Hi all, We're discussing the budget at the next board meeting - this coming Tuesday [1] - so if you want to make suggestions or comments, then now is the time to make them.
[1] see http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2010-02-16/Agenda Mike On 26 Jan 2010, at 00:22, Andrew Turvey wrote: > Now that the annual fundraiser is complete, we have started to > decide on the main things that the chapter should its money on in > the forthcoming year. In line with our philosophy of open decision > making, the board would like to share these proposals with you for > feedback and consultation before making any final decisions. Please > let us know what you think to these ideas, by replying to this > message, by personal email or by commenting on the wiki page [1] > > We raised around £85,000 in the fundraiser. [2] Of this, half will > be remitted to the Foundation, subject to legal clearance, which > leave us with £42,500 to spend on projects, administration and to > keep in reserves. We also have the remainder of our existing £5,000 > start up grant from the Foundation, but that money is already > earmarked for particular areas. [3] > > Part time Administrator > > We are considering employing a part time administrator to assist in > the running of the chapter. Wikimedia Deutschland have said that > they found employing an administrator was a significant boost to > their chapter's efficiency and we hope that we can achieve the same. > > The proposal is to employ someone at £10/hour for 8 hours per week, > rising to 12 hours per week during next year's fundraiser. They > would work from home and most of their work would be online. > Assuming they start work in June that would cost a total of £3,122. > > Please let us know whether you think in principle we should do > this, and if so, whether these numbers look sensible. > > Admin costs [4] > > We have budgeted £6,700 to cover other administrative costs. This > includes £3,000 for legal fees - including help with our charity > status application and the Fundraising Agreement - and £1,000 for > accounting and audit fees. We have also budgeted £500 to pay for > travel to a face to face board meeting, which we hope will help > boost the productivity of the next board. > > Full details are: > > Annual Accounts: 1,000 > Legal advice: 3,000 > AGM: 500 > In person board meeting: 500 > Telephone, postage etc : 200 > Insurance: 500(?) > Administrator: 3,122 > Other: 1,000 > Total: 9,822 > > Are there any other things we should add, or are there things on > this list you disagree with? > > Reserves > > Now that we have a more secure financial footing, we think it's > appropriate to start thinking about putting some money aside in > reserves, to cover us for years when we have lower that expected > income. We think £8,000 is a reasonable figure, which covers a full > year's admin expenses. We would like to build this up over two > years, putting £4,000 aside from this year's fundraiser and £4,000 > from next year. > > Projects > > This leaves £28,500 to spend on projects this year. Ideas that have > been proposed included: > > Toolserver support > > The Wikimedia Toolserver is a platform that hosts various tools > that are used on the Wikimedia projects, including vital counter- > vandalism bots. The toolserver is operated by Wikimedia Deutschland > eV with assistance from the Wikimedia Foundation. [5] > > WMDE has recently asked other chapters if they could assist in > financing and operating the toolserver. The annual budget is around > €100,000 and they would like other chapters to cover around half of > the budget - €50,000. In addition, there has been some discussion > around setting up some kind of Toolserver Association, to operate > the toolserver, with the contributing chapters as shareholders. The > timetable for this is likely to be around August 2010 before it is > established. > > Figures that have been discussed by the board range from £5,000 to > £10,000. Exact details of how we would contribute - a donation to > WMDE earmarked for the toolserver, a donation earmarked to a > particular expense or waiting and then contributing to the > Toolserver Association has not been decided. > > Do you think this would be a worthwhile contribution to make and, > if so, how much do you think would be appropriate? > > Wikimedia Usability Initiative > > Individual board members have discussed various ideas with the > Usability Initiative, the team that is working on improving the > Wikimedia interfaces. [6] As part of their work they have generated > a list of discrete projects that would all have a significant > positive impact on Wikimedia and do not currently have sufficient > funding. If we give them a budget they would be able to provide a > selection of potential projects, and we could then choose to fund > one of these, potentially one that linked in with a particular > interest of the chapter. This proposal was discussed by the board > back in October, when it was positively received, with further > action deferred until after the Fundraiser. [7] > > It's been proposed that we budget £10,000 to fund a project drawn > up by the Usability Initiative. > > Do you think this would be a worthwhile project and, if so, how > much do you think would be appropriate? > > GLAM-WIKI > > We have discussed organising a GLAM-WIKI (Galleries, Libraries, > Archives, Museums & Wikimedia) conference in the UK, along the > lines of the conference in Australia in August 2009. [8] We have > had tentative discussions with museums who would be interested and > may be able to arrange it for August 2010. The purpose of the > conference is to bring key decision makers in the "GLAM" sector > into contact with Wikimedia people to persuade them to partner with > us on content donation, partnerships like Britain Loves Wikipedia > and other ways we can help each other achieve our aims. > > Costs are expected to be in the region of £5,000, of which some or > all may be funded by the GLAM partners or through sponsorship. > > Do you think this is a worthwhile use of our resources? > > Other projects > > Other projects that have been proposed, but not yet discussed by > the board, in connection with the 2010 Budget include: > > £1,000 for a microgrant project, along the lines of Wikimedia > Poland's scheme [9] > £1,000 to sponsor Wikimedians to attend Wikimania Gdansk 2010 [10] > £500 to fund travel to museums etc for discussions on content access > £500 to assist in the development of Wikimeets > £300 to pay for members to attend free content conference [11] > £340 to fund preliminary work on Wikimania Manchester 2013 [12] > > Do you think these are worthwhile things to spend our money on? Is > there anything else you think should be added to the list? > > If you've managed to read this far then I'm impressed and thank > you! All comments are gratefully received whether on our general > approach or on specifics. > > We look forward to hearing your ideas! > > Regards, > > Andrew Turvey > Secretary > Wikimedia UK > Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited. > Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England > and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. > The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL, > United Kingdom. > > > [1] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:2010_Budget > [2] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2010-01-19/Agenda/ > Fundraiser_Report > [3] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/ > 2010_Budget#Restricted_funds_brought_forward > [4] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2010_Budget#Administrative_costs > [5] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Main_Page > [6] http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page > [7] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2009-10-20#AOB > [8] http://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/GLAM-WIKI > [9] http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F% > 2Fpl.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikikonkurs&sl=pl&tl=en > [10] http://wikimania2010.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page > [11] See list at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/ > 2010_Budget#Restricted_funds_brought_forward > [12] http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Wikimania_Bid/Bid_budget > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
