https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=BradPatrickWikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki - User contributions [en]2024-03-19T13:41:32ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.42.0-wmf.22https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=23884Staff and contractors2007-12-18T18:41:56Z<p>BradPatrick: + Sue as ED</p>
<hr />
<div>{{StaffLang}}<br />
<br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has a very small paid staff. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. <br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="48%" |<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
* '''[[User:Sgardner|Sue Gardner]]''', Consultant and Special Advisor since July 2007; Executive Director (current).<br />
[[Image:Sue Gardner Headshot A (medium) FULL.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Sue Gardner]]<br />
* '''[[User:Mikegodwin|Mike Godwin]]''', General Counsel and Legal Coordinator since July 2007.<br />
[[Image:MikeGodwin.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Mike Godwin]]<br />
* '''Barbara Brown''', office manager in the Florida office, since August 2006.<br />
[[Image:Barbara_wmf.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Barbara Brown 2007]]<br />
<br />
| valign="top" width="4%" |<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
<br />
* '''Sandra Ordonez''', [[Communication Manager]], since January 2007.<br />
* '''[[User:Cary Bass|Cary Bass]]''', [[Volunteer Coordinator]], since April 2007. <br />
[[Image:Cbass_WMF.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Cary Bass 2007]]<br />
* '''Vishal Patel''', part-time [[Business Developer]], since May 2007.<br />
* '''Oleta McHenry''', accountant, since August 2007.<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
* '''[[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]]''', Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since August 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006]]<br />
<br />
<br />
* '''[[User:RobH|Rob Halsell]]''', [[IT Manager]], since December 2006.<br />
[[Image:RobH_WMF.gif|thumb|center|120px|Rob in the office]]<br />
| valign="top" width="4%" |<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
== Independent contractors ==<br />
=== Technical ===<br />
* '''[[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]]''', full time MediaWiki software developer, since April 2006 (contractor).<br />
* '''Mark Bergsma''', part time Networking Coordinator, since September 2006 (contractor).<br />
<br />
=== International ===<br />
* '''[[User:Notafish|Delphine Ménard]]''', Chapters Coordinator, since February 2007, based in Frankfurt, Germany.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Job openings]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
[[Category:Wikimedia organisation]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:BradPatrick&diff=21768User:BradPatrick2007-08-10T18:01:30Z<p>BradPatrick: +former</p>
<hr />
<div>Hi, I'm Brad Patrick and I am the former General Counsel of the Foundation.<br />
<br />
The Foundation needs your help, and I am hopeful you will agree with our mission and want to contribute to what we are doing in your own way.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Policy:Office_actions&diff=188232Policy:Office actions2007-03-22T20:14:09Z<p>BradPatrick: /* The people */ not quite yet...</p>
<hr />
<div>{| class="messagebox"<br />
| [[Image:Green check.png|30px]]<br />
||'''This page is a [[Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia]]-wide [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|official policy]]'''. It was established by [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] as necessary for the [[m:Wikimedia Foundation|Foundation]]'s governance.<br />
|| {{shortcut|[[WP:OFFICE]]}}<br />
|}[[Category:Wikipedia official policy|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
{{policy in a nutshell|Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation may have to delete, protect or blank a page without going through the normal process(es) to do so. These edits are temporary measures to prevent legal trouble or personal harm.}}<br />
{{Policylist}}<br />
<br />
'''Office Actions''' are official changes made to content done under the authority of [[User:Brad Patrick]], General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation, by members of the Foundation's office. These are removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints from people. Office actions are performed so that the end result is a legal, compliant article on the subject. Neither this policy nor actions taken under it override core policies, such as [[WP:NPOV|neutrality]].<br />
<br />
The most common complaints are [[defamation]], [[privacy]] violations or [[copyright]] infringement. <!-- Suggest putting something in here saying "Only you can prevent Office actions — Be removing these when you see them and not after someone complains --><br />
<br />
== The process ==<br />
<br />
Office actions will be clearly indicated both during and after to prevent ambiguities. Currently only [[User:Jimbo Wales]] is authorized to execute such actions. When a page is modified under this policy, the template "{{tl|Office}}" will be placed prominently on the page and the page will be [[WP:PROTECT|protected]]. An article may be reduced to a few sentences to remove questionable content, and people then invited to build it up to a more reputable state. This will be indicated by the template {{tl|reset}}. In either case, the instructions on the template should be followed by everyone.<br />
<br />
Administrators, who have the technical power to undo protections and deletions, are strongly cautioned against modifying these edits. Official statements and past incidents indicate that such unauthorized modifications will be actively reverted, and possibly the rights of the modifier will be revoked. When in doubt, consult [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo]] or the [[meta:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]].<br />
<br />
== The people ==<br />
Jimbo Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.<br />
<br />
[[Brad Patrick]] is General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation (our lawyer). Note: Brad is [[User:BradPatrick|resigning]] effective March 31, 2007.<br />
<br />
== Original message ==<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
'''Please note that this is official policy, and reverting a WP:OFFICE may be grounds for blocking. I do not recommend that admins block for this, I'm just saying... don't revert a WP:OFFICE edit unless and until you've asked and know what you are doing. There may at times be legal reasons for this.'''<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation receives an increasingly large number of phone calls and emails from people who are upset about various things on the site. Sometimes these complaints are valid; more often they are not. However, in most cases, even with the invalid complaints, there is a short-term action which can and should be taken as a courtesy in order to soothe feelings and build a better encyclopedia in the long run.<br />
<br />
A typical example: someone creates a vanity bio in Wikipedia, which is quickly nominated for deletion. The comments which ensue, even when they are completely courteous, can hurt the feelings of the person being discussed. The sort of person who is vain enough to create an autobiography in Wikipedia is also the sort of person who doesn't take well to being described as 'non-notable'.<br />
<br />
When such people call the office, it can be the best approach all around for us to simply speedy the article, blank the deletion discussion, and all get on with our lives. '''This quick action is in no way meant to override or replace the process of community consensus. There is still plenty of time, and there are still plenty of places, for the community to discuss and replace articles in due course.'''<br />
<br />
I have created this page for Danny to use to signify why he is deleting or blanking something '''per my authorization'''. This does not signify any authoritarian top-down action without approval, but rather signifies a temporary action to allow us to be kind while we sort out the encyclopedic way forward.<br />
<br />
If this works out, I may authorize other people to use it as well (people handling OTRS email queues, people on the legal team, etc.)--[[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] 21:43, 6 February 2006 (UTC)<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Intent ==<br />
Jimbo has clarified that the intent of [[WP:OFFICE]] is as follows:<br />
<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
The core idea is that the process SHOULD work like this:<br />
<br />
1. A hysterical phone call comes in to the office. There might or might not be legal threats. The hysteria might or might not be justified. But someone is sad, and Wikipedia is not here to make people sad. So we want to respond in a helpful and loving way.<br />
<br />
2. The article is stubbed and tagged as WP:OFFICE. This is a message to good editors: "Please help us. This article is making someone unhappy. We want to make sure that it is a thoughtful, fair, neutral article. We need GOOD editors to pay attention to it, and help us make it good."<br />
<br />
I would recommend protection or semi-protection at this point, but with the idea that even if protected admins are (as compared to normal protection) actually encouraged to come help with the article.<br />
<br />
3. After some reasonable period of time, hopefully 24 hours, but perhaps as long as a week, the article has become a shining beauty. The subject of the biography (and really, these are most often biographies) is either made happy (because a horrible error was corrected, a troll was vanquished, or whatever) or made at least satisfied (the story of the negative thing he or she did once is now placed in appropriate context, properly cited, including citations to his or her own response and defense).<br />
<br />
4. Joy.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Currently under scrutiny ==<br />
For images that have been deleted for copyright reasons, Google the name/description to see what they looked like. If you see similar images bring them to the attention of the Office.<br />
<br />
{| class=wikitable<br />
!Page<br />
!How to edit<br />
!Date added<br />
|-<br />
|[[:Image:Crosstar.png]]<br />
|Must not be reuploaded without approval of Jimbo/WMF; [[DMCA]] notice served.<br />
|June 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 27, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Mindy Kaling]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[:commons:Commons:Pantone color chart]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page/[[commons:COM:AN]] first<br />
|September 19, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Pacific Western University]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|November 7, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:NewsMax Media/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:Christopher_Ruddy/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
*[[:Category:Office protected]]<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
=== Mailing list messages ===<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041666.html I am Danny] Danny says:<br />
:I thought I would introduce myself for those who do not know me, and tell you a little bit about what I do. My name is Danny Wool [...] my job is the first level of triage. In most cases, I will call or email our attorney and provide him with as much information as I can, including name, phone number, contact info, etc. He then responds accordingly, sometimes with instructions for me as to what should happen next.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041684.html Phone calls] Danny says:<br />
:I spend at least one-third of my time just answering the calls. It is very time consuming, and they come in at all hours of the day, interrupting what I am otherwise doing (donor management, for instance). I CANNOT spend another one-third or more of my time explaining every phone call to the community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041700.html Apology] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#This policy merely extends longstanding practice, previously not questioned, because I did it myself.<br />
#Nothing about this policy changes anything about our NPOV policies for any article in Wikipedia. WP:OFFICE in no way implies that some articles or some people are given any special treatment in the handling of their biography.<br />
#WP:OFFICE is intended to be used only temporarily as a courtesy in certain highly delimited circumstances. In some cases, this will be cases involving a threat of legal action, but in other cases it may be simply as a courtesy while we sort something out.<br />
#In all cases, we will communicate the maximum possible information in the shortest possible time period, subject to legal constraints and also time constraints.<br />
#Danny has, in my own opinion, formed in long experience, excellent judgment.<br />
#In some cases so far, WP:OFFICE was used for a longer period than I would have liked, due to various circumstances. I'm sorry about that. However, I remind everyone that Assume Good Faith is absolutely important to our community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-April/044384.html Libel chill] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#WP:OFFICE is always temporary, an emergency action, an action of goodwill, thus far used exclusively (or almost exclusively) for biographies of living persons. The issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued".<br />
