the USA though, so Quickbooks may be a better idea for you.
>
> My advice to you would be:
>
> - Plan for the future - ten year's time. Your solution needs to be
> scalable with little fuss.
> - Use something that has a proven track record - don't got for anything
> like a startup, because you need it supported in future and you can't
> take
> the risk.
> - Cloud-based is good, but the Treasurer really needs to understand
> what's happening - things should go through him where possible.
> - Don't be afraid to spend money if money needs to be spent.
> - Don't be afraid to ask the WMF directly for their advice. They know
> their stuff and it'd be good if your accounts were run on a similar
> system
> to theirs - cheaper in the long run, and you've got someone to turn to
> if
> it all breaks.
>
> I hope this helps! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any more
> specific questions.
>
>
>
>
>
> 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.*
>
>
> On 20 August 2014 10:57, Manuel Schneider <manuel.schneider(a)wikimedia.ch>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Pine,
> >
> > you may want to evaluate CiviCRM.
> > It is not perfect but supports accounting (rather than just recording
> > donations as before) about a year.
> > The advantage of CiviCRM is the fact that it integrates membership
> > management, mailings, donors management and that it can be used
> > centrally by all the committee members.
> >
> > The setup and customization is not so easy with CiviCRM but there are
> > plenty of people in the movement who gathered some experience with that.
> >
> > /Manuel
> >
> > --
> > Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
> > Lausanne, +41 (21) 34066-22 - www.wikimedia.ch
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> >
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Hi Treasurers,
In addition to this list for treasurers and a list for thematic org
chairpersons, do you know if there a mailing list for thematic organization
EDs and presidents who act as EDs? Prior to the conference in Germany, I
would like to have the opportunity to connect and consult with presidents
and EDs of other thematic organizations about governance and planning
matters, as well as WMF grantmaking processes that affect multiple thematic
organizations.
Thanks!
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*