Full article copied below. As you can see the distinction between the Wikimedia Foundation
and Wikimedia UK is explained further down:
Organisation responsible for Wikipedia already turned down by HM
Revenue & Customs
Wikimedia UK is to have its application for charitable status
reconsidered by the Charity Commission after its initial application
to HM Revenue & Customs was turned down.
Wikimedia UK is part of a global family of national associations that
coordinate contributors to the Wikipedia website, based in the US,
and seek permission for other information, such as national archives,
to be posted.
It applied for charitable status, under the heading of promoting
education, to HMRC because its annual income is currently below the
£5,000 threshold for registration with the commission. incompatible
encoding
But HMRC turned down the application on the grounds that the mere
increase of knowledge without teaching or education is not
charitable. Andrew Turvey, secretary of Wikimedia UK, said: "Museums
and art galleries are recognised as charities; our argument is that
what we are doing is analogous to that."
He said HMRC had agreed to pass on Wikimedia's letter of appeal to
the Charity Commission for adjudication, even though the organisation
does not expect to have an income of £5,000 for another 18 months.
Turney (sic) said he hoped for a response within a few months.
End
----- "Thomas Dalton" <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
From: "Thomas Dalton"
<thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>
To: wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Saturday, 6 June, 2009 17:00:14 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, Portugal
Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable
tax status
2009/6/6 Michael Peel <email(a)mikepeel.net>et>:
"Organisation responsible for Wikipedia" - that's about as bad as it
gets! I haven't read the full article (free registration required - I
never like the sound of that!), but the extract seems to start a
better description of what we are, but you should probably contact
them and try to get that lede fixed.
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