At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not much support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On Sunday afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some training to help improve this situation.
I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to be organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
This is open to all Chapter (or indeed Thematic Organisation) boards, but is particularly focused on board members in those organisations that have, or will soon have, staff. And while this is being organised by "chapter people", we hope to engage with Foundation, FDC and Affcom wherever this will be relevant.
If you are on a Wikimedia movement Board and are interested in attending, please sign up on the Meta page! Also, if you are reading the page and feel you could lead a session, please also sign up on Meta!
If there is enough interest, we will define the programme more closely and work out exactly where and when.
Regards,
Chris
Chris,
Thank you for sharing this. I find this to be of great importance and a crucial step for our movement. I would be very happy to lead a session on programmes, and specifically Education Programmes, with its aims, current status and future.
*Be Bold! Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.org*
*Every single contribution to Wikipedia is a gift of free knowledge to humanity. *
2013/8/13 Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com
At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not much support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On Sunday afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some training to help improve this situation.
I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to be organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
This is open to all Chapter (or indeed Thematic Organisation) boards, but is particularly focused on board members in those organisations that have, or will soon have, staff. And while this is being organised by "chapter people", we hope to engage with Foundation, FDC and Affcom wherever this will be relevant.
If you are on a Wikimedia movement Board and are interested in attending, please sign up on the Meta page! Also, if you are reading the page and feel you could lead a session, please also sign up on Meta!
If there is enough interest, we will define the programme more closely and work out exactly where and when.
Regards,
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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I agree! Great idea and thanks for sharing it.
I'm going to take a look at the meta page, and see if there is an opportunity for some WMF support - I know Program and Evaluation could be a great support for this potentially, and organizational structures from the Learning and Evaluation side. (I'd look at it from my volunteer side, but, I don't have a chapter role to call my own,....) The timing is good and the opportunity to help build capacity and professionalization is great!
Thanks Chris and all involved, (and Sophie....let's see how there is potential for cross-WMF-team-awesomeness!!)
Sarah
On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Chris,
Thank you for sharing this. I find this to be of great importance and a crucial step for our movement. I would be very happy to lead a session on programmes, and specifically Education Programmes, with its aims, current status and future.
*Be Bold! Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.org*
*Every single contribution to Wikipedia is a gift of free knowledge to humanity. *
2013/8/13 Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com
At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not much support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On Sunday afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some
training
to help improve this situation.
I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to
be
organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
This is open to all Chapter (or indeed Thematic Organisation) boards, but is particularly focused on board members in those organisations that
have,
or will soon have, staff. And while this is being organised by "chapter people", we hope to engage with Foundation, FDC and Affcom wherever this will be relevant.
If you are on a Wikimedia movement Board and are interested in attending, please sign up on the Meta page! Also, if you are reading the page and feel you could lead a session,
please
also sign up on Meta!
If there is enough interest, we will define the programme more closely
and
work out exactly where and when.
Regards,
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Sarah, I'd love to do that! Great!
*Be Bold! Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.org*
*Every single contribution to Wikipedia is a gift of free knowledge to humanity. *
2013/8/13 Sarah Stierch sarah.stierch@gmail.com
I agree! Great idea and thanks for sharing it.
I'm going to take a look at the meta page, and see if there is an opportunity for some WMF support - I know Program and Evaluation could be a great support for this potentially, and organizational structures from the Learning and Evaluation side. (I'd look at it from my volunteer side, but, I don't have a chapter role to call my own,....) The timing is good and the opportunity to help build capacity and professionalization is great!
Thanks Chris and all involved, (and Sophie....let's see how there is potential for cross-WMF-team-awesomeness!!)
Sarah
On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Chris,
Thank you for sharing this. I find this to be of great importance and a crucial step for our movement. I would be very happy to lead a session on programmes, and specifically Education Programmes, with its aims, current status and future.
*Be Bold! Sophie Österberg sosterberg@wikimedia.org*
*Every single contribution to Wikipedia is a gift of free knowledge to humanity. *
2013/8/13 Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com
At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not
much
support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On
Sunday
afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some
training
to help improve this situation.
