On 1/26/06, Alison Wheeler wikimedia@alisonwheeler.com wrote:
I guess we need to know if we can incorporate on Sunday.
I think that it is premature, really; we still have to finally confirm the changes, and also wait for Board approval. I would be happy to have an IRC meeting this weekend, however, if people feel that it would be necessary.
Whilst I can certainly understand why people are raising some questions on how the *Chapter* will work, the *Company* (which forms the basis of the Charity) is subject to UK law and, as such, has to place that framework first. It is also the case that we cannot start on the Charity registration process (ie. start raising money to do "good works") until the Company completes the registration process, and it will take time.
Out of interest, how long do the processes of incorporation as a company and registration as a charity take? I guess the first formal board meeting will take place between incorporation and registration?
I am aware that a number of people have felt that we are slightly 'dragging our feet' on this; that there is a level of navel contemplation going on and a surprise that the forms haven't been submitted yet (ie. still). In respect of the company formation it is my belief that we probably *are* in a position to process the paperwork and proceed, and those signatures on the requisite forms and endpages are easiest done with everyone in the same place at the same time, indeed the pages before the final page can actually be amended before the whole set of papers are submitted (not that one should plan to do such a thing, of course, but it is an option).
Do you think the MoA and AoA are ok as they stand or are you anticipating a positive the legal review?
IMHO there is a separation between the operation of the Company/Charity (with its separate legal identity, concerned with raising money, etc) and the Chapter (probably more concerned with liaison between and support of editors) although they may be two faces of the same organisation in practice. IRC meetings are very suitable for the latter, face2face for the former.
I completely agree with you on this one. It may be that the strict relationship between the company/charity and the chapter will change with time - it may be sensible to start out with all members of the company being the chapter and changing this to a subset of the company members and assorted others being the chapter which could be "managed" by the company in some way. This is one reason (but not the only one) why the documents forming the company do not talk about a chapter - or indeed about wiki*ia.
Andrew