Meeting:2015 AGM/Treasurer's Report

Annual Financial Statements

The attached financial statements will be submitted to Consumer Affairs Victoria as part of our annual information statement.

• 2014-15 Wikimedia Australia Annual Financial Statements.pdf

The association held assets of $66,463 at 30 June 2015, on a cash basis.

Income

We received a total of $1,351 revenue for the year, a similar amount to previous years. This included $500 in membership dues, and $126 in interest payments.

Donations were our largest category of income, with $725 received from eight individuals over the year, more than double the previous year's figure. Only one of these donors was a member of the association. Based on improvements to the donations process, and the quantity of donations received so far, donations are expected to increase in the next reporting period.

There was no other revenue to report.

In-kind support

Linux Users Victoria provides web hosting for the Wikimedia Australia website.

Expenditure

Our total operating expenses for the year amounted to $15,449. As we have no paid staff, this is primarily made up of administrative costs, and reimbursements to volunteers for expenses.

Some of the programs which make up this total for the year include:

• A 'face to face' planning meeting during October 2014 to produce the 2015 Annual Plan.
• The payment of travel expenses for two members to attend Wikimedia Conference 2015, with other expenses covered by Wikimedia Deutschland.
• Travel associated with edit training at THATcamp Canberra 2014, the Women of Science WikiBomb, and Women of Neuroscience WikiBomb, which each received varying amounts of media attention.
• The Volunteer Support Programme and Camera Equipment Program each had two applications, totalling approximately $1614.48.

Because of the contribution of volunteers, many activities are carried at minimal or no expense to the association. Some examples over this reporting period include:

• Community meetups held near capital cities.
• A presentation series held in partnership with ALIA throughout the year.
• Edit training for librarians from Toowoomba Region, Golf Queensland (in conjunction with State Library of Queensland), Moggill Historical Society.
• The WikiD Women in Architecture workshop series.

Concluding remarks

Our organisation continues to evolve, and this year has seen considerable change:

• We connected our finances with the wider movement by participating in the inaugural Chapter-wide Financial Trends Report (published in June 2015).
• A renewed focus has been given to oversight and accountability, with regular publication of financial data for the information of donors and members, as well as the use of an annual plan to provide budget guidance. Excluding event reports, 17 pieces of financial information have now been released relating to this reporting period. The final item will be the next chapter-wide report, due next year.
• We are in the early stages of setting up a blog, which will provide a place which can be used to post regular, public communications, such as event reports and meetup notices. This content is aggregated among the global English-speaking community.
• Making a donation is now easier and more secure, with the introduction of PayPal donation buttons and HTTPS security on the main Wikimedia Australia website. Most of our donors are not members.
• We've removed administrative bottlenecks associated with our geography by moving our banking operations from Bendigo Bank to Westpac.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues at Wikimedia Australia for their support in pursuing these key initiatives, all of which will have a positive impact on our finances for years to come.