Fwd: Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user groups recognition changes - Offline-l

10 Feb 2024

Hello everyone

I hope every one is ok !

Please allow me to share with you a recent message from Natalia related 
to proposed modifications to requirements for affiliates to stay in good 
standing.
Short version, look at this page on meta : 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Re…

Best

Florence

-------- Message transféré --------
Sujet : 	[Wikimedia-l] Feedback invited on proposed requirements for 
affiliates & user groups recognition changes
Date : 	Wed, 7 Feb 2024 17:56:25 +0200
De : 	Nataliia Tymkiv &lt;ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org&gt;
Répondre à : 	Wikimedia Mailing List &lt;wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org&gt;
Pour : 	Wikimedia Mailing List &lt;wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org&gt;

Dear all,

I would like to share with you the outputs of the Wikimedia Foundation 
Affiliate Strategy process [1], and to invite you to give feedback on 
the proposed changes to requirements for all affiliates & to user groups 
recognition process (more below).

The 2017 Strategic Direction 
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017>says 
that we, the Wikimedia Movement, would build “the services and 
structures that enable others to … advance our world by collecting 
knowledge that fully represents human diversity” while carrying on “our 
mission of developing content”. As Wikimedia affiliates are a key and 
integral part of the Wikimedia movement and have knowledge and expertise 
to share, the movement’s success depends greatly on affiliates as they 
help people join us in doing mission-aligned work. The Wikimedia 
Foundation Affiliates Strategy report [2] identified a need to 
streamline the role of the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) on 
recognition of Wikimedia Affiliates, and identified issues with the 
current state of the process.

After conversations with AffCom, the Board liaisons to AffCom identified 
two areas for improvement. These areas are about the relevant work and 
mandate of the Board related to affiliate recognition:

1) requirements for affiliates; and

2) improving the workflows around the process for the creation and 
recognition of a user group.

The proposal on Meta [3] is suggesting to change the requirements for 
all existing Wikimedia affiliates, not just the legal entities. There 
are ten proposed criteria for a healthy affiliate. Examples include 
focusing on continuity by being an active group and welcoming new users, 
having good governance, and actively delivering on mission goals. 
Compliance with these requirements would be self-reported by the 
affiliates. The Board liaisons will work with the Affiliations Committee 
to publish a resolution outlining how affiliates would be expected to 
fulfill these requirements to remain in good standing.

Throughout the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process, there 
was also feedback about user groups. Initially, user groups were meant 
as a first step toward creating chapters or thematic organizations. Over 
the years, user groups have evolved and there are now legally 
incorporated user groups, user groups with boards, etc. Getting started 
does need to be easy, but also needs to make sense, and so there is a 
proposal for changes to the current workflow. The recommendations [3] 
include an outline of the sequential steps of a revised process.

The feedback can be given from today up till March 20, 2024 (Anywhere on 
Earth). Hopefully a fairly long feedback period will allow affiliates to 
consult with their membership, thinking it through practically.

To provide your feedback, please review the page here, on Meta, [3] and 
leave comments on the talk page. Alternatively, you can join an open 
call (February 14 and 28 at  14:00 to 14:30 UTC) or request a 
conversation as a part of Talking:2024 
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024>.

You can use the Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs 
Committee/Talking: 2024#Let’s Talk|Let’s Talk 
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#Let's_talk>feature

to sign up for a time to speak with me and other trustees about this 
conversation or any other topic regarding the Wikimedia Foundation 
Board, Movement Strategy, and more.

Note: New user group applications will be placed on hold for the 
duration of this conversation – but the ones received before will be 
reviewed according to the current process.

Best regards,

Nat & Mike & LorenzoWikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to 
the Affiliations Committee

[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy 
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy>

[2] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Wiki…

<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy:_Summary_and_Report>

[3] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Re… 

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
/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!/