Dear all,
First of all -- Happy Wikipedia Day to all of us today! <3 Even if not all of us are Wikipedians, the launch of Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, started something precious for all of us.
And now to regular business --
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met virtually for their final meeting of 2023 on December 6. Two members of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) – Risker and Daria Cybulska – joined as Board visitors as we have done in the past for Board meetings. The outcomes were briefly reported at the Open Conversation with the Trustees on December 7, and here is a letter with more details and corresponding links.
== Board Business ==
This Board meeting contained several administrative actions, including officially appointing Kathy Collins to the Board, which was announced back in November [1]. Kathy has replaced Tanya Capuano as Audit Committee Chair. I would like to thank Tanya for her service on the Board. Tanya has served as the Audit Chair for several years, and the Board is fortunate that she will stay on as an Advisor to the Audit Committee.
Each December, the Board approves its committee assignments for the following year. You can see the new committee membership here [2]. Most of the work of the Board is done via its committees, so these are important assignments. We have also published the Board committee updates, which you can read here [3]. In addition, the Board approved the August meeting minutes [4].
== Foundation Updates ==
The Board received brief updates from Wikimedia Foundation staff, including information on the ongoing Big English fundraising campaign and a recap of the Foundation’s first quarter progress towards the goals set out in the Annual Plan. You can read more about the campaign here. The Board meeting concluded with an executive session.
== Affiliations Committee Update ==
I would also like to provide an update related to the Affiliations Committee (AffCom). The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) has appointed Mike Peel as a Board Liaison to AffCom to replace Shani Evenstein Sigalov. The Board Liaisons to AffCom are now Mike Peel, Nataliia Tymkiv, and Lorenzo Losa.
In October, AffCom announced a call for volunteers for the committee. AffCom received over thirty candidate applications, which the Foundation staff vetted, conducting trust and safety checks. The Board Liaisons, staff, and AffCom members not running this time, have been interviewing candidates, including AffCom members who wish to renew their terms, over the last few weeks. It is encouraging to see this level of interest in joining AffCom, and with the large number of candidates, the process has taken longer than was initially planned. Due to this, the CAC has granted the current AffCom members' term a short extension until February 29, 2024 (or until their replacements are appointed, whichever comes first).
== Open Conversation with Trustees ==
On December 7, the CAC hosted an Open Conversation with the Trustees I mentioned above. You can watch the recording [5] of the meeting or read the notes [6].
[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee_Membership,_2023
[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes,_2023-08-15#Committee_updates
[4] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes,_2023-08-15
[5] Recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQwwNiIkW0