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 Wikimedia Foundation director admits to sweetheart contract, by Gregory Kohs - for Examiner.com |
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| thekohser |
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Wikimedia Foundation director admits to sweetheart contractby Gregory Kohs October 18, 2010 QUOTE An expert on the RFP process is JaLynn Hudnall, founder of Ravenwood Forest Consulting.
...When asked what could possibly be the benefit of a $10 million tax-exempt charity operating without a formalized RFP policy, Hudnall wisecracked, "The only benefit I can imagine would be that your clothes will eventually be picked out for you, but you had better look good in orange. Any non-profit that doesn’t have formal procedures in place really should be audited. How do donors know that all this work isn’t being channeled to the President’s daughter, or that the work is even necessary?" QUOTE we finally have hard and fast proof from the executive leader of the Wikimedia Foundation that the following are in fact true: - A market research study was awarded by the WMF to Q2 Consulting
- Philippe Beaudette was the WMF employee who headed that project
- Immediately prior to working for the WMF, Beaudette was employed by Q2 Consulting
- The research study was not put out to a competitive bid before being awarded
- The WMF doesn't have a policy about when to collect bids using the RFP process
- The WMF does have a policy on purchasing and disbursements that requires supervisory approval for items greater than $250, and directorial and CFO approval for items greater than $5,000
- The Executive Director of the WMF has no idea how much the Q2 Consulting project cost
- The Executive Director thinks this state of affairs is "completely fine"
Hudnall, who oversees many millions of dollars' worth of RFP-based bids, looks at a situation like this and says, "They have a fiduciary responsibility to the people that donated funds, to do what they said they would with the money. I would have serious doubts, and alarm bells would be going off all over the place, when people say things like 'I think everything is just fine', when you have reporters knocking at the door wanting to know what your policy is." I really hope that you will share this on Facebook, Twitter, and via e-mail with your friends. Please comment on the Examiner article, too. This piece really demonstrates just how cracked is the WMF governance structure.
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| Milton Roe |
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Known alias of J. Random Troll
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Mon 18th October 2010, 6:50pm)  We finally have hard and fast proof from the executive leader of the Wikimedia Foundation that the following are in fact true: - A market research study was awarded by the WMF to Q2 Consulting
- Philippe Beaudette was the WMF employee who headed that project
- Immediately prior to working for the WMF, Beaudette was employed by Q2 Consulting
- The research study was not put out to a competitive bid before being awarded
- The WMF doesn't have a policy about when to collect bids using the RFP process
- The WMF does have a policy on purchasing and disbursements that requires supervisory approval for items greater than $250, and directorial and CFO approval for items greater than $5,000
- The Executive Director of the WMF has no idea how much the Q2 Consulting project cost
- The Executive Director thinks this state of affairs is "completely fine"
Note: over the years I have learned that whenever the CEO or spokesperson says "I don't know" to an embarassing question, and doesn't follow it up with a promise to find out and tell you the answer, it's because they never intend to speak of it again. It means they could easily find out formally, but never intend to. See plausable deniability; if somebody's going down for this, it's not going to be Sue. Sue's been talking to lawyers. I smell them. Godwin?! Did you forget to use the Speed Stick again? |
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| A User |
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Tue 19th October 2010, 10:09pm) QUOTE(thekohser @ Mon 18th October 2010, 10:19pm) Feel free to kindly Digg this story, too. Only 1 additional Digg beyond my own? Shalom, this is why you can't get together a WR-based rally toward the IRS against the WMF. I can't even get together a crowd to click a Digg button. I couldn't see it on Twitter, maybe a Tweet announcing the article is in order. |
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| thekohser |
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Last year, questions were asked of the Wikimedia Foundation staff about the cost of the 2010 Donor Survey, fielded by Q2 Consulting. These questions, asked by multiple people, were very deliberately not answered. The key question is very simple: 1. How much money was paid to Q2 Consulting by the Wikimedia Foundation for the execution of the 2010 Donor Survey?(We already know that no competitive request for proposal was issued, and we know that Philippe Beaudette was employed by Q2 Consulting prior to his employment with the Wikimedia Foundation, and we know that the WMF at the time had a policy on purchasing and disbursements that requires director-level and CFO approval for items greater than $5,000.) I would like to offer a $50 prize, contingent on the following: * First, that an official representative of the Wikimedia Foundation provide an official disclosure of the money paid to Q2 Consulting for the 2010 Donor Survey. (A visual scan of a bank check is not required, though would be authoritative; but at minimum the statement of fact must be made officially and publicly by a senior staff member of the WMF.) If the amount is greater than $5,000, it would be nice to know if the Director and CFO each approved the disbursement, per WMF policy, but it is not expected that this additional detail will be provided. * Once that information is disclosed, I will give $25 to the first person (after August 22, 2011) to have posted the "key question" above to the "Foundation-l" mailing list, so that all are aware that the question remains unanswered. * Subsequently, I will donate $25 to the Wikimedia Foundation itself, in appreciation of its inevitable, though reluctant, dedication to the principle of transparency and disclosure of key disbursements of donor-enabled funds. If you have any questions, please contact me via telephone or e-mail. Via e-mail, fifteen people have been blind-copied on this message, and it was delivered to Sue Gardner and Philippe Beaudette directly. -- Gregory Kohs Phone: 484-NEW-WIKI |
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| EricBarbour |
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blah
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QUOTE(thekohser @ Tue 23rd August 2011, 9:17am) Last year, questions were asked of the Wikimedia Foundation staff about the cost of the 2010 Donor Survey, fielded by Q2 Consulting. These questions, asked by multiple people, were very deliberately not answered. Would you like me to try asking people directly, as part of a general interview? PM me some names and phone numbers (if you have any). I'd interview Godwin, but I suspect he will either be evasive, or has signed an NDA and can't say anything. The more I look into this stuff, the more Sue Gardner and Erik Moeller look like gangsters. This post has been edited by EricBarbour: |
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