#Let me repeat that, the issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued". The issue is responding quickly and effectively to cases where we have a very strong indication from someone that an article is egregiously in violation of NPOV.<br />
#If the topic is [[Carbon Tetrachloride]] and we receive a strong complaint that the article is biased, then ''sofixit'' can be a fine response. If the topic is a real live human being about whom someone has written something egregiously false or mean spirited, and the person calls up in hysterics, then the right answer is: stub and rebuild with strong verification. The right answer is: temporary protection of a safe version while good editors take the time to figure out what the heck is going on.<br />
#It is very deeply confused to view WP:OFFICE as some kind of rollback of the neutrality policy. It is a means of working towards neutrality. It is the morally right thing to do when we are faced with a serious issue.<br />
#Since WP:OFFICE is done publicly and under intense scrutiny from the community and the external world, I hardly see any need for a special narrow committee to be specifically tasked with overseeing it.<br />
#What should people do when they see a WP:OFFICE action? Treat it as a call for attention from the absolute best within ourselves, the absolute best within our community. Here we have an article which has gone horribly wrong in some way, and sometimes it can be a mystery as to what exactly the problem is. Why is someone upset? Which claim in the article is false or overstated or biased or hostile? I think dozens of people should swoop in and start working really hard on a temp version (usually protected or semi-protected, depending on the exact nature of the situation), with extreme hardcore attention paid to sourcing, to neutral phrasing, etc.<br />
#In this way, WP:OFFICE articles can become models of good behavior by Wikipedia, can show the world how seriously we take our mission, our responsibility.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia administration|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
[[no:Wikipedia:Kontor]]</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Policy:Office_actions&diff=188231Policy:Office actions2007-03-22T20:12:52Z<p>BradPatrick: Reverted edits by Jayden54 (talk) to last version by Threeafterthree</p>
<hr />
<div>{| class="messagebox"<br />
| [[Image:Green check.png|30px]]<br />
||'''This page is a [[Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia]]-wide [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|official policy]]'''. It was established by [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] as necessary for the [[m:Wikimedia Foundation|Foundation]]'s governance.<br />
|| {{shortcut|[[WP:OFFICE]]}}<br />
|}[[Category:Wikipedia official policy|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
{{policy in a nutshell|Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation may have to delete, protect or blank a page without going through the normal process(es) to do so. These edits are temporary measures to prevent legal trouble or personal harm.}}<br />
{{Policylist}}<br />
<br />
'''Office Actions''' are official changes made to content done under the authority of [[User:Brad Patrick]], General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation, by members of the Foundation's office. These are removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints from people. Office actions are performed so that the end result is a legal, compliant article on the subject. Neither this policy nor actions taken under it override core policies, such as [[WP:NPOV|neutrality]].<br />
<br />
The most common complaints are [[defamation]], [[privacy]] violations or [[copyright]] infringement. <!-- Suggest putting something in here saying "Only you can prevent Office actions — Be removing these when you see them and not after someone complains --><br />
<br />
== The process ==<br />
<br />
Office actions will be clearly indicated both during and after to prevent ambiguities. Currently only [[User:Jimbo Wales]] is authorized to execute such actions. When a page is modified under this policy, the template "{{tl|Office}}" will be placed prominently on the page and the page will be [[WP:PROTECT|protected]]. An article may be reduced to a few sentences to remove questionable content, and people then invited to build it up to a more reputable state. This will be indicated by the template {{tl|reset}}. In either case, the instructions on the template should be followed by everyone.<br />
<br />
Administrators, who have the technical power to undo protections and deletions, are strongly cautioned against modifying these edits. Official statements and past incidents indicate that such unauthorized modifications will be actively reverted, and possibly the rights of the modifier will be revoked. When in doubt, consult [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo]] or the [[meta:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]].<br />
<br />
== The people ==<br />
Jimbo Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.<br />
<br />
[[Brad Patrick]] is General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation (our lawyer).<br />
<br />
== Original message ==<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
'''Please note that this is official policy, and reverting a WP:OFFICE may be grounds for blocking. I do not recommend that admins block for this, I'm just saying... don't revert a WP:OFFICE edit unless and until you've asked and know what you are doing. There may at times be legal reasons for this.'''<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation receives an increasingly large number of phone calls and emails from people who are upset about various things on the site. Sometimes these complaints are valid; more often they are not. However, in most cases, even with the invalid complaints, there is a short-term action which can and should be taken as a courtesy in order to soothe feelings and build a better encyclopedia in the long run.<br />
<br />
A typical example: someone creates a vanity bio in Wikipedia, which is quickly nominated for deletion. The comments which ensue, even when they are completely courteous, can hurt the feelings of the person being discussed. The sort of person who is vain enough to create an autobiography in Wikipedia is also the sort of person who doesn't take well to being described as 'non-notable'.<br />
<br />
When such people call the office, it can be the best approach all around for us to simply speedy the article, blank the deletion discussion, and all get on with our lives. '''This quick action is in no way meant to override or replace the process of community consensus. There is still plenty of time, and there are still plenty of places, for the community to discuss and replace articles in due course.'''<br />
<br />
I have created this page for Danny to use to signify why he is deleting or blanking something '''per my authorization'''. This does not signify any authoritarian top-down action without approval, but rather signifies a temporary action to allow us to be kind while we sort out the encyclopedic way forward.<br />
<br />
If this works out, I may authorize other people to use it as well (people handling OTRS email queues, people on the legal team, etc.)--[[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] 21:43, 6 February 2006 (UTC)<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Intent ==<br />
Jimbo has clarified that the intent of [[WP:OFFICE]] is as follows:<br />
<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
The core idea is that the process SHOULD work like this:<br />
<br />
1. A hysterical phone call comes in to the office. There might or might not be legal threats. The hysteria might or might not be justified. But someone is sad, and Wikipedia is not here to make people sad. So we want to respond in a helpful and loving way.<br />
<br />
2. The article is stubbed and tagged as WP:OFFICE. This is a message to good editors: "Please help us. This article is making someone unhappy. We want to make sure that it is a thoughtful, fair, neutral article. We need GOOD editors to pay attention to it, and help us make it good."<br />
<br />
I would recommend protection or semi-protection at this point, but with the idea that even if protected admins are (as compared to normal protection) actually encouraged to come help with the article.<br />
<br />
3. After some reasonable period of time, hopefully 24 hours, but perhaps as long as a week, the article has become a shining beauty. The subject of the biography (and really, these are most often biographies) is either made happy (because a horrible error was corrected, a troll was vanquished, or whatever) or made at least satisfied (the story of the negative thing he or she did once is now placed in appropriate context, properly cited, including citations to his or her own response and defense).<br />
<br />
4. Joy.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Currently under scrutiny ==<br />
For images that have been deleted for copyright reasons, Google the name/description to see what they looked like. If you see similar images bring them to the attention of the Office.<br />
<br />
{| class=wikitable<br />
!Page<br />
!How to edit<br />
!Date added<br />
|-<br />
|[[:Image:Crosstar.png]]<br />
|Must not be reuploaded without approval of Jimbo/WMF; [[DMCA]] notice served.<br />
|June 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 27, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Mindy Kaling]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[:commons:Commons:Pantone color chart]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page/[[commons:COM:AN]] first<br />
|September 19, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Pacific Western University]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|November 7, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:NewsMax Media/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:Christopher_Ruddy/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
*[[:Category:Office protected]]<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
=== Mailing list messages ===<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041666.html I am Danny] Danny says:<br />
:I thought I would introduce myself for those who do not know me, and tell you a little bit about what I do. My name is Danny Wool [...] my job is the first level of triage. In most cases, I will call or email our attorney and provide him with as much information as I can, including name, phone number, contact info, etc. He then responds accordingly, sometimes with instructions for me as to what should happen next.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041684.html Phone calls] Danny says:<br />
:I spend at least one-third of my time just answering the calls. It is very time consuming, and they come in at all hours of the day, interrupting what I am otherwise doing (donor management, for instance). I CANNOT spend another one-third or more of my time explaining every phone call to the community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041700.html Apology] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#This policy merely extends longstanding practice, previously not questioned, because I did it myself.<br />
#Nothing about this policy changes anything about our NPOV policies for any article in Wikipedia. WP:OFFICE in no way implies that some articles or some people are given any special treatment in the handling of their biography.<br />
#WP:OFFICE is intended to be used only temporarily as a courtesy in certain highly delimited circumstances. In some cases, this will be cases involving a threat of legal action, but in other cases it may be simply as a courtesy while we sort something out.<br />
#In all cases, we will communicate the maximum possible information in the shortest possible time period, subject to legal constraints and also time constraints.<br />
#Danny has, in my own opinion, formed in long experience, excellent judgment.<br />
#In some cases so far, WP:OFFICE was used for a longer period than I would have liked, due to various circumstances. I'm sorry about that. However, I remind everyone that Assume Good Faith is absolutely important to our community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-April/044384.html Libel chill] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#WP:OFFICE is always temporary, an emergency action, an action of goodwill, thus far used exclusively (or almost exclusively) for biographies of living persons. The issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued".<br />
#Let me repeat that, the issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued". The issue is responding quickly and effectively to cases where we have a very strong indication from someone that an article is egregiously in violation of NPOV.<br />
#If the topic is [[Carbon Tetrachloride]] and we receive a strong complaint that the article is biased, then ''sofixit'' can be a fine response. If the topic is a real live human being about whom someone has written something egregiously false or mean spirited, and the person calls up in hysterics, then the right answer is: stub and rebuild with strong verification. The right answer is: temporary protection of a safe version while good editors take the time to figure out what the heck is going on.<br />
#It is very deeply confused to view WP:OFFICE as some kind of rollback of the neutrality policy. It is a means of working towards neutrality. It is the morally right thing to do when we are faced with a serious issue.<br />
#Since WP:OFFICE is done publicly and under intense scrutiny from the community and the external world, I hardly see any need for a special narrow committee to be specifically tasked with overseeing it.<br />
#What should people do when they see a WP:OFFICE action? Treat it as a call for attention from the absolute best within ourselves, the absolute best within our community. Here we have an article which has gone horribly wrong in some way, and sometimes it can be a mystery as to what exactly the problem is. Why is someone upset? Which claim in the article is false or overstated or biased or hostile? I think dozens of people should swoop in and start working really hard on a temp version (usually protected or semi-protected, depending on the exact nature of the situation), with extreme hardcore attention paid to sourcing, to neutral phrasing, etc.<br />
#In this way, WP:OFFICE articles can become models of good behavior by Wikipedia, can show the world how seriously we take our mission, our responsibility.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia administration|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
[[no:Wikipedia:Kontor]]</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Policy:Office_actions&diff=188226Policy:Office actions2007-03-22T13:50:58Z<p>BradPatrick: /* Currently under scrutiny */</p>
<hr />
<div>{| class="messagebox"<br />
| [[Image:Green check.png|30px]]<br />
||'''This page is a [[Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia]]-wide [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|official policy]]'''. It was established by [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] as necessary for the [[m:Wikimedia Foundation|Foundation]]'s governance.<br />
|| {{shortcut|[[WP:OFFICE]]}}<br />
|}[[Category:Wikipedia official policy|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
{{policy in a nutshell|Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation may have to delete, protect or blank a page without going through the normal process(es) to do so. These edits are temporary measures to prevent legal trouble or personal harm.}}<br />
{{Policylist}}<br />
<br />
'''Office Actions''' are official changes made to content done under the authority of [[User:Brad Patrick]], General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation, by members of the Foundation's office. These are removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints from people. Office actions are performed so that the end result is a legal, compliant article on the subject. Neither this policy nor actions taken under it override core policies, such as [[WP:NPOV|neutrality]].<br />
<br />
The most common complaints are [[defamation]], [[privacy]] violations or [[copyright]] infringement. <!-- Suggest putting something in here saying "Only you can prevent Office actions — Be removing these when you see them and not after someone complains --><br />
<br />
== The process ==<br />
<br />
Office actions will be clearly indicated both during and after to prevent ambiguities. Currently only [[User:Jimbo Wales]] is authorized to execute such actions. When a page is modified under this policy, the template "{{tl|Office}}" will be placed prominently on the page and the page will be [[WP:PROTECT|protected]]. An article may be reduced to a few sentences to remove questionable content, and people then invited to build it up to a more reputable state. This will be indicated by the template {{tl|reset}}. In either case, the instructions on the template should be followed by everyone.<br />
<br />
Administrators, who have the technical power to undo protections and deletions, are strongly cautioned against modifying these edits. Official statements and past incidents indicate that such unauthorized modifications will be actively reverted, and possibly the rights of the modifier will be revoked. When in doubt, consult [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo]] or the [[meta:Wikimedia Foundation|Wikimedia Foundation]].<br />
<br />
== The people ==<br />
Jimbo Wales is the founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation and has numerous positions within both. <br />
<br />
[[Brad Patrick]] is General Counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation (our lawyer).<br />
<br />
== Original message ==<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
'''Please note that this is official policy, and reverting a WP:OFFICE may be grounds for blocking. I do not recommend that admins block for this, I'm just saying... don't revert a WP:OFFICE edit unless and until you've asked and know what you are doing. There may at times be legal reasons for this.'''<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation receives an increasingly large number of phone calls and emails from people who are upset about various things on the site. Sometimes these complaints are valid; more often they are not. However, in most cases, even with the invalid complaints, there is a short-term action which can and should be taken as a courtesy in order to soothe feelings and build a better encyclopedia in the long run.<br />
<br />
A typical example: someone creates a vanity bio in Wikipedia, which is quickly nominated for deletion. The comments which ensue, even when they are completely courteous, can hurt the feelings of the person being discussed. The sort of person who is vain enough to create an autobiography in Wikipedia is also the sort of person who doesn't take well to being described as 'non-notable'.<br />
<br />
When such people call the office, it can be the best approach all around for us to simply speedy the article, blank the deletion discussion, and all get on with our lives. '''This quick action is in no way meant to override or replace the process of community consensus. There is still plenty of time, and there are still plenty of places, for the community to discuss and replace articles in due course.'''<br />
<br />
I have created this page for Danny to use to signify why he is deleting or blanking something '''per my authorization'''. This does not signify any authoritarian top-down action without approval, but rather signifies a temporary action to allow us to be kind while we sort out the encyclopedic way forward.<br />
<br />
If this works out, I may authorize other people to use it as well (people handling OTRS email queues, people on the legal team, etc.)--[[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo Wales]] 21:43, 6 February 2006 (UTC)<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Intent ==<br />
Jimbo has clarified that the intent of [[WP:OFFICE]] is as follows:<br />
<br />
<div style="{{Quote style}}"><br />
The core idea is that the process SHOULD work like this:<br />
<br />
1. A hysterical phone call comes in to the office. There might or might not be legal threats. The hysteria might or might not be justified. But someone is sad, and Wikipedia is not here to make people sad. So we want to respond in a helpful and loving way.<br />
<br />
2. The article is stubbed and tagged as WP:OFFICE. This is a message to good editors: "Please help us. This article is making someone unhappy. We want to make sure that it is a thoughtful, fair, neutral article. We need GOOD editors to pay attention to it, and help us make it good."<br />
<br />
I would recommend protection or semi-protection at this point, but with the idea that even if protected admins are (as compared to normal protection) actually encouraged to come help with the article.<br />
<br />
3. After some reasonable period of time, hopefully 24 hours, but perhaps as long as a week, the article has become a shining beauty. The subject of the biography (and really, these are most often biographies) is either made happy (because a horrible error was corrected, a troll was vanquished, or whatever) or made at least satisfied (the story of the negative thing he or she did once is now placed in appropriate context, properly cited, including citations to his or her own response and defense).<br />
<br />
4. Joy.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
== Currently under scrutiny ==<br />
For images that have been deleted for copyright reasons, Google the name/description to see what they looked like. If you see similar images bring them to the attention of the Office.<br />
<br />
{| class=wikitable<br />
!Page<br />
!How to edit<br />
!Date added<br />
|-<br />
|[[:Image:Crosstar.png]]<br />
|Must not be reuploaded without approval of Jimbo/WMF; [[DMCA]] notice served.<br />
|June 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 27, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Mindy Kaling]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|September 30, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[:commons:Commons:Pantone color chart]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page/[[commons:COM:AN]] first<br />
|September 19, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Pacific Western University]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|November 7, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:NewsMax Media/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|[[Talk:Christopher_Ruddy/Newstuff]]<br />
|Discuss on talk page first<br />
|May 1, 2006<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
*[[:Category:Office protected]]<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
=== Mailing list messages ===<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041666.html I am Danny] Danny says:<br />
:I thought I would introduce myself for those who do not know me, and tell you a little bit about what I do. My name is Danny Wool [...] my job is the first level of triage. In most cases, I will call or email our attorney and provide him with as much information as I can, including name, phone number, contact info, etc. He then responds accordingly, sometimes with instructions for me as to what should happen next.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041684.html Phone calls] Danny says:<br />
:I spend at least one-third of my time just answering the calls. It is very time consuming, and they come in at all hours of the day, interrupting what I am otherwise doing (donor management, for instance). I CANNOT spend another one-third or more of my time explaining every phone call to the community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-March/041700.html Apology] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#This policy merely extends longstanding practice, previously not questioned, because I did it myself.<br />
#Nothing about this policy changes anything about our NPOV policies for any article in Wikipedia. WP:OFFICE in no way implies that some articles or some people are given any special treatment in the handling of their biography.<br />
#WP:OFFICE is intended to be used only temporarily as a courtesy in certain highly delimited circumstances. In some cases, this will be cases involving a threat of legal action, but in other cases it may be simply as a courtesy while we sort something out.<br />
#In all cases, we will communicate the maximum possible information in the shortest possible time period, subject to legal constraints and also time constraints.<br />
#Danny has, in my own opinion, formed in long experience, excellent judgment.<br />
#In some cases so far, WP:OFFICE was used for a longer period than I would have liked, due to various circumstances. I'm sorry about that. However, I remind everyone that Assume Good Faith is absolutely important to our community.<br />
*[http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/htdig/wikien-l/2006-April/044384.html Libel chill] Jimbo Wales says:<br />
#WP:OFFICE is always temporary, an emergency action, an action of goodwill, thus far used exclusively (or almost exclusively) for biographies of living persons. The issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued".<br />
#Let me repeat that, the issue is NOT "a tradeoff between NPOV and risk of being sued". The issue is responding quickly and effectively to cases where we have a very strong indication from someone that an article is egregiously in violation of NPOV.<br />
#If the topic is [[Carbon Tetrachloride]] and we receive a strong complaint that the article is biased, then ''sofixit'' can be a fine response. If the topic is a real live human being about whom someone has written something egregiously false or mean spirited, and the person calls up in hysterics, then the right answer is: stub and rebuild with strong verification. The right answer is: temporary protection of a safe version while good editors take the time to figure out what the heck is going on.<br />
#It is very deeply confused to view WP:OFFICE as some kind of rollback of the neutrality policy. It is a means of working towards neutrality. It is the morally right thing to do when we are faced with a serious issue.<br />
#Since WP:OFFICE is done publicly and under intense scrutiny from the community and the external world, I hardly see any need for a special narrow committee to be specifically tasked with overseeing it.<br />
#What should people do when they see a WP:OFFICE action? Treat it as a call for attention from the absolute best within ourselves, the absolute best within our community. Here we have an article which has gone horribly wrong in some way, and sometimes it can be a mystery as to what exactly the problem is. Why is someone upset? Which claim in the article is false or overstated or biased or hostile? I think dozens of people should swoop in and start working really hard on a temp version (usually protected or semi-protected, depending on the exact nature of the situation), with extreme hardcore attention paid to sourcing, to neutral phrasing, etc.<br />
#In this way, WP:OFFICE articles can become models of good behavior by Wikipedia, can show the world how seriously we take our mission, our responsibility.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia administration|{{PAGENAME}}]]<br />
<br />