I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to
be
organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
This is open to all Chapter (or indeed Thematic Organisation) boards,
but
is particularly focused on board members in those organisations that
have,
or will soon have, staff. And while this is being organised by "chapter people", we hope to engage with Foundation, FDC and Affcom wherever
this
will be relevant.
If you are on a Wikimedia movement Board and are interested in
attending,
please sign up on the Meta page! Also, if you are reading the page and feel you could lead a session,
please
also sign up on Meta!
If there is enough interest, we will define the programme more closely
and
work out exactly where and when.
Regards,
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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On 13 August 2013 13:57, Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com wrote:
At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not much support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On Sunday afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some training to help improve this situation. I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to be organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
Excellent and well done!
It's pretty much standard in small charities that board members start off as enthusiasts on the topic, but who have *no idea* how to be a board member of a nonprofit. (Been there, done that, beg off all opportunities these days.) This is not good. Training people for the role is a *marvellous* idea.
- d.
David Gerard, 13/08/2013 15:47:
Excellent and well done!
It's pretty much standard in small charities that board members start off as enthusiasts on the topic, but who have *no idea* how to be a board member of a nonprofit. (Been there, done that, beg off all opportunities these days.) This is not good. Training people for the role is a *marvellous* idea.
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing paths (usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job of a [university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you don't, but you must try). He was right.
Nemo
In my opinion the real problem is that the volunteers have no time to offer being board members.
Anyway people can be trained to manage a NGO or to be board members, there are some university masters to train NGOs managers.
Regards
On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.comwrote:
David Gerard, 13/08/2013 15:47:
Excellent and well done!
It's pretty much standard in small charities that board members start off as enthusiasts on the topic, but who have *no idea* how to be a board member of a nonprofit. (Been there, done that, beg off all opportunities these days.) This is not good. Training people for the role is a *marvellous* idea.
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing paths (usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job of a [university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you don't, but you must try). He was right.
Nemo
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How would they have time to take a master's degree if they have no time to be volunteers?
/ sophie
2013/8/13 Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com
In my opinion the real problem is that the volunteers have no time to offer being board members.
Anyway people can be trained to manage a NGO or to be board members, there are some university masters to train NGOs managers.
Regards
On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
David Gerard, 13/08/2013 15:47:
Excellent and well done!
It's pretty much standard in small charities that board members start off as enthusiasts on the topic, but who have *no idea* how to be a board member of a nonprofit. (Been there, done that, beg off all opportunities these days.) This is not good. Training people for the role is a *marvellous* idea.
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing
paths
(usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job of a [university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you
don't,
but you must try). He was right.
Nemo
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-- Ilario Valdelli Wikimedia CH Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera Switzerland - 8008 Zürich Tel: +41764821371 http://www.wikimedia.ch _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Sophie Österberg, 13/08/2013 16:53:
How would they have time to take a master's degree if they have no time to be volunteers?
Ilario probably meant a master in the Italian sense of the word: it's not a master's degree, just a university course of EQF level 7 or 8 (usually with "professionalisation" purposes, in the tens of hours of effort and costing from a handful hundreds to some thousands euros).
Nemo
On 13 August 2013 15:39, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing paths (usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job of a [university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you don't, but you must try). He was right.
A very useful book: Nonprofit Kit For Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips. I so wish I'd read it 25 years before I did. Very US-centric, but informative outside that.
- d.
Hello, Indeed it seems to me possible to fill a whole master studies with the things a board member should know :-) but I know that he meant something different. It would be a could idea to have board members going to trainings to be a board member in the specific country where they live. A course of a weekend, for example, would be already a good help. Everything must remain a little bit realistic. Possibly, some board members are more open to other Wikimedians than people from the "outside world" - possibly not. Narrowing the target group down to chapter board members to "staff chapters" is a good step, and I share the arguments on the Meta page. Maybe one should let participants apply for the seminar in a similar way as to Wikimania, in order to have those participants most likely to succeed. For example, if someone is already more than a year board member and likely to remain at least on a board for another year, that would be a pro. Kind regards Ziko
Am Dienstag, 13. August 2013 schrieb David Gerard :
On 13 August 2013 15:39, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki@gmail.comjavascript:;> wrote:
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing
paths
(usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job
of a
[university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you don't, but you must try). He was right.
