[Foundation-l] NEH grant

Thu Jul 8 21:28:46 UTC 2004

I too wish to express my misgivings at getting the grant. There's
always strings attached, and targets have to be met, and so on. Who's
gonna run it? Who's gonna keep track of the money, the milestones,
etc...

I would rather mav publish a monthly budget and post that to the
front page, like this:

This month, we need $4000 to meet expenses. So far, users have
contributed $2800. Thank you!

If budget is met, then you write: 

This month's budget has been met. Thank you!

It needs to be updated daily.

I think we can raise more money that way than through grants

Furtehrmore, once grant moeny starts rolling in, users will be able
to say: they're funded by grant money, so I'll not contribute.

I say: we all swim, or we all sink.

Once we start taking outside money, I guarantee there will be some
corruption of the wiki process, at least because the board will want
to cater to its donors, at least subconsciously. I'd rahter they
catered to the wikipedians than some once-a-year grant organization.

To those who say that the US government would not care to get
involved in the day-to-day, I reply that it would damange the
reputation of the W for foreigners. 

For example, voice of america does fine programming, yet is seen as a
means for western propaganda in foreign countries because it is
funded by the US gov.

Just some ramblings.

Again, we need complete transparency of the books.

=====
Chris Mahan
818.943.1850 cell
chris_mahan at yahoo.com
chris.mahan at gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/

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