[Foundation-l] Chapters

Sat Aug 13 15:04:10 UTC 2011

Basics:

   - WMF is a US charity. Funds collected by, or through its website (even
   if legally collected by affiliated organizations) will be exposed to
   US-style scrutiny and need to be able to withstand that for the reputation
   of the movement as a whole.
   - Wikimedia is a worldwide charity. People who donate locally want to
   know their funds are supporting Wikimedia and not vanishing into pockets or
   being wasted. Chapters not yet able to provide and demonstrate that
   assurance are a risk if they take funds that become unable to be accounted
   for or where the accounting is not transparent and independently verified.

   - It's easier to set good practices in place early on. It should have
   been a prequel to the agreement last year on direct payment/allocation, to
   ensure 6 figure cash from donors worldwide was only passed to chapters that
   were verified and agrred as being capable of responsibly handling it,
   criteria in place for that.  Not a "catch up" afterwards.  But good call to
   fix it now, at least.

WMF bears actual or perceived responsibility to ensure correct use of
collections via *.wikimedia.org wiki fundraisers and WMF efforts. Those
monies (as opposed to funds collected by local chapters' own efforts) are
donated to support the wider project goals. Because of this, WMF cannot
simply shrug it of or say "they are allocated to outside body X so we have
no interest or role in checking their appropriate ultimate use."

It doesn't matter the legal relationship, WMF has a perceived responsibility
to live up to, that even if the funds are used at chapter discretion, it
should be clear they are being reasonably and completely used for the
mission.

Alternative ways to approach decentralization might have included a ramp-up
over a 2-3 year period, or funds transfer on a requisition basis, allowing
each local organization to be gradually established and mature (which takes
time).   But better late than never. It would have been much harder and more
painful to correct a chapter that was "difficult" in those areas, once
established a few years down the line.

At least criteria are to be put in place now than never.  For chapters in
good order they should not be an issue.

FT2

On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 3:35 PM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hoi,
> There is fundraising together and there is fundraising perse. What is at
> issue is that chapters are and have always been expected to disclose their
> activities, providing financial statements. They are expected to be
> accountable and many chapters have largely not been accountable.
>
> The consequence is very much that the decentralisation is not working
> because chapters are not committed to fulfil their obligations as is clear
> from their actions. What is at stake is the involvement and the benefits of
> chapters to the annual fundraiser. When chapters fund themselves in other
> ways (as well), then my understanding is that they are welcome to that
> particularly where they raise funds for particular named activities.
>
> Wikimedia and any of the projects is a global affair and we need a global
> movement that includes the WMF, the chapters, the communities, the
> associated projects. We will and do benefit from being open transparent and
> accountable. The people who fund us have to appreciate us as a global
> movement and not as an organisation with tons of money hoarded by secretive
> people, in the nooks and crannies of our movement.
> Thanks,
>      GerardM
>
> On 9 August 2011 09:18, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 9 August 2011 05:13, Kirill Lokshin <kirill.lokshin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > This is all very true, and very insightful; but what does it have to do
> > with
> > > chapters?
> >
> >
> > That the message from WMF is about a decentralisation not working from
> > their perspective, so recentralising fundraising.
> >
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