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Comment by thoughtcriminal | Hacker News Reader

I donated, but yeah, I'd like to know what the operating costs are.

There's some info in their 2012-13 annual plan (PDF): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/4/4f/2012-1...

It's mostly just called "Expenses" and don't cover actual server operating costs specifically, if that's what you're looking for.

If only they provided links to that information right on the front page of their site.

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home

I donated as well (and got a bunch of others to do so, without any guilt tripping), but I don't really care what the operating costs are.

I (personally) price goods and services by the value they offer me, and not the cost of providing said goods and services.

So if it turns out Jimmy Wales always flies first class... still don't care?

Jimmy doesn't take any expenses from the Foundation. He pays his own way with things like flights and hotels even when he's on Wikipedia business.

It was just an example. It's easy to say "I don't care about what they spend their money on if I'm getting value" if they are reasonable about spending the money. But it's very easy for foundations to start spending a lot of money in ways that aren't very key to their mission.

Speaking as a long-time WP editor, if the Foundation decided to fly Wales around First Class, that sure wouldn't bother me at all. The man has devoted himself to a widely-recognized and ever-more-succesful project ... I think he deserves some perks. (A helluva lot more savory than W's frequent flights to 'cut brush' on his 'ranch'.) He's the man who's got to answer the world's questions, after all (and who was, I'll add, right about a LOT of stuff).

Do you have any sort of proof to support that claim? I've never heard anything like that, and previously "flying jimmy out to do talks" was listed as one of the things we needed to donate for.

"I take no salary or expenses from the Wikimedia Foundation because as the main "face" of the fundraiser, it's important that people understand that donor money is not for me."

http://www.quora.com/Jimmy-Wales-1/How-does-Jimmy-Wales-make...

Considering that former wikimedia executives have stated that Jimmy didn't just expense things, but abused the privilege to make wikimedia pay for personal stuff, I am not inclined to simply take Jimmy at his word. Is there anyone else vouching for him?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of...

External auditors, other board members, chapter boards, the IRS... there's plenty of oversight if Jimmy were to do something stupid expenses-wise from now on.

And there are so many unhappy-family moments with chapter politics, that if there were any good reason to think Jimmy wasn't keeping his word, that would get leaked.

>External auditors, other board members, chapter boards, the IRS... there's plenty of oversight if Jimmy were to do something stupid expenses-wise from now on.

All of that existed when he was doing this in the first place. I didn't say he was still abusing expenses, I am asking if there is any evidence to support his claim that he no longer has any expenses paid for at all. I can not find any auditors or board members supporting that claim.

Without going bough all the receipts, you can't. But can you see any auditors or board members denying the claim?

>Without going bough all the receipts, you can't.

Right, which is why claiming auditors, etc support the claim is farcical. Wikimedia financials only say "salaries" and "expenses", it isn't broken down per person.

>But can you see any auditors or board members denying the claim?

I don't know that they are even aware of the claim.

Confirming: I have served on the Board with Jimmy for three years. He takes no salary or expenses from the Foundation.

For instance, while most of our 10-person Board (who all volunteer our time) have travel and lodging for Board meetings reimbursed, he arranges his own.

To the contrary, he promotes WMF fundraising, and encourages groups to which he speaks to donate or provide in-kind support to the WMF.

Is there any evidence from auditors et al that says he his abusing it now ?

Like I said in the very post you replied to, I am not suggesting he is abusing it now. I am suggesting he draws a salary and expenses normal business expenses, but is saying otherwise.

There are details in their 2012-2013 Annual Plan PDF:

https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=File:2012-...

For example, on pp. 54-58, we see that their 2012-2013 plan expects to spend around $42 million, of which about $17.5 million goes to "Engineering". The largest area within engineering, about $6 million, is "Core Site Ops". The plan is for staffing to rise from 119 to 174 people over the year of the plan.

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