On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 4:21 PM, MZMcBride z@mzmcbride.com wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
I was thinking of the numerous (quite successful) associations in France, which are simply made of entrepreneurs wishing to do things together (from networking, to training, to visits, conferences etc.). Most of those associations have only one staff member, a long-term hired secretary who takes care of secretarial work. The rest of the association activity is 100% taken care of by the volunteer entrepreneurs (usually through an extended board of volunteer members).
Yes, this kind of association is also somewhat common in the United States as well. I agree that it might serve as a very good model for a healthy number of Wikimedia chapters.
Yes, this model clearly works in some countries and for some non-profits. It has also been working for some Wikimedia groups, e.g. WMPL.
However, it is not obvious that this model is what all (or even most) groups are looking for (judging by grant applications and informal conversations I have had with many groups). I would be willing to consider funding such a position on a part-time basis (say 3 days a week) if a group presented a compelling case for the need for such a person.
In many cases, the secretary is paid with sponsorship and membership
fees.
The Wikimedia Foundation seems to be in a good place to ensure that this need is met for chapters in need of a full-time staff person. A little seed money. What needs to happen in order to ensure requests like this are met if membership fees and sponsorships aren't sufficient?
The Foundation is indeed in a good place to fill this need, where it exists. I think very few groups have been able to demonstrate the need for _sustained_ support of this kind (i.e. not the two afternoons needed to finish some particular report, but actual ongoing labor of the order that would require such a position). Again, I am happy to discuss this with any group, on any channel, including privately if they prefer (I prefer public conversations).
For example, in the context of the recent FDC proposals, WMCZ's staffing plan[1], assuming that "student" could be a *part-time* employee, could certainly have gone through the Wikimedia Grants Program (NB: not "the GAC" -- the GAC is the advisory body to the Wikimedia Grants Program), as in WMCZ's case, I am aware of a relatively large amount of administrative work around reimbursements, related to their two current grants.
A case will still need to be made for such positions, each and every time -- we can't, and shouldn't, assume that this model is a panacea, so "requests like this" will be met wherever they make sense, in terms of both need and capacity (unfortunately, retaining paid help has a non-trivial up-front cost in time and planning, and the capacity to put in that time, responsibly, needs to be there for us to approve such a position).
Asaf
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikimed...
Le 5/1/13 2:50 AM, Asaf Bartov a écrit :
On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 4:21 PM, MZMcBride z@mzmcbride.com wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
I was thinking of the numerous (quite successful) associations in France, which are simply made of entrepreneurs wishing to do things together (from networking, to training, to visits, conferences etc.). Most of those associations have only one staff member, a long-term hired secretary who takes care of secretarial work. The rest of the association activity is 100% taken care of by the volunteer entrepreneurs (usually through an extended board of volunteer members).
Yes, this kind of association is also somewhat common in the United States as well. I agree that it might serve as a very good model for a healthy number of Wikimedia chapters.
Yes, this model clearly works in some countries and for some non-profits. It has also been working for some Wikimedia groups, e.g. WMPL.
However, it is not obvious that this model is what all (or even most) groups are looking for (judging by grant applications and informal conversations I have had with many groups). I would be willing to consider funding such a position on a part-time basis (say 3 days a week) if a group presented a compelling case for the need for such a person.
In many cases, the secretary is paid with sponsorship and membership
fees.
The Wikimedia Foundation seems to be in a good place to ensure that this need is met for chapters in need of a full-time staff person. A little seed money. What needs to happen in order to ensure requests like this are met if membership fees and sponsorships aren't sufficient?
The Foundation is indeed in a good place to fill this need, where it exists. I think very few groups have been able to demonstrate the need for _sustained_ support of this kind (i.e. not the two afternoons needed to finish some particular report, but actual ongoing labor of the order that would require such a position). Again, I am happy to discuss this with any group, on any channel, including privately if they prefer (I prefer public conversations).
