Walter Vermeir wrote:
If where let say Lars Aronsson the founder of Wikipedia it would be i think a Swedish foundation for Wikimedia.
Well, it would be "in Sweden", but it wouldn't be "a foundation", because that is not the traditional way to organize things over here.
If it was in Germany, it would be an "e.V." (eingetragene Verein, or registered membership association), and a similar construction would be used in Sweden. I think some kind of membership association is now being discussed on the German wiki-de mailing list.
The Swedish chapter of ISOC is now a Swedish membership association, and all I know is that it took quite a lot of bureaucracy to make this interface with the international mother organization. The problem seems to be that Swedish laws require the Swedish association to be independent, having their own bylaws, so its elected board can be held responsible under Swedish laws, and at the same time the international organization doesn't allow the chapter to be fully independent, but its bylaws and board must be approved by ISOC.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation does not have a Swedish chapter, but a completely independent membership association "with similar goals" exists in Sweden (www.efs.se). Saves a lot of bureaucracy.
If the Wikimedia foundation looks for a solution like this, a lot could be learned from already existing international organizations such as ISOC, the Red Cross, etc. I could volunteer to be the overpaid representative in Geneva with a secret bank account. :-)