Grants:APG/Appeals regarding FDC process/2012-2013 round1
This page is for appeals to the Ombudsperson regarding the FDC process. Please add your topic to this page.
Question about donors, donations and allocations
Regarding FDC portal/2012/FDC members [1] the question was posed at Talk:FDC portal/2012/FDC members#Question about donors, donations and allocations:
Hi, could someone please clarify where the bulk of the $10 million to be distributed comes from? Presumably it's mostly from donors in the United States. How many donors really donate/d from Poland or India or Bangladesh? If so, why is there only one board member from the USA who will help make decisions about the allocations? The national origins of the board members should at least roughly reflect where the largest proportions of donations to this fund are coming from. Thank you. IZAK (talk) 07:13, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
Hi IZAK. I will summarize here the feedback I received from the WMF fundraising team (concerning the origin of the funds), and the WMF Board of Trustees representatives on the FDC (concerning the national origins of the FDC members).
The largest sum of donations comes indeed from the US (over $20 million in 2011-12). So that you have an idea, India has $ 371 thousand and Poland has over $ 104 thousand.
The concern, when the Board selected the FDC members, was to have a regional balance in the committee. The ideal composition would have representatives of every region in the world. This was clearly not possible, but the FDC has different perspectives, since there are not two members from the same country, and diversity is important for the movement.
In tune with the Wikimedia movement fundament, the one that gives the biggest donation should not have the strongest voice deciding where the funds should be allocated. The movement may choose to spend it where it is more needed. This is also the principle when you donate knowledge to the projects, you do not decide where it is used, you share it to the whole world. Also, it is the Board of Trustees that decides the funds allocations in the end.
I hope I was able to concey the message, and that it was helpful. Lusitana (talk) 10:59, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
Any reply to a published criticism?
I have added to the Wikimedia Foundation article a criticism, that was published by The Register on 20 December 2012, here. I'm interested in reading any reply to it. --DancingPhilosopher (talk) 12:25, 11 January 2013 (UTC)