On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com> wrote:
* Chapters historically came into existence to (1) process donations in
local currency and (2) deal with local legal issues
I would say it is more
(3) provide an organization that could handle local partnerships and
communication: with content and promotion and other targeted projects. The
sort of thing that the WMF explicitly leaves to other entities, by virtue
of not accepting targeted donations.
* The difficulty of forming a chapter that doesn't
conform to legal
borders has caused tension in recent years
This was feared but has not been true in practice. (It was an issue of
forming an incorporated entity, period, not specific to a chapter.)
* The WMF Board and many in the community are aware
and concerned about
this
Not sure... concerned about what here? The explicit recognition of other
entities was to avoid forcing groups into a narrow mould in order to be
recognized as a stable part of the movement. It wasn't in response to
issues with geographic groups that weren't national; it was in to recognize
the majority of groups that are not geographic at all.
* The general solution is not so much to adapt the
Chapter model to fit
other cases, as to establish that other cases are fine *without* carrying
the name "chapter".
The Wikimedia movement has a new approach to
funds dissemination; being a
> chapter is not the only way to get grants or put the name "Wikipedia" (or
> "Wikimedia" etc.) to good use.
Yes.
In other words, just because the CHAPTERS committee
There is no longer a chapters committee; it is now the Affiliations
Committee :) And please don't judge what they /might/ think; just ask them.
SJ