Communication on Chapter Accomplishments and EC vacancies
Dear Members & Wikimedia India Community,
Greetings from EC.
As we are getting started for this year's AGM and Elections, here is a
summary of the Chapter accomplishments from the time of last AGM and also
update on the EC vacancies.
Accomplishments since last AGM Statutory
Last AGM was conducted on 24 Sep 2011. All statutory reports were filed
with Registrar of Societies and Income Tax Department. Chapter applied for
FCRA prior permission and obtained the same. This gave financial stability
to the Chapter with no additional government applications required for 3
years. TAN was obtained, which is required for complying with Income Tax
when making payments to Consultants, any future staff etc.
Finances
Bank accounts for FCRA was set up with SBI Online operation of Bank account
was put in place.
Communication
Press page and kit were prepared. Updates and Interaction with members,
community, WMF and other stakeholders were maintained using various
mechanisms. Wikimedia India site is revamped with portal for all Wikimedia
India sites and Wiki project sites, advanced search facility, which was
well received.
Membership
Chapter membership reached a high of 197 at the end of Financial year
2011-12 There were 39 renewals and 61 new applications adding up to a total
current year membership of 100 as of 18 Jul 2012.
Projects and Events
Chapter co-hosted first national WikiConference India 2011 and helped in
organizing it successfully. Chapter supported over 15 Wiki Academies at
colleges and other institutions in India from Sep 2011 till March 2012
initiating around 600 people into Wiki editing Coordinated the conduct of
Wiki Academies along with India programs as relevant. Kick started Wiki
Loves Monuments 2012. Community meetups, Indian Langauge Wiki Anniversary
events were conducted with help of City/Language SIGs across India.
Supported WikiSangamotsav Malayalam Wiki Conf and Wiki Eleven Celebrations
at several places, Anniversary of Assamese and Kannada Wikipedia were some
of the prominent events.
Governance.
Chapter had a smooth induction of new EC members, revamped the structure
and assigned the responsibilities to support further growth. CIS support
for using their office as Chapter Address has been extended till end of FY
2012-13 Consultant, Auditor are appointed and have been offering their
services for smooth conduct of chapter operations Special Interest group
for Language and Cities were created. Special Projects team was formed for
GLAM Teams for Administration,Fundraising,Communications were started MoU
with Crafts Museum for GLAM project.. Policies for conduct of chapter
operations, elections, funding have been put in place. Wiki is used
effectively as the knowledge repository for the Chapter operations.
*As you can see from the above, Chapter bootstrapping is completed and it
now ready for the next phase of growth.*
EC Vacancies
From the present EC, the following members (in
alphabetical order of their
first names) have decided to step down from EC after the
upcoming AGM.
- Arjuna Rao Chavala
- Arun Ramarathnam
- Naveen Francis
- Srinivas Gunta
- Tinu Cherian
Anirudh Singh Bhati and Sudhanwa Jogalekar will continue on the EC. Further
Anirudh will be continuing till his term ends, i.e Jan 2, 2013.
All the EC members who are stepping down will continue to perform their
roles till a revised EC is put in place following the Elections for EC.
We thank you for your support over the past few years and would request you
to continue the same to grow Wikimedia movement.
Regards
On behalf of Wikimedia Chapter Executive committee
Arjuna Rao Chavala
President