[[no:Wikipedia:Kontor]]</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=19943Staff and contractors2007-03-21T13:28:49Z<p>BradPatrick: + page for former staff</p>
<hr />
<div>{{StaffLang}}<br />
<br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has less than ten full-time employees. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="48%" |<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
<br />
* '''[[User:Carolyn DORAN|Carolyn Doran]]''', Chief Operating Officer since January 2007.<br />
[[Image:Cbd2.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Carolyn Doran 2007]]<br />
| valign="top" width="4%" |<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
<br />
* '''[[User:BradPatrick|Brad Patrick]]''', legal counsel since June 2006 (also interim Executive Director until January 2007).<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Brad Patrick in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
<br />
| valign="top" width="4%" |<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
<br />
|}<br />
<br />
* '''Barbara Brown''', office manager in the Florida office, since August 2006.<br />
* '''Sandra Ordonez''', [[Communication Manager]], since January 2007.<br />
* '''[[User:Cary Bass|Cary Bass]]''', [[Volunteer Coordinator]], since March 2007. <br />
<br />
{|<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
* '''[[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]]''', Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since August 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|center|120px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006]]<br />
| valign="top" width="4%" |<br />
| valign="top" width="33%" |<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
=== Technical ===<br />
* '''Rob Halsell''', retained as a part time hardware manager for the Tampa servers (contractor).<br />
* '''[[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]]''', full time MediaWiki software developer, since April 2006 (contractor).<br />
* '''Mark Bergsma''', part time Networking Coordinator, since September 2006 (contractor).<br />
<br />
=== Other ===<br />
* '''Delphine Ménard''', part-time Chapter Coordinator, since February 2007, based out of Germany.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[Former staff]] - people who have worked for WMF<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Senior_Director,_Communications&diff=19239Senior Director, Communications2007-01-22T17:55:14Z<p>BradPatrick: + new page for Comm Mgr</p>
<hr />
<div>The current Communications Manager for the Wikimedia Foundation is Sandra Ordonez. She joined the Foundation staff in January, 2007.<br />
<br />
The role of the Communications Manager includes press relations, written and oral communications, and various other assignments.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=19238Staff and contractors2007-01-22T17:53:34Z<p>BradPatrick: + Communications Manager</p>
<hr />
<div>{{StaffLang}}<br />
<br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has less than ten full-time employees. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is [[#Brad Patrick|Brad Patrick]], who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel ([http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_Announces_Interim_Executive_Director]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
== Brad Patrick ==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brad Patrick, interim CEO and legal counsel, in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br />
<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], [[Grants Coordinator]] in the Florida office, since September 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0103.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Wool at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
* Sandra Ordonez, [[Communication Manager]], since january 2007.<br />
<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since August 2005.<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
<br />
=== Technical ===<br />
<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager for the Tampa servers (contractor).<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], full time MediaWiki software developer, since April 2006 (contractor).<br />
* Mark Bergsma, part time Networking Coordinator, since September 2006 (contractor).<br />
<br />
=== Other ===<br />
<br />
* Barbara Brown, an administrative assistant in the Florida office, since August, 2006.<br />
* Carolyn Doran, an accounting analyst in the Florida office, since September, 2006.<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:What_we_need_the_money_for_(June_2007)&diff=18682Archive:What we need the money for (June 2007)2007-01-03T21:21:00Z<p>BradPatrick: /* Goals for Bandwidth (June 07 = $62,000/mo up to $100,000/mo) */ rm uncertainly language about Kennisnet</p>
<hr />
<div>==Day to day operational expenses==<br />
<br />
The de facto monthly budget for regular expenses is about $75,000. It breaks out like this:<br />
<br />
{| border="1" <br />
|+ '''Monthly expense budget'''<br />
! Category !! Amount<br />
|-<br />
! Hosting||13,900 <br />
|-<br />
!Bandwidth||12,500 <br />
|-<br />
!Payroll||32,000 <br />
|-<br />
!Rent||1,200 <br />
|-<br />
!Internet||100 <br />
|-<br />
!Phones||400 <br />
|-<br />
!Westlaw||217 <br />
|-<br />
!Shipping||100 <br />
|-<br />
!Equipment||500 <br />
|-<br />
!Travel||4,000 <br />
|-<br />
!Hotel/Dining/Other travel||500 <br />
|-<br />
!Professional fees legal/audit||6,000 <br />
|-<br />
!Trademark registrations||600 <br />
|-<br />
!Domain registrations||1,000 <br />
|-<br />
!Insurance||2,500 <br />
|-<br />
!Basic monthly||75,517 <br />
|}<br />
<br />
This constitutes the existing regular day-to-day operational budget items each month (close but imprecise).<br />
<br />
Warning: servers purchases are not expenses.<br />
<br />
==Goals for Hardware (June 07 = $1,670,000 capital expenditure)==<br />
<br />
Per earlier budget discussion document, that the board endorse the middle option, for $1.67MM. This involves increasing our inventory of servers by another 300 machines around February ($834,000) and another 300 ($834,000) in June. This will constitute the most significant expenditure of the Foundation this fiscal year. From whom to purchase the servers (and precisely what, rather than proportions) is a matter in need of further discussion amongst Tech. <br />
<br />
==Goals for Bandwidth (June 07 = $62,000/mo up to $100,000/mo)==<br />
<br />
We are presently investigating the costs for additional bandwidth. If we go up to a 10GB capacity, we can reasonably expect to have at least a $50,000 bandwidth bill (1Mb @ $10 at 50% capacity), unless we are able to negotiate a lower rate. Phased in, we are still looking at an additional minimum commit of $30,000 per month, raising our monthly regular budget up by $18,000 (minimum), and more likely an additional $50,000 (total of $62,000). Monthly budget for expenses including bandwidth in June, 2007 up to $137,000. We also need to recognize that our upward growth cannot be indefinite; we may reasonably slow our growth and/or plateau at this level. Although we are an integral part of Kennisnet's plan and will continue our partnership with them, other costs associated with equipment and operations are important to consider.<br />
<br />
==Goals for hosting and operations (June 07 = $27,000 setup; $38,000 hosting/mo)==<br />
<br />
At present rates, the addition of another 4 cages worth (20 racks) will amount to $1900 each plus $1350 setup costs. This brings the total monthly regular expenses up to $175,000.<br />
<br />
==Goals for Hiring (June 07 = $100,000/mo)==<br />
<br />
Several positions are currently under discussion, including a permanent CEO, a CTO, chapter liaison, several developers and possibly others. Details will not be given here, but generally, prospectives for hiring should make the total payroll goes up from $32,000 to $100,000.<br />
<br />
==Goals for Project Specific Expenditures ($300,000)==<br />
<br />
The board should budget for major categories of project work.<br />
<br />
* Wikimania 2007<br />
* Wikisummit 2007 - 20 people (max)<br />
* Various gathering, project support ...<br />
<br />
==Retained revenue==<br />
<br />
Goal of increasing cash reserves to at least 3 ($875,000), preferrably 6 months ($1,650,000) of operating expenses for fiscal security per recommendation of auditors.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17885Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-17T19:12:41Z<p>BradPatrick: "founder" :-)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{fundraising menu}}<br />
{{FundFAQLang}}<br />
<br />
===== Hosting a web site costs next to nothing, why do you need all that money?=====<br />
<br />
: Hosting a personal web site, today, costs next to nothing, because such sites get very little traffic and need very little room on the provider's computers. However, Wikipedia is among the biggest sites in the world in terms of hits. It spent about US$430,000 on computer hardware and US$200,000 on Internet hosing during the 2005-06 fiscal year.<br />
<br />
===== Wikipedia is cool! I'll give you some money. But what will it be used for? =====<br />
<br />
: The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events like Wikimania, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
: You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
===== Isn't Wikipedia supported by a billionaire, who founded it ?=====<br />
<br />
: Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales, an Internet entrepreneur. Mr Wales was able to support Wikipedia when it was a small site, had no employees, and had minor hosting requirements, but this is no longer the case. Today, Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, which gets money mostly through donations by individual Internet users.<br />
<br />
===== I'm told that Wikipedia is supported by Yahoo! or some other company. Why don't you solicit them?=====<br />
<br />
: Yahoo! provides the Wikimedia Foundation with hosting at another computer center located in Korea. Wikimedia also receives significant assistance with bandwidth and hosting from Kennisnet in Amsterdam. No private company or individual is "bankrolling" the Foundation - our support comes primarily from individuals on the internet. As our [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf| audited financial statements] show, the Foundation spends a lot to maintain its primary computing center, in Florida. The Foundation is open to contributions from individuals, companies, private foundations and other donors from around the world.<br />
<br />
===== I have this terrific idea: you should simply put up advertisements.=====<br />
<br />
: This suggestion has been made many times and debated over and over. While technically not excluded (in case other means of funding are insufficient), it is extremely controversial. In particular, it is believed that having advertisements would jeopardize Wikipedia's neutrality. The Foundation has no current plans to have paid advertising on Wikipedia or its other projects.<br />
<br />
===== You should be getting money from the government.=====<br />
<br />
:Perhaps, but we do not get any.<br />
<br />
===== What are matching donations exactly ? =====<br />
<br />
: For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
: Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is have a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
: We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
: No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
: There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
: # donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by cheque sent by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
: Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
: No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Was the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
: The idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
: Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
: The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
: Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
: The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
: The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
: Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
: The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
: Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
: Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
: The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
: No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
: We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
: We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
: If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.<br />
<br />
=====I have a problem or concern that isn't answered here. What should I do?=====<br />
: If there is a technical problem with your donation, or if there is a question not answered on the Fundraising pages, you may send your questions to [mailto:donations@wikimedia.org donations@wikimedia.org].</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17878Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-17T19:10:15Z<p>BradPatrick: /* I'm told that Wikipedia is supported by Yahoo! or some other company. Why don't you solicit them? */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{fundraising menu}}<br />
{{FundFAQLang}}<br />
<br />
===== Hosting a web site costs next to nothing, why do you need all that money?=====<br />
<br />
: Hosting a personal web site, today, costs next to nothing, because such sites get very little traffic and need very little room on the provider's computers. However, Wikipedia is among the biggest sites in the world in terms of hits. It spent about US$430,000 on computer hardware and US$200,000 on Internet hosing during the 2005-06 fiscal year.<br />
