On 1/26/06, Alison Wheeler <wikimedia(a)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