[Foundation-l] Re: Grants -- a proposal

Sun Jun 19 00:29:05 UTC 2005

daniwo59 at aol.com a écrit:
>  Hello all, 
> In this email, I would like to propose a few ideas for grants and  
> money-raising, in order to get community feedback. The focus of this email will  be 
> smaller grants and donations.  
> In the past few months, various people have raised projects that require  
> particular funding. This ranges from the large amount required to put the  
> Ultimate Wiktionary project into motion by developing an appropriate database,  to 
> smaller projects such as Amikeco's work in the Ossetian language and Guako's  
> work promoting Wikimedia projects in  Mali. Should the  Foundation choose to go 
> ahead with these projects—and in some cases, it already  has--the potential 
> costs will add to our existing budget for regular  maintenance, new servers, 
> transportation and communication expenses,  etc. 
> That is not to say that these projects should not be pursued. In fact,  some 
> people might have a particular interest in promoting one or another of  these 
> projects.  
> I therefore suggest that donors have the possibility of earmarking their  
> donation. That is to say, they will have the ability to specify where they want  
> their money to go. In that case, one donor may give specifically for servers,  
> while another donor may give specifically to promote a language, print a  
> particular wikibook, or whatever.  
> The option will work as follows:  
>     1.  People interested in promoting particular  projects will be asked to 
> create a project page, and to submit a budget for  their project. The "Total 
> Cost" will be the amount of money they would like to  collect for the project + 
> the additional percentage charged by PayPal. + 10  percent (to be explained 
> below). Budgets should be as detailed as possible to  inspire confidence in the 
> project and explain exactly where the money is  going. 
>     1.  Donors giving to the Foundation will have the  option of either 
> giving directly to the general running costs of Wikimedia or  perusing the list of 
> specific projects. They can then decide how they want  their money to be 
> spent. 
>     1.  IMPORTANT: In the event that people decide to  give money to a 
> specific project, it will be made clear to them that 10  percent will be deducted 
> automatically for "Overhead," i.e., the day-to-day  costs of running the 
> Wikimedia Foundation. In other words, even if someone  decides to give $100 toward 
> printing the Wiki-Roadkill-Cookbook with  scratch-and-smell recipes, $10 dollars 
> will still be deducted for use by the  Foundation as the Board sees fit.
>     1.  Sums collected will be charted on the project  page. Once a project 
> has reached its target sum, it will be removed from the  list of projects 
> available to donors. Any additional funds earned will be  given to the general 
> Foundation fund.
> Advantages 
> I believe that this proposal has a number of important advantages.  
>     1.  This allows us to focus on our goals as a  charitable organization, 
> with the objective of giving to others. 
>     2.  It allows for projects to grow naturally as a  reflection of the 
> interests of the community and the donors.  
>     3.  People involved in specific projects will  naturally assume the 
> responsibility of "Project Heads" and naturally grow to  fill leadership positions 
>     4.  Motivated individuals will promote their  projects, gaining them 
> greater visibility. 
>     5.  Public budgets for projects will foster greater  transparency of the 
> financial process. People like to know where their money  is going and how it 
> is being spent. 
>     6.  With several projects emerging, the Foundation  will be able to 
> release a "Catalogue of Giving Opportunities" for potential  donors, including 
> large-gift donors.  
>     7.  Budgets for these projects will be a genuine  reflection of needs, 
> and benefit from being accessible to community  comment.
> Disadvantages 
> Though I am thoroughly biased in favor of this, I have not discussed it  with 
> Mav and others involved in finances, and I want to make sure something of  
> this sort is feasible, and that it does not pose too much work on people  
> handling the money. 
> I am very eager to hear your responses to this proposal. More proposals  
> regarding larger grants will be forthcoming over the next few days. 
> Danny 
> Member, Wikimedia Grants Team 

Hi

I am fully supportive of this proposal, which could help solve what I 
see increasingly as a problem to us... while technical issues related to 
running the project every day are seen as a priority by most (if not all 
actually), how to define whether spending a little part of the 
Foundation money on a specific project is acceptable by the community or 
not. This proposal helps the board to take decisions according to the 
community wishes and at the same time, it allows editors to support 
certain projects rather than others. In short, both a grant tool and a 
communication/feedback tool.

Technically, the main issue might well be for the donator to mention 
where the money should go. If this is in the comment area, this will 
mean much work for Mav.