A very useful book: Nonprofit Kit For Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips. I so wish I'd read it 25 years before I did. Very US-centric, but informative outside that.
- d.
Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:; ?subject=unsubscribe>
If you wish to educate board people, I think mailing lists and acronyms should not cover a full bulletpoint of the event because they should have that knowledge already....
I miss volunteer management in particular what is imo amongst the basic skills (it is totally different in many ways from paid staff mgmt) and fundraising. (Omg, we got a donation...what to do now? :)
I'd go for general project (and time and workflow...) management instead of particular this and that kinda specific things. Imo first get the "big picture", than the specific ones (Glam, editathon, etc.)
Are you plannig to hire a professional NGO trainer (individual[s])? A training company specialized on NGOs? Or we should educate each other?
Cheers, Balázs
2013/8/13 Ziko van Dijk vandijk@wmnederland.nl
Hello, Indeed it seems to me possible to fill a whole master studies with the things a board member should know :-) but I know that he meant something different. It would be a could idea to have board members going to trainings to be a board member in the specific country where they live. A course of a weekend, for example, would be already a good help. Everything must remain a little bit realistic. Possibly, some board members are more open to other Wikimedians than people from the "outside world" - possibly not. Narrowing the target group down to chapter board members to "staff chapters" is a good step, and I share the arguments on the Meta page. Maybe one should let participants apply for the seminar in a similar way as to Wikimania, in order to have those participants most likely to succeed. For example, if someone is already more than a year board member and likely to remain at least on a board for another year, that would be a pro. Kind regards Ziko
Am Dienstag, 13. August 2013 schrieb David Gerard :
On 13 August 2013 15:39, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing
paths
(usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job
of a
[university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you
don't,
but you must try). He was right.
A very useful book: Nonprofit Kit For Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips. I so wish I'd read it 25 years before I did. Very US-centric, but informative outside that.
- d.
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Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland Postbus 167 3500 AD Utrecht http://wikimedia.nl
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Seems good initiative! I'd like to know, who will be training the people from chapters?? It'll be more efficient if someone who specializes in management of non-profit organization can do this job.
Regards, Tanweer
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:30 AM, Balázs Viczián < balazs.viczian@wikimedia.hu> wrote:
If you wish to educate board people, I think mailing lists and acronyms should not cover a full bulletpoint of the event because they should have that knowledge already....
I miss volunteer management in particular what is imo amongst the basic skills (it is totally different in many ways from paid staff mgmt) and fundraising. (Omg, we got a donation...what to do now? :)
I'd go for general project (and time and workflow...) management instead of particular this and that kinda specific things. Imo first get the "big picture", than the specific ones (Glam, editathon, etc.)
Are you plannig to hire a professional NGO trainer (individual[s])? A training company specialized on NGOs? Or we should educate each other?
Cheers, Balázs
2013/8/13 Ziko van Dijk vandijk@wmnederland.nl
Hello, Indeed it seems to me possible to fill a whole master studies with the things a board member should know :-) but I know that he meant something different. It would be a could idea to have board members going to trainings to be a board member in the specific country where they live. A course of a weekend, for example, would be already a good help.
Everything
must remain a little bit realistic. Possibly, some board members are more open to other Wikimedians than
people
from the "outside world" - possibly not. Narrowing the target group down
to
chapter board members to "staff chapters" is a good step, and I share the arguments on the Meta page. Maybe one should let participants apply for
the
seminar in a similar way as to Wikimania, in order to have those participants most likely to succeed. For example, if someone is already more than a year board member and likely to remain at least on a board
for
another year, that would be a pro. Kind regards Ziko
Am Dienstag, 13. August 2013 schrieb David Gerard :
On 13 August 2013 15:39, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki@gmail.com
wrote:
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't
have
enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing
paths
(usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the
job
of a
[university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you
don't,
but you must try). He was right.
