[Wikimedia-l] WikiVoyage Association as a thematic organization

[Bence Damokos]

I think both of you have some good points. I would argue that currently,
only a subset of chapters is fully funded from fundraising revenues, and
many of the rest rely on membership fees to finance some or all of their
administrative costs (while individual, more expensive programmes can be
funded through WMF grants). Even in more affluent chapters the membership
fee could be an easy way to require some form of commitment from the
members towards the organization. (Participation in the work is dependent
on membership to varying degrees at different organizations.)

On the other hand, membership fees, difficult to fill out membership forms
or long periods of membership approval can all act as barriers of entry.
Therefore, making becoming a member as easy as possible and being sensible
to the different worth in different countries or personal situations of a
seemingly low membership fee are important.
(Just for example, the reason I am only a member of one chapter, although I
could sympathize with many more, is that I can not afford it.)

Indeed, this is one of the areas that AffCom tries to look at when dealing
with a new organization. Wikivoyage's current fees seem to correspond to
those of Wikimedia Germany, Austria or Italy, and are slightly lower than
that of Wikimedia Switzerland; to compare to chapters from the area where
its membership has traditionally been based. It might be suggested that
lower, discounted membership fees could encourage more members to join, as
long as that is feasible with the organization's budget (this would
probably apply to most organizations).

Best regards,
Bence


On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 8:45 PM, Federico Leva (Nemo) <nemowiki at gmail.com>wrote:

> rupert THURNER, 10/03/2013 20:17:
>
>> good point, chapters have had traditionally membership fees, because
>> in the startup phase there was no other possibility to finance it. [...]
>>
>
> I question this premise.
> Chapters have fees because associations have fees; they should follow the
> laws and customs of their geography and a one-size-fits-all global
> regulation would be a big mistake. (It might even be illegal in some
> jurisdictions for some associative forms.)
>
> I also question your secondary premise that interested people are left out
> by fees, and I encourage you to demonstrate this claim.
>
> Nemo
>
>
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