Hello,
In the last community election a Google employee, a physician, and a
Harvard business professor were selected. These are all higher income
professions. There were a range of reasons for this, but one commonality to
note was that the people favored by the community also might have been
people who were more highly paid than the competition. Probably all the
people elected last time had some kind of support staff under their
management, whether from a department of some sort or under their
leadership somehow. It is not as if any of the selected candidates were
rich, but it might be the case that the entire process makes board members
with a certain amount of money much more effective and influential than
those who are below a certain income level. In some cases, money is a sign
of a more effective leader, and in other cases, maybe it is possible for a
person to have less money but more important influence in other ways.
I like Pete's idea of the board being empowered to hire support staff,
which as far as I know does not currently happen. Besides outright pay
there could be other investments in the board, like for example, maybe
board members could share a secretary to help them schedule appointments to
hear comments from the Wikimedia community. Or maybe they could get funding
for a videographer to take statements from them from time to time, if that
helps them communicate board business more effectively to the Wikimedia
community. I think it is still the case that many board members get through
their terms without ever publishing a statement about what they as an
individual think or do, or if any individual records are kept, I am not
sure where to see them. Maybe board members should get a travel allotment
to do some wiki-diplomacy if they like, because being on the WMF board is
inherently empowering and someone who can pay their own travel can get all
sorts of negotiating opportunities for the Wikimedia community that a
person who cannot pay cannot. Maybe they could have a translation budget,
since they are elected to represent communities which need urgent access to
international conversations while one of their own is speaking in a
leadership role. I am not sure what the support should be but being wealthy
on an international scale should not be a prerequisite to getting the
fullness of the experience.
Pay might not be the exact solution but also diversity includes economic
diversity, and I do not want the board perpetually slanted to favor the
views of those better off financially without serious consideration of what
it is like to be on the board with less personal income.
I really do not want a board member's service halted because their time was
consumed otherwise over a small amount of money. Any inexpensive thing that
can be done to make someone's life and Wiki engagement a little more open
and easy should be done, because once someone is elected, suddenly the
community of many tens of thousands really depends on every hour they are
able to contribute.
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 4:07 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Pine,
It's unusual, and discouraged by the IRS (the United States' tax agency),
for board members to be paid. I won't get into details, but I think this is
a good thing, as it's tough to avoid conflict of interest when earning
money from an entity you're seeking to get funding for. You can read a bit
more here:
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/can-board-members-
be-paid
However, if board members have to spend substantial time in the course of
their duties, that's something that could and should be solved. As I
understand it, the board could pay support staff (roles like "assistant to
the treasurer" or "assistant to the secretary"). They've already taken
this
route to some degree by appointing WMF staff to serve officer roles; this
seems problematic to me, since as I understand it, the core function of
board officers is to provide oversight over the organization's staff. (So
it's odd to have a treasurer providing oversight over themselves.)
But unless I'm mistaken, there's nothing that would prevent the board from
hiring its own staff, as many as they deem appropriate, outside the
organizational structure of the WMF, simply to support the work of the
board members themselves.
-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 10:06 AM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Nataliia,
Thanks for the update. An issue that keeps coming to my mind is whether
WMF
would get higher-quality Board candidates, and
whether candidates would
devote more time to Wikimedia matters, if Board membership was treated
as a
part-time job and paid accordingly. Many people
who have the kinds of
skills which are desirable for WMF Board membership can be paid
(sometimes
very well) for their services. My understanding
is that WMF Board
membership is far more involved than once-per-month meetings that might
happen at smaller organizations which might be able to more feasibly get
volunteers for board roles due to the lower time requirements.
Personally,
I would rather have many high quality WMF Board
members and have them
doing
Board work for 8+ hours per week and pay them
accordingly, than have
difficulty finding high quality Board members who are willing to invest
the
time required to do their jobs well. This might
also help with the
problems
which were discussed in other threads regarding
WMF Board members feeling
like they lack adequate time to do their jobs adequately with the time
that
they have; if Board members are paid for their
services then I expect
that
there will be less difficulty in this regard.
