Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make available the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit them for official consideration.
I'd like comments or questions and concerns.
Thanks, Gerald.
On 9/4/07, Gerald A geraldablists@gmail.com wrote:
Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
\o/
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make available the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit them for official consideration.
On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Delphine
I'm interested in helping out! What does everybody think about http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:WMC#WMC_-_now_with_120_.22participants.2 2?
____________________ Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Delphine Ménard Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:37 PM To: Wikimedia Canada planning list Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Spinning back up our Wikimedia Chapter
On 9/4/07, Gerald A geraldablists@gmail.com wrote:
Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like
to
start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
\o/
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
available
the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit them for official consideration.
On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Delphine
I would strongly advise against this, it will probably just upset people. I think a better solution would be to just change it to "Interested Participants" and, if you want, send them all an e-mail via "E-mail user" notifying them of the mailing list (and asking them to subscribe), the IRC channel, and that you are trying to get the Chapter back on track and would like some assistance writing bylaws.
On 9/4/07, Mitchell mduce@mts.net wrote:
I'm interested in helping out! What does everybody think about
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:WMC#WMC_-_now_with_120_.22participants.2 2?
Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Delphine Ménard Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:37 PM To: Wikimedia Canada planning list Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Spinning back up our Wikimedia Chapter
On 9/4/07, Gerald A geraldablists@gmail.com wrote:
Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd
like to
start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
\o/
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of
getting
some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
available
the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we
submit
them for official consideration.
On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Delphine
-- ~notafish
La critique, art aisé, se doit d'être constructive. -- Boris Vian in *Chroniques du menteur*
NB. This address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails sent to this address will probably get lost.
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Casey Brown wrote:
I would strongly advise against this, it will probably just upset people. I think a better solution would be to just change it to "Interested Participants" and, if you want, send them all an e-mail via "E-mail user" notifying them of the mailing list (and asking them to subscribe), the IRC channel, and that you are trying to get the Chapter back on track and would like some assistance writing bylaws.
On 9/4/07, *Mitchell* <mduce@mts.net mailto:mduce@mts.net> wrote:
I'm interested in helping out! What does everybody think about http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:WMC#WMC_-_now_with_120_.22participants.22? ____________________ Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects) -----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org> [mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org>] On Behalf Of Delphine Ménard Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:37 PM To: Wikimedia Canada planning list Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Spinning back up our Wikimedia Chapter On 9/4/07, Gerald A <geraldablists@gmail.com <mailto:geraldablists@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to > start to move the Chapter > creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule. \o/ > > I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting > some assistance in drafting the various bylaws > that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping > having someone with skill and knowledge will > shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present. > > My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make available > the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the > mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit > them for official consideration. On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Casey, are you saying that you object to having this developed on Meta? I really don't understand why you think that having this on Meta would upset people?
Ec
Of course not. Meta is the best place to do these things and I know that. ;-) My comment was about the thread he linked, the one that deals with clearing out the participants list.
On 9/4/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Casey Brown wrote:
I would strongly advise against this, it will probably just upset people. I think a better solution would be to just change it to "Interested Participants" and, if you want, send them all an e-mail via "E-mail user" notifying them of the mailing list (and asking them to subscribe), the IRC channel, and that you are trying to get the Chapter back on track and would like some assistance writing bylaws.
On 9/4/07, *Mitchell* <mduce@mts.net mailto:mduce@mts.net> wrote:
I'm interested in helping out! What does everybody think abouthttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:WMC#WMC_-_now_with_120_.22participants.2... ?
____________________ Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects) -----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org> [mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org>] On Behalf Of Delphine Ménard Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:37 PM To: Wikimedia Canada planning list Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Spinning back up our WikimediaChapter
On 9/4/07, Gerald A <geraldablists@gmail.com <mailto:geraldablists@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to > start to move the Chapter > creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule. \o/ > > I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting > some assistance in drafting the various bylaws > that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping > having someone with skill and knowledge will > shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present. > > My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make available > the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the > mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit > them for official consideration. On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.Casey, are you saying that you object to having this developed on Meta? I really don't understand why you think that having this on Meta would upset people?
