On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 1:54 PM, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
I don't find this line of thought compelling at all. There is no need for a separate legal national organization, and indeed this would be confusing and counter-productive.
I can see an argument for US chapters not need a legal organization at all (just use the Foundation for this), and I can see an argument for each of them having their own legal organization (this seems better to me), but I can't see having one non-Foundation organization for multiple chapters.
It's never a problem to have too many options! The volunteers are going to organize as they see fit, we can't do too much to script them and I don't think we would even want to if we could. Likewise, the volunteers can't force the WMF to act in any particular way either. We have the four basic options available, at different levels of preference for different people: 1) The WMF is the "parent" to the US local chapters 2) A strong "Wikimedia US" chapter is formed in the US, and local groups serve as "local sections" of this strong chapter 3) A weak "Wikimedia US" chapter shell is formed to provide a legal framework for independent local sections 4) Local sections/chapters form independently and incorporate individually as non-profits, no national chapter whatsoever
Depending on the way that organization progresses on both sides of the coin (the volunteers and the WMF), any of these options may come into or fall out of favor. For instance, if we have several fledgling chapters forming, and all of them are having difficulties incorporating as non-profits, options 1 or 3 might be more interesting. If volunteers decide spontaneously to combine efforts because of inherent similarities, option 2 might be preferred. It's good to have the options on the table and let people work towards their desired ends more organically.
--Andrew Whitworth