A very useful book: Nonprofit Kit For Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips. I so wish I'd read it 25 years before I did. Very US-centric, but informative outside that.
- d.
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Am 14.08.2013 14:44, schrieb Tanweer Morshed:
Seems good initiative! I'd like to know, who will be training the people from chapters?? It'll be more efficient if someone who specializes in management of non-profit organization can do this job.
We were thinking about having more than one trainer and a set of subsequent sessions focussing on different topics. Definitely, I think there should be some external expert among them. But I'd also hope for someone with a deep insight in the movement to be present at the workshop. This person, naturally, should be someone internal.
Best, Markus
I've left some notes on the meta talk pagehttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Boards_training_workshop_proposal#Boardsourceabout a US nonprofit called Boardsource that specialises in educating nonprofit boards on just the issues you raise, Chris. Though it is US centred, most of the knowledge and advice has universal applicability.
You point out an important gap in our governance - the education of our boards in best practice. But I'm not (yet) convinced by anything on the meta project page or any of the above comments that an in-person training is the only or even best solution to that.
Another option (if you want assessment and certification to be a part of the process) would be to commission Boardsource or a similar specialist organisation to create an online module tailored to this project's needs. That would have the advantage of not requiring participants to take several days out of their lives for the course, open the course up to many more participants, including those who can't take that time off from work and, if a good package is negotiated, should be vastly cheaper per head than an in-person course.
If independent assessment and certification is dispensed with, this gap in knowledge *may* be able to be filled simply by judicious private reading. Boardsource (and I assume other specialist organisations) produce a range of books aimed directly at the very questions you cover in your description of the problem.
Anthony Cole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Anthonyhcole Memberships secretary Wiki Project Med Foundationhttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Project_Med
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Markus Glaser markus.glaser@wikimedia.dewrote:
Am 14.08.2013 14:44, schrieb Tanweer Morshed:
Seems good initiative! I'd like to know, who will be training the people
from chapters?? It'll be more efficient if someone who specializes in management of non-profit organization can do this job.
We were thinking about having more than one trainer and a set of subsequent sessions focussing on different topics. Definitely, I think there should be some external expert among them. But I'd also hope for someone with a deep insight in the movement to be present at the workshop. This person, naturally, should be someone internal.
Best, Markus
-- Markus Glaser WCA Council Member (WMDE), Chair Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
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hi,
I believe that more than external training (useful, but possibly to a limited extent due to our movement's uniqueness, related to the ways we discuss things, the ways we finance our projects, etc.) we really very much need internal training/coaching. Larger chapters have best practices to share with the smaller ones. FDC, affcom, etc. can share their views and perspectives. Internal experts can prepare short workshops on chosen topics... All this should be cheaper, more relevant, and more meaningful than an external training. As a bonus, it would also organically stimulate cross-chapter cooperation, mentoring, etc., which could also lead to better projects.
best,
dj
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Anthony Cole ahcoleecu@gmail.com wrote:
I've left some notes on the meta talk page< http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Boards_training_workshop_proposal#Boards...
about
a US nonprofit called Boardsource that specialises in educating nonprofit boards on just the issues you raise, Chris. Though it is US centred, most of the knowledge and advice has universal applicability.
You point out an important gap in our governance - the education of our boards in best practice. But I'm not (yet) convinced by anything on the meta project page or any of the above comments that an in-person training is the only or even best solution to that.
Another option (if you want assessment and certification to be a part of the process) would be to commission Boardsource or a similar specialist organisation to create an online module tailored to this project's needs. That would have the advantage of not requiring participants to take several days out of their lives for the course, open the course up to many more participants, including those who can't take that time off from work and, if a good package is negotiated, should be vastly cheaper per head than an in-person course.
