There is only one body that can make funding commitments: the WMF board of trustees. However, theoretically, Wikimania doesn't have to stand or fall with WMF funding. But from what I observed, there's a broad support for this type of decision by this committee among board members.

Contrary to popular belief, july/august 2018 is still quite far from now, so lets see how things develop in the coming months.

Thanks for sharing these minutes!

Best,

Lodewijk

2016-07-08 16:26 GMT+02:00 Chris Keating <chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com>:

Thanks Marc.

So - has the WMF committed to fund a 2018 Wikimania? If they haven't, then how is one going to happen?

And while I wasn't entirely sure what to make of the WMF's consultation about the future of Wikimania, I can also see some methodological flaws in conducting a consultation among the group of people who come to the "future of Wikimania" session at Wikimania.

Regards,

Chris

On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 3:18 PM, Marc-Andre <marc@uberbox.org> wrote:
On 2016-07-08 10:01 AM, Chris Keating wrote:

Interestingly, I couldn't see any sign of the Committee's decision being informed by the WMF's consultation on the future of Wikimania, or anyone from the WMF's community engagement department being present.

Wikimania is, and always was, a community led and organized event. The WMF, as its traditional biggest sponsor[1], has a great deal of influence in the matter - but ultimately no decision power beyond "fund and resource or not".

The committee's decision has indeed taken into account the consultation you refer to - as well as the roundtable discussion on the "Future of Wikimania" that took place earlier[2]. Our evaluation, which is reflected in that resolution, is that the consultation was clearly flawed and that its conclusion does not reflect consensus - neither of the community members who organize nor of those who attend Wikimania.

-- Coren / Marc

[1] Although "underwrite" might be a better term - the WMF has pretty much shouldered the vast majority of the costs and given the most logistical support year in and year out.

[2] Where the consensus was to overwhelmingly reject that consultation's conclusion in favor or continuing with Wikimania as a yearly even given its irreplaceable role in our movement.

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