The chapter in the UK is incorporated as Wiki UK and operates under the name
Wikimedia UK. There are a few reasons for this. One is as already
mentioned, if the two organizations were to every have problems, this one
would just lose its operating name and would not need to change its legal
name. If we use Wikimedia we need documentation from Wikimedia saying we
can us the name and this needs to be submitted to the Federal government.
One more thing to slow the process of incorporation. The main reason I
proposed this however is that in the documents regarding charities states a
charity needs to be completely independent and retain complete control over
all finances ( with a few exception of which Wikimedia is not one of them
). Being incorporated under a name without ties to another group will
decrease the chance of us having problems with applying for charity status.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.