If independent assessment and certification is dispensed with, this gap in knowledge *may* be able to be filled simply by judicious private reading. Boardsource (and I assume other specialist organisations) produce a range of books aimed directly at the very questions you cover in your description of the problem.
Anthony Cole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Anthonyhcole Memberships secretary Wiki Project Med Foundation< http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Project_Med%3E
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Markus Glaser markus.glaser@wikimedia.dewrote:
Am 14.08.2013 14:44, schrieb Tanweer Morshed:
Seems good initiative! I'd like to know, who will be training the people
from chapters?? It'll be more efficient if someone who specializes in management of non-profit organization can do this job.
We were thinking about having more than one trainer and a set of subsequent sessions focussing on different topics. Definitely, I think there should be some external expert among them. But I'd also hope for someone with a deep insight in the movement to be present at the
workshop.
This person, naturally, should be someone internal.
Best, Markus
-- Markus Glaser WCA Council Member (WMDE), Chair Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
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To also add a thought (I think it is a great idea) - I suspect the chapters that have most to gain here are the chapter in early development phase, often outside the countries with a US/UK-like charity culture. So we should make sure that the trainer and material fit to that audience - that we're not teaching them bureaucratic tools that are very useful in the US, or even the Netherlands or France, but might be less... welcomed in South Africa or Bangladesh.
Lodewijk
2013/8/14 Dariusz Jemielniak darekj@alk.edu.pl
hi,
I believe that more than external training (useful, but possibly to a limited extent due to our movement's uniqueness, related to the ways we discuss things, the ways we finance our projects, etc.) we really very much need internal training/coaching. Larger chapters have best practices to share with the smaller ones. FDC, affcom, etc. can share their views and perspectives. Internal experts can prepare short workshops on chosen topics... All this should be cheaper, more relevant, and more meaningful than an external training. As a bonus, it would also organically stimulate cross-chapter cooperation, mentoring, etc., which could also lead to better projects.
best,
dj
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Anthony Cole ahcoleecu@gmail.com wrote:
I've left some notes on the meta talk page<
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Boards_training_workshop_proposal#Boards...
about
a US nonprofit called Boardsource that specialises in educating nonprofit boards on just the issues you raise, Chris. Though it is US centred, most of the knowledge and advice has universal applicability.
You point out an important gap in our governance - the education of our boards in best practice. But I'm not (yet) convinced by anything on the meta project page or any of the above comments that an in-person training is the only or even best solution to that.
Another option (if you want assessment and certification to be a part of the process) would be to commission Boardsource or a similar specialist organisation to create an online module tailored to this project's needs. That would have the advantage of not requiring participants to take
several
days out of their lives for the course, open the course up to many more participants, including those who can't take that time off from work and, if a good package is negotiated, should be vastly cheaper per head than
an
in-person course.
If independent assessment and certification is dispensed with, this gap
in
knowledge *may* be able to be filled simply by judicious private reading. Boardsource (and I assume other specialist organisations) produce a range of books aimed directly at the very questions you cover in your
description
of the problem.
Anthony Cole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Anthonyhcole Memberships secretary Wiki Project Med Foundation< http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Project_Med%3E
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Markus Glaser markus.glaser@wikimedia.dewrote:
Am 14.08.2013 14:44, schrieb Tanweer Morshed:
Seems good initiative! I'd like to know, who will be training the
people
from chapters?? It'll be more efficient if someone who specializes in management of non-profit organization can do this job.
We were thinking about having more than one trainer and a set of subsequent sessions focussing on different topics. Definitely, I think there should be some external expert among them. But I'd also hope for someone with a deep insight in the movement to be present at the
workshop.
This person, naturally, should be someone internal.
Best, Markus
-- Markus Glaser WCA Council Member (WMDE), Chair Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
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dr hab. Dariusz Jemielniak profesor zarządzania kierownik katedry Zarządzania Międzynarodowego i centrum badawczego CROW Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego http://www.crow.alk.edu.pl _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
David Gerard, 13/08/2013 17:56:
On 13 August 2013 15:39, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
True. Even worse, many do not even try to be board members (or active chapter members, for that matter) because they (think they) don't have enough experience. It's crucial to ensure the availability of growing paths (usually informal) for volunteers or you lose them and they lose opportunities. For me, it's been crucial to be told by a prof. "you can learn the job of a [university] board member in 6 months" (so it's inexcusable if you don't, but you must try). He was right.
