[Wikimedia-l] Question: How do we define lobbying?

[Matthew Roth]

On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 8:37 AM, Fae <faewik at gmail.com> wrote:

> In a workshop in the Milan conference, there was a break-out
> discussion led by Iolanda (WMIT) on lobbying. There is a lot of
> interest in finding ways of supporting change in copyright legislation
> and open knowledge access in as many countries as possible.
>
> One of the interesting features of the WMF agreement when providing
> funds under the FDC process is that this money should not be used for
> lobbying. During the coffee break I had a quick chat with Garfield
> (the WMF CFO) about a possible clarification. My understanding from
> that chat was that if there were valid reasons for lobbying in support
> of our cause, this should be a separate grant for traceability
> reasons, it is not intended to imply a blanket ban, but traceability
> is needed to satisfy the IRS. If a chapter has separate income from
> the WMF, then there is no concern as this is a matter for the
> individual chapter board and membership to worry about.
>
> I think this is a useful clarification, and this ought to be followed
> up as an action from our workshop.
>
> I would welcome any comments from the wider community on what sorts of
> lobbying as a movement that we definitely want to support, encourage
> and possibly provide funds for, and if we could come to a clearer
> definition of what lobbying is (such as political protest) and things
> we do as a community that is not quite lobbying, even though it may
> relate to government legislation (such as publishing a white paper
> with our summary of the benefits of changes in copyright law).
>

As a former employee of a non-profit/NGO who lobbied at the state level in
the U.S., I believe that there should be clear guidance in each country
about what constitutes lobbying and how much of it an employee of a
non-profit/NGO can do. This may not be the case everywhere, but there were
very specific prescriptions on how much time/money a non-profit could spend
on lobbying (defined as advocating or opposing legislation at a local,
state or national level). It was a very small portion of the work we could
do legally before we would lose our non-profit status.

-Matthew


>
> Cheers,
> Fae
> --
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-- 

Matthew Roth
Global Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
+1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
www.wikimediafoundation.org
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