That would be superb. Alison could you possibly make an official request asap?
As Paul confirmed, we only need the promise of income not the actual money itself, so I imagine a letter on official paper is all we need at this point to go ahead with conversion to charity status, and then to open a bank account.
Once we've done that I hope there will be no delay in starting to accept memberships, and if by some unfortunate circumstance we still haven't had an AGM at that point, the immediate calling of one.
We all want the same thing here, namely for an active and democratic WMUK capable of significantly helping advance the Wiki and Open Content movements in the UK, so if there is anything any of us can do to help you and the board get this done speedily I'm sure we'd all be more than happy to do it.
I know you and David are quite active already fielding media requests and the like, but Wikimania presents a significant opportunity for Wiki Educational Resources to really put its name on the map. If the conversion to charity status could be firmly in progress by the start of Wikimania bidding (approx September 1st) and finished with an AGM having taken place by the end (approx November 1st) you would have done a great service for the UK Wikimania bid and I'm sure you'd have the thanks of everyone on this list.
I hope this is not too unreasonable a request and thanks in advance to all who are going to work to bring this to a speedy resolution.
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediauk-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Cary Bass Sent: 30 July 2008 00:34 To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK
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The Foundation is more than happy to work with the Wikimedia UK. I'm sure if a request was made to the foundation that would move Wikimedia UK in a manner that would benefit both the Wikimedia UK, I'm sure the Foundation would be more than happy to do what we're able. As far as I'm concerned, a simple £5,000 to help Wikimedia UK achieve that all important status to benefit both Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation. I am neither, however, the Chapters Coordinator or the Executive Director and cannot make any official claim as such; I am just stating that the chapter should be free to contact us if it needs help with anything whasoever.
That being said, I do hope that the issues risen on this list with regard to the legal status of Wikimedia UK and the update of its board with Companies House are addressed. - -- Cary Bass Volunteer Coordinator
Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! Support the Wikimedia Foundation today: http://donate.wikimedia.org Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Phone: 415.839.6885 x 601 Fax: 415.882.0495
E-Mail: cary@wikimedia.org
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