There's a few "fundraising" stories kicking around, but I hadn't noticed newsfeed pick up this snippet:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/14/ma...inds_wikiboard/
One to watch in the coming months...
Full Version: WMF board of advisors appointment
Brandt wrote a post about Roger McNamee a year ago that was added to the blog:
Roger McNamee and Wikipedia: Here’s how it will unfold
Roger McNamee and Wikipedia: Here’s how it will unfold
QUOTE(Daniel Brandt)
Wikimedia Foundation’s budget keeps increasing by hiring more staff. A year from now, another huge McNamee-arranged donation is dangled in front of them, and they have no choice but to accept it because they have to meet their payroll. Around then, Godwin steps in and announces that the Foundation cannot meet the public support test and has to reincorporate as a for-profit, or at least spin off a for-profit the way that Mozilla Foundation spun off Mozilla Corporation.
Jimbo makes more noise about how he had no idea, blah, blah, and it’s unfortunate that the Board didn’t see this coming and sound the alarm. But the law is the law, and we have to follow Godwin’s lead on this.
As soon as the payroll is shifted onto the Corporation budget instead of the Foundation budget, all disclosure disappears overnight. A privately-held corporation has to pay taxes, but they don’t have to disclose anything other than their Board of Directors and the name and address of a registered corporate agent.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
Jimbo makes more noise about how he had no idea, blah, blah, and it’s unfortunate that the Board didn’t see this coming and sound the alarm. But the law is the law, and we have to follow Godwin’s lead on this.
As soon as the payroll is shifted onto the Corporation budget instead of the Foundation budget, all disclosure disappears overnight. A privately-held corporation has to pay taxes, but they don’t have to disclose anything other than their Board of Directors and the name and address of a registered corporate agent.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
QUOTE(Kato @ Thu 15th January 2009, 7:22am) 
Brandt wrote a post about Roger McNamee a year ago that was added to the blog:
Roger McNamee and Wikipedia: Here’s how it will unfold
QUOTE(Daniel Brandt)
Wikimedia Foundation’s budget keeps increasing by hiring more staff. A year from now, another huge McNamee-arranged donation is dangled in front of them, and they have no choice but to accept it because they have to meet their payroll. Around then, Godwin steps in and announces that the Foundation cannot meet the public support test and has to reincorporate as a for-profit, or at least spin off a for-profit the way that Mozilla Foundation spun off Mozilla Corporation.
Jimbo makes more noise about how he had no idea, blah, blah, and it’s unfortunate that the Board didn’t see this coming and sound the alarm. But the law is the law, and we have to follow Godwin’s lead on this.
As soon as the payroll is shifted onto the Corporation budget instead of the Foundation budget, all disclosure disappears overnight. A privately-held corporation has to pay taxes, but they don’t have to disclose anything other than their Board of Directors and the name and address of a registered corporate agent.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
Jimbo makes more noise about how he had no idea, blah, blah, and it’s unfortunate that the Board didn’t see this coming and sound the alarm. But the law is the law, and we have to follow Godwin’s lead on this.
As soon as the payroll is shifted onto the Corporation budget instead of the Foundation budget, all disclosure disappears overnight. A privately-held corporation has to pay taxes, but they don’t have to disclose anything other than their Board of Directors and the name and address of a registered corporate agent.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
I don't think Brandt has the consequences right. If WMF cannot meet the standard of "publicly supported" because of a sugar daddy it does not become a "for profit" It become a private foundation. It cannot appropriate the resources donors and foundations gave and apply to a "for profit" purpose. It will have to pay excise tax on it's investments. It will either have to provide additional assurance of promptly distributing revenues for a charitable purpose and against self dealing or it will have to pay income tax too, as well as no longer provide tax deduction for donors, large nor small.
Sugar Daddies are still a concern. The fat cats' influence is very apt to be more corrupting than running ads.
not legal advice *** discussion purposes only *** consult a local attorney
QUOTE
BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio.
