Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
Do members have any other role than electing trustees to decide of everything for them ?
Anthere wrote:
Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc." is the name of a nonprofit corporation.
"foundation" is not, so far as I know, a formal legal term in the U.S.
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
2 -- a contributing member representative and a volunteer member representative
Do members have any other role than electing trustees to decide of everything for them ?
I don't like the phrasing of that question. The trustees no more "decide of everything for the members" than I have done traditionally.
Nothing about the foundation changes the way our culture is organized here, in which members -- editors -- do everything, as they see fit, within the bounds of our social norms.
--Jimbo
Jimmy Wales a écrit:
Anthere wrote:
Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc." is the name of a nonprofit corporation.
"foundation" is not, so far as I know, a formal legal term in the U.S.
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
2 -- a contributing member representative and a volunteer member representative
Do members have any other role than electing trustees to decide of everything for them ?
I don't like the phrasing of that question. The trustees no more "decide of everything for the members" than I have done traditionally.
Nothing about the foundation changes the way our culture is organized here, in which members -- editors -- do everything, as they see fit, within the bounds of our social norms.
--Jimbo
Good. I will see if other questions are to be reported on the french side later on :-)
Good week end to all of you :-)
Anthere wrote:
Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
"Corporation" is a broader term that includes "foundation". More generally incorporation is what gives an organization the legal status to be treated as a person. There is some variation in the use of the term "foundation" in various jurisdictions. Here it seems to be used in the sense of a general non-profit corporation that is doing good for the benefit of the community. In other places the use of the term "foundation" is restricted to those organizations whose primary function is the distribution of funds for charitable purposes, often as the result of a large bequest.
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
Two (2) to be elected. If there were any more there would be a serious risk that democratic control would subvert the purposes of the organization.
Do members have any other role than electing trustees to decide of everything for them ?
Ingrate! You should be thankful when Big Brother relieves you of the stress of participating in mind-numbing decisions. ;-)
Ec
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Anthere wrote:
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
Two (2) to be elected. If there were any more there would be a serious risk that democratic control would subvert the purposes of the organization.
Thanks, Ray, for putting the cynicism into words.
Kurt
Kurt Jansson wrote:
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Anthere wrote:
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
Two (2) to be elected. If there were any more there would be a serious risk that democratic control would subvert the purposes of the organization.
Thanks, Ray, for putting the cynicism into words.
I think it's mostly a moot point as long as we ensure that the trustees are people who have no interest in doing anything actually relating to Wikipedia itself. I don't expect the Board of Trustees in the near future to be making pronouncements about banning users or article disputes (that's the community and the mediators' and arbitrators' job) or technical type issues (that's the developers' job), or really anything other than legal and foundation type stuff.
I'm not sure how this could be codified though. The board of trustees probably *should* have the authority to do something if necessary, but it shouldn't use that power unless it really is necessary. It should also be made up of people who we know though--Jimbo I'm perfectly comfortable with, but I don't really recognize the other three as active Wikipedians (unless they go by a different name here?). Which is fine for a start-up phase, but eventually I think we should have people on there who we can trust to "not do anything unless really really necessary".
Actually I'm confused about how the selection takes place. As far as I can tell, the board has *five* members; two members of the Board will be elected "within 90 days" of the adoption of the bylaws, and then re-elected periodically. The other three are initially Jimmy Wales, Michael Davis, and Tim Shell. When do we get to elect these three slots? Are they permanent life members of the Board? I'm fine with Jimbo being a permanent life member, but I'm not sure I even know who Michael Davis and Tim Shell are, let alone know them well enough to feel comfortable giving them a seat on the board in perpetuity.
-Mark
Delirium wrote:
It should also be made up of people who we know though--Jimbo I'm perfectly comfortable with, but I don't really recognize the other three as active Wikipedians (unless they go by a different name here?).
Tim Shell, and I guess also Michael Davis, are employees of Jimbo. They are in a relationship of economic dependence to him.
Kurt
Ray Saintonge a écrit:
Anthere wrote:
Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
"Corporation" is a broader term that includes "foundation". More generally incorporation is what gives an organization the legal status to be treated as a person. There is some variation in the use of the term "foundation" in various jurisdictions. Here it seems to be used in the sense of a general non-profit corporation that is doing good for the benefit of the community. In other places the use of the term "foundation" is restricted to those organizations whose primary function is the distribution of funds for charitable purposes, often as the result of a large bequest.
Okay. So, I presume we can safely translate it as "association" everywhere
When the next elections take place, will there be 2 trustees to elect, or 4 ?
Two (2) to be elected. If there were any more there would be a serious risk that democratic control would subvert the purposes of the organization.
You are right.
French people are also asking who the two other people are ?
Do members have any other role than electing trustees to decide of everything for them ?
Ingrate! You should be thankful when Big Brother relieves you of the stress of participating in mind-numbing decisions. ;-)
Ec
I would love it if Jimbo were bilingual english/french...;-)
Anthere wrote:
Ray Saintonge a écrit:
Anthere wrote:
Section 1. POWERS. The powers of the corporation shall be exercised, its properties controlled, and its affairs conducted by a Board of Trustees to be comprised initially of five trustees. All trustees must be active (contributing or volunteer) or life members of the Foundation.
What is the difference between a corporation and a foundation ?
"Corporation" is a broader term that includes "foundation". More generally incorporation is what gives an organization the legal status to be treated as a person. There is some variation in the use of the term "foundation" in various jurisdictions. Here it seems to be used in the sense of a general non-profit corporation that is doing good for the benefit of the community. In other places the use of the term "foundation" is restricted to those organizations whose primary function is the distribution of funds for charitable purposes, often as the result of a large bequest.
Okay. So, I presume we can safely translate it as "association" everywhere
Yes "association" or "société" are both frequently used terms.
Ec
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