<br />
===== Wikipedia is cool - I'll give you some money. But what will it be used for? =====<br />
<br />
: The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events like Wikimania, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
: You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
===== Isn't Wikipedia supported by a billionaire, who founded it ?=====<br />
<br />
: Wikipedia was co-founded by Jimmy Wales, an Internet entrepreneur. Mr Wales was able to support Wikipedia when it was a small site, had no employees, and had minor hosting requirements, but this is no longer the case. Today, Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, which gets money mostly through donations by individual Internet users.<br />
<br />
===== I'm told that Wikipedia is supported by Yahoo! or some other company. Why don't you solicit them?=====<br />
<br />
: Yahoo! provides the Wikimedia Foundation with hosting at another computer center located in Korea. Wikimedia also receives significant assistance with bandwidth and hosting from Kennisnet in Amsterdam. No private company or individual is "bankrolling" the Foundation - our support comes primarily from individuals on the internet. As our [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf| audited financial statements] show, the Foundation spends a lot to maintain its primary computing center, in Florida. The Foundation is open to contributions from individuals, companies, private foundations and other donors from around the world.<br />
<br />
===== I have this terrific idea: you should simply put up advertisements.=====<br />
<br />
: This suggestion has been made many times and debated over and over. While technically not excluded (in case other means of funding are insufficient), it is extremely controversial. In particular, it is believed that having advertisements would jeopardize Wikipedia's neutrality. The Foundation has no current plans to have paid advertising on Wikipedia or its other projects.<br />
<br />
===== You should be getting money from the government.=====<br />
<br />
Perhaps, but we do not get any.<br />
<br />
===== What are matching donations exactly ? =====<br />
<br />
: For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
: Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is have a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
: We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
: No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
: There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
: # donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by cheque sent by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
: Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
: No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Was the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
: The idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
: Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
: The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
: Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
: The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
: The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
: Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
: The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
: Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
: Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
: The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
: No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
: We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
: We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
: If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.<br />
<br />
=====I have a problem or concern that isn't answered here. What should I do?=====<br />
: If there is a technical problem with your donation, or if there is a question not answered on the Fundraising pages, you may send your questions to [mailto:donations@wikimedia.org donations@wikimedia.org].</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17875Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-17T19:04:39Z<p>BradPatrick: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{fundraising menu}}<br />
{{FundFAQLang}}<br />
<br />
===== Hosting a web site costs next to nothing, why do you need all that money?=====<br />
<br />
: Hosting a personal web site, today, costs next to nothing, because such sites get very little traffic and need very little room on the provider's computers. However, Wikipedia is among the biggest sites in the world in terms of hits. It spent about US$430,000 on computer hardware and US$200,000 on Internet hosing during the 2005-06 fiscal year.<br />
<br />
===== Wikipedia is cool - I'll give you some money. But what will it be used for? =====<br />
<br />
: The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events like Wikimania, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
: You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
===== Isn't Wikipedia supported by a billionaire, who founded it ?=====<br />
<br />
: Wikipedia was co-founded by Jimmy Wales, an Internet entrepreneur. Mr Wales was able to support Wikipedia when it was a small site, had no employees, and had minor hosting requirements, but this is no longer the case. Today, Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, which gets money mostly through donations by individual Internet users.<br />
<br />
===== I'm told that Wikipedia is supported by Yahoo! or some other company. Why don't you solicit them?=====<br />
<br />
: Yahoo! provides the Wikimedia Foundation with hosting at another computer center located in Korea. It does not "bankroll" the Foundation; in particular, the Foundation pays for all costs at its primary computing center, in Florida. The Foundation is open to contributions from individuals, companies, private foundations and other donors from around the world.<br />
<br />
===== I have this terrific idea: you should simply put up advertisements.=====<br />
<br />
: This suggestion has been made many times and debated over and over. While technically not excluded (in case other means of funding are insufficient), it is extremely controversial. In particular, it is believed that having advertisements would jeopardize Wikipedia's neutrality. The Foundation has no current plans to have paid advertising on Wikipedia or its other projects.<br />
<br />
===== You should be getting money from the government.=====<br />
<br />
Perhaps, but we do not get any.<br />
<br />
===== What are matching donations exactly ? =====<br />
<br />
: For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
: Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is have a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
: We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
: No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
: There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
: # donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by cheque sent by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
: Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
: No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Was the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
: The idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
: Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
: The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
: Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
: The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
: The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
: Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
: The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
: Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
: Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
: The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
: No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
: We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
: We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
: If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.<br />
<br />
=====I have a problem or concern that isn't answered here. What should I do?=====<br />
: If there is a technical problem with your donation, or if there is a question not answered on the Fundraising pages, you may send your questions to [mailto:donations@wikimedia.org donations@wikimedia.org].</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Home&diff=17712Home2006-12-16T19:32:37Z<p>BradPatrick: +please support language</p>
<hr />
<div>{{HomeLang|help=Help translation}}<br />
<br />
<div style="padding: .5em 1em; font-size: 135%;"><br />
'''Imagine a world''' in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. <br />'''[[Fundraising|And we need your help.]] Please support the Wikimedia Foundation by [[Fundraising|donating]] today.'''<br />
</div><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; padding: .5em 1em; background: #e8f1ff;"><br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]], Inc. is a nonprofit [http://www.guidestar.org charitable] organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of [[w:en:free content|free]], multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these [[:en:wiki|wiki]]-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the [[Our projects|largest collaboratively edited reference projects]] in the world, including [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia], one of the [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=3m&size=large&compare_sites=&y=t&url=wikipedia.org#top 15 most visited] websites in the world.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
{| style="margin: 1em 0 0; border: 1px solid gray; padding: 2px; background: #e8f1ff;"<br />
| style="width: 55%; padding: 0 1em; background: #ffffff; vertical-align: top;" | <!--left column--><br />
<br />
==Did you know ...==<br />
<br />
... what '''[[Our projects#Wikisource|Wikisource]]''' is ? Really is ?<br />
<br />
''Article by Danny Wool of the Wikimedia Foundation''<br />
<br />
I thought it would be a good idea to share some news about another project, the English Wikisource, which has been doing some remarkable work in the past few months, thanks to a small group of dedicated editors and contributors.<br />
<br />
First for some background: Wikisource is much more than a library of old and PD texts. It can, and should, operate in tandem with the other projects, by providing the background to the information we offer.<br />
<br />
''See [[Danny Wool on Wikisource]].''<br />
<!--<br />
<br />
==Feature==<br />
=== Stable versions ===<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation has developed a process to create "stable versions" of articles in its projects. Wikipedia will be initially testing this process in the German Wikipedia encyclopedia, a trial that will be evaluated, and potentially implemented on all languages, in all Wikimedia projects.<br />
<br />
:[[Stable versions FAQ/English|English-language FAQ]] | [[Stable versions FAQ/Deutsch|German-language FAQ]]<br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
--><br />
<br />
===Support us===<br />
The Foundation mostly relies on support from individuals. Please consider making a donation today, be it '''time, [[fundraising|money]] or [[m:Wikimedia_servers|hardware]]'''. The [[Benefactors]] page is dedicated to some of the companies and individuals helping to sustain the Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation does not necessarily endorse the activities of its Corporate Benefactors.<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation has 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Donations made from other nations may also be tax deductible. See [[deductibility of donations]] for details. Please see our [[fundraising]] page for details of making donations via PayPal, MoneyBookers or by postal mail. For all other types of donations, please contact our grants coordinator, Danny Wool: <tt>dwool at wikimedia.org</tt><br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
<br />
=== Corporate details ===<br />
[[Image:Jimbo caricature.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Wikimedia chairman emeritus, Jimmy Wales.]]<br />
The Wikimedia [[Board of Trustees]] is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc., and has the power to direct the activities of the Foundation. The Foundation bylaws may be seen at '''[[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws]]'''. Other policies set by the Board may be seen at '''[[policies]]'''.<br />
<br />
The Foundation manages '''the [[Budget]], which pays primarily for [[m:Wikimedia servers/hardware orders|computer equipment]] and hosting'''. Other costs include [[m:Wikimedia staff|human resources]] necessary to the running of the Wikimedia projects, though most people are volunteers. This site includes a complete list of '''[[meetings|notes from Board meetings]]'''. <br />
<br />
'''The latest Board decisions may be found at [[resolutions]].'''<br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
<br />
=== Quote of the month ===<br />
"When I visited the offices in March, the walls were bare, the furniture battered. With the addition of a dead plant, the suite could pass for a graduate-student lounge." -- ''impression of the WMF world headquarters by Stacy Schiff, journalist. ''<br />
<br />
| style="width: 45%; padding: 0 1em; background: transparent; vertical-align: top;" | <!--right column--><br />
== Latest news ==<br />
{{News-en}}<br />
----<br />
See also '''[[current events]]''' for more information.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{OurProjects-multi}}<br />
----<br />
