simple and effective creation process for chapters - Wikimedia-l

3 May 2014

hi,

out of the experiences of creating 50 chapters, and the recent
frustrated feedback from persons involved in the creation of new
chapters, e.g. belgium and ghana, could we please find a simple and
effective way to organize the chapters creation process? existing
chapters not meeting the requirements have 3 years to adjust their
bylaws.

target and purpose of chapters:
chapters match a country as defined by the league of nations defined
in 1939 and reaffirmed by the united nations in 1945 [1], to follow
local jurisdiction. they are membership organizations.

requirements to be a chapter in the bylaws:
* support the mission of the wmf
* be a membership organization, i.e. the highest body is
  the assembly of members
* be a member must be possible for everybody who
  contributes (i.e. edits, writes software used by wmf projects)
  at zero cost (or low cost, e.g. price of one meal?)
* meet the tax exemption criteria. justification needed
  if not possible, reviewed regularly.
* an audit committee, consisting of members, who are also
  allowed to seek professional help

this means chapters can created within days, not years. the rules are
clear right from the beginning. measures are already in place if
something goes wrong.

problems addressed:
* creating a chapter is possible immediately one
  finds the legal minimum number of contributors in a
  country, most of the time 2 or 3.
* the bylaw requirements guarantee contributors can
  easily join any time and no lockout can happen.
  negative example: german football federation,
  allowing a red bull club (rb leipzig) with 7 members, exorbitant
  membership fee, existing rb leipzig board decides who can
  become member.
* proper names may be used immediately, current negative
  example: "planning wikimedia ghana" registers facebook, and
  other social accounts with a temporary name to gather
  people. the risk is that it is "planning" forever. later change
  of such accounts is nearly impossible without breaking history.
* bank accounts with limited liability are used immediately,
  allowing to properly pursue misuse in local jurisdiction. negative
  example: kenya, where money disappeared from a
  personal account.
* the bylaw requirements allow the inclusion or lockout of people
  not contributing at the chapters discretion. example: germany,
  switzerland allowing persons and even legal entities to become
  member.
* it allows to organize itself in some federal way within a country,
  at the discretion of a chapter.
* it guarantees to have the highest level of local jurisdiction control
  by meeting tax exemption criteria. examples: germany, uk.
  there critieria are in place which can be fulfilled, austria. criteria
  exist what cannot be matched, but discussions are ongoing to
  change the law.
* initial signing of policies and contracts with the wmf is not required.
  using trademarks without approval is easily controlled by established
  procedures (legal, fdc, etc). the movement is used to deal with
  people and organizations trying to do that every day, in many
  countries.
* "contributing" is easily and globally defined by commits, and edits,
  as currently used for elections [2]
* no block is there by enforcing auditing costs, as well preventing a
  chapters board to "appoint a best friend auditing firm". negative
  examples: enron, which was audited by arthur anderson, and
  anyway exploded. positive examples: wmf, using volunteers and
  kpmg, most chapters.
* there is no different treatment of newborn chapters, chapters with
  experienced boards, and chapters who just changed the whole board.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013

kind regards,
rupert.