Alan Walker wrote:
The key issue here is the lack of an organized group who are dedicated enough to form the corporation. I wasn't speaking about the raising of funds. As well, what is the purpose of the organization. That was completely lost in all the debates about policy. Organizing a local bid for Wikimania would at least bring the people together for a purpose that had a tangible result.
Organizing Wikimania and WMC need to be looked upon as two different issues, and perhaps they need to move along different tracks. For Wikimania a local organizing group is sine-qua-non, and, as I have already said, I don't much care whether that group is in Toronto or Montreal.
Assuming that C-4 comes into effect before the end of the year incorporation could take place shortly afterwards, and by-laws could be submitted to a first AGM in the Wikimania city for approval. (This assumes, of course, that a Canadian city will win the bid, but any other North American city could be made to work if enough people show up.)
Under the new law, having our purposes sorted out is still an important pre-condition to incorporation. This is no longer the case for most other organizational details. I did raise some questions about purpose on the by-laws talk page, but the response was less than spectacular. Meeting the charitable purposes test for Revenue Canada is tricky business since it still depends on a definition that goes back to an English law during the time of the first Elizabeth. The Canadian government has never seen fit to bring about a modern 19th century interpretation, let alone one for the internet age. So what else is new?
I don't agree that incorporation should be left solely in the hand of an Ontario group.
Ray
2010/1/18 Ray Saintonge <saintonge@telus.net mailto:saintonge@telus.net>
brian.chick@left-button.com <mailto:brian.chick@left-button.com> wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I'm not sure what the status is, but I for one have been following > this thread, but haven't had much to say. I'm still interested in MWC > but haven't heard much in the way of updates lately either. > > As for Wikimania, I don't know enough about it to comment > intelligently. Having an organizing body (like MWC) might make a > coordinated bid a little easier, no? It would help, but is not essential. The organizing committee for the successful city would still need to maintain separate accounts to avoid miscegenation of funds. The long term interests of WMC should take precedence over a single event. Unlike the Olympics a Wikimania cannot and should not depend on bottomless sources of funds. Ray