<div style="margin-top: 1em; font-size: 90%;">'''[[Privacy policy]]''': If you browse the Wikimedia project websites, we gather no more information than is typically collected in server logs. If you contribute to the Wikimedia projects, you are publishing every word you post publicly. You should assume that anything you write will be retained forever. This includes articles, user pages, talk pages and other pages on the websites.</div><br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Home&diff=17679Home2006-12-16T14:36:12Z<p>BradPatrick: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{HomeLang|help=Help translation}}<br />
<br />
<div style="padding: .5em 1em; font-size: 135%;"><br />
'''Imagine a world''' in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. <br />'''[[Fundraising|And we need your help.]]'''<br />
</div><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; padding: .5em 1em; background: #e8f1ff;"><br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]], Inc. is an nonprofit [http://www.guidestar.org charitable] organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of [[w:en:free content|free]], multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these [[:en:wiki|wiki]]-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the [[Our projects|largest collaboratively edited reference projects]] in the world, including [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia], one of the [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=3m&size=large&compare_sites=&y=t&url=wikipedia.org#top 15 most visited] websites in the world.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
{| style="margin: 1em 0 0; border: 1px solid gray; padding: 2px; background: #e8f1ff;"<br />
| style="width: 55%; padding: 0 1em; background: #ffffff; vertical-align: top;" | <!--left column--><br />
<br />
==Did you know ...==<br />
<br />
... what '''[[Our projects#Wikisource|Wikisource]]''' is ? Really is ?<br />
<br />
''Article by Danny Wool of the Wikimedia Foundation''<br />
<br />
I thought it would be a good idea to share some news about another project, the English Wikisource, which has been doing some remarkable work in the past few months, thanks to a small group of dedicated editors and contributors.<br />
<br />
First for some background: Wikisource is much more than a library of old and PD texts. It can, and should, operate in tandem with the other projects, by providing the background to the information we offer.<br />
<br />
''See [[Danny Wool on Wikisource]].''<br />
<!--<br />
<br />
==Feature==<br />
=== Stable versions ===<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation has developed a process to create "stable versions" of articles in its projects. Wikipedia will be initially testing this process in the German Wikipedia encyclopedia, a trial that will be evaluated, and potentially implemented on all languages, in all Wikimedia projects.<br />
<br />
:[[Stable versions FAQ/English|English-language FAQ]] | [[Stable versions FAQ/Deutsch|German-language FAQ]]<br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
--><br />
<br />
===Support us===<br />
The Foundation mostly relies on support from individuals. Please consider making a donation today, be it '''time, [[fundraising|money]] or [[m:Wikimedia_servers|hardware]]'''. The [[Benefactors]] page is dedicated to some of the companies and individuals helping to sustain the Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia Foundation does not necessarily endorse the activities of its Corporate Benefactors.<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation has 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Donations made from other nations may also be tax deductible. See [[deductibility of donations]] for details. Please see our [[fundraising]] page for details of making donations via PayPal, MoneyBookers or by postal mail. For all other types of donations, please contact our grants coordinator, Danny Wool: <tt>dwool at wikimedia.org</tt><br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
<br />
=== Corporate details ===<br />
[[Image:Jimbo caricature.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Wikimedia chairman emeritus, Jimmy Wales.]]<br />
The Wikimedia [[Board of Trustees]] is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc., and has the power to direct the activities of the Foundation. The Foundation bylaws may be seen at '''[[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws]]'''. Other policies set by the Board may be seen at '''[[policies]]'''.<br />
<br />
The Foundation manages '''the [[Budget]], which pays primarily for [[m:Wikimedia servers/hardware orders|computer equipment]] and hosting'''. Other costs include [[m:Wikimedia staff|human resources]] necessary to the running of the Wikimedia projects, though most people are volunteers. This site includes a complete list of '''[[meetings|notes from Board meetings]]'''. <br />
<br />
'''The latest Board decisions may be found at [[resolutions]].'''<br />
<br />
<center><big> '''~ ~ ~''' </big></center><br />
<br />
=== Quote of the month ===<br />
"When I visited the offices in March, the walls were bare, the furniture battered. With the addition of a dead plant, the suite could pass for a graduate-student lounge." -- ''impression of the WMF world headquarters by Stacy Schiff, journalist. ''<br />
<br />
| style="width: 45%; padding: 0 1em; background: transparent; vertical-align: top;" | <!--right column--><br />
== Latest news ==<br />
{{News-en}}<br />
----<br />
See also '''[[current events]]''' for more information.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{OurProjects-multi}}<br />
----<br />
<div style="margin-top: 1em; font-size: 90%;">'''[[Privacy policy]]''': If you browse the Wikimedia project websites, we gather no more information than is typically collected in server logs. If you contribute to the Wikimedia projects, you are publishing every word you post publicly. You should assume that anything you write will be retained forever. This includes articles, user pages, talk pages and other pages on the websites.</div><br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Board_meetings&diff=17678Board meetings2006-12-16T14:33:28Z<p>BradPatrick: clean up page, add 2006 dates, rm outdated comments, officers</p>
<hr />
<div>Please note that meetings on this page were not necessarily ''official'' "Board meetings", but simply meetings attending by several members of the Board. The current secretary of the Foundation is Erik Moeller.<br />
<br />
== 2007 ==<br />
<br />
# Board Meeting, January, 2007, Netherlands (TBD)<br />
<br />
== 2006 ==<br />
<br />
# [[Meetings/January 14-15, 2006|Organisation meeting]], January 14-15, 2006, St. Petersburg, Florida<br />
# Board Meeting, August, 2006, Cambridge, MA<br />
# Board Panel Discussion, August, 2006, Cambridge, MA<br />
# Board Retreat, October, 2006, Frankfurt, Germany<br />
# Board Meeting, October, 2006, Frankfurt, Germany<br />
# Board Meeting, November, 2006, St. Petersburg, Florida<br />
<br />
*Note: Following the 2006 Board Retreat, the Executive Director and Chair started a weekly IRC meeting, attended by most/all Board members.<br />
<br />
== 2005 ==<br />
<br />
# [[Meetings/November 13, 2005|Board meeting]], November 13, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/October 1, 2005|Budget meeting]], October 1, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/August 27, 2005|Open meeting]], August 27, 2005 ([[m:Open Board meeting, August 2005|full transcript]])<br />
# [[Meetings/August 18, 2005|Chapters]], August 18, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/August 14, 2005|Q3 finances]], August 14, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/June 9, 2005|Second meeting in June]], June 9, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/June 7, 2005|Bylaws meeting]], June 7, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/May 24, 2005|Second meeting in May]], May 24, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/May 16, 2005|First meeting in May]], May 16, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/March 30, 2005|Short meeting]], March 30, 2005<br />
# [[Meetings/February 15, 2005|Open Board meeting]], February 15, 2005 ([[meta:Open Board meeting, February 2005|full transcript]])<br />
# [[Meetings/February 7, 2005|Finance]], February 7, 2005<br />
<br />
== 2004 ==<br />
<br />
# [[Meetings/November 6, 2004|Open Board meeting]], November 6 2004 ([[meta:Open Board meeting, November 2004|full transcript]])<br />
# [[Meetings/October 22, 2004|Membership]], October 22, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/October 16, 2004|General Board meeting]], October 16, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/October 9, 2004|General Board meeting]], October 9, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/September 17, 2004|Fundraising and grants]], September 17, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/September 5, 2004|Wikispecies]], September 5, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/July 24, 2004|Foundation website]], July 24, 2004<br />
# [[Meetings/July 4, 2004|Initial meeting in Paris]], July 4, 2004<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17572Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-16T03:04:37Z<p>BradPatrick: +link to gift policy</p>
<hr />
<div><div style="border:1px solid gray; background-color:#f9fcff; margin:4px; text-align:center"><br />
[[Fundraising]] | [[Give the gift of knowledge| Appeal from Board Chair]] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf Financial Statements] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/69/Wikimedia_2006_Mgmt_Letter.pdf Management Letter] | [[Press Release Funddrive Dec 2006| Press Release]] | [[Gift Policy]]</div><br />
<br />
===== What will the money be used for? =====<br />
<br />
: The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
: You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
=====What are matching donations exactly ?=====<br />
<br />
: For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
: Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is had a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
: We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
: No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
: There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
: # donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by cheque send by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
: Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
: No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Why wasn't the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
: Actually, the idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
: Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
: The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
: Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
: The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
: The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
: Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
: The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
: Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
: Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
: The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
: No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
: We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
: We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
: If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17567Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-16T02:47:04Z<p>BradPatrick: + press release</p>
<hr />
<div><div style="border:1px solid gray; background-color:#f9fcff; margin:4px; text-align:center"><br />
[[Fundraising]] | [[Give the gift of knowledge| Appeal from Board Chair]] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf Financial Statements] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/69/Wikimedia_2006_Mgmt_Letter.pdf Management Letter] | [[Press Release Funddrive Dec 2006| Press Release]]</div><br />
<br />
===== What will the money be used for? =====<br />
<br />
: The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
: You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
=====What are matching donations exactly ?=====<br />
<br />
: For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
: Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is had a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
: We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
: No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
: There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
: # donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # donations made by cheque send by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
: # buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
: Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
: No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Why wasn't the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
: Actually, the idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
: Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
: The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
: Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
: The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
: The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
: Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
: The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
: Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
: Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
: The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
: No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
: We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
: We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
: If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Press_releases/Funddrive_Dec_2006&diff=17565Archive:Press releases/Funddrive Dec 20062006-12-16T02:33:41Z<p>BradPatrick: copy from comcom workspace</p>
