Hello,
In the last community election a Google employee, a physician, and a Harvard business professor were selected. These are all higher income professions. There were a range of reasons for this, but one commonality to note was that the people favored by the community also might have been people who were more highly paid than the competition. Probably all the people elected last time had some kind of support staff under their management, whether from a department of some sort or under their leadership somehow. It is not as if any of the selected candidates were rich, but it might be the case that the entire process makes board members with a certain amount of money much more effective and influential than those who are below a certain income level. In some cases, money is a sign of a more effective leader, and in other cases, maybe it is possible for a person to have less money but more important influence in other ways.
I like Pete's idea of the board being empowered to hire support staff, which as far as I know does not currently happen. Besides outright pay there could be other investments in the board, like for example, maybe board members could share a secretary to help them schedule appointments to hear comments from the Wikimedia community. Or maybe they could get funding for a videographer to take statements from them from time to time, if that helps them communicate board business more effectively to the Wikimedia community. I think it is still the case that many board members get through their terms without ever publishing a statement about what they as an individual think or do, or if any individual records are kept, I am not sure where to see them. Maybe board members should get a travel allotment to do some wiki-diplomacy if they like, because being on the WMF board is inherently empowering and someone who can pay their own travel can get all sorts of negotiating opportunities for the Wikimedia community that a person who cannot pay cannot. Maybe they could have a translation budget, since they are elected to represent communities which need urgent access to international conversations while one of their own is speaking in a leadership role. I am not sure what the support should be but being wealthy on an international scale should not be a prerequisite to getting the fullness of the experience.
Pay might not be the exact solution but also diversity includes economic diversity, and I do not want the board perpetually slanted to favor the views of those better off financially without serious consideration of what it is like to be on the board with less personal income.
I really do not want a board member's service halted because their time was consumed otherwise over a small amount of money. Any inexpensive thing that can be done to make someone's life and Wiki engagement a little more open and easy should be done, because once someone is elected, suddenly the community of many tens of thousands really depends on every hour they are able to contribute.
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 4:07 PM, Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com wrote:
Pine,
It's unusual, and discouraged by the IRS (the United States' tax agency), for board members to be paid. I won't get into details, but I think this is a good thing, as it's tough to avoid conflict of interest when earning money from an entity you're seeking to get funding for. You can read a bit more here: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/can-board-members- be-paid
However, if board members have to spend substantial time in the course of their duties, that's something that could and should be solved. As I understand it, the board could pay support staff (roles like "assistant to the treasurer" or "assistant to the secretary"). They've already taken this route to some degree by appointing WMF staff to serve officer roles; this seems problematic to me, since as I understand it, the core function of board officers is to provide oversight over the organization's staff. (So it's odd to have a treasurer providing oversight over themselves.)
But unless I'm mistaken, there's nothing that would prevent the board from hiring its own staff, as many as they deem appropriate, outside the organizational structure of the WMF, simply to support the work of the board members themselves.
-Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]]
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 10:06 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nataliia,
Thanks for the update. An issue that keeps coming to my mind is whether
WMF
would get higher-quality Board candidates, and whether candidates would devote more time to Wikimedia matters, if Board membership was treated
as a
part-time job and paid accordingly. Many people who have the kinds of skills which are desirable for WMF Board membership can be paid
(sometimes
very well) for their services. My understanding is that WMF Board membership is far more involved than once-per-month meetings that might happen at smaller organizations which might be able to more feasibly get volunteers for board roles due to the lower time requirements.
Personally,
I would rather have many high quality WMF Board members and have them
doing
Board work for 8+ hours per week and pay them accordingly, than have difficulty finding high quality Board members who are willing to invest
the
time required to do their jobs well. This might also help with the
problems
which were discussed in other threads regarding WMF Board members feeling like they lack adequate time to do their jobs adequately with the time
that
they have; if Board members are paid for their services then I expect
that
there will be less difficulty in this regard.
