[Foundation-l] board candidacies

Sat Aug 12 01:02:27 UTC 2006

Jimmy Wales wrote:

>Erik Zachte wrote:
>  
>
>>I concur with this entirely. We have enough dot com millionaires on the
>>Board, and the Advisory Board might add some.
>>  
>>    
>>
>? We do not have any dot com millionaires on the board.
>  
>
>>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).
>>    
>>
>Well, it is not allowed, not just by our bylaws as I understand it, but 
>by the law.  This is not a matter of anyone treating Anthere in any bad way.
>
>She mentioned specific expenses, expenses which the foundation can and 
>should reimburse.  She should request reimbursement for those.
>
We fundamentally agree here, but I would be hesitant to frame it in 
terms of "The Law".  There are places where the compensation for Board 
participation is an unusually high per diem for attendance at meetings.  
This can effectively circumvent the legal concept that a non-profit 
organization is not there for the financial benefit of its members.

It is much more effective when policies of this kind reflect deeply held 
beliefs instead of the law.

Ec