<hr />
<div>== ''GIVE THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE: WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION LAUNCHES YEAR-END FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT PROJECTS''==<br />
<br />
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA., UNITED STATES-December 16, 2005 - The Wikimedia Foundation (http://wikimediafoundation.org) today announced a three-week<br />
fundraising campaign to help support the future operation and expansion of its free, multilingual wiki-based projects. The fundraiser runs from<br />
December 16, 2005 through January 6, 2006, and Wikimedia will accept donations in dozens of currencies from individuals and organizations<br />
around the globe.<br />
<br />
The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and<br />
to providing the full content of its wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest<br />
collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), one of the Internet's 10 most visited Web<br />
sites.<br />
<br />
"This is a great opportunity for us," said Florence Nibart-Devouard, the Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board. "As we plan for the future of Wikipedia and all of the Wikimedia projects, our two most important goals now are the reliability of our content and the long-term sustainability of every project in which we are involved. We need the help of the millions of people who visit our site each day."<br />
<br />
"Every donation we receive from an individual or an organization helps us bring free educational content to millions of people, including those<br />
who cannot afford print encyclopedias and dictionaries," said Jimmy Wales, co-founder of the Wikimedia Foundation. "Every dollar, piece of<br />
equipment or contributor's time donated has an immeasurable impact on our ability to keep projects going and expand them to help more people."<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation relies primarily on support from individual contributors. Thousands of individuals and organizations around the<br />
world have made donations of time, money or hardware, to help support Wikimedia's mission of providing free educational content and<br />
information. Thanks in large part to these donations, Wikipedia expanded to approximately 8 million total articles covering more than 200 languages. In addition, Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, now contains more than 1 million free image, audio and video files (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page).<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation has 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Donations made from other nations may also be tax deductible. See http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Deductibility_of_donations for further information. Please see our fundraising page at http://www.wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Fundraising for details of making donations via PayPal, MoneyBookers or by postal mail. For all other types of donation, please contact the Wikimedia Board at board at wikimedia.org.<br />
<br />
==About Wikipedia==<br />
<br />
Started in January 2001, Wikipedia is currently the world's fastest-growing, most current, and largest encyclopedia, with nearly 6 million articles under active development in over 200 languages. It is created entirely by volunteers who contribute, update, and revise articles in a collaborative process. The English-language edition contains more than 1.5 million articles and 30 million internal links. Wikipedias in twelve languages each have more than one hundred thousand articles. (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias)<br />
<br />
Wikipedia's content is written for a general audience, and is continually being revised for clarity, readability, and accuracy. Original text, images and sounds contributed to Wikipedia are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL), which lets users copy and modify each other's work based on a principle known as "copyleft". The entire database is freely downloadable.<br />
<br />
==About Wikimedia Foundation==<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit charitable corporation based in Florida, USA. It was founded in 2003 to maintain and develop free-content projects like Wikipedia, and to provide the full contents of those projects to the public free of charge. It has national chapters in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Serbia, and the Netherlands.<br />
<br />
{{OurProjects-multi}}</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archive:Fundraising_FAQ_2007-2008&diff=17564Archive:Fundraising FAQ 2007-20082006-12-16T01:58:51Z<p>BradPatrick: copy from comcom workspace + header bar</p>
<hr />
<div><div style="border:1px solid gray; background-color:#f9fcff; margin:4px; text-align:center"><br />
[[Fundraising]] | [[Give the gift of knowledge| Appeal from Board Chair]] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf Financial Statements] | [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/69/Wikimedia_2006_Mgmt_Letter.pdf Management Letter] <br />
</div><br />
<br />
===== What will the money be used for? =====<br />
<br />
The money will be used for the continued operation and improvement of Wikimedia projects. This includes hardware, bandwidth, staff, events, and other expenses. A successful fundraiser will mean both being able to continue and expand what we are currently doing, and to have a secure financial base for the future. <br />
<br />
You can also see how we've been using money in the past [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf here].<br />
<br />
=====What are matching donations exactly ?=====<br />
<br />
For "matching donations", a company or other large donor pledges to "match" every small individual donation made up to a certain amount or period of time. For example, if you donate 50 dollars in a drive with matching funds, the sponsor will also donate 50 dollars, making the total effect a donation of 100 dollars. This encourages people to give more money knowing that their smaller donation will have twice the effect.<br />
<br />
===== What is the need for Wikimedia to take on such an initiative now? =====<br />
Wikimedia has experienced phenomenal growth over the past year. Wikipedia now ranks as one of the top ten websites in the world[http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=wikipedia.org&site1=&site2=&site3=&site4=&y=t&z=1&h=400&w=700&range=3y&size=Large&url=wikipedia.org], up from No. 28 a year ago. The Wikimedia Commons hosts over a million media files. We've hired developers and staff to keep the projects running smoothly. But what we haven't done is had a fundraiser this year.<br />
<br />
We'd like to be able to do more: more projects, more features, more content, more reliable service. But that requires more hardware, more bandwidth, and more staff. We can't do that at our rate of growth unless we use the resources available to us in the most effective way possible, and soliciting matching funds from corporate donors is one of the best ways of doing that. We want to leverage the support of our community and users with money from the private sector.<br />
<br />
===== Will donations to the local chapters be matched?=====<br />
<br />
No, they won't; matching during this drive will only cover money donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, whose activities support all Wikimedia projects including those with local chapters. The local chapters may choose to do a similar arrangement for their own fundraisers. Coordinating a donation matching program at an international level is complex, but we hope to encourage wider donation matching in future fund drives.<br />
<br />
===== What are considered "donations made directly to the Wikimedia Foundation"? =====<br />
<br />
There are several channels for making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. But beware that only donations in the form of money will matched by our sponsors;<br />
# donations made with PayPal - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
# donations made with Moneybookers - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
# donations made by money transfer - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
# donations made by cheque send by postal mail received during the matching period - ''the donation will be matched''<br />
# buying merchandise [http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia at Cafe Press] - ''the donation will '''not''' be matched, but WMF gets 20%''<br />
<br />
===== What if I know someone who might want to pledge a matching donation, now or in the future? =====<br />
Great! Please contact Danny Wool at dwool@wikimedia.org to talk about this.<br />
<br />
===== Will this affect Wikimedia's neutrality, now that money has been given by several companies? =====<br />
<br />
No. We have not agreed and will not agree to any arrangement that requires us to change the content of the sites. We are committed to maintaining the neutrality of the sites and entrust the user community to ensure that these standards are upheld.<br />
<br />
=====Why wasn't the community consulted before this decision?=====<br />
<br />
Actually, the idea of having a fundraiser with matching donations has been raised publicly on several occasions, including recently [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-November/011374.html on the Foundation mailing list]. The community is at the heart of what the Foundation does, and who it exists to support. But the community does not have the ability to receive funds; the Wikimedia Foundation does. The actions taken by the Foundation are in the spirit of a fiduciary responsibility, to do what is in all of our best interests.<br />
<br />
Consulting the community about specific details is difficult because these are confidential by necessity; we cannot expect anyone to be able to make an informed decision without complete information. It is the Foundation's responsibility to make such decisions on behalf of all affected, including considering its effect on the community of users who build the sites.<br />
<br />
=====If the editors and community reject the idea now, then why can't we remove the notice?=====<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Foundation is ultimately responsible for the placement of the site notice. The Foundation is obligated to maintain the notice under the terms of the agreement, which was made to gain the benefit of encouraging large donors to support our projects without having to compromise any of the important aspect: the article content.<br />
<br />
Fundraising is a necessity to operating a top website for free with no advertising. We are unique as a non-profit in the world in that our online space has grown on such a shoestring budget and the goodwill of the community. We believe that inviting corporate donations to support us is not an act of treason, but smart business sense. <br />
<br />
The Foundation concerns itself by asking how to make effective use of the money the community is willing to donate. Matching funds are a smart way to provide leverage. Some may not like the corporations involved, but they are willing to put a significant amount of money in play to challenge the community to give, and the funds to buy servers that keep the projects running the way you want them to run. People opposed to site notices "on principle" need to answer the legitimate question, how then should the Foundation keep running, given the incredible demand for growth and resources? To not attempt to make the best use of donor funds seems shortsighted. If the Wikimedia Foundation is to exist perpetually, it must lay down a secure foundation both in terms of project infrastructure and organizational and financial infrastructure.<br />
<br />
The site notice is the best method of reaching the people we most want to see the message, and who will not see it otherwise: the millions of people who aren't part of the editing community, but who use Wikimedia projects every day. Removing it means removing that potential source of support, jeopardizes the success of the fundraiser, and violates our agreements.<br />
<br />
=====If this is such a good idea, why didn't the Foundation do this before?=====<br />
<br />
Previously, such a concept could not have been implemented because the Foundation did not have an audited set of books to assure donors and the world at large that we were responsible and doing the right things with the money. The Wikimedia Foundation is listed with Guidestar[http://www.Guidestar.org], the Better Business Bureau [http://www.bbb.org], and similar systems as a charity.<br />
<br />
===== Who determines what is an acceptable or unacceptable company to accept matching funds from? =====<br />
<br />
The board of Wikimedia Foundation has complete discretion to decide which companies may participate. Some companies may choose to participate whose goals and ideals are not completely aligned with ours. Accepting their offers to match donations does not mean that we will change how we work, or that we must endorse everything they do. It simply means that we accept their help and desire to support us and in turn, recognize their contributions.<br />
<br />
=====How is this different from a company receiving ads (i.e. logos) if they pledge to donate money?=====<br />
<br />
Advertising is the placement of copy written by the advertiser, i.e., "Buy Joe's Widgets, they're the best". If we were selling pixels of space in a site notice, and the company were free to put whatever they want there, that would be advertising. We are explicitly not agreeing to do that, nor could we, without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of these transactions. <br />
<br />
