I think the answer is, as Brion said, "it's
hard." It has been really
difficult to organize US-based chapters so far because of our
particular legal structures. Therefore a better question to ask is "If
we had one, what would the chapter be doing, and can we do those
things anyway?" Because we are in the US and therefore money can be
handled directly by the Foundation, having the structure of a chapter
may not actually provide much benefit. That does not stop us however
from getting together and doing stuff, like the current chapters do
now.
-- phoebe
On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:30 PM, Geoffrey Plourde <geo.plrd(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
Several meetups have already occurred, I am
curious as to whther or not
people are interested in making a chapter.
----- Original Message ----
From: Brion Vibber <brion(a)wikimedia.org>
To: wikimedia-sf(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 12:27:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-SF] California Chapter
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Geoffrey Plourde wrote:
San Francisco Wikipedians (Sanfranpedians?);
I am looking into starting Wikimedia California. Would anyone here be
interested?
I think we have yet to figure out firmly what the mission or legal
structure for chapters in the US would be... :)
For other countries, a big part of it is to establish a local legal
structure that can accept tax-free donations -- something the Wikimedia
Foundation itself handles here the US.
But that structure can also be a useful way to organize local
activities, outreach, conferences and meetups as well as other online
and offline activity by Wikipedians other Wikimedians. Since the
Wikimedia Foundation decided not to become a membership-based
organization, concentrating on the high-level hosting and PR, there's a
bit of a vacuum still on how individuals can get involved and organized.
Rather than starting by saying "let's start a chapter", I might suggest
picking some particular event to organize, such as a California or west
coast-based Wikimedia user conference, and then we can see what kind of
organization can and should grow up around the community that builds it.
I should also stress that such an event should be a community-organized,
community-oriented affair. Make the Wikimedia Foundation a guest, not an
organizer or a funder... :)
- -- brion vibber (brion @
wikimedia.org)
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