Thanks, Pine
Pine
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 9:10 AM, Nataliia Tymkiv ntymkiv@wikimedia.org wrote:
Dear all,
I have updates about the board recruiting process. As you may recall,
March
6 was the original deadline for accepting submissions [1], but we need
more
time to develop more solid candidates. Our original deadlines were extremely ambitious, thus we decided to extend the deadline by two
months.
Here is an outline of the updated timeline:
Application and referral submission period (January 23 - May 6)
Application and referral review, proactive candidate recruitment,
and
interviews (January - June 5)
Initial application review and screenings (January - May)
Board Governance Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee> (BGC) discussions with candidates (January - May) -
BGC meets and makes short list (May) - Second-round interviews (May - June 5) - Background check conducted by BGC and Wikimedia Foundationstaff
- Criminal and financial background check conducted byoutside
firm - Thorough review of online and public coverage of candidates -Executive Director and BGC meet to determine recommendations and
provide
recommendations to the full Board (June)
Board vote to confirm candidate (July)
Announcement of new candidates (mid-July)
We decided to run this search ourselves, rather than going with a recruiting firm. If we need additional help, we’ll assess in one month
and
potentially discuss whether we need to look for external firms to
support
our recruitment efforts.
As a reminder, applicants may apply online at: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers.
We
also accept applications and referrals by email at board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org. The recruitment materials can
be
found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=55283092 [2].
I shall update the Meta page shortly [3].
Please forward this information to people who are potentially
interested
in
serving the Wikimedia movement on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment (as of Jan 23) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_ Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment&
oldid=16250784>
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Board_ Recruiting_Candidate_Packet.pdf [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend.
You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you
in
advance!*
On Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 8:44 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv <
ntymkiv@wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Dear all,
We would like to announce that we are officially beginning
recruitment
for
two open appointed positions on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees.
This email will outline the process and timeline for the recruitment.
The Board initially began discussions on recruitment in May-June 2016
[1].
After a pause, the Board Governance Committee (BGC) has renewed
recruitment
for its vacant appointed seats and would love to share an update with
you
today.
With support from Anna Stillwell (from the Talent & Culture
department)
and Michelle Paulson (our interim General Counsel), the BGC developed
four
candidate profiles for the vacant and soon-to-be-vacant seats and
gave
its
recommendations to the Board in December 2016.
During its December meeting, the Board decided that it hopes to find
the
following types of experience and expertise:
Growing a global movement: apply <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src=
3vh7tx1#.WIZGvrYrL-Y>
[2] 2.
Engaging new communities: apply <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src=
b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1>
[3] 3.
Social sector governance: apply <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src=
5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1>
[4]
After that Anna, Michelle, and the Communications team integrated
Board
feedback and developed recruitment materials, which include
background
information about the Wikimedia movement and Foundation as well as
the
profiles describing the types of candidates we are looking for. These recruitment materials can be found at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
?curid=55283092 [5].
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees currently has two vacant appointed seats. We also have a vacant community-selected seat, but
this
seat will be filled through the community selection process. The
Election
Committee, who runs the election process for community-selected
seats,
will
provide further information about the process and timeline at a later
date.
We hope to have all three candidates join the Board no later than
Wikimania
in August.
We will begin accepting applications and referrals for these
positions
today and will close the submission period on Monday, 06 March 2017
at
17:00 PST. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process
is
available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203
[6].
Applicants may apply online at: https://wikimediafoundation. org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers. We also accept applications
and
referrals by email at board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org.
Over the next six weeks, we invite you all to tell us about people
who
are
potentially interested in serving the Wikimedia community on the
Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees. And we look forward to hearing from
you.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/2016_competence_matrix
[2] https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src= 3vh7tx1#.WIZMiFyzlP1
[3] https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src= b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1
[4] https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src= 5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1
[5] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Board_ Recruiting_Candidate_Packet.pdf
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend.
You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank
you
in
advance!*
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