Nataliia, thank you very much for this update.
I'd suggest it is essential for the community and its members to recognize that the situation in which the WMF, tens of thousands of other similar organizations, entire nations, and each of us as individuals is unprecedented in modern life; the closest parallel occurred more than a century ago. Flexibility in action and thought is essential in order to obtain the best long-range outcome. Everyone, almost without exception, has had to make changes in their lives, their interactions, and their processes in order to survive, let alone thrive.
Speaking as someone who has been heavily invested in the strategic planning process, I view the expansion of the board in a very positive light. The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown a lot of the ambitious (and in some cases, potentially very costly) recommendations in the draft strategy into sharp relief due to the sudden and unplanned instability of the global financial situation, which will impact us as a movement just as it affects individuals, countries, industries, and other charitable organizations around the world. We should be honest about this, and also recall that the strategy is intended to be a set of long-term goals, so taking a first step toward expanded and broader representation is entirely in keeping with movement toward those goals without drawing excessively on our uncertain financial resources.
I think it's reasonable, due to the exceptional global circumstances as well as the planned changes in Board composition, to extend the terms of currently community-selected representatives. It's likely that there will be more certainty in the situation in 4-8 months, and the WMF and the Wikimedia community will be better placed to identify and attract excellent candidates for community-selected, affiliate-selected, and appointed seats. Right now, many who might ordinarily be willing candidates are not in a position to make such a multi-year commitment; thousands of members of our communities have had their lives suddenly disrupted in a multitude of ways, without certainty of employment, financial stability, health, or family circumstances. The delay will also permit a richer discussion on how to implement the changes to board structure.
This same degree of uncertainty also makes it not just reasonable, but probably quite wise, to extend the timeline for the Annual Plan. Many activities that have become routine over the years must be reconsidered in light of changing circumstances. For example, many of the international in-person meetings may need to be rethought, and there may need to be research and development to find alternate ways to carry out these educational, decision-making, and communal activities. I will be very interested to see how the next Annual Plan will address financial uncertainty: our organization's reputation has been enhanced by the community's actions in relation to the Covid-19 crisis (which could have a positive effect on donations and grants), but many potential donors/grant-makers may find themselves unable to maintain even their current level of donations, let alone enhance them.
It is entirely within the scope of the Board to change bylaws and implement all of the changes that have been discussed in Nataliia's message on behalf of the Board.
Risker/Anne
On Sat, 2 May 2020 at 19:21, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Andy, I was going off of this statement: "In order to ensure sustained community representation on the Board, we are extending the terms of the three community-selected trustees currently occupying those seats (María, Dariusz, and James) for up to a year until we are all ready to run the postponed process"
That is different from saying that the Board will ask the community if the community wants to postpone elections. I would understand and support the latter, but not the former. I don't want the WMF Board to start down the path of deciding if and when the community will hold elections for community-nominated seats. This should be a decision for the community, and the community alone, to decide.
By the way, has the Elections Committee been consulted regarding any of this?
Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe