Draft Guiding principles with regards to fundraising

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Draft Guiding Principles for the Future of Fundraising

The Wikimedia movement raises funds in ways that are consistent with its mission and values.

  • Good faith: Money changes everything. Now that the Wikimedia movement is working with tens of millions of dollars, and experimenting with unprecedented revenue sharing arrangements, it is more important than ever for everyone involved to assume good faith in each others actions and intentions.
  • Transparency: All Wikimedia fundraising activities should be truthful with prospective donors. We need to tell people what we intend to use the money for, before they donate. And we need to report how it was actually spent, afterwards.
  • Fundraising in line with our mission and values: Our fundraising activities should aim to raise a movement budget using only methods that strengthen our mission and values and communicate them to all of our users and the world
  • Maximizing efficiency of fundraising: Our fundraising activities should raise the necessary funds in the shortest time with the least amount of effort possible.
  • Localization done well helps fundraising: We do better when local communities -- projects, countries, languages, regions -- participate in fundraising by suggesting ideas, giving feedback, gathering stories of editors and more, and where the donation mechanisms are appropriate for and familiar to donors in those communities
  • Controls: The solution needs to ensure funds raised are safe from fraud or misuse as determined by existing, 3rd party standards for appropriate financial controls.
  • Flexibility: The solution might be a "combination of solutions" for different situations.
  • Facilitating cross-border funds flow: The Wikimedia movement is international in scope. The solution needs to support the easiest possible transfer of money internationally, in support of the movement's priorities.
  • Donor diversity: The Wikimedia movement relies on small donations from a large group of donors, rather than on big donations from very few donors.
  • Supports sustainable donor relations and recognises that donor data gathered during the fundraiser is an asset to the movement, with future volunteers, editors, and partners contained in our current donors.
  • Avoids liability and unnecessary legal exposure for the Wikimedia projects