My advice from our Wikimedia NYC experience is "do stuff, think of
yourselves as a chapter, but don't rush to file incorporation papers".
It took us 2 years to get to the point where we finally incorporated
as a legal entity; in the meantime we built ourselves up organically
with regular meetups, easy events that cost nothing or close to
nothing, and some informal working groups.
So, if I were you I would focus now on getting a handful of informal
local groups active in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc, and
also focusing on a joint event like 'West Coast WikiConference'.
Thanks,
Richard
(User:Pharos)
On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 4:50 PM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
As I mentioned in another private email, I am skeptical that a chapter
is needed for this community -- I'd rather see us put our energy into
actually doing projects rather than in doing the paperwork to build an
organization to do projects.
That said, I thought it would be nice to ask Austin (interim chair
chapters committee) and Pharos (chair of WM-NYC, the only other US
chapter) to give us their feedback on what forming a chapter is like,
what it can and can't do, and why one might want to do such a thing.
For instance, in the discussions so far, I've seen a fair amount of
unclarity on what chapters do. From my understanding:
* chapters are not (just) local social clubs, but are part of the
international group of chapters; expectations include international
travel to the annual chapters meeting for two officers, participating
in internal discussions about fundraising and chapter-appointed board
seats, etc. There's a lot of email traffic and work that goes along
with this role for the officers; I see some of it because of my role
in planning Wikimania and frankly I wouldn't want to deal with it on
an ongoing basis.
* money and funding is not guaranteed. WM-DE, home of the toolserver
is the richest chapter, and they have money because they run their own
fundraisers in conjunction with the annual wmf fundraiser. They also
get grants. They have also worked for years (7+) on getting to their
current position, with a very dedicated crew of volunteers. Again,
having any income is not guaranteed for the chapter. Pharos can speak
to this.
* There is a fair amount of real-world work: filing the paperwork,
keeping up with taxes, etc. that is required by any nonprofit
organization. This requires expertise, patience and a good amount of
time.
* don't expect all local wikimedians to join the chapter: the overlap
between wikimedia volunteers & chapter members is not 100% for any
chapter. Having a chapter doesn't guarantee membership, or enthusiasm.
* chapters don't fix the "you have to do things" problem. Remember
that despite being a huge tech-savvy place, the only regular meetups
that have ever happened in California have happened in the SF-Bay
area, and frankly they've only happened because either Jon or I pushed
for it. Forming a chapter would just be *more* time and energy that is
not devoted to actually doing things.
Anyway, I hope that others more involved with the chapter scene than I
can help answer questions.
-- Phoebe
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