The "what if George W. Bush doesn't want an article" straw man that haunts every BLP opt-out proposal would not exist if people did not so casually advocate scenarios that allow for it.
QUOTE(Kato @ Fri 16th January 2009, 7:18am)
The Register reported that Roger McNamee, a previous large donor to the WMF, had finally found his way onto the WMF board,
That would be the Board of Advisors, which I don't believe has any particular legal standing (somebody better informed than I can feel free to correct me), not the Board of Trustees which is what one would generally mean when one said "the WMF board".
QUOTE(sarcasticidealist @ Fri 16th January 2009, 3:14pm)
QUOTE(Kato @ Fri 16th January 2009, 7:18am)
The Register reported that Roger McNamee, a previous large donor to the WMF, had finally found his way onto the WMF board,
That would be the Board of Advisors, which I don't believe has any particular legal standing (somebody better informed than I can feel free to correct me), not the Board of Trustees which is what one would generally mean when one said "the WMF board".That's right. The WMF advisory committee has been neglected and something of a joke. Some non-profits make good use of such committees by having knowledgeable work-a-day people on the board of directors and luminaries, who lend their name but don't invest much work, on the advisory committee. This is probably a nod in that direction. Such a committee has no decision making power although members may be assigned to working committees of the board of directors, and may even vote on committee work.
The threat of Sugar Daddy dominance would likely come from informal influence.
QUOTE(sarcasticidealist @ Fri 16th January 2009, 8:14pm)
QUOTE(Kato @ Fri 16th January 2009, 7:18am)
The Register reported that Roger McNamee, a previous large donor to the WMF, had finally found his way onto the WMF board,
That would be the Board of Advisors, which I don't believe has any particular legal standing (somebody better informed than I can feel free to correct me), not the Board of Trustees which is what one would generally mean when one said "the WMF board".That is correct. Given that Macnamee is a huge donor to the WMF, who no doubt has some alterior motives, and given that Elevation has been accused of an agenda to buy wikipedia, the conspiracy theories here are endless.
However, buying his way onto the advisory board, is at a much lower level than being on the real board. The advisory board is even more irrelevant than the real board.
The difference between these possibilities is like the difference between selling a donor an hour of influence through a dinner at the Whitehouse, and selling him a seat on the Senate. (Not that anyone would do that!)
QUOTE
As soon as the payroll is shifted onto the Corporation budget instead of the Foundation budget, all disclosure disappears overnight. A privately-held corporation has to pay taxes, but they don’t have to disclose anything other than their Board of Directors and the name and address of a registered corporate agent.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
Now the McNamee donations are ready to be treated, privately, as an “investment.†Ads start appearing on Wikipedia. Professional editors are hired. BLP victims are offered a no-questions opt-out if they don’t want a bio. (With professional editors, the Corporation is clearly a publisher, not a service provider. You can’t put up with lawsuits when you’re an attractive target due to the fact that there’s money in the bank.)
McNamee takes his cut. Jimbo flies first-class everywhere, and even upgrades his flashlight to a better model. Everyone is happy.
Actually, I hope it all happens this way. It’s much more reasonable than the mess we have today.
If you have to PAY to remove material, Jimbo and Co. can set whatever price they want.
"Oh, a Hollywood star wants the allegations of marital infidelity removed from her BLP?
That'll be $2.5 million, please. Send it to our special seekrit account in the Caymans."
(actually, I doubt WP will become important enough to be able to charge such prices.
Their popularity is declining. If Jimbo wanted to make REAL money, he'd start
a celebrity-gossip wiki.....)
QUOTE(sarcasticidealist @ Fri 16th January 2009, 8:14pm)
QUOTE(Kato @ Fri 16th January 2009, 7:18am)
The Register reported that Roger McNamee, a previous large donor to the WMF, had finally found his way onto the WMF board,
That would be the Board of Advisors, which I don't believe has any particular legal standing (somebody better informed than I can feel free to correct me), not the Board of Trustees which is what one would generally mean when one said "the WMF board".Thanks. I'll amend.
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