Ec
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Casey Brown wrote:
Of course not. Meta is the best place to do these things and I know that. ;-) My comment was about the thread he linked, the one that deals with clearing out the participants list.
Fair enough. I agree that cleaning out the list would antagonize some people for nothing. The list was set up in February 2006, and a lot of the people there may have simply gone away. If they are interested they will participate, but we still don't need to lead them by the hand.
Ec
On 9/4/07, Delphine Ménard notafishz@gmail.com wrote:
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
available
the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we
submit
them for official consideration.
On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Just to clarify, "on wiki" was a reference to our planning pages @ meta.
Definitely want participation, we'll need lots.
Thanks, Gerald.
On 9/4/07, Gerald A geraldablists@gmail.com wrote:
On 9/4/07, Delphine Ménard notafishz@gmail.com wrote:
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
available
the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we
submit
them for official consideration.
On wiki is probably the best place. And yes, please a collaborative process, even if sometimes painful (been there, done that :-) ) is definitely the way to go. I would strongly advise meta.
Just to clarify, "on wiki" was a reference to our planning pages @ meta.
Definitely want participation, we'll need lots.
Thanks, Gerald.
Can we get ca.wikimedia.org, as a planning wiki, as I believe was once made available to us, Delphine? I we could that would give us a lot more of a sense of permanency and importance to the various Wikimedians we want to attract.
Nick
I spoke to Tim Starling on IRC yesterday regarding this and he said that I should file a bug on BugZilla. Would this be of interest to anyone else?
____________________
Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects)
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-ca-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Nicholas Moreau Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:55 AM To: Wikimedia Canada planning list Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Spinning back up our Wikimedia Chapter
Can we get ca.wikimedia.org, as a planning wiki, as I believe was once made available to us, Delphine? I we could that would give us a lot more of a sense of permanency and importance to the various Wikimedians we want to attract.
Nick
Mitchell wrote:
I spoke to Tim Starling on IRC yesterday regarding this and he said that I should file a bug on BugZilla. Would this be of interest to anyone else?
Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects)
-----Original Message----- **Nicholas Moreau **
Can we get ca.wikimedia.org http://ca.wikimedia.org, as a planning wiki, as I believe was once made available to us, Delphine? I we could that would give us a lot more of a sense of permanency and importance to the various Wikimedians we want to attract.
Sounds like overkill. Why should a simple request for such a wiki be treated as a bug?
I would read the proposed "ca." prefix in the name as a language code for Catalan, not a country code. I would expect that once we have a stable Canadian chapter I would transfer wikimedia.ca to the group, and it could use it for such things. But that does not help us for now. For now, we do have Meta available, and we do have this mailing list. What could not be discussed at these venues?
Ec
On 9/5/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Mitchell wrote:
I spoke to Tim Starling on IRC yesterday regarding this and he said that I should file a bug on BugZilla. Would this be of interest to anyone else?
You have to go through delphine, not any of the devs individually.
Mitch D. (Greeves on all English Wikimedia projects)
-----Original Message----- **Nicholas Moreau **
Can we get ca.wikimedia.org http://ca.wikimedia.org, as a planning wiki, as I believe was once made available to us, Delphine? I we could that would give us a lot more of a sense of permanency and importance to the various Wikimedians we want to attract.
Sounds like overkill. Why should a simple request for such a wiki be treated as a bug?
Well, there is a "site requests" option, but the developers just make that be done for their records and other items. If you delphine requests it on behalf of ChapComm, that's different. :-)
I would read the proposed "ca." prefix in the name as a language code
for Catalan, not a country code.
Many of the chapters use the <country-code>.wikimedia.org address, but if you already have a domain (which you do), I would heavily suggest you use that. (Thanks Ray!)
I would expect that once we have a
stable Canadian chapter I would transfer wikimedia.ca to the group, and it could use it for such things.
