Delirium wrote:
Daniel Mayer wrote:
Any US-wide chapter would be divided into regions
and have local clubs for metro areas. I really
don't see the point in duplicating overhead when a single legal structure could
benefit an entire
nation.
Given that the Wikimedia Foundation is already US-incorporated, why do
we even need a separate legal structure for a Wikimedia US, as opposed
to having it be an unincorporated body? The things that I see other
countries' Wikimedia chapters doing that need a legal entity, such as
collecting donations tax-deductibly, liasing with local corporations,
running local servers, etc., are already handled in the US by the main
WMF, so what would the new legal entity do?
That remains to be seen. If the proposed Pennsylvania chapter doesn't
find anything to do it will at least be able to share its failure with
others, and the rejection of the model elsewhere will be based on
factual circumstances. If it succeeds that too can be a model.
As here in Canada, national geography is a particular difficulty for
getting a national chapter going. Itr's a problem getting people
together when they live thousands of miles apart. The benefits for a US
federal chapter are less clear than for a Canadian federal chapter.
Most importantly, tax deductibility is already available for US donors.
Securing that right here gives a a much better return than in the U.S.
In the US charitable donations are worthless unless you already itemize
deductions. Here, total donation exceeding $200 yield a roughly 50% tax
credit.
Ec