On 23 May 2013 11:19, <fab...@unpopular.org.uk> wrote: > I would suggest that if people are serious about going for a substantial > slice of funding, then they work up the idea and then see if the concensus > of the community is ready to back them. At that stage, it will then be a > matter of finding funders interested in the project.
I think Fabian's comment has merit. But there is surely more going on here. Taking the Wikimania bid as a relevant example: yes, a motivated smallish group is a good place to start. To avoid chicken-and-egg issues, I don't think people beginning with a blank sheet of paper, in a complete vacuum of prospects, is likely to be the most fruitful in terms of outcomes. Any application by the charity is going to have to be signed off by the Board. Some sort of "incubator" for ideas would seem to be required, that had input from the Board, probably only via vague steers though. Jon used the word "nimble", which sums up fairly well what Google can be presumed to have sought in giving a timescale of just a few weeks. That sort of timescale is certainly not compatible with building a consensus from scratch. Finally, WMUK does have a fundraiser. Katherine Bavage (I know) was dealing with key Gift Aid matters when the bid came up, which is a classic "bird in hand versus two in bush" situation. External grant funding would end up on her desk, in any practical scenario with forms to fill. Said nimbleness and agility would probably be based on position papers, and the office staff having been given time to anticipate the issues. Charles _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
