[Foundation-l] A new proposal regarding US chapters

[Andrew Whitworth]

On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 1:54 PM, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> I don't find this line of thought compelling at all.  There is no need
>  for a separate legal national organization, and indeed this would be
>  confusing and counter-productive.
>
>  I can see an argument for US chapters not need a legal organization at
>  all (just use the Foundation for this), and I can see an argument for
>  each of them having their own legal organization (this seems better to
>  me), but I can't see having one non-Foundation organization for multiple
>  chapters.

It's never a problem to have too many options! The volunteers are
going to organize as they see fit, we can't do too much to script them
and I don't think we would even want to if we could. Likewise, the
volunteers can't force the WMF to act in any particular way either. We
have the four basic options available, at different levels of
preference for different people:
1) The WMF is the "parent" to the US local chapters
2) A strong "Wikimedia US" chapter is formed in the US, and local
groups serve as "local sections" of this strong chapter
3) A weak "Wikimedia US" chapter shell is formed to provide a legal
framework for independent local sections
4) Local sections/chapters form independently and incorporate
individually as non-profits, no national chapter whatsoever

Depending on the way that organization progresses on both sides of the
coin (the volunteers and the WMF), any of these options may come into
or fall out of favor. For instance, if we have several fledgling
chapters forming, and all of them are having difficulties
incorporating as non-profits, options 1 or 3 might be more
interesting. If volunteers decide spontaneously to combine efforts
because of inherent similarities, option 2 might be preferred. It's
good to have the options on the table and let people work towards
their desired ends more organically.

--Andrew Whitworth