--- Delirium delirium@hackish.org wrote:
The U.S. is also somewhat unique in that it doesn't have a need for a separate "Wikimedia U.S." to fill legal beaurocratic roles, because the global Wikimedia Foundation is already headquartered in the U.S. and subject to U.S. law, so can fill any of those roles itself (tax-exempt donations, applying for U.S. grants, etc.).
I see the role of the foundation to be outward looking/global and the role of a U.S. chapter to be focused on establishing connections within the U.S. and providing a club framework. A club in a particular area, for example, would organize meet-ups whereby members would collect photos and information from particular areas and for particular events. They would also be points of contact between Wikimedia and local academic, civic, and non-profit persons and groups.
Wikimedia U.S. would also be a membership organization whereas membership in the parent organization is hampered by the fact that it only legally exists in one nation.
I suppose for consistency's sake we could have the same setup in the U.S., but from a pragmatic perspective it seems that as long as U.S. Wikimedians trust the Wikimedia Foundation to handle the accounts and legal aspects, the same effect could be accomplished just by having non-incorporated/informal associations of U.S. Wikimedians do everything a local foundation would normally do except for the legal aspects, thereby avoiding legal and beaurocratic duplication.
There are many areas where the two organizations will not overlap. Making sure to minimize any unnecessary duplication will be a significant challenge *and* opportunity (each organization can then focus on their respective strengths). The little bit of duplicated overhead will not pose a problem once the Wikimedia Foundation hires a proper Executive Director and a couple other directors to run things (thus giving volunteers like me more time to devote to forming a U.S. chapter).
-- mav
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