[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania

[Ray Saintonge]

Delirium wrote:

>Daniel Mayer wrote:
>  
>
>>Any US-wide chapter would be divided into regions and have local clubs for metro areas. I really
>>don't see the point in duplicating overhead when a single legal structure could benefit an entire
>>nation. 
>>    
>>
>Given that the Wikimedia Foundation is already US-incorporated, why do 
>we even need a separate legal structure for a Wikimedia US, as opposed 
>to having it be an unincorporated body?  The things that I see other 
>countries' Wikimedia chapters doing that need a legal entity, such as 
>collecting donations tax-deductibly, liasing with local corporations, 
>running local servers, etc., are already handled in the US by the main 
>WMF, so what would the new legal entity do?
>
That remains to be seen.  If the proposed Pennsylvania chapter doesn't 
find anything to do it will at least be able to share its failure with 
others, and the rejection of the model elsewhere will be based on 
factual circumstances.  If it succeeds that too can be a model. 

As here in Canada, national geography is a particular difficulty for 
getting a national chapter going. Itr's a problem getting people 
together when they live thousands of miles apart.  The benefits for a US 
federal chapter are less clear than for a Canadian federal chapter.  
Most importantly, tax deductibility is already available for US donors.  
Securing that right here gives a a much better return than in the U.S. 
In the US charitable donations are worthless unless you already itemize 
deductions.  Here, total donation exceeding $200 yield a roughly 50% tax 
credit.

Ec