Hi all,
Copied below is the minutes of the meeting we had last Tuesday which are also published on the wiki at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2009-07-07. Please let me know if you have any questions or corrections.
The main topics of discussion were our initiatives and charity application:
Initiatives
The board decided to choose the following three initiatives as the ones we're committed to completing by March next year:
1) The Schools Project, led by our Volunteers Director, Paul Williams - see http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Initiatives/Schools_project 2) The London Loves Wikipedia project - see http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/London_Loves_Wikipedia 3) The workplace learning lunches initiative at the BBC
The Foundation grant previously announced on this list will fund the first two initiatives as well as a fourth initiative - engaging with museums and similar bodies to encourage them to release content under free licenses - which we aim to complete by July next year.
Charity application
Given that the grant from the Foundation pushes us over the £5,000 threshold, the Commission has advised us that we should submit our application to them within a reasonable time of receiving the donation, notwithstanding our previous correspondence with HMRC. We have therefore started work on this immediately.
Regards,
Andrew Turvey Secretary Wikimedia UK Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited. Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL, United Kingdom.
Wikimedia UK Board meeting Tuesday 7th July 2009, 8:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board
Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Joseph Seddon (JS); Paul Williams (PW)
Apologies: Steve Virgin (SV); Tom Holden (TH); Zeyi He (ZH) for late arrival
[ edit ] Minutes of the previous meetings
The minutes of the meeting dated 23 June were approved.
The following actions have been carried forward:
1. JS to send the tokens of our appreciation to the retiring Directors, tellers and external speakers.
ACTION: JS
2. PW will arrange the production of business cards for Wikimedia UK officials.
ACTION: PW
3. TD agreed to contact the gazette on behalf of WMUK to solicit a pro-bono lawyer
ACTION: TD
4. The cost to attend the Online Information 2009 (1-3 Dec, London) conference is £400/day/person (£400 for the 3 days for registered charities). JS will confirm whether speakers have to pay this fee. In the event that speakers do have to pay the fee, SV will look into getting a slot in a fringe event instead.
ACTION: JS; SV
5. AT to thank the pro-bono lawyer for his offer of help, explain the Board has decided to respond to HMRC ASAP; if this is not successful we may then seek legal advice so would be grateful for assistance then if it's still available and would they be prepared to advise us on the chapters agreement.
ACTION: AT
6. AT to submit expenses AGM claim .
ACTION: AT
7. PW agreed to finalise the design, contact interested members to see what cards they want and organise the printing.
ACTION: PW
8. PW agreed to draft an email to the WMF formalising the agreement to use Wikimedia Foundation trademarks in members-only merchandising and to look into where we could produce merchandise.
ACTION: PW
[ edit ] Matters arising
[ edit ] Press response templates
It was agreed that the six scenarios identified at Media relations#Media response would be sufficient for now. MP agreed to draft these templates.
ACTION: MP
[ edit ] Pro bono lawyers
It was decided that we would approach potential pro-bono lawyers once the chapter agreement and the charity application were at a stage where we needed specific advice, rather than seeking to engage a general "on-call" lawyer.
[ edit ] .uk project domain names
Board members were concerned that if the chapter owned domains like wikipedia.org.uk they could attract liability to the chapter for project content and make it subject to UK libel laws. However, it was acknowledged that it could be a good source of traffic and hence revenue if it is used to redirect to uk.wikimedia.org. It was agreed that MP would contact Wikimedia Deutschland to ask them how much revenue they get from their redirect from wikipedia.de and we will reconsider when this is known.
ACTION: MP
[ edit ] Reports
[ edit ] Secretary's Report
The report here was noted.
AT informed that he had not heard anything back from HMRC and isn't sure if it will take another 8 weeks for our letter to be processed.
JS volunteered to help Wikimedia Indonesia with their proofreading request - AT will put them in touch.
ACTION: AT Done
[ edit ] Treasurer's Report
This was unavailable so it was agreed the next meeting would have a report to cover four weeks.
[ edit ] Chair's Report
The report here was noted.
MP agreed to look into whether it would be possible to have a Wikimedia UK speaker at the Science Online London conference.
[ edit ] Conferences Report
The report here was noted.
The Board discussed whether we could combine the planned Wikimedia UK 2010 Conference with the Open Knowledge Foundation's annual conference. JS will continue to investigate.
[ edit ] Corporate Relations Report
No report was available but SV has kept the Board informed through emails of his activities with the BBC, a survey on Wikipedia use and Richard Stirling at the government's "Digital Engagement Team" .
MP agreed to ask SV for a report at the next meeting to cover four weeks.
ACTION: MP
[ edit ] Volunteers Report
PW gave a verbal update on the work planned for the following week:
1. Chase up / finalise business card design and order 2. Develop membership drive further and begin "the push" 3. Develop and distribute the July newsletter
MP and PW agreed to finalise the newsletter by Tuesday 14th July for distribution by the end of the following day.
ACTION: PW, MP
[ edit ] Charity Commission application
Per the Secretary's Report above, AT has discussed the chapter's situation with the Charity Commission over the phone. Their advice is we should apply to them within a reasonable time of receiving the £5,000 donation. The application form contains some wordy sections - particularly Section C, explaining how our objectives and activities are carried out for the public benefit and Section D, working with vulnerable people (in our case, children).
It was agreed that we will need to fill in section D, given our plans for the Schools project.
PW agreed to draft section D, MP agreed to draft section C and AT agreed to draft the rest of the form. PW, MP and AT all agreed to have a draft ready for discussion for the next meeting.
ACTION: PW, MP, AT
ZH joined the meeting
[ edit ] Initiatives
As per the agreed timeline , the Board has agreed to adopt three initiatives by the 15th July for completion by March 2010. The Wikimedia Foundation grant will fund the School Project , London Loves Wikipedia and a content access project. If these three initiatives are not completed by 1 June 2010 then funds may have to be returned.
It was agreed that the School Project would be adopted as the first initiative, with a target of doing at least 6 presentations by March 2010. It was agreed that PW would lead. PW agreed to develop a plan for this initiative on the wiki.
ACTION: PW
It was agreed that London Loves Wikipedia would be adopted as the second initiative. AT is able to support but not lead. MP will contact supporters to solicit people interested in participating, and will stand in as lead if no one else comes forward.
ACTION: MP
PW left the meeting
It was agreed that the Workplace Learning Lunches initiative at the BBC would be tentatively adopted as the third objective, to be confirmed following discussions with Steve.
Content access projects will be considered as a fourth initiative, which may not be completed before March 2010.
As previously agreed, the commitment from the board to complete these three initiatives by March 2010 does not mean that the chapter should not pursue other initiatives as and when they arise.
[ edit ] Next meeting
It was agreed the next meeting would be on Tuesday 21st July, 8:30 pm (BST) in #wikimedia-uk-board. Topics of discussion will include progress on each of these three initiatives and the Charity application.