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[Geert Lovink]

Talkin' about becoming critical and the different ways one can  
practice it.... how about the current donation campaign?

On Dave Winer's scripting.com blog

http://scripting.com/stories/2010/11/29/jimmyWalesDayOnTheInternet.html

Gregory Kohns writes:

"I wonder when the news media will figure out that the Wikimedia  
Foundation spends on program services only 41 cents of every dollar  
they scam from donors, which earns them ONE STAR (out of four!) from  
Charity Navigator in organizational efficiency. In fact, their KPMG  
audit discovered that it only takes about $2.5 million to keep the  
servers running, provide ample bandwidth, and staff a team of code  
developers to keep things running smoothly. Why, then, is the ask for  
$20 million?

I also wonder why the news media never thought to cover the 2009 story  
of how the Wikimedia Foundation needed extra office space, and as if  
by magic, they hand-picked Jimmy Wales' for-profit corporation to be  
their landlord, THEN obtained competitive bids, THEN asked Wales' for- 
profit company to match the average of the competitive bids.

I too wonder why the media don't seem to care that the 2010 market  
research study of past Wikimedia Foundation donors was awarded to the  
former employer of the WMF staffer running the project, without any  
competitive bidding whatsoever. And when the Executive Director of the  
Wikimedia Foundation was asked how much the project cost, the guy  
asking the question was banned from the online discussion."