Good morning Mike, (and Charles and Harry), Answers in-line.
On 20 July 2014 00:07, Michael Peel <em...@mikepeel.net> wrote: > Hi Richard/WMUK staff, > > I'm rather puzzled by this. Given that: > > 1) WMUK cannot raise funds through the Wikimedia annual fundraising > campaign any more, which means that the number of donors through that > method will not be increasing, and that the apparent alignment of this > position with the fundraising period (the position wraps up at the end of > Jan 2015) is rather misleading (unless WMUK is planning to compete against > the annual fundraiser); > You are completely correct, WMUK cannot raise funds through the Wikimedia annual fundraising campaign any more, which means that the number of donors through that method will not be increasing. But we still have a large number of monthly and occasional donors. These need stewarding and their payment monitored and processed, their queries answered and their gift aid 'paperwork' dealt with. This is a lot of work -at the backend' and needs to be done professionally if we are to keep these donors, encourage them to increase their donations and make sure that all the processing is dealt with properly. > 2) WMUK already has a staff member who is focused on fundraising, and many > other staff members who can help with the administration work; > Katherine's main role will be looking for major fundraising opportunities to enable the chapter to develop further. The FDC funding is fairly static and we need to be able to gain financial support from big trusts and institutions for the ambitious protect, eg. around software development, that we would like to undertake. It is my judgement, and that of the board's that we should offer her temporary support to allow her to use her professional fundraising skills to more effect. As to the 'many' other staff members. Discounting the temporary 4 Wikimania staff I wonder where these 'many other staff members' with the capacity to help are? Take Stevie off comms and external work? Take Jonathan off his GLAM work? Take Toni off his Education work? Take Katie off volunteer support? Take Robin of his work in Wales? Take Richard S off his finance work - which has increased dramatically since we were able to manage with a volunteer treasurer? Take Daria away from running our programmes? That leaves Richard N who is up to his eyes, especially with FDC reporting and managing our civicrm work etc etc.. So we might appear 'many' but in reality we are few and only human and work long hours. > 3) This position wasn't included in WMUK's FDC application last year, with > the implication that funding for this position is not guaranteed in the > long run, despite the comment that the position "may be renewable based on > evaluation of its effect"; > You are quite right. The funding is not guaranteed, hence the temporary contract. If we find it helps pay for itself, we are currently undertaking a review of our fundraising ambitions. The FDC provides roughly two thirds of our funding which means as an independent charity and chapter we have the flexibility to make local decisions. 4) Volunteers are being excluded from assisting with this work; > If a volunteer comes forward who is willing to commit themselves to this work we would certainly welcome that as an option. In reality, and we know this through our work over Wikimania, we have a limited pool of active volunteers to draw on, many have jobs or other commitments in their lives, and most want to volunteer in areas that relate to editing not back room administration. > 5) WMUK has so far done nothing to seek funding outside of individual > donors to the Wikimedia movement via the Wikimedia websites, and has not > shared any plans to do anything along these lines any time soon, > > how is this staff position being justified? Wouldn't it be better to > invest in volunteer support work instead, given the current funding > situation? > We have been seeking funding from outside projects. We are doing a complete review of fundraising, see the last board meeting, which will report to the Board in October with a final paper in December. If we are to make the impact we want we will need the funding to extend our dev projects, Wikimedians in Residence, the VLE etc. This does not preclude volunteer development which must go hand in hand. Specifically in terms of fundraising I know Katherine is considering how to harness the energy of our community. I know your strong and properly held views but the chapter has changed a great deal from the days when a volunteer board could try and manage everything. We are in a highly regulated sector with financial, administrative and governance duties that mean we need support staff to be well run. Jon > > Thanks, > Mike > > On 18 Jul 2014, at 14:26, Richard Nevell <richard.nev...@wikimedia.org.uk> > wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Wikimedia UK are now accepting applications for a Fundraising Assistant > to support the delivery of the charity's fundraising programme, in > particular working with our donors and undertaking the essential > administrative tasks involved with donor stewardship. > > > > If you are interested in applying, more details can be found here. The > deadline for applications is 5pm BST on Friday 1st August 2014. > > > > Regards, > > Richard Nevell > > > > -- > > Richard Nevell > > Assistant Office Manager > > Wikimedia UK > > +44 (0) 20 7065 0753 > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). > > Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control > over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents. > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia UK mailing list > > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk -- *Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 tweet @jonatreesdavies Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990. Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
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