March Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes and June 23 agenda items - Wikimedia-l

23 Jun 2022


      Dear all,
I have not been writing to the list for a while, so please bear with me:
this will be a long one.
== March Board Meeting ==
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met in New York City over March
22-24. This was the first time the Board met in person since 2020 because
of the pandemic, and the first time many of us had ever met in person. It
is good to know that with the lifting of all Covid-19 related travel
restrictions with Foundation Grant funding we are going to have more
offline community events now.
So, the Board’s official meeting was on March 23. During this session, the
Board approved the December 8, 2021 meeting minutes [1], the updated
Community Affairs Committee charter [2] to align with the other Board
Committee charters, and approved the updated Conflict of Interest Policy
[3].
The Board also approved a temporary reassignment of Esra’a Al Shafei’s
roles as Board Vice Chair and Product and Technology Committee Chair, and a
permanent reassigning of Esra’a’s positions as Elections Committee Liaison
and a member of the Board Selection Task Force [4].
Occasionally, Trustees need to step away from Board work to focus on
professional or other concerns. The Board feels it is important to
accommodate these requests when possible. Esra’a Al Shafei had requested a
brief sabbatical and returned to her full responsibilities on June 1, 2022.
It also helped to shift responsibilities a bit, and give more visibility
and experience to trustees who joined recently, which is overall good for
planning roles succession on the board.
The Board also discussed governance issues and checked its progress against
the 2019 governance review [5]. We have made progress on some of the items
in the governance review, and we also discussed areas where we can continue
to improve, such as Board operational processes and communication about
Board activities. The Board also met with Maryana and other Foundation
staff to review the Foundation’s Values and Guiding Principles, as part of
Maryana’s priorities to elucidate values for the Wikimedia Foundation.
Conversations about this are ongoing, and you might expect to hear more on
this by the end of the year.
This was also an opportunity for the Board Committees to meet in person, as
their meetings are usually happening online. In order to make communication
about outcomes of the board meeting clearer, we have decided to have
separate committees reporting to the movement  about their spheres of
responsibility. For example, Dariusz, as the chair of the Governance
Committee, has already sent a letter on 2022 Trustee Selection and renewal
of my appointment to the Board of Trustees [6]. The Board of Trustees has
formally concluded [7] the work of the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
with gratitude and appreciation for all of the dedication of its members
over the years. More on the Diff from Shani as the chair of the Community
Affairs Committee (CAC) [8].
I want to thank the Foundation’s Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums
(GLAM) team, especially Ben Vershbow and Fiona Romeo, for their work on
planning a Learning Day visit to New Museum with some of our largest GLAM
partners in New York City, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
Rhizome, on March 22. During this meeting, the Trustees learned more about
GLAM work done by volunteers and challenges they face. We also met with
several community leaders, including Eliza Myrie and Jina Valentine (Black
Lunch Table), Kira Wisniewski (Art + Feminism), Sherry Antoine (AfroCROWD),
and Andrew Lih. Thank you to all the participants - you made our first
Learning Day visit a success; it was a nice way to kick off the Board
meeting.
I also want to use this opportunity to thank Victoria, Rosie, and Lorenzo,
for fully engaging with their new transitioning roles and responsibilities.
== June 23 Board meeting ==
The Board’s next meeting will be online today, on June 23, and the main
topic on the agenda will be the Annual Plan [9]. Also there would be
discussion on working capital reserve policy, and updates about the
Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC). Two Movement Charter Drafting Committee
(MCDC) members will join the meeting as visitors [10]. After the meeting
itself the Board will have a Q&A session with the Foundation staff. The
outcomes of this meeting will be shared to the list in the coming weeks.
The Board plans to meet again in September in Berlin in conjunction with
the Wikimedia Summit. I hope to see some of you there as well.
[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Minutes_December_8,_2022
[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Affairs_Committee_Charter
[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest_policy
[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Adjusting_Board_Roles,_Marc...
[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Veritas_Governance_Recommen...
[6] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:2022_Trustee_Selection,
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Nataliia_Tymkiv%E2...
[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Dissolving_the_Funds_Dissem...
[8]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/06/23/thanking-the-members-of-the-funds-diss...
[9]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023/d...
[10]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Inviting_visitors_to_a_Boar...)
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Inviting_visitors_to_a_Board_of_Trustees_meeting_(2015)
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*