2008/9/7 Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>:
> At 12:51 +0200 7/9/08, Ian A. Holton wrote:
>>And how exactly do we build a community? I was kind of expecting a
>>few good ideas :P
>
> Let us discuss this over a beer next Sunday, eh?
Sounds like a plan, although to be honest the community already
exists. The chapter just allows the existing community to do more.
There's nothing to stop us building the community further, of course!
Looking forward to a new feeling of warmth, trust, community spirit
with WMUK 2.0 so good luck to us all!
Cheers,
Gordo
--
"Think Feynman"/////////
http://pobox.com/~gordo/
gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
At 01:09 +0100 7/9/08, Alison Wheeler wrote:
>
>
>Would you please stop disparaging all the hard work done by various people
>in setting up and running the original WMUK!
Alison,
I believe that you and everybody else involved did a difficult job
for the benefit of the UK community. The fact that WMUK gained a
licence from the Foundation is testament alone.
Gordo
--
"Think Feynman"/////////
http://pobox.com/~gordo/
gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
2008/9/6 Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>:
>>the WMF's guidelines for chapters say if possible the
>>organisation should have a membership structure open to the
>>community).
>
> And the problem remains. How do you fit this requirement into UK (charity) law?
I fail to see the problem. Could you elaborate?
>the WMF's guidelines for chapters say if possible the
>organisation should have a membership structure open to the
>community).
And the problem remains. How do you fit this requirement into UK (charity) law?
Gordo
--
"Think Feynman"/////////
http://pobox.com/~gordo/
gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
Sent offlist by accident - can people please not click "Reply to all",
just click "Reply". Doing otherwise messes up the reply-to header and
emails end up going to the wrong people. Thanks.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>
Date: 2008/9/6
Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia v2 structure
To: Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>
> There are no shareholders in a company limited by guarantee (since there are
> no shares issued).
I know - that was just a general definition of an AGM. There are two
types of private limited company, limited by shares or limited by
guarantee. We're going to be the later
> The discussion of who should be the guarantor members has been going on as
> long as I remember! Some charities limit that membership to the trustees,
> and some do not, and I am a member and a trustee of both types of charity.
There's been discussion about it? I thought it was universally
accepted that membership would be open to the community (exact
definitions may be negotiable, but the basic principle is already
determined - the WMF's guidelines for chapters say if possible the
organisation should have a membership structure open to the
community).
I noticed the discussion previously about the type of organisation.
I understand Wiki v1 was a Company Limited by Guarantee and this proved to be a bit too onerous. (http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/ea5e233643cbe7a39d43af65930f34fa/compdeta… shows the accounts and annual return were never filed)
As someone else has noted the Charitable Incorporated Organisation which simplified the admin side a little bit is not yet available.
The alternative is just set up as an unincorporated association. More details are here:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc22.asp#9
The main problem with this is unlimited liabilities - if you are a member of the association and the association has a dispute with, say a venue, they could sue any member of the association as they would be jointly and severally liable.
Has this been considered before?
Andrew
Dear Wikimedia community,
We are proud and honoured to announce that a plan is in the works to
found a new UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. A lot of
discussion has already taken place on IRC and we are ready to begin
gathering support from the community. If you are interesting in being
part of a new UK chapter, in whatever capacity (from sitting on the
board, to cheering us on from the sidelines), please head over to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0 and let us know. Over
the next few days we will gather names and put some finishing touches
to the plans. An election will be held for the initial board, who will
then oversee the process of founding the company and accepting
application to membership. They will then organise an AGM to formally
elect a new board to take the chapter forward to begin fundraising and
supporting the Wikimedia community in the UK in whatever way we can.
This is an exciting time for the UK community and I hope you will all
support us in it.
Kind regards,
Thomas "Tango" Dalton
Tom "Cfp" Holden
River Tarnell
Alex Newman
Paul Williams
Geni