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Re: Cary Bass as "Wikimedia US Affiliates Coordinator"

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sgardner at wikimedia

May 5, 2008, 10:03 AM

Post #1 of 3 (124 views)
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Re: Cary Bass as "Wikimedia US Affiliates Coordinator"

effe iets anders wrote:
> What you seem to mean to me, is a group of enthusiast volunteers who
> want to do stuff. Yeah, the Volunteer Coordinator (Cary) might be a
> good point of approach then. And maybe in some cases (conferences,
> Wikipedia academies) the guy who is handling reachout (Frank). But the
> same goes for enthusiast volunteers in southern Spain, Zambia, Nepal
> or New Zealand. They would have to approach the same people for the
> same things, and I still do not see why US volunteers should take a
> different position on this. They are not more important, at most
> higher in number (although that would have to proof itself first).
>
> As soon as there are legal entities (or at least groups with
> formalized structures) in the US, incorporated or not, I guess their
> point of approach would be the chapters coordinator (Delphine) /
> chapters committee . As long as you're not, I think that the regular
> current structures should be sufficient (because you're no "affiliate"
> anyways)..
>
> BR, Lodewijk
>
>
Effe's correct.

Delphine is the point person for chapters, so if volunteers in the
United States want to formally organize, she would be their contact for
that. The fact that she's not in the United States doesn't/shouldn't
matter - she's the chapters' global representative (Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Argentina, Israel) and is used to working with people who are far from
her geographically. There's no need for the United States to get any
special treatment.

People who don't want to organize formally into chapters or chapter-like
entities can continue to work with Cary, who is the point person for
individual volunteers. So Pharos working with Cary for Wikipedia Takes
Manhattan makes perfect sense :-)

--

Sue Gardner
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation

Your donations keep Wikipedia running! Support the Wikimedia Foundation today: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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nawrich at gmail

May 5, 2008, 10:07 AM

Post #2 of 3 (118 views)
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Re: Cary Bass as "Wikimedia US Affiliates Coordinator" [In reply to]

I'm curious, and maybe this is the wrong thread, but can someone explain to
me the difficulty in setting up a US organization that is essentially a
Wikimedia membership chapter? I get the issues with trademark ownership
(although it seems you could solve that with a license of some sort) and the
issue