[Wikimedia-l] Your support is wanted: The WMF Board of Trustees is looking for a new Board member

[rupert THURNER]

my first thought when i read this was "should i use my free time to
edit wikipedia so that somebody donates money to wmf, and they use it
to pay oppenheim?"

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 9:28 PM, Itzik Edri <itzik at infra.co.il> wrote:
> I don't understand. The board hired and pays to a company to find a board
> member? Have we tried before via our networks, chapters, and via our
> advisory board to find such a person (as been done until now?).
>
> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 1:55 AM, Alice Wiegand <awiegand at wikimedia.org>wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> as you know, we have one vacant appointed seat on the Board of Trustees. We
>> have asked m/Oppenheim Associates to assist us in finding a new board
>> member and and we are reaching out to the community for suggestions and
>> nominations.
>>
>> The Board functions as a governance body that is ultimately responsible for
>> the Wikimedia Foundation and its activities, supervises the disposition and
>> solicitation of donations, and evaluates the organization’s Executive
>> Director who leads all Foundation staff. As arguably the most influential
>> and respected organization in the free knowledge movement, the Wikimedia
>> Foundation and its Board have a great responsibility for setting policy
>> deliberately and with due consideration for the diverse interests of a
>> truly global community. To find out more about the responsibilities and
>> workings of the board you can have a look at the Board
>> manual<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_board_manual>
>> .
>>
>> As with any search process we will be communicating with a lot of potential
>> candidates to see if we are a good match. The Board’s objective is to use
>> this search to strengthen its competence with regards to board governance,
>> grantmaking, strategy, and expertise with regions where Wikimedia is trying
>> to make rapid strides in the growth of our projects.
>>
>> Board terms are for a two year period. Compared to other boards the time
>> commitment is very significant. The Board of Trustees meets four times a
>> year, twice in San Francisco and twice in changing locations around the
>> globe. Meetings take two days and travel can add another two days to each
>> meeting. In addition, the Board communicates frequently by email and
>> Internet Relay Chat (IRC) as it navigates policy issues. This can absorb
>> 4-10 hours weekly. Board members also regularly engage with the Community
>> through wiki pages.
>>
>> We think that the WMF would benefit from a Board member who has experience
>> with organizations that have grown and evolved rapidly, and who understands
>> how boards can evolve to provide appropriate governance support in these
>> changing circumstances. Experience with international, community-driven,
>> consensus organizations is also important as the Foundation would not exist
>> without the community.
>>
>> We would like to call upon you to help us out with finding the right
>> individual. A complete position description can be found
>> here<
>> http://moppenheim.com/searches/links/Wikimedia%20Foundation%20-%20Board%20Member%20position%20description%20-%20final.pdf
>> >and
>> additional information can be found at
>> www.moppenheim.com and www.wikimediafoundation.org. Your suggestions and
>> nominations are very welcome. Please feel free to reach out to your
>> networks and distribute this note as you deem appropriate.
>>
>> Interested individuals should contact Lisa Grossman  lisag at moppenheim.com
>>
>> --
>> Alice Wiegand
>> Board of Trustees
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>>
>> Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
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