That is a very good idea, thanks for doing that!
But that does not help us for now.
For now, we do have Meta available, and we do have this mailing list. What could not be discussed at these venues?
It's just a possibility, but the use of Meta (as you said) is probably good for right now. In the future, you can use wikimedia.ca. I basically agree with you, Ec.
Ec
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
On 9/5/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Sounds like overkill. Why should a simple request for such a wiki be treated as a bug?
because the devs have other things to do ;-)
I would read the proposed "ca." prefix in the name as a language code for Catalan, not a country code.
I totally agree with you.
However, I will ask Brion to confirm the feasibility of assigning wikimedia.ca to a wiki hosted by the Foundation, if that makes sense and you are ready to assign the dns to that, and until the chapter can actually host their own wiki, which I STRONGLY recommend ;-)
Delphine
Delphine Ménard wrote:
On 9/5/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
However, I will ask Brion to confirm the feasibility of assigning wikimedia.ca to a wiki hosted by the Foundation, if that makes sense and you are ready to assign the dns to that, and until the chapter can actually host their own wiki, which I STRONGLY recommend ;-)
The problem with this is that Canada requires that holders of .ca domains be Canadians. The only apparent exception for WMF would depend on having the exact name registered in a trademark in Canada. See http://www.cira.ca/official-doc/18_1.RPPG_00006EN.pdf
Ec
On 9/6/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Delphine Ménard wrote:
On 9/5/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
However, I will ask Brion to confirm the feasibility of assigning wikimedia.ca to a wiki hosted by the Foundation, if that makes sense and you are ready to assign the dns to that, and until the chapter can actually host their own wiki, which I STRONGLY recommend ;-)
The problem with this is that Canada requires that holders of .ca domains be Canadians. The only apparent exception for WMF would depend on having the exact name registered in a trademark in Canada. See http://www.cira.ca/official-doc/18_1.RPPG_00006EN.pdf
I don't think I was clear enough. I didn't mean to give the domain to the Foundation. I believe you own the domain. If you're ready to point the dns to the Wikimedia DNS, then the Foundation can host the wiki for the time being, ie. when someone types wikimedia.ca, it will end up on a wiki hosted on Wikimedia Foundation servers. In the longer run, Wikimedia Canada should find their own hosting provider. That's all.
Delphine
Delphine Ménard wrote:
On 9/6/07, Ray Saintonge wrote:
Delphine Ménard wrote:
On 9/5/07, Ray Saintonge wrote:
However, I will ask Brion to confirm the feasibility of assigning wikimedia.ca to a wiki hosted by the Foundation, if that makes sense and you are ready to assign the dns to that, and until the chapter can actually host their own wiki, which I STRONGLY recommend ;-)
The problem with this is that Canada requires that holders of .ca domains be Canadians. The only apparent exception for WMF would depend on having the exact name registered in a trademark in Canada. See http://www.cira.ca/official-doc/18_1.RPPG_00006EN.pdf
I don't think I was clear enough. I didn't mean to give the domain to the Foundation. I believe you own the domain. If you're ready to point the dns to the Wikimedia DNS, then the Foundation can host the wiki for the time being, ie. when someone types wikimedia.ca, it will end up on a wiki hosted on Wikimedia Foundation servers. In the longer run, Wikimedia Canada should find their own hosting provider. That's all.
I don't particularly oppose this. My delay in answering this was intentional. I had hoped that other Canadians would have some comments about this, but no luck. My only problem with using wikimedia.ca at this stage is that it would be one more site that nobody would know anything about, and would probably get even less traffic than the meta pages or this mailing list.
Ec
Gerald A wrote:
Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
What has school got to do with anything?
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
The only thing that contacting a lawyer at this late stage can do is make sure that the process drags on even longer, not to mention additional costs out of a bank account that does not yet exist.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make available the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit them for official consideration.
I'd like comments or questions and concerns.
