[Foundation-l] Wikimedia India Program Trust

[Arjuna Rao Chavala]

Hi all,

This thread has brought up several points of interest to Wikimedia India.
First let me take this opportunity to thank the Foundation Grants team for
all the help for our bootstrapping work, be it Legal consultant or
Documentation for FCRA etc. We have been interacting regularly with India
programs, it was limited to sharing of the plan and progress on each
other's initiatives and some collaboration, as Hisham and myself are  on
the advisory board of Wiki Conference India 2011.

Responses to specific feedback from Hisham is given in line.

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 7:00 PM, Hisham <hmundol at wikimedia.org> wrote:

>
>
> hisham
>
> On Nov 11, 2011, at 2:41 PM, Lodewijk wrote:
>
> > Hi,
>
> I'm taking the liberty of speaking for both the Trust and the Chapter in
> some of my response here - so India Chapter, please do correct me if I'm
> not accurately reflecting your position anywhere.
>

While the chapter has opened the relationship discussion from the beginning
of our first meeting with Barry and Hisham, we are yet to clearly define
the focus areas of each despite several face to face meetings or conference
calls. Chapter and Foundation have been functioning independently so far
and it is important that we define the role and responsibility of each
clearly with a good understanding the strengths and limitations of each. We
think all the stakeholders have a right to the clarity.


> >
> > thanks a lot all for exmplaining the differences. I would be very much
> > interested to know more about the ''relationship'' between the trust and
> > Wikimedia India. You seem to suggest that trustees get appointed by (or
> on
> > the advice of - not sure of the legal wording) the WMF - but will
> Wikimedia
> > India be involved in that too? Since they are the chapter in that
> country I
> > could imagine them to have a say in it.
>
> We (the Trust) will be preparing a trustee selection plan that will
> outline this.
>
> >
> > How closely will this trust and the chapter work together? You mention
> that
> > there is communication etc - but is cooperation likely to become the
> > default or the exception?
>
> I think the Trust and the Chapter both bring unique strengths (as outlined
> by Gautam) which I see as complimentary.  I would think that cooperation is
> the default - and this is something that we (Chapter & Trust) will actively
> work towards.  The points I made in my earlier note about communication are
> an important first step in that - but not the only step.  The joint
> initiative that we (Chapter & Trust) are working at identifying and working
> together on is another step.  I am sure there will be others.
>
>
While Chapter has so far been occupied in trying to operationalize itself,
it did offer to get involved in the foundation activities that could impact
the Chapter like recruitment of staff for example. Foundation has not
signaled its willingness due to its own reasons. We are hoping that it will
change as we continue to engage.

Chapter is keenly interested in identifying programs that can be done
jointly leveraging the strengths of each and this is scheduled for
discussion in the upcoming face to face meeting during Wiki Conference.

>
> > And how will it work with regards of who will be the primary point of
> > contact in India for institutions who want to partner with Wikimedia?
> Will
> > they have to approach one of the two or whichever they like (and if they
> > dont get the answer they like, can they just approach the other?). Will
> the
> > chapter and the trust be competing with each other or collaborating?
>
> I think different situations will require different approaches - often
> times determined by the requirements or circumstances of the partnering
> institution.  If I can illustrate, the partnership point of contact for
> something like the WikiConference is the Chapter.   For something else, it
> might well be the Trust.
>
> As I mentioned in my earlier post, there is so much to be done - including
> just on partnerships alone - that there will be very little case or cause
> for competition.
>
> If as you illustrate, someone does not get the answer they want from
> either the Chapter or the Trust, we (Chapter & Trust) will make sure we
> communicate with each other so that both of us are fully in the know and
> can act appropriately.
>
> Chapter came to know about the name of the trust through this email only,
while we have been hearing of the trust formation for quite some time. We
have concern with the naming of the trust. As Wikimedia India is authorized
for use by chapter as per Chapter agrement, naming the trust with the same
prefix is a sure way of causing more confusion to all stakeholders. We
would like suggest to use the prefix  "Wikimedia Foundation".


In summary, while the objectives of Wikimedia India and Wikimedia
Foundation India programs are common, we really need to define the
relationship to a sufficient level of clarity and continue to iterate the
same based on experiences.

Thanks

Arjuna Rao Chavala
President, Wikimedia India