Does Omidyar Networks prior investment in Wikia create any kind of conflict of interest?
No. Wikia and the Wikimedia Foundation are independent organizations which share a founder, Jimmy Wales. Since Omidyar Network has a strong interest in social media and the online collaboration it allows, it’s not surprising that Omidyar Network is interested in wikis, and has supported organizations that host wikis, including Wikia and Socialtext. Is Omidyar Network grant to Wikimedia restricted or unrestricted? This is an unrestricted grant. Why did the Wikimedia Foundation invite Matt Halprin to join its Board? Matt’s background and skills are a great fit for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, which has had two “expertise” (non-community) seats vacant since last April. Matt is a Board member of several other non-profit organizations, which means he will bring general non-profit governance and oversight experience to Wikimedia. His background at eBay gives him a good understanding of issues related to online community, trust, reputation, privacy and content quality: all key
