Would it be possible for WMUK to join the government's sponsorship scheme as a registered UK charity and provide organizational and practical help and probably a very modest amount of funding for someone fleeing the war in the Ukraine to stay in London? It's likely that funding will be available from several sources if requested, so WMUK may not need to directly fund anything apart from some coordination time from an employee and of course interested volunteers.
Talking to others that have sponsored political refugees in the past, such as religious groups, there is an expectation that you have a connection to the sponsored refugee, and it would seem appropriate to seek to sponsor an academic or librarian, or even a past Wikipedia volunteer who is unable to use the other routes as they don't have existing close family living in the UK.
Could the trustees have a discussion about whether this is reasonable and allowable under the "libraries" and open knowledge scope of the charity and the agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation? If it's not reasonable to take direct action, the trustees may have other ideas of how WMUK can be seen to help.
Reference: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-sponsorship-scheme-for-ukraine
Thanks, Lane
Thanks for this Lane - I wasn't aware of this scheme but I'll look into the details and email the trustees ASAP.
I was planning to email this list next week to highlight a couple of things that Wikimedia UK has done/is doing, and ways in which Wikipedians can contribute, although of course it all feels woefully inadequate.
All best Lucy
On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 at 12:34, Lane Chance zinkloss@gmail.com wrote:
Would it be possible for WMUK to join the government's sponsorship scheme as a registered UK charity and provide organizational and practical help and probably a very modest amount of funding for someone fleeing the war in the Ukraine to stay in London? It's likely that funding will be available from several sources if requested, so WMUK may not need to directly fund anything apart from some coordination time from an employee and of course interested volunteers.
Talking to others that have sponsored political refugees in the past, such as religious groups, there is an expectation that you have a connection to the sponsored refugee, and it would seem appropriate to seek to sponsor an academic or librarian, or even a past Wikipedia volunteer who is unable to use the other routes as they don't have existing close family living in the UK.
Could the trustees have a discussion about whether this is reasonable and allowable under the "libraries" and open knowledge scope of the charity and the agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation? If it's not reasonable to take direct action, the trustees may have other ideas of how WMUK can be seen to help.
Reference: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-sponsorship-scheme-for-ukraine
Thanks, Lane _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
There is this page on Ukrainian Wikipedia with offers of help - if we are able to do anything, worth posting it here:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4472720
On Sat, 12 Mar 2022, 16:48 Lucy Crompton-Reid, < lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Thanks for this Lane - I wasn't aware of this scheme but I'll look into the details and email the trustees ASAP.
I was planning to email this list next week to highlight a couple of things that Wikimedia UK has done/is doing, and ways in which Wikipedians can contribute, although of course it all feels woefully inadequate.
All best Lucy
On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 at 12:34, Lane Chance zinkloss@gmail.com wrote:
Would it be possible for WMUK to join the government's sponsorship scheme as a registered UK charity and provide organizational and practical help and probably a very modest amount of funding for someone fleeing the war in the Ukraine to stay in London? It's likely that funding will be available from several sources if requested, so WMUK may not need to directly fund anything apart from some coordination time from an employee and of course interested volunteers.
Talking to others that have sponsored political refugees in the past, such as religious groups, there is an expectation that you have a connection to the sponsored refugee, and it would seem appropriate to seek to sponsor an academic or librarian, or even a past Wikipedia volunteer who is unable to use the other routes as they don't have existing close family living in the UK.
Could the trustees have a discussion about whether this is reasonable and allowable under the "libraries" and open knowledge scope of the charity and the agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation? If it's not reasonable to take direct action, the trustees may have other ideas of how WMUK can be seen to help.
Reference: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-sponsorship-scheme-for-ukraine
Thanks, Lane _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
-- Lucy Crompton-Reid (she/her) Chief Executive _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Thanks for this Chris.
The UK government sponsorship scheme seems, at the moment at least, to be geared to people who have a spare room in their house (or an empty home). The registration form for charities is the same as for individuals and asks for details of specific accommodation that can be provided. The advice does note that "in the future we will work to help organisations to also sponsor individuals, but we are starting the first phase of the scheme with named individual contacts."
Wikimedia UK obviously can't accommodate anyone on a residential basis. However, we may be able to act as a conduit between Wikimedians here in the UK who are able to offer space but don't know a specific individual in need, and people fleeing Ukraine who are either Wikimedians or (as Lane suggests) work in a related field such as culture, information, or academia. The 'ask' is significant; you must be able to offer accommodation for at least six months. However if you think you might be in this position, please do feel free to contact me directly (off list).
All best Lucy
On Wed, 16 Mar 2022 at 22:00, Chris Keating chriskeatingwiki@gmail.com wrote:
There is this page on Ukrainian Wikipedia with offers of help - if we are able to do anything, worth posting it here:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4472720
On Sat, 12 Mar 2022, 16:48 Lucy Crompton-Reid, < lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
Thanks for this Lane - I wasn't aware of this scheme but I'll look into the details and email the trustees ASAP.
I was planning to email this list next week to highlight a couple of things that Wikimedia UK has done/is doing, and ways in which Wikipedians can contribute, although of course it all feels woefully inadequate.
All best Lucy
On Sat, 12 Mar 2022 at 12:34, Lane Chance zinkloss@gmail.com wrote:
Would it be possible for WMUK to join the government's sponsorship scheme as a registered UK charity and provide organizational and practical help and probably a very modest amount of funding for someone fleeing the war in the Ukraine to stay in London? It's likely that funding will be available from several sources if requested, so WMUK may not need to directly fund anything apart from some coordination time from an employee and of course interested volunteers.
Talking to others that have sponsored political refugees in the past, such as religious groups, there is an expectation that you have a connection to the sponsored refugee, and it would seem appropriate to seek to sponsor an academic or librarian, or even a past Wikipedia volunteer who is unable to use the other routes as they don't have existing close family living in the UK.
Could the trustees have a discussion about whether this is reasonable and allowable under the "libraries" and open knowledge scope of the charity and the agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation? If it's not reasonable to take direct action, the trustees may have other ideas of how WMUK can be seen to help.
Reference: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-sponsorship-scheme-for-ukraine
Thanks, Lane _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
-- Lucy Crompton-Reid (she/her) Chief Executive _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
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