A very useful book: Nonprofit Kit For Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips. I so wish I'd read it 25 years before I did. Very US-centric, but informative outside that.
Yeah, I remember you suggesting that a while ago. :) We do have equivalents in Italy, ;) I and the board read a few such manuals when we started exploring the charity status. I agree that everyone (or at the very least one person in the board) should read one similar manual for their country. In the end it saves time and hopefully the chapter is able to pay the few tens of euros such manuals usually cost.
Dariusz Jemielniak, 14/08/2013 18:29:
[...] All this should be cheaper, more relevant, and more meaningful than an external training. [...]
[citation needed] All the options of "external training" I'm aware of are cheaper than international workshops (I don't know about Boardsource and specially-hired consultants).
Nemo
On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.comwrote:
All the options of "external training" I'm aware of are cheaper than international workshops (I don't know about Boardsource and specially-hired consultants).
you mean locally organized training? Perhaps, especially if the board members could join running courses (rather than have one tailor-made, although our movement specifics would make it a bit less useful). Of course, there would be no added value of stimulating cross-chapter collaboration, knowledge exchange, etc.
best,
dj
I think this is a great idea.
Since you said it will be organised in the early 2014, does it mean that the workshop will happen in Chapter Conference 2014?
Regards, Ted Chien -- Sent from my HTC One 2013/8/13 下午8:57 於 "Chris Keating" chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com 寫道：
At Wikimania there was (not for the first time) discussion that not much support and advice there is available to Chapter board members. On Sunday afternoon a small group of us (myself, Markus Glaser, Michał Buczyński, Claudia Garad) met to work out how we could actually provide some training to help improve this situation.
I am pleased to say we have a definite proposal for a 2-day workshop to be organised in the early part of 2014: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_proposal
This is open to all Chapter (or indeed Thematic Organisation) boards, but is particularly focused on board members in those organisations that have, or will soon have, staff. And while this is being organised by "chapter people", we hope to engage with Foundation, FDC and Affcom wherever this will be relevant.
If you are on a Wikimedia movement Board and are interested in attending, please sign up on the Meta page! Also, if you are reading the page and feel you could lead a session, please also sign up on Meta!
If there is enough interest, we will define the programme more closely and work out exactly where and when.
Regards,
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Thanks for all the enthusiasm!
Since you said it will be organised in the early 2014, does it mean that the workshop will happen in Chapter Conference 2014?
Hi Ted,
It could happen as a pre-meeting to the Wikimedia Conference, or it could be a stand-alone workshop earlier in the year. This is to be decided.
Chris
Chris,
Would it be a person per board? Or whole boards and then fewer of them? If yes to the first one we should include how they can go back and train the rest of the board members so it gets properly disseminated.
/ sophie
2013/8/13 Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com
Thanks for all the enthusiasm!
Since you said it will be organised in the early 2014, does it mean that the workshop will happen in Chapter Conference 2014?
Hi Ted,
It could happen as a pre-meeting to the Wikimedia Conference, or it could be a stand-alone workshop earlier in the year. This is to be decided.
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Thanks Chris (and Markus, Michał and Claudia) for this great initiative. It is needed and I'm sure it will be really appreciated from most Chapters, especially from those who are moving from executive boards to governance oriented boards.
Patricio
2013/8/13 Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com
Thanks for all the enthusiasm!
Since you said it will be organised in the early 2014, does it mean that the workshop will happen in Chapter Conference 2014?
Hi Ted,
It could happen as a pre-meeting to the Wikimedia Conference, or it could be a stand-alone workshop earlier in the year. This is to be decided.
Chris _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
This is a very good proposal, and I've forwarded it to the rest of our board for comment. Thanks, Chris!
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