Instead, we are agreeing to place a thank-you notice in recognition of a pledge to match funds donated by the community: it is through "the generous support of Company X that your donation today is being matched." The money collected will directly depend on the money the individual donors are ready to offer to the project. If very little money is collected from individual donors, very little money will come from companies. If individual donors are generous, companies will be generous. This is a cooperation in financial gift. <br />
<br />
The presence of a logo and link in recognition and identification of the donor do not change the nature of the agreement, and the typical surfer to our site isn't going to be concerned one way or the other.<br />
<br />
===== Is this just a slippery slope to full ads, all the time? ===== <br />
<br />
No; we have no plans to put advertising on the site. As a nonprofit charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation ultimately relies on donations from the public as its primary source of funds. It is in part because we do not have advertising as a regular source of funding that we need to make our fundraising efforts as effective as possible.<br />
<br />
===== Why did you choose these companies? Was there a competitive bid? =====<br />
<br />
We asked companies who we knew to be friendly to the Foundation and who are significant companies in the online space. We did not have a competitive bidding process, something that would probably be better suited to a setting that really was commercial advertising. Instead we asked companies who were willing to commit to matching at least $60,000 per day. We aren't done; if there are companies who are willing to match donations, they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation offices and speak to Brad Patrick or Danny Wool.<br />
<br />
=====What happens if we reach the 1.5 million before the end of the four-week period? What happens if we don't reach it? Would the fundraiser be extended, or end early?=====<br />
<br />
We expect that the fund drive will continue long enough to leverage the available opportunities for matching donations. At the conclusion we will evaluate whether this provides the resources needed to support the Wikimedia projects in the immediate future.<br />
<br />
If we reach our goals early, what a great problem to have! If this happens, we will change the text of the site notices to be thank-you messages, as has been traditional in fundraisers. Such success would indicate the need to plan for a capital campaign/endowment fund drive later this year, with major corporate and foundation gifts to establish such an endowment. In the long term, an endowment would help provide a stable financial base for the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out its mission.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf&diff=16489File:Wikimedia 2006 fs.pdf2006-12-07T14:58:08Z<p>BradPatrick: Audited financial statements for fiscal years ending June 30, 2004, 2005, and 2006.</p>
<hr />
<div>Audited financial statements for fiscal years ending June 30, 2004, 2005, and 2006.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grants_Coordinator&diff=16431Grants Coordinator2006-11-22T15:21:18Z<p>BradPatrick: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Grants Coordinator==<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Grants Coordinator is [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]]. The role of the Grants Coordinator is to manage the grant application process for WMF. At present Danny fulfills a variety of functions in the WMF offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, relating to fundraising, community issues, complaint handling, OTRS, and office administration.<br />
<br />
Danny joined Wikimedia Foundation in October, 2005.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grants_Coordinator&diff=16430Grants Coordinator2006-11-22T15:20:09Z<p>BradPatrick: new page - grants coordinator</p>
<hr />
<div>==Grants Coordinator==<br />
<br />
The Wikimedia Grants Coordinator is [[User:Danny Wool]]. The role of the Grants Coordinator is to manage the grant application process for WMF. At present Danny fulfills a variety of functions in the WMF offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, relating to fundraising, community issues, complaint handling, OTRS, and office administration.<br />
<br />
Danny joined Wikimedia Foundation in October, 2005.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=16429Staff and contractors2006-11-22T15:13:48Z<p>BradPatrick: +link for grants coordinator</p>
<hr />
<div>{{StaffLang}}<br />
<br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has '''five full-time employees'''. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is [[#Brad Patrick|Brad Patrick]], who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel (see [[Press releases/Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director|the press release]]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
== Brad Patrick ==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brad Patrick, interim CEO and legal counsel, in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br />
<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], [[Grants Coordinator]] in the Florida office, since September 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0103.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Wool at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since August 2005.<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
<br />
=== Technical ===<br />
<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager for the Tampa servers (contractor).<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], full time MediaWiki software developer, since April 2006 (contractor).<br />
* [[User:Mark Bergsma|Mark Bergsma]], part time Networking Coordinator, since September 2006 (contractor).<br />
<br />
=== Other ===<br />
<br />
* [[User:BarbaraBrown|Barbara Brown]], an administrative assistant in the Florida office, since August, 2006.<br />
* [[User:CarolynDoran|Carolyn Doran]], a bookkeeper in the Florida office, since September, 2006.<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=16411Staff and contractors2006-11-20T18:40:38Z<p>BradPatrick: chg Danny description, add Barbara Brown, Carolyn Doran</p>
<hr />
<div>{{StaffLang}}<br />
<br />
The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has '''five full-time employees'''. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is [[#Brad Patrick|Brad Patrick]], who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel (see [[Press releases/Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director|the press release]]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
== Brad Patrick ==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brad Patrick, interim CEO and legal counsel, in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br />
<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], Grants Coordinator in the Florida office, since September 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0103.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Wool at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since August 2005.<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
<br />
=== Technical ===<br />
<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager for the Tampa servers (contractor).<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], full time MediaWiki software developer, since April 2006 (contractor).<br />
* [[User:Mark Bergsma|Mark Bergsma]], part time Networking Coordinator, since September 2006 (contractor).<br />
<br />
=== Other ===<br />
<br />
* [[User:BarbaraBrown|Barbara Brown]], an administrative assistant in the Florida office, since August, 2006.<br />
* [[User:CarolynDoran|Carolyn Doran]], a bookkeeper in the Florida office, since September, 2006.<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=15193Staff and contractors2006-08-17T12:27:53Z<p>BradPatrick: Add Danny photo</p>
<hr />
<div>The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has '''five full-time employees'''. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is [[#Brad Patrick|Brad Patrick]], who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel (see [[Press releases/Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director|the press release]]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
== Brad Patrick ==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brad Patrick, interim CEO and legal counsel, in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br />
<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], [[m:Wikimedia Assistant|Wikimedia Assistant]] in the Florida office, since September 2005.<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0103.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Wool at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
[[Image:WM2006 0093.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Vibber at Wikimania 2006.]]<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager, since summer 2005.<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], MediaWiki software developer, since spring 2006.<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
<br />
=== Hardware ===<br />
<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager (independent contractor) for the Tampa servers.<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:BradPatrick&diff=15019User:BradPatrick2006-08-08T19:42:31Z<p>BradPatrick: </p>
<hr />
<div>Hi, I'm Brad Patrick and I am the General Counsel and interim Executive Director of the Foundation.<br />
<br />
The Foundation needs your help, and I am hopeful you will agree with our mission and want to contribute to what we are doing in your own way.</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=15007Staff and contractors2006-08-08T18:43:22Z<p>BradPatrick: rm office staff</p>
<hr />
<div>The [[About Wikimedia|Wikimedia Foundation]] currently has '''four full-time employees'''. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is [[#Brad Patrick|Brad Patrick]], who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel (see [[Press releases/Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director|the press release]]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
== Brad Patrick ==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brad Patrick, interim CEO and legal counsel, in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
[[Image:Brion-wikimaniac.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Brion, from the technical staff, at Wikimania 2005]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br />
<br />
== Administrative staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], [[m:Wikimedia Assistant|Wikimedia Assistant]] in the Florida office (as of September 2005).<br />
<br />
== Technical staff ==<br />
<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager (as of summer 2005).<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], MediaWiki software developer (as of spring 2006).<br />
<br />
== Independent contractors and others ==<br />
<br />
=== Hardware ===<br />
<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager (independent contractor) for the Tampa servers.<br />
<br />
[[Category:English]]<br />
<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrickhttps://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Staff_and_contractors&diff=14371Staff and contractors2006-07-07T19:57:22Z<p>BradPatrick: add Selena Garcia as admin assistant</p>
<hr />
<div>The Wikimedia Foundation currently has four full-time employees. Everyone else involved with the projects is a volunteer, including members of the [[Board of Trustees]]. The Executive Director of the Foundation is Brad Patrick, who was appointed on an interim basis in June 2006 and also serves as legal counsel (see [[Press releases/Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director|press release]]). The Foundation is currently conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director.<br />
<br />
==Brad Patrick==<br />
[[Image:Brad patrick cropped.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Brad Patrick in St. Augustine, Florida]]<br />
Brad Patrick is the legal counsel and interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Prior to joining the Wikimedia Foundation, he practiced law with the Tampa firm of Fowler White Boggs Banker in the fields of technology and intellectual property litigation. His prior work experience includes civil litigation with private firms in Redmond and Seattle, Washington, technology consulting and procurement for state government, and software consulting to top 100 law firms for transactional, data warehousing, and business intelligence systems. He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards of directors in civic, educational, and community leadership organizations. Offline, he enjoys reading, music and spending time in the great outdoors with his family.<br clear="all"><br />
<br />
==Administrative staff==<br />
* [[User:Danny|Danny Wool]], [[m:Wikimedia Assistant|Wikimedia Assistant]] in the Florida office (as of September 2005).<br />
* Selena Garcia, Adminstrative Assistant in the Florida office (as of July, 2006).<br />
<br />
==Technical staff==<br />
<br />
[[Image:Brion-wikimaniac.jpg|left|200 px|Brion at Wikimania 2005]]<br />
* [[User:Brion VIBBER|Brion Vibber]], Chief Technical Officer and MediaWiki release manager (as of summer 2005).<br />
* [[User:Tim Starling|Tim Starling]], MediaWiki software developer (as of spring 2006).<br />
<br style="clear:both;" /><br />
<br />
==Independent contractors and others==<br />
'''Hardware'''<br />
* Kyle Anderson, retained as a part time hardware manager (independent contractor) for the Tampa servers.<br />
__NOTOC__<br />
__NOEDITSECTION__</div>BradPatrick