Did we have some discussions about a US Chapter Council in Jan-Mar 2011?
--Bob Platt
Quoting Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com>om>:
2012/4/20 Kirill Lokshin
<kirill.lokshin(a)wikidc.org>
Hello everyone,
Looking at the various discussions surrounding the Berlin Agreement -- and
particularly in anticipation of the first meetings of the Wikimedia
Chapters Association, where future plans for chapters in the US might
become a point of contention -- I think it may be beneficial for us to more
formally adopt and promulgate a shared vision for the future of US-based
chapters at our in-person meeting at Wikimania.
Having said that, I think that trying to come up with something as
detailed as the Berlin Agreement -- establishing a formal organization,
adopting a detailed charter, and so forth -- would be premature for us;
most of our regional groups haven't gone down the path of formally
incorporating and becoming official chapters, and there's little value to
creating a formal infrastructure until that happens.
Instead, I'd like to propose that we put together an agreement in
principle to outline a shared vision for the development of US chapters.
The agreement would essentially outline three key goals:
(1) Creating a network of regional Wikimedia chapters across the United
States;
(2) Building collaboration among the regional Wikimedia chapters in the
US; and
(3) At some point in the future, forming an association of Wikimedia
chapters in the US.
By signing the agreement, the signatories would simply indicate their
support of these goals. The agreement could therefore be signed on an
individual basis -- i.e. each of the attendees at our July meeting could
sign on their own behalf -- rather than only by chapters or other regional
groups (which would sharply limit the number of potential signatures, and
significantly increase the complexity of the entire exercise).
Would something along these lines be of interest to the participants here?
Cheers,
Kirill
--
I'd like to see a workgroup for US chapters; since a lot of the
incorporation rules involve federal tax issues and relatively similar state
rules, it would be useful I think to provide resources and support on a
national level for pre-chapter groups and others looking into affiliating
with the WMF in some more formal way. Doing it as a workgroup might also
avoid some of the issues of who is signing on whose behalf etc.
I don't think US residents and groups are necessarily going to find their
interests represented in the Chapters Association; payment processing and
related issues aren't as much of a factor for us.
(Not a DC member, bit too far from Vermont, hope you don't mind the comment)