Mailing List Archive

[Wikimedia-l] Re: The Endowment, again
On Thu, 2 Mar 2023 at 09:26, <myindigolife@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Why didn't WMF do the groundwork for transferring the endowment funds from
> Tides to a WMF 501(c)3 given that there were over SIX long years to make
> such plans?
>
> Why does WMF STILL not know how to effect this transfer or when it will be
> completed, despite the passage of six months?
>

The timeline of when the IRS would grant 501(c)3 status was completely out
of the control of the WMF; they could make the application in a timely way,
but they could not be certain at what point this status would be granted.
I think we all recognize this; the IRS is a governmental organization whose
decision-making process and timeline are completely outside of the control
of the WMF, Wikipedia, or any other third party. While the WMF could
reasonably expect a positive decision, it had no way of being certain when
that decision would come.

I have little doubt that many of the same people complaining of how long it
is taking to move things around *now* would also complain if staff had been
hired for an entity that didn't yet exist, based on the prospect that it
would eventually exist. Since the 501(c)3 didn't yet exist, all of its
staffing costs would have come out of the WMF budget at the same time that
other areas were being cut back in relation to lower-than-expected
fundraising. I've got a lot more liberal a view of WMF spending than many
others in this thread, and even I think that would have been a really poor
use of limited resources.

It's not causing any form of disruption to make these changes in a
deliberate and thoughtful manner. Everyone can take a deep breath.

Risker/Anne