[Wikimedia-l] AffComs $40,000 Hong Kong junket

[Fae]

On 14 May 2013 08:45, Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org> wrote:
> 2013/5/14 Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org>
...
>> Personally, I feel that WMF Committee (and board) members should not be
>> treated to a lower standard than staff members, simply because they are not
>> being paid for their work. But maybe I'm the only one in thát opinion
>> though...
>> Lodewijk

I am pleased to say that from day 1 of Wikimedia UK employing staff,
our policy has been that precisely the same expenses policy, travel
and hotel standard applies for staff and volunteers. The reason I
helped create this policy a couple of years ago, is that anything else
would separate the staff from volunteers at events in a visible and
unnecessarily community divisive way, and potentially can cause
problems with fulfilling our mission for "access" which must account
for undeclared ability needs and diversity requirements. I consider
this the *community norm*, rather than WMF's policies.

In line with our shared values of openness, our Chief Executive,
Trustees and our Operations are required by our finance policy to
publish expenses on the public wiki, so I encourage you to email Jon
Davies for the current summary should you wish to compare WMUK for the
nature of staff expenses for travel and accomodation to other chapters
or the WMF.

You can find a summary of WMUK's financial policies and plans at
https://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Finances

Should AffCom or any other group wish to benefit from WMUK policies or
procedures, I would be happy to provide some advice as an unpaid
volunteer. The UK Chapter has invested a lot in governance
improvement.

Thanks,
Fae
--
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