----- Original Message ----- From: "rupert.thurner" rupert.thurner@gmail.com To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Sunday, 10 May, 2009 20:12:30 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Minutes of yesterday's Board meeting
would it be possible to slightly adjust your "bylaws" and add education as most other wikimedia chapters do?
When the by-laws were written we talked about "educational content". This was our attempt to marry the charitable aim of "promoting education" with the Mission of the Wikimedia Foundation stated at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission. Our correspondence made clear and repeated reference to "promoting education" so they were in no doubt how our Object links into the law on charitable activities.
Adjusting the bylaws would be a long process. We would need to call a general meeting of members, and get 75% approval for the change. We would also need the Foundation to approve the change which could take months.
The tax authorities' objection was not based on the wording of our Articles - their interpretation of the law was that producing an encyclopedia did not count as "promoting education" under UK law. We're contesting that interpretation - see http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submission_to_HMRC for the draft of the response we are writing.
If we fail in this appeal one route we could go down is to revise the objects but our immediate response is to ask the matter to be referred to the Charity Commission who are more familiar with the law in this area.
Regards,
Andrew
On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Andrew Turvey andrewrturvey@googlemail.com wrote:
We would also need the Foundation to approve the change which could take months.
Hmm...? If I remember correctly, Chapters Committee has always been very informal about this IF a chapter even notifies us of a bylaws change. As a matter of fact, we hardly ever receive notifications of bylaws changes (certainly none for not-mission/object-related changes) and if we do, we generally look at it and if we're fine, we just communicate it that way.
Read: There is no affirmative resolution needed by ChapCom, which speeds up the process extremely.
Of course, if we received note (by the chapter or a 3rd party) of an absolutely objectionable bylaws change, eg. change of the charity's object to something unconnected to free knowledge, we might pass a resolution recommending derecognition by the board.
Michael
Sorry you're right - we only have to advise the Foundation of a change:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapter_Agreement#Bylaws
Must be misremembering!
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Bimmler" mbimmler@gmail.com To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Monday, 11 May, 2009 23:49:42 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Minutes of yesterday's Board meeting
On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Andrew Turvey andrewrturvey@googlemail.com wrote:
We would also need the Foundation to approve the change which could take months.
Hmm...? If I remember correctly, Chapters Committee has always been very informal about this IF a chapter even notifies us of a bylaws change. As a matter of fact, we hardly ever receive notifications of bylaws changes (certainly none for not-mission/object-related changes) and if we do, we generally look at it and if we're fine, we just communicate it that way.
Read: There is no affirmative resolution needed by ChapCom, which speeds up the process extremely.
Of course, if we received note (by the chapter or a 3rd party) of an absolutely objectionable bylaws change, eg. change of the charity's object to something unconnected to free knowledge, we might pass a resolution recommending derecognition by the board.
Michael
Hey all,
In case anyone was subscribed here from across the Irish Sea, or have any interest in Wikimedia events and happenings in Ireland; we have started a mailing list for Wikimedians in Ireland.
The intent of the list is to coordinate Ireland related activities, such as meetups, organizational efforts (such as Museum or National Archive partnerships) and anything else. The list is open to anyone living in Ireland or interested in activities in Ireland. Subscription is available at https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaie.
Cary Bass
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org