I believe I can expand on the situation of wikimedia uk, some of it you are aware of, some your not but its as complete as i could possibly make it with the limited information i have. We need £5000 to get the Charity status, however it is possible to get an account to handle this money. What has been said about it being difficult is quite frankly a very simplified view of it.
Now we have several ways we can get this £5000:
1) The foundation pledge this amount and then give it to us when the status is achieved. There are no issues with an international organisation doing this. This would be the quickest method and hold the most guarantee's to getting enough money.
2) Funds raised during the annual fund raiser are redirected to WMUK. This would be viable if up to or more than £5000 comes from the UK.
3) or we try and get the money ourselves in some way shape or form.
So we have 3 methods of doing this or possibly a 4th one consisting of a combination of the first 2 where the foundation simply tops up the difference between what we get from the fundraiser and £5000. Now what method we use is essentially down to the foundation and what they feel most comfortable with. At the moment there are other things that need to be dealt with first, so this isn't something that needs to be decided upon now. Just something that needs to be considered over the next couple of months.
With regards to the bank account, when set up it would not allow us to claim back tax until we got the charity status but it would allow us to take payments. According to the person I spoke to on the phone they could easily alter the account when the tax back charity status came through.
In regards to the timeline. Attaining charity status before the annual fundraiser is honestly going to be doubtful. The application takes approximately 40 days to complete if there are absolutely no hitches. I would plan to get signatures at the next AGM which is planned for september sometime. This would put completion of the charity status at the earliest for early-mid november and that is purely on the basis that everything go absolutely smoothly. The best approach would be looking for the application to be finished by the start of 2009 and worst case scenario by the end of the financial year 08/09.
I hope this provides a clearer outlook on WMUK financially. Any questions I could clarify are welcomed as it may spot areas or things that i havnt thought about.
User:Seddon @ en-wiki
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