Having the process open is fine, but it needs to be balanced with getting things done. I have already drafted a substantial part of the bylaws, and in nearly two months there hasn't been a peep from anybody with alternative suggestions, except for Greeves' complete alternative, but that has received no comments either.
For me the tricky issue remains defining the nature of meetings, given that the directors would be scattered across the country, and getting physically together would be unnecessarily expensive.
If people could be bothered to give their opinions on bylaw specifics we could have this ready in a couple of weeks, agree on the three persons who would submit the incorporation, get their signatures on the application, and send it in. The bylaws may need to be amended later, but that can be done when we have more people who are really serious about participating.
Ec
On 9/4/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Gerald A wrote:
Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd like to start to move the Chapter creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule.
What has school got to do with anything?
Not sure if it's rational or not, but as you know, their are different sweeps of activity for different projects at different times of the year. Most of the time people are away during the summer, school keeps them routed in place and makes it easier for them to do other work.
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of
getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping having someone with skill and knowledge will shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present.
The only thing that contacting a lawyer at this late stage can do is make sure that the process drags on even longer, not to mention additional costs out of a bank account that does not yet exist.
I disagree, many chapters should have their own lawyer remove any bylaws and ask them to help them follow the steps properly for their local jurisdiction. ChapComm is great, but it has a lot on its plate and they review the bylaws for their own purposes, a lawyer will review it for different purposes. The problem about money, they could hold an unofficial fundraiser or the founder's could pay the lawyer costs. I think the involvement of a lawyer is a good idea.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
available the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we submit them for official consideration.
I'd like comments or questions and concerns.
Having the process open is fine, but it needs to be balanced with getting things done. I have already drafted a substantial part of the bylaws, and in nearly two months there hasn't been a peep from anybody with alternative suggestions, except for Greeves' complete alternative, but that has received no comments either.
Yeah, a lot of the items like this have gone dead. If someone hasn't already, a post to Foundation-l and more spamming wouldn't hurt. This also re-iterates the fact of items being proposed in the summertime. ;-)
For me the tricky issue remains defining the nature of meetings, given
that the directors would be scattered across the country, and getting physically together would be unnecessarily expensive.
This could be fixed rather easily. A chapter does not need to hold all their meetings face to face (though it is rather good if they have a few); some could be held over IRC or teleconference. I'd suggest a minimum of 1 face-to-face meeting per year.
If people could be bothered to give their opinions on bylaw specifics we
could have this ready in a couple of weeks, agree on the three persons who would submit the incorporation, get their signatures on the application, and send it in. The bylaws may need to be amended later, but that can be done when we have more people who are really serious about participating.
Sounds awesome, just get spamming! :-) I'm sure Greg Maxwell would help you if you wanted to send an e-mail via Special:Emailuser on meta to all the people who signed up on "Participants" notifying them of this.
Ec
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Casey Brown wrote:
On 9/4/07, *Ray Saintonge* <saintonge@telus.net mailto:saintonge@telus.net> wrote:
Gerald A wrote: > Now that school has started and summer is starting to wind down, I'd > like to start to move the Chapter > creation process forward, and give it a solid schedule. What has school got to do with anything?Not sure if it's rational or not, but as you know, their are different sweeps of activity for different projects at different times of the year. Most of the time people are away during the summer, school keeps them routed in place and makes it easier for them to do other work.
I'm long past being in school. My 17 year-old son probably spent more time on computer this summer than he does during the school year.
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of
> getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws > that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping > having someone with skill and knowledge will > shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present. The only thing that contacting a lawyer at this late stage can do is make sure that the process drags on even longer, not to mention additional costs out of a bank account that does not yet exist.I disagree, many chapters should have their own lawyer remove any bylaws and ask them to help them follow the steps properly for their local jurisdiction. ChapComm is great, but it has a lot on its plate and they review the bylaws for their own purposes, a lawyer will review it for different purposes. The problem about money, they could hold an unofficial fundraiser or the founder's could pay the lawyer costs. I think the involvement of a lawyer is a good idea.
