2009/9/13 John Vandenberg <jay...@gmail.com>: > I am also shocked by this very broad brush. > > You are not just saying that they lack experience, or "competence" - > you are saying that chapters are likely to misuse funds.
You are putting words in my mouth. I haven't specified a probability that a randomly chosen chapter will misuse funds. I have said there is a significant chance they will make mistakes, which means the WMF should take significant care when deciding what to do with WMF funds. They shouldn't have blind faith in chapters to know what they are doing. Perhaps this is one of those cultural things - I am British and here charities are considered to have a moral and legal duty to take direct responsibility for spending money people give them in an appropriate way. Giving money to another charity and trusting them to make good decisions about what to spend it on would, in fact, be illegal here. I should clarify that I am complaining about the WMF's actions here, not those of the Portuguese Wikimedians (who both I and they have said, didn't know any better - there is nothing to suggest they acted in bad faith). It isn't just the Portuguese grant that I disagree with - there are things WMUK requested that I did not support and would not have granted had I been the WMF. For example, WMUK requests £1000 to buy a laptop, that is completely ridiculous, there is no way we need such a high-spec laptop for giving a few presentations. I would not have granted that money; the WMF did. (WMUK has now requested permission to reallocate that £1000 to buy a data projector and other peripherals, which is a far better idea, and I hope and expect the WMF will allow it.) _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
