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Re: PayPal



Salaam,
Having been working in an NGO whose funding is essentially based on donations for
more than 4 years now, I have some comments about transparency of funding, and its
spending.
Arabeyes don't owe anything to anyone, and don't have to make its expenses public.
Let me make myself clear before you accuse me of advocating lack of transparency:)
First, you have to seperate two kinds of people: those who allow Arabeyes to
continue running or concretely help it, and those others who benefit from it or are
just observers. Arabeyes definitely owes the first category transparency, reports
about expenses and so on... For the second kind, such statements and reports are
only done at Arabeyes' discretion and according to its interests. For example, it
can be of interest to show Arabeyes records to potential donators. Arabeyes owes
donators, developers, active translators and so on, some information. Arabeyes
doesn't owe anything and might not want to disclose information to those who are
just subscribing to mailing lists in order to lurk or start a flame war every once
in a while. The reason is simple, by making all your records public 1) you divert
attention to sensitive issues (where there is money there is always sensitivity)
that are not necessarily of everyone's business 2) you add unecessary noise in the
discussion, noise which most often comes from people who do not contribute one way
or another, wasting time and energy 3) you limit your freedom of decision with no
return in efficiency, credibility (people will *always* have something they don't
like about the way you spend) or whatever else in exchange for that limitation

I don't know if this is clear, because I might write out of many assumptions, so in
case you want clarifications, just ask:)
Happy New Year Moe, Nadim, and last but not least, Isam,
Chahine