[Foundation-l] Serbia and Montenegro

[Daniel Mayer]

--- Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
> The U.S. is also somewhat unique in that it doesn't have a need for a 
> separate "Wikimedia U.S." to fill legal beaurocratic roles, because the 
> global Wikimedia Foundation is already headquartered in the U.S. and 
> subject to U.S. law, so can fill any of those roles itself (tax-exempt 
> donations, applying for U.S. grants, etc.).

I see the role of the foundation to be outward looking/global and the role of a U.S. chapter to be
focused on establishing connections within the U.S. and providing a club framework. A club in a
particular area, for example, would organize meet-ups whereby members would collect photos and
information from particular areas and for particular events. They would also be points of contact
between Wikimedia and local academic, civic, and non-profit persons and groups. 

Wikimedia U.S. would also be a membership organization whereas membership in the parent
organization is hampered by the fact that it only legally exists in one nation. 
 
> I suppose for consistency's sake we could have the same setup in the 
> U.S., but from a pragmatic perspective it seems that as long as U.S. 
> Wikimedians trust the Wikimedia Foundation to handle the accounts and 
> legal aspects, the same effect could be accomplished just by having 
> non-incorporated/informal associations of U.S. Wikimedians do everything 
> a local foundation would normally do except for the legal aspects, 
> thereby avoiding legal and beaurocratic duplication.

There are many areas where the two organizations will not overlap. Making sure to minimize any
unnecessary duplication will be a significant challenge *and* opportunity (each organization can
then focus on their respective strengths). The little bit of duplicated overhead will not pose a
problem once the Wikimedia Foundation hires a proper Executive Director and a couple other
directors to run things (thus giving volunteers like me more time to devote to forming a U.S.
chapter).  

-- mav

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