I'm afraid I don't really see the logic in this. Even if we assume for a moment that the WMF is sitting on top of an enormous, inexhaustible pile of cash, it doesn't make sense that it should just splash that money around on community initiatives without carefully assessing whether it is the best possible use for that money, and whether additional cash would actually lead to increased benefits. I'm quite skeptical about the idea that flying an additional bunch of people for a holiday in Germany, at considerable expense to the movement, is really the most cost-effective way to develop Wikidata. It seems especially odd to me that one would be upset about an event like this not being adequately funded, when it appears that the organisers got 100% of the funding that they requested.
Cheers, Craig On 29 June 2017 at 04:39, David Cuenca Tudela <[email protected]> wrote: > Dariusz, > > What is the point of spending the funds frugally if our mission is not > accomplished? Why do we need to compare an event of this magnitude to a > small chapter? > > The money is there to be used, not to sit on top of it without knowing what > to do with it. If the WMF doesn't know what to do with it, at least it > should go back to the community in the form of grants like this one. And if > that is not feasible, then it should be given back to donnors. And if that > is not feasible, then we should stop taking so much money because it seems > that we don't need it. Or do we? > > Cheers, > Micru > > On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 8:02 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > hi David, > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 7:52 PM, David Cuenca Tudela <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Recently the review for the Wikidata conference grant application has > > > started, and I have complained that the funds allocated are insuficient > > to > > > cover the needs of the grants. The requested amount for the grants was > > > 36,000 EUR, but in my opinion that should be at least 72,000 EUR. > > > > > > > You realize that this is pretty much what an annual budget of a small > > Wikimedia chapter is, right? > > > > > > > I have the feeling that the WMF is sitting on a pile of money just > giving > > > breadcrumbs to the community, and the community has to suffer in > silence > > > about this stinginess. > > > > > > > The WMF, just as the movement, has a responsibility to our donors, to > spend > > the money wisely and frugally. We surely do not always do so, but we try. > > > > > > > > > Why are there two standards? One standard seems to be that everything > > that > > > > > the WMF needs to allocate can go unsupervised, whereas another standard > > > seems to apply to community activities where every penny is so > supervised > > > that it becomes a pain in the ass to organize anything big. > > > > > > > The WMF's spending is actually reviewed and commented on by the community > > and the FDC. > > > > > > > > > The Wikidata Conference needs more funds to be a success and I think > that > > > in the grand scheme of things, the money requested is just peanuts > > compared > > > to the money that the WMF has collected from donors. > > > > > > > I believe we have a responsibility to treat our donor's contributions > with > > respect and care. I don't think that 70k Euro is peanuts, and rarely you > > will find any foundation or NGO considering such an amount to be > > insignificant. > > > > best, > > > > dariusz > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > -- > Etiamsi omnes, ego non > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
