Lars wrote:
.. I strongly recommend that you all look at how the German chapter of ISOC (which is an "e.V.", see www.isoc.de) has solved this. I assume they have a working model already, that could be copied. In fact, the ISOC chapter model could be copied for more countries than Germany, if Wikipedians want to form local chapters in their area.
I agree - we should look into that. I also agree that a chapter system would be the best way to go. Then, if needed, we could have an affiliate in Europe that would coordinate national or lower level chapters in Europe (or we could just have chapters).
Their "Primer for Creating a Local ISOC Chapter" http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/application/primer.shtml also mentions incorporation as one of the final steps of chapter formation and how the ISOC needs to sign-off on that (before that it mentions that the ISOC needs to approve the chapter's bylaws). So a chapter so formed (assuming it was incorporated as a tax-exempt non-profit) would have tax-deductible status and would firmly be part of the Wikimedia Foundation.
IMO, creating "sister" organizations is a bad idea for the reasons Jimbo gave. Plenty of organizations are international in nature so we should put our efforts into making Wikimedia into an international organization.
Please everybody be patient though - the bylaws were only recently adopted and for all practical purposes the foundation is still just Jimbo. So until we have a full board of trustees things will continue to move slowly - Jimbo is only one person.
I would suggest then for people to start to think about who they want to be on the board. I assume we will be having elections for that in the next month or so.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
Daniel Mayer wrote:
I agree - we should look into that. I also agree that a chapter system would be the best way to go. Then, if needed, we could have an affiliate in Europe that would coordinate national or lower level chapters in Europe (or we could just have chapters).
I agree with you that organizing the wikimedia projects in chapters would be the best way to proceed. The status and role of the chapters should be regulated in the bylaws.
Their "Primer for Creating a Local ISOC Chapter" http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/application/primer.shtml also mentions incorporation as one of the final steps of chapter formation and how the ISOC needs to sign-off on that (before that it mentions that the ISOC needs to approve the chapter's bylaws). So a chapter so formed (assuming it was incorporated as a tax-exempt non-profit) would have tax-deductible status and would firmly be part of the Wikimedia Foundation.
IMO, creating "sister" organizations is a bad idea for the reasons Jimbo gave. Plenty of organizations are international in nature so we should put our efforts into making Wikimedia into an international organization.
Such a chapter in Germany would have to be an e.V. (Verein) - a "foundation" in Germany is a totally different legal form. For example a foundation in Germany can have no members, but only trustees.
Maybe you were mislead by the word "sister project" - the plans about the German e. V. are in fact to create such a chapter, not an independent organization.
Please everybody be patient though - the bylaws were only recently adopted
When did this take place? Where was this announced?
I would suggest then for people to start to think about who they want to be on the board. I assume we will be having elections for that in the next month or so.
There I would ask you to proceed slowly. Discussions on the German mailing list show many concerns about the bylaws in their present form. Before any election takes place, we should resolve these concerns, otherwise we risk loosing some of the most valuable contributors of the German wikipedia if not worse things.
Please everybody, be careful what you write in your postings here. This is a sensible topic, and it's easy to step on one's toes.
greetings, elian
wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org