Hi Kirill, my understanding is that Affcom functions under the Legal department, much like the Individual Engagement Grants Committee functions under the Grantmaking department. Is that so, and if not, which department is responsible for Affcom.

On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 6:24 PM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hi Pine, That's not the case. AffCom reports directly to the Board of Trustees [1] rather than to any staff department. Kirill [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Affiliations_Committee_Char… _______________________________________________ Affiliations Committee mailing list AffCom(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom

Thank you for that information, Asaf, Kirill, and James. James: my point still stands that somehow at IEGCom we are able to respond substantively to almost 100% if inquiries within 7 days. It seems to me that if we can do this at IEGCom, then asking Legal and Affcom to commit to substantively responding to all inquiries within 14 days is reasonable. There may be an exceptional case from time to time, but explanations for delays and regular updates should still be forthcoming. Users generally shouldn't need to go to Geoff or Wikimedia-l to get progress, nor should there be multiple weeks of silence from Affcom and/or Legal, especially when updates have been requested during that time. I would like to ask that the communication and timeliness issues discussed in this thread be addressed thoroughly, and that the specific actions taken be made transparent. Thank you, Pine On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: _______________________________________________ Affiliations Committee mailing list AffCom(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom

Hi Lodewijk, Let me make a few points: 1. I appreciate that Affcom is working to make its outputs more timely, especially for user group decisions. 2. I hear you say that you are under-resourced with volunteers and staff support. I appreciate that serving on Affcom is probably one of the more thankless jobs in the Wikimedia movement, and I understand that there is a Wikimedia-wide shortage of volunteers, particularly volunteers who do their jobs skillfully, who avoid conflicts of interest, and who volunteer in less visible roles in order to keep the Wikimedia movement functioning. 3. I don't hear of a need for more staff support for Affcom from the most recent Grantmaking quarterly review [1], so I am not sure if and when this is going to happen. This may be a point that Asaf can address. 4. We in Cascadia Wikimedians (and I imagine other thematic organizations) have our own timelines that we need to deal with, and needing to wait indefinitely for Affcom and Legal to make decisions makes planning difficult on our end. Also, we are losing organizational momentum while we wait. Momentum is important for the creation of organizations, and possibly for their survival. It would be a disappointment to have groups such as ours lose volunteer interest and partnership opportunities because of delays such as those that we are experiencing. 5. Prior to this discussion on Wikimedia-l, I sent emails to the liaisons and/or Affcom and/or Legal that went unanswered. Regarding our most recent subjects of discussion, we did not even hear a simple "we'll get back to you by early next week" until taking this matter to Wikimedia-l and Geoff. In the meantime during the past few weeks, I have received multiple communications from Cascadians asking what is happening, and I can only tell them that we are still waiting for Affcom and WMF Legal. 6. From my perspective as a "client" of Affcom, I continue to believe that a 14-day timeline is reasonable for most decisions or for further substantive questions to be asked. There may need to be process tweaks in order to make that happen, for example Affcom members may be given fixed deadlines by which to vote in consensus processes. Perhaps this is a discussion that Affcom should have with Asaf once it has onboarded new members with fresh energy and ideas, and perhaps Affcom could ask Anna Stillwell for ideas as well. There are trade-offs to be made between the comprehensiveness of internal discussions and timely outcomes for those discussions, and from recent experience I would say that more weight should be given to the value of timely outcomes, in addition to more transparency and frequent communication. 7. I appreciate that you are giving attention to this matter and that Affcom is making efforts to improve the situation that will achieve benefits over the next few months. I hope that Affcom will provide updates to the community and affiliates. Thank you, Pine [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF _Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_reviews/Grantmaking /September_2014 On Sat, Oct 11, 2014 at 2:55 AM, Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org> wrote: _______________________________________________ Affiliations Committee mailing list AffCom(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom

3. I don't hear of a need for more staff support for Affcom from the most recent Grantmaking quarterly review [1], so I am not sure if and when this is going to happen. This may be a point that Asaf can address.

Hi Nemo, Cascadia Wikimedians' current discussions with Affcom and WMF Legal are about some wording on the Affiliation Agreement document. We have not discussed becoming a chapter in any great detail, and as you note the WMF Board created a longevity requirement. We have had informal meetings in Cascadia for such a long time that I wonder if the WMF Board would consider a waiver in our case, but so far I think being a user group will be adequate for our needs in the near future. Hi Asaf, thanks for the info. I have previously heard comments from other affiliates about Affcom taking a long time to make decisions, but until now investigating that has been low on my priority stack. Pine _______________________________________________ Affiliations Committee mailing list AffCom(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/affcom