For example, in the context of the recent FDC proposals, WMCZ's staffing plan[1], assuming that "student" could be a *part-time* employee, could certainly have gone through the Wikimedia Grants Program (NB: not "the GAC" -- the GAC is the advisory body to the Wikimedia Grants Program), as in WMCZ's case, I am aware of a relatively large amount of administrative work around reimbursements, related to their two current grants.
A case will still need to be made for such positions, each and every time -- we can't, and shouldn't, assume that this model is a panacea, so "requests like this" will be met wherever they make sense, in terms of both need and capacity (unfortunately, retaining paid help has a non-trivial up-front cost in time and planning, and the capacity to put in that time, responsibly, needs to be there for us to approve such a position).
Asaf
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikimed...
True. Not all associations are looking for such support and indeed, the association needs to show a decent amount of activity to make it worth it.
Note that in many cases, the secretary hired for such positions is NOT a student, but rather an experienced person willing and able to do multitasking stuff in an autonomous manner and rather looking for a long-term position. This balances the fact the volunteers come and go and that the board term is often for a limited time (2 or 3 terms maximum). This secretary provides an unvaluable element of stability. And indeed, for entreprenarial associations, it is frequent that a secretary is actually shared by two organizations.
Florence
2013/5/1 Florence Devouard anthere9@yahoo.com:
True. Not all associations are looking for such support and indeed, the association needs to show a decent amount of activity to make it worth it.
Note that in many cases, the secretary hired for such positions is NOT a student, but rather an experienced person willing and able to do multitasking stuff in an autonomous manner and rather looking for a long-term position. This balances the fact the volunteers come and go and that the board term is often for a limited time (2 or 3 terms maximum). This secretary provides an unvaluable element of stability.
In our case (Wikimedia Polska) we were very careful with hiring. The idea appeared around 2009, but there was no money for both having an office and paid secretary at that time and it was decided that it hardly make sense to have empty office or paid secretary working at home. Next year we had enough money for both. Before hiring we had made of list of duties and a list of skills needed for doing this duties. Our first secretary was hired only for a year contract and for part time (3 days a week 4 hours of work in the office + some duties outside the office). Our first secretary was mainly working as a attorney's assistant and work for us was just her extra job. She left us after a year, as demanded by her attorney boss. Then we hired the next person - with some modified list of duties and skills needed - for 4 days of week, still 4 hours of work in an office). Finally - just in the middle of last year we decided to employ the secretary for full time. It was decided due to gradual increase of our activity which need more paper work.
I've discussed this issue in my state of the movement presentation [1] summing up our experiences so far.
Balazs
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_of_WMHU.pdf
2013.05.02. 0:36, "Tomasz Ganicz" polimerek@gmail.com ezt írta:
2013/5/1 Florence Devouard anthere9@yahoo.com:
True. Not all associations are looking for such support and indeed, the association needs to show a decent amount of activity to make it worth
it.
Note that in many cases, the secretary hired for such positions is NOT a student, but rather an experienced person willing and able to do multitasking stuff in an autonomous manner and rather looking for a long-term position. This balances the fact the volunteers come and go
and
that the board term is often for a limited time (2 or 3 terms maximum).
This
secretary provides an unvaluable element of stability.
In our case (Wikimedia Polska) we were very careful with hiring. The idea appeared around 2009, but there was no money for both having an office and paid secretary at that time and it was decided that it hardly make sense to have empty office or paid secretary working at home. Next year we had enough money for both. Before hiring we had made of list of duties and a list of skills needed for doing this duties. Our first secretary was hired only for a year contract and for part time (3 days a week 4 hours of work in the office + some duties outside the office). Our first secretary was mainly working as a attorney's assistant and work for us was just her extra job. She left us after a year, as demanded by her attorney boss. Then we hired the next person - with some modified list of duties and skills needed - for 4 days of week, still 4 hours of work in an office). Finally - just in the middle of last year we decided to employ the secretary for full time. It was decided due to gradual increase of our activity which need more paper work.
-- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz
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