Earlier today we uploaded the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2008/2009 Annual Plan presentation and Questions and Answers page to the Wikimedia Wiki.  These materials were approved at the June 20 Board of Trustees meeting.  They can be accessed via the Finance Report page.

Posting our plan and (hopefully) answering some of your questions in advance is part of our commitment to providing transparent information about the Foundation’s goals and spending.

The Annual Plan lays out projected spending through the next fiscal year (which for us starts today and runs the rest of the year).  The plan describes spending in our three main operational areas: technology, programming, and finance and administration.  We also introduce our 2008/2009 organizational goals, which we hope to discuss in more detail in the coming months.

For your information and awareness!

Jay Walsh
Head of Communications

I am pleased to welcome Rebecca Handler as Wikimedia Foundation’s Major Gifts Officer, and Rand Montoya as Head of Community Giving. Rebecca will start officially on August 4. Rand will start officially on July 7.

Rebecca most recently consulted with the Branson School providing fundraising recommendations, training Alumni in donation solicitation and writing fundraising materials.  Prior to the Branson School, Rebecca worked for the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco where she implemented a comprehensive fundraising plan for the new $83MM community center, managed a portfolio of Major Donor relationships and directed an Annual Plan for the Center’s preschools. Her previous experience included work for the Lighthouse for the Blind & Visually Impaired and Project Bread, a program raising money for emergency food
programs. Rebecca has an M.B.A from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Rand has over 10 years experience working in the non-profit sector and is an experienced development professional.  He comes to us from the American Red Cross (Bay Area Chapter) where he served as the Development Services Manager.  In that role, he directed a $3MM per year fundraising program.  Prior to that, Rand was with the Alta Bates Foundation as the Information Systems Coordinator. Rand also spent 5 years with Hospice of Marin where he worked in various database and fundraising capacities. Rand holds a degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rebecca and Rand are thrilled to be joining us and garnering further support for the Foundation’s mission.

–
Veronique Kessler
Chief Financial and Operating Officer

FYI, the following was sent out from the Foundation’s press office earlier today.  Still time for press registration for Wikimania:

PRESS REGISTRATION FOR WIKIMANIA 2008 IN ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT CLOSING JUNE 18, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, CA June 13, 2008 - Press Registration for Wikimania 2008, the annual conference for the volunteers, contributors, and stakeholders of Wikimedia’s free knowledge projects, concludes next week on Wednesday, June 18. Wikimania 2008 will take place July 17-19, 2008 in Alexandria Egypt, on and around the grounds of the new Library of Alexandria.

Wikimania is an exceptional opportunity to explore topics related to the global expansion of free knowledge and internet-based collaboration.  Hundreds of Wikimedia volunteers and software developers from around the world, as well as regional experts and enthusiasts will be in attendance.

Accredited members of the press can register on-line at:
http://wm08reg.wikimedia.org/pressRegistration/

Limited bookings for accommodations in Alexandria are available on a first-signed-up, first-offered basis.

For more information about Wikimania 2008, visit:
http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/

For more information about Bibliotheca Alexandria, visit:
http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx

For more information about the Wikimedia Foundation’s projects, including Wikipedia, visit:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects

For further questions, use the contact information in the Wikimedia Press room.

In July 2008, the Wikimedia Foundation, in collaboration with UNU-Merit, plans to launch the first general survey of Wikimedia readers and contributors (with a focus on Wikipedia). This survey will ask questions on:

• demographics (gender, profession, etc.)
• factors which influence whether people contribute or not
• topic and activity areas of interest for readers and contributors
• awareness of Wikipedia sister projects and the Wikimedia Foundation

The more languages we can present this survey in, the better! It will give us invaluable information about who our audience and our contributors are to different language Wikimedia projects, allowing for comparisons across languages and cultures. The anonymized data from this survey will be freely licensed.

If you speak and write languages other than English fluently, please help us to translate the survey.

Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Wikimedia Commons is the multimedia repository used by all Wikimedia Foundation projects (Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource, and so on). With more than 2.8 million freely licensed photographs, sounds, and videos it is a treasure trove of rich media. The global Wikimedia community goes to great lengths to find high quality multimedia content and to release it freely: Wikimedians organize trips to foreign countries to take photos, they attend events to shoot celebrities, they spend hours restoring historical pictures. A new project, the “Valued Images” selection, seeks to identify the most valuable image contributions to the project. In doing so, it recognizes that taking a reasonable photo of an elusive celebrity can be just as much work as producing a fantastic panorama.

When browsing Wikipedia, we may often take for granted that so many articles include photographs and high quality illustrations. But just like the text, much of the multimedia in our projects is the result of the passionate dedication of our contributors. Identifying the most valued images in Wikimedia Commons is a good way to honor these contributions.

Erik Möller, Deputy Director

It should come as no shock to a reader of any of the Wikimedia projects that volunteers are chronic inter-communicators. Whether it’s on any of the millions of article discussion pages, or via Wikimedia’s dozens of contributor-maintained email lists, conversation and communication is central to the success of the projects.

But among that mix, you may not be aware of four projects that contributors have been working on for a number of years.

One is Wikizine, an independent, internal news bulletin which has been around since late 2005. Wikizine, under the confident helming of long-term volunteer Walter, provides a Wikimedia wide view of new technologies, challenges, and editorial observations from the projects. Other volunteers are welcome to contribute, and it’s also routinely translated into German and Spanish.

The Wikipedia Signpost, which started in 2005, is decidedly Wikipedia focussed, hence its name. Founded by one of our current board members, the Signpost, like all of Wikimedia’s projects, is 100% volunteer driven. Regular WP users can insert scripts into their user page, or on any relevant page to have the Signpost delivered right to their door. Aside from diving into WP related stories, there’s also WikiWorld, a regular comic strip, featured media, and reports of ongoing wiki dispute resolution and arbitration.

If audio is more your flavor, also consider subscribing to the Wikipedia Weekly podcast, or the aptly named sister project, Not-The-Wikipedia-Weekly podcasts. Two well-programmed approaches to user-generated discussions.

Beyond that there are dozens, if not hundreds of further discussions about the projects both in-wiki and in other off-line formats. Add a comment with your links and additions to this not exhaustive list.

J. Walsh
Head of Communications

Earlier today I sent a note to some of our public mailing lists to advise that our 2006 IRS Form 990 (covering the fiscal year of July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007) was filed electronically with the IRS on May 12. This is a required annual filing related to our status as a U.S. non-profit, charitable foundation.

This form, in a slightly amended version, must be available publicly at our office site. As a service to the community and the public, we are pleased to be sharing a PDF version of the filing on the Wikimedia Foundation website.

In anticipation of any questions, we have also prepared a Question and Answer sheet also posted on the Foundation wiki.

Of course we’d be happy to field any other questions you might have.

Regards,

Véronique Kessler
Chief Financial and Operating Officer

Earlier this month Wikimedia Foundation General Counsel Mike Godwin participated in the latest Berkeley Cybersalon event. Alongside recently published author and journalist Farhad Manjoo and blogger Zo Spencer, Mike tackled the topic of life in a “post fact” society; one which is punctuated by the belief that truth may be in the eye of the masses, and not with the traditional intellectual authorities.

The talk was taped by Fora.tv and is now available for free viewing on-line.

J. Walsh, Head of Communications

Greetings from Palo Alto, California!

Some folks from Wikimedia have joined the ranks of numerous wiki enthusiasts at this year’s Recent Changes Camp.  Big questions and conversations circulate…

• who wikis?
• how can we wiki better?
• what will wikipedia look like in 20 years?
• how to retain and grow users and volunteers

Among dozens of great discussions and presentations, Ed Chi of PARC talked about some of their recent research on the users of Wikipedia, how they edit, and what that looks like - including the WikiDashboard.

Lots of photos on the Wikimedia Commons.

The camp continues tomorrow!  Still time to drop by. Thanks to Socialtext, Wikihow, Aboutus, WIkia, SolSeed.net, and Atlassian - and to all the volunteers who are making it happen.

J. Walsh, Head of Communications

Greetings from Maker Faire 2008 here in San Mateo, California! This busy event is attracting hordes of people from all over the Bay Area and beyond. The Wikimedia booth, manned by volunteers and staff alike, is getting a constant barrage of persons interested in all of the Wikimedia sites.

A number of people are shocked when they find out they can edit themselves, and for a few, their first experience in editing is taking place today, right here at the Wikimedia booth.

I’ve included a few photographs to demonstrate a bit of what took place. More photos are available at the Maker Faire gallery on Wikimedia Commons.

Cary Bass, Volunteer Coordinator.