[Foundation-l] board candidacies

Fri Aug 11 10:32:02 UTC 2006

I am confused by this thread. It is starting with false assumptions (Board  
members are required to spend their own money for things) and builds on that to 
 create further false assumptions (we have enough dot com millionaires on the 
 Board). 

To the best of my knowledge: 
1. The expenses of Board members relating to Foundation work are covered by  
the Foundation. They do not come from the individual Board members' "personal  
savings." 
2. We currently have no dot com millionaires on the Board. 
3. Paying Board members for Board-related activities can be perceived  as a 
potential conflict of interests. 
4. In many non-profit organizations in the US--but not the WMF--Board  
membership is actually contingent upon making a significant donation to the  
organization.

Please get the facts right when complaining about the Board and its  members. 

Danny

In a message dated 8/11/2006 1:25:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
erikzachte at infodisiac.com writes:

Walter  van Kalken:
> I personally feel that one of the big issues is that  people are required
> to spend their own money for things. This means  that if you life outside
> of the US, even outside of Florida that your  costs will be prohibitively
> high. I personally find that one of the  most prohibitive requirements.
> Many people whom would have the time  and the enthousiasm do not have a
> bankaccount for that. And that is  one of the reasons I have a lot of
> respect for Angela and Anthere.  They are willing to spend their personal
> savings for the betterment of  the projects. People should realize that
> the next time they start  complaining with them.

I concur with this entirely. We have enough dot  com millionaires on the
Board, and the Advisory Board might add  some.
This is not personal to anyone, those concerned probably just got  their
priorities right.

What 'saddens' me however is the way Anthere  was treated during the Board
session last Sunday when the issue of paying  board members was brought up.
Jimbo made a casual remark to the effect of  "(I'm not sure) we want to pay
board members, besides it is not allowed by  the bylaws" (paraphrasing here).
Easy to say in his position. Then someone  made a witty but badly timed joke
about the situation, the chairman of the  Board might have intervened at that
moment. I feel it was humiliating for  Anthere. Maybe the bylaws allow other
board members than Jimmy to accept  well paid invitations for keynote
speeches?

Erik  Zachte