Remove bylaws? I've set up corporations and written bylaws on several occasions before. In my conversations with Delphine I have seen no potential conflicts between what the Foundation wants, and what we would put in our legal documents. Most of the concerns there are with the purposes of the organisation, and I think that is somewhere that the accommodation will be easy. My past experience is that when writing bylaws is being considered for any organisation most people tend to run away.
My intention is to keep the process as open as possible, and make
> available the by-laws on wiki (and possibly on the > mailing list), so everyone can review and comment on them before we > submit them for official consideration. > > I'd like comments or questions and concerns. Having the process open is fine, but it needs to be balanced with getting things done. I have already drafted a substantial part of the bylaws, and in nearly two months there hasn't been a peep from anybody with alternative suggestions, except for Greeves' complete alternative, but that has received no comments either.Yeah, a lot of the items like this have gone dead. If someone hasn't already, a post to Foundation-l and more spamming wouldn't hurt. This also re-iterates the fact of items being proposed in the summertime. ;-)
For me the tricky issue remains defining the nature of meetings, given that the directors would be scattered across the country, and getting physically together would be unnecessarily expensive.This could be fixed rather easily. A chapter does not need to hold all their meetings face to face (though it is rather good if they have a few); some could be held over IRC or teleconference. I'd suggest a minimum of 1 face-to-face meeting per year.
One of the problems for a Canadian national chapter is geography. For most European chapters everything is reasonably close, but when people have to travel 3,000 miles it's a different story.
Ec
On 9/4/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Casey Brown wrote:
On 9/4/07, *Ray Saintonge* <saintonge@telus.net mailto:saintonge@telus.net> wrote:
I've made preliminary contact with a lawyer with the intention of
> getting some assistance in drafting the various bylaws > that are required to give Wikimedia Canada a legal footing. I'm hoping > having someone with skill and knowledge will > shorten the time that it is taking us to tackle this task at present. The only thing that contacting a lawyer at this late stage can do is make sure that the process drags on even longer, not to mention additional costs out of a bank account that does not yet exist.I disagree, many chapters should have their own lawyer remove any bylaws and ask them to help them follow the steps properly for their local jurisdiction. ChapComm is great, but it has a lot on its plate and they review the bylaws for their own purposes, a lawyer will review it for different purposes. The problem about money, they could hold an unofficial fundraiser or the founder's could pay the lawyer costs. I think the involvement of a lawyer is a good idea.
Remove bylaws?
review, sorry, typo :-) Although now that I just read his statement that the lawyer would help "draft bylaws", I'm a little confused, you've already drafted them! :-)
I've set up corporations and written bylaws on several
occasions before. In my conversations with Delphine I have seen no potential conflicts between what the Foundation wants, and what we would put in our legal documents. Most of the concerns there are with the purposes of the organisation, and I think that is somewhere that the accommodation will be easy. My past experience is that when writing bylaws is being considered for any organisation most people tend to run away.
Well, I didn't realize that we actually had an experienced person like yourself (no sarcasm at all), you're a good asset to WikimediaCA then. :-D I also don't mean to say that the Foundation would ever do anything to cover itself and leave its chapters hanging, but it's just a possible way of double-checking.
For me the tricky issue remains defining the nature of meetings,given
that the directors would be scattered across the country, andgetting
physically together would be unnecessarily expensive.This could be fixed rather easily. A chapter does not need to hold all their meetings face to face (though it is rather good if they have a few); some could be held over IRC or teleconference. I'd suggest a minimum of 1 face-to-face meeting per year.
One of the problems for a Canadian national chapter is geography. For most European chapters everything is reasonably close, but when people have to travel 3,000 miles it's a different story.
The issue is the same for the United States. :-) But we're doing "hub" or "state"-based Chapters for the US (although that is still a problem, because some European countries are the size of US-states).
Ec
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Looks like we don't need a lawyer after all. :-)
wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org