[Foundation-l] Cary Bass as "Wikimedia US Affiliates Coordinator"

[Pharos]

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>  Effe's correct.
>  Delphine is the point person for chapters, so if volunteers in the United
> States want to formally organize, she would be their contact for that. The
> fact that she's not in the United States doesn't/shouldn't matter - she's
> the chapters' global representative (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Argentina, Israel)
> and is used to working with people who are far from her geographically.
> There's no need for the United States to get any special treatment.

I first entered contact with Delphine on these issues several months
ago.  She does not appear to be unsympathetic to these ideas.

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 7:44 AM, Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com> wrote:
>  I think that Pharos' approach, ahving the WMFoundation dedicate
>  specific resources to a "US local chapter" (which by the way, does not
>  have to operate US wide, but could just be the point of communication
>  of more regional chapters) actually makes sense, and it is definitely
>  one approach I am going to take into consideration, among others.

We have a situation where the US, because of its population
distribution, is ripe for regional affiliates.  Other countries may be
similar, and there may be a desire, for say, a "Wikimedia Canada
Affiliates Coordinator", appointed by a future Wikimedia Canada.  But
the WMF is the non-profit responsible for Wikimedia in the US, and
fulfills the role of 'de facto' chapter here, and so I think would be
the appropriate entity to designate an "Affiliates Coordinator" for
this country.

The WMF also has a unique role vis-a-vis US groups in that it has the
capacity to grant them a "Group Exemption Letter", conferring
non-profit status on a related organization.  It is not possible to do
this for groups in other countries.

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>  People who don't want to organize formally into chapters or chapter-like
> entities can continue to work with Cary, who is the point person for
> individual volunteers. So Pharos working with Cary for Wikipedia Takes
> Manhattan makes perfect sense :-)

We do wish to organize formally; we just don't wish to register as
many separate non-profits.  We would be organized in a manner legally
identical to local chapters of the American Red Cross.

Thanks,
Pharos