Thanks,
Pine
Pine
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 9:10 AM, Nataliia Tymkiv <ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Dear all,
I have updates about the board recruiting process. As you may recall,
March
6 was the original deadline for accepting
submissions [1], but we need
more
time to develop more solid candidates. Our
original deadlines were
extremely ambitious, thus we decided to extend the deadline by two
months.
> Here is an outline of the updated timeline:
>
>
> -
>
> Application and referral submission period (January 23 - May 6)
> -
>
> Application and referral review, proactive candidate recruitment,
and
> interviews (January - June 5)
> -
>
> Initial application review and screenings (January - May)
> -
>
> Board Governance Committee
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
> Board_Governance_Committee>
> (BGC) discussions with candidates (January - May)
> -
>
> BGC meets and makes short list (May)
> -
>
> Second-round interviews (May - June 5)
> -
>
> Background check conducted by BGC and Wikimedia Foundation
staff
> -
>
> Criminal and financial background check conducted by
outside
firm
-
Thorough review of online and public coverage of candidates
-
Executive Director and BGC meet to determine recommendations and
provide
recommendations to the full Board (June)
-
Board vote to confirm candidate (July)
-
Announcement of new candidates (mid-July)
We decided to run this search ourselves, rather than going with a
recruiting firm. If we need additional help, we’ll assess in one month
and
> potentially discuss whether we need to look for external firms to
support
> our recruitment efforts.
>
> As a reminder, applicants may apply online at:
>
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers.
We
> also accept applications and referrals by
email at
> board-nominations(a)lists.wikimedia.org. The recruitment materials can
be
> found at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=55283092 [2].
>
>
> I shall update the Meta page shortly [3].
>
> Please forward this information to people who are potentially
interested
in
> serving the Wikimedia movement on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> Trustees.
>
> [1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
> Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
> (as of Jan 23)
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_
> Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment&
oldid=16250784>
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Board_
Recruiting_Candidate_Packet.pdf
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*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!*
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 8:44 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv <
ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > We would like to announce that we are officially beginning
recruitment
for
two open appointed positions on the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of
Trustees.
This email will outline the process and timeline
for the recruitment.
The Board initially began discussions on recruitment in May-June 2016
[1].
After a pause, the Board Governance Committee
(BGC) has renewed
recruitment
> for its vacant appointed seats and would love to share an update with
you
> > today.
> >
> > With support from Anna Stillwell (from the Talent & Culture
department)
> > and Michelle Paulson (our interim
General Counsel), the BGC developed
> four
> > candidate profiles for the vacant and soon-to-be-vacant seats and
gave
its
> recommendations to the Board in December 2016.
>
> During its December meeting, the Board decided that it hopes to find
the
> > following types of experience and expertise:
> >
> >
> > 1.
> >
> > Growing a global movement: apply
> > <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src=
> 3vh7tx1#.WIZGvrYrL-Y>
> > [2]
> > 2.
> >
> > Engaging new communities: apply
> > <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src=
> b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1>
> > [3]
> > 3.
> >
> > Social sector governance: apply
> > <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src=
> 5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1>
> > [4]
> >
> >
> > After that Anna, Michelle, and the Communications team integrated
Board
> > feedback and developed recruitment
materials, which include
background
> > information about the Wikimedia
movement and Foundation as well as
the
> > profiles describing the types of
candidates we are looking for. These
> > recruitment materials can be found at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
>
?curid=55283092 [5].
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees currently has two vacant
> appointed seats. We also have a vacant community-selected seat, but
this
> seat will be filled through the community
selection process. The
Election
> > Committee, who runs the election process for community-selected
seats,
> will
> > provide further information about the process and timeline at a later
> date.
> > We hope to have all three candidates join the Board no later than
> Wikimania
> > in August.
> >
> > We will begin accepting applications and referrals for these
positions
> > today and will close the submission
period on Monday, 06 March 2017
at
> > 17:00 PST. A more detailed timeline of
the full recruitment process
is
[6].
>
> Applicants may apply online at:
https://wikimediafoundation.
> org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers. We also accept applications
and
> > referrals by email at board-nominations(a)lists.wikimedia.org.
> >
> > Over the next six weeks, we invite you all to tell us about people
who
> are
> > potentially interested in serving the Wikimedia community on the
> Wikimedia
> > Foundation Board of Trustees. And we look forward to hearing from
you.
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!*
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