Let's get a pool going -- when will the WMF audited financial statement for fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, actually be posted to the public by the WMF?

Everyone who makes a pick is honor-bound to wager a $5 sum. The person who comes closest (over or under) to the actual date and time of the first public release will win all wagers. The winner will then name a registered and recognized non-profit charity of their choice, and all participants will be honor-bound to apply their $5 as a donation to that charity, in the name of "Mimbo Jimbo's Irresponsible Wikimedia Foundation Audit Contest".

That should raise some eyebrows at the recipient non-profit, don't you think? "Hey, Lucille, what are all these $5 PayPal donations from this 'Mimbo Jimbo' group about?"

My prediction (and my $5 pledge) are riding on: January 21, 2008; 17:11 UTC (Greenwich mean time)

Cumulative pledges = $5. (each subsequent pool participant should update this total)

Good luck and good wagering!

Greg

P.S. The auditing firm of Gregory, Sharer & Stuart boasts a motto of: Right Answers. Right Now. I guess they've failed on at least one of those brand promises already.

Haha, good one.

Hmm. March 11, 2008 at 11:00AM GMT +0. Oxfam. Cumulative pledges = $15

Is it normal for audits to take this long to be published?

Which non-profit do you have in mind? WMF?

$50 on Jan 25, 5pm EST - donations to benefit ACLU Foundation.

Total now = $65

I mis-read and thought all pledges where $5.00 so didn't explicitly state an amount, making mine not show in total. I re-made the pledge $10.00 so the total is now $75.00.

These "extra" pledges over five bucks are shaming me. I'll up my pledge to $25, so our cumulative bank is up to $105.

The office of Gregory, Sharer & Stuart has not returned my call, requesting an approximate ETA. I fired off a note to Florence and Sue, though -- we'll see if they respond.

Greg

AUDIT

The auditors' field work is complete, and I believe Oleta has now
responded to all their outstanding questions and requests. This means
the auditors will now begin to compile their report. Ordinarily this
would take about two weeks, but in this case it may take slightly
longer: 1., they still may come up with additional questions as they put
it together, and 2., because we didn't expect the audit to take so long,
they may have unavoidable commitments they need to juggle along with us
- so, we may not have their full attention. Regardless, the audit report
will be completed pretty soon - they say, before the end of the month.

We need a nickname for Sue Gardner, similar to FloFlo and Mimbo Jimbo.

Jan. 29. $20. http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ (since Wikipedia is an MMORPG anyway).

Also, it'd be nice if we could make multiple picks. I'd like to make a pick in February too, with a second bet.

Jan. 29. $20. http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ (since Wikipedia is an MMORPG anyway).

Also, it'd be nice if we could make multiple picks. I'd like to make a pick in February too, with a second bet.

KStreet, have you no sense of fairness?

Yes, waiting until the last minute (when more information is available) generally yields a more accurate prediction. Then again, as long as there is no limit to the number of times a person can enter, those who entered early guesses (which are clearly losing entries) can still re-enter and stake out a later date. To maintain fairness, it should be allowable for more than one entrant to pick the same date (in which case the winnings are split).

Although it might be more nteresting on which day of the week they release the information. People are more likely to release a story that reflects badly on them on a Friday afternoon or Saturday ...

Yes, waiting until the last minute (when more information is available) generally yields a more accurate prediction.

What, you've never made super bowl picks?

Kelly Martin will probably leak it a few days in advance.

Don't trifle with me. I run an intellectually formidable NFL pool every year.

If a Super Bowl pool is announced after Week 17, and people make picks for a winning team for $5 each, it does not stand to reason that the pool becomes a better pool if some lard-ass ponies up $60 and puts a bet on every single playoff team to win the Super Bowl. I can't believe you're even using that as a valid analogy.

I guess I'm the only one who sees that these 11th-hour, multiple pickelly-dickelly-doos as being absolutely corrosive to the original intent and spirit of this pool. If you want to run it now your way, feel free to do so. Just tell me where to send my $25 pledge after my single, solitary grown-ass-man pick of January 21st fails to win. I won't be a spineless chicken and start throwing out extra picks to cover my losses. Ruin it as you see fit. I'm not letting this turn into a Blissy/Kato slugfest. You're wrong, but I forfeit.

Greg

He doesn't get a massive financial bonus if he changes his sunny forecast at the moment he hears thunder over the horizon. Come on, Moulton.

I know we're just having fun here, but some of you guys seem to have no common sense about how a reputable prediction market is run.

Greg

Since when is it permissible in betting to withdraw a wager?

The audit is now apparently finished, as this update by Mona Venkateswaran to the audit committee wiki shows. I've yet to see any other mention. Maybe they're all getting their stories straight.

Well, this produces a problem we didn't forsee. Do we assume the audit is done now, do we wait until it's publicly viewable, or what?

Let's get a pool going -- when will the WMF audited financial statement for fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, actually be posted to the public by the WMF?

I use my magical wiki-powers to declare that the evil WordBomb FABRICATED that part of the post!

Anyway, I don't think any of us expected them to post it secretly at first...

