I believe I can expand on the situation of wikimedia uk, some of it you are aware of, some
your not but its as complete as i could possibly make it with the limited information i
have. We need £5000 to get the Charity status, however it is possible to get an account to
handle this money. What has been said about it being difficult is quite frankly a very
simplified view of it. Now we have several ways we can get this £5000:1) The foundation
pledge this amount and then give it to us when the status is achieved. There are no issues
with an international organisation doing this. This would be the quickest method and hold
the most guarantee's to getting enough money. 2) Funds raised during the annual fund
raiser are redirected to WMUK. This would be viable if up to or more than £5000 comes from
the UK. 3) or we try and get the money ourselves in some way shape or form. So we have 3
methods of doing this or possibly a 4th one consisting of a combination of the first 2
where the foundation simply tops up the difference between what we get from the fundraiser
and £5000. Now what method we use is essentially down to the foundation and what they feel
most comfortable with. At the moment there are other things that need to be dealt with
first, so this isn't something that needs to be decided upon now. Just something that
needs to be considered over the next couple of months. With regards to the bank account,
when set up it would not allow us to claim back tax until we got the charity status but it
would allow us to take payments. According to the person I spoke to on the phone they
could easily alter the account when the tax back charity status came through. In regards
to the timeline. Attaining charity status before the annual fundraiser is honestly going
to be doubtful. The application takes approximately 40 days to complete if there are
absolutely no hitches. I would plan to get signatures at the next AGM which is planned for
september sometime. This would put completion of the charity status at the earliest for
early-mid november and that is purely on the basis that everything go absolutely smoothly.
The best approach would be looking for the application to be finished by the start of 2009
and worst case scenario by the end of the financial year 08/09. I hope this provides a
clearer outlook on WMUK financially. Any questions I could clarify are welcomed as it may
spot areas or things that i havnt thought about. User:Seddon @ en-wiki
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