WMF Fundraising Tax Receipts Process

Context and Background:

Historically, the Wikimedia Foundation has not consistently issued tax receipts for donations. It appears that the decision to issue a receipt has generally been prompted by a donor’s request. If receipts were issued, it was generally done in the form of a physical copy being mailed to the recipient; however, it was not tracked sufficiently by the office – i.e. with a receipt number, amount, address, etc. These receipts were not always issued in a timely manner (even when requested), and several follow-ups have frequently been required on the part of the donor.

...

Current state and next steps:

In October 2007, the Foundation began issuing standardized thank-you letters / tax receipts for all donations above $100.00, and for all donations for which the donor requested a receipt. This is a manual process: with the Office Manager customizing, printing and mailing a letter (WMF Fundraising TEMPLATE Donation Tax Receipt Letter.odt) for each donation. Currently, records of these receipts are are not consistently maintained. Also, a major donor commitment letter (WMF Fundraising TEMPLATE Donation Commitment Follow-up Letter.odt) was developed in September 2007, and since that time has routinely been sent out to confirm all donation commitments in excess of $10,000.

Next steps: beginning in February, under the guidance of the new CFOO, the Head of Development and the Office Manager should develop and implement a tax receipts process consistent with the recommendations above. Also, the new Head of Development should develop a library of standard donation documents, which should include revising and refining the donation commitment follow-up letter as required.

It is no surprise to me that the organization running a Top Ten website would not have figured out a way to automatically produce a printable PDF receipt for every donor, at the time of the transaction. This is the Wikimedia Foundation way -- spout off about freedom and knowledge, head up ass on all practical matters of the real world operation of a non-profit organization.

Tarantino, I have no idea what OpenOffice software is, but I'll assume it's some hippie-dippy Freelove version of Microsoft's monolithic Office suite. Is what you quoted above the sum total of the message? If there's more, please post it in its entirety.

It is no surprise to me that the organization running a Top Ten website would not have figured out a way to automatically produce a printable PDF receipt for every donor, at the time of the transaction. This is the Wikimedia Foundation way -- spout off about freedom and knowledge, head up ass on all practical matters of the real world operation of a non-profit organization.

Greg

WMF Fundraising Tax Receipts Process

Context and Background:

Historically, the Wikimedia Foundation has not consistently issued tax receipts for donations. It appears that the decision to issue a receipt has generally been prompted by a donor’s request. If receipts were issued, it was generally done in the form of a physical copy being mailed to the recipient; however, it was not tracked sufficiently by the office – i.e. with a receipt number, amount, address, etc. These receipts were not always issued in a timely manner (even when requested), and several follow-ups have frequently been required on the part of the donor.

The physical mailing of tax receipts also appears to be a cumbersome process, and is not clearly associated with the issuance of donation “thank you letters.”

For tax deductibility in the U.S., the IRS requires the donor to maintain a record of the donation, and for there to be a receipt for amounts in excess of $250 (For reference, see: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf). If this does not occur, donors may be disallowed from deducting their contributions to the Foundation, which may impact their willingness to donate in the future.

As a 501©(3) organization, it’s important that the WMF maintains clear records of all of its tax receipts and donations. It’s important from an IRS record-keeping standpoint, but also from an internal controls perspective. Providing a receipt for a contribution is a matter of important record, as it tracks important details with respect to donations, and also provides a reference for future follow-up questions from the donor community.

If WMF is slow and inaccurate in processing such requests for donors, it may discourage future contributions.

Recommendation:

* WMF needs to create a tracking system for its tax receipts. This should work in lockstep with donation “thank-you” letters, and should be an automatic process. If the Foundation is investigating the implementation of a new online donation tool, it should also consider donation software that allows for electronic copies of thank-you letters and donation receipts to be automatically issued via e-mail to a donor.

The receipt needs to contain a receipt number, the donation amount, the date the donation was made, and the name of the charity, accompanying tax identification number, as well as a written acknowledgement from the organization of the receipt of the funds (and whether anything was provided to the donor, in exchange for the contribution). The IRS will acknowledge an e-mail receipt as an acceptable record of donation.

* The Foundation needs to maintain a listing of all of its issued receipts. If the process is automated (using software as described above), the information should be maintained in a database. The information that needs to be recorded should contain: Tax Receipt Number, Donor Name, Amount of Donation, and Donation Date.

* In the interim period (before an automated process is established), the Foundation should track all of the receipts manually, for record-keeping purposes. This can be done on a spreadsheet, with all of the required categories of information being captures.

* The Foundation also needs to establish better processes for major donation solicitation: for example, it needs to institute a process for confirming donation commitments once they occur.

Current state and next steps:

In October 2007, the Foundation began issuing standardized thank-you letters / tax receipts for all donations above $100.00, and for all donations for which the donor requested a receipt. This is a manual process: with the Office Manager customizing, printing and mailing a letter (WMF Fundraising TEMPLATE Donation Tax Receipt Letter.odt) for each donation. Currently, records of these receipts are are not consistently maintained. Also, a major donor commitment letter (WMF Fundraising TEMPLATE Donation Commitment Follow-up Letter.odt) was developed in September 2007, and since that time has routinely been sent out to confirm all donation commitments in excess of $10,000.

Next steps: beginning in February, under the guidance of the new CFOO, the Head of Development and the Office Manager should develop and implement a tax receipts process consistent with the recommendations above. Also, the new Head of Development should develop a library of standard donation documents, which should include revising and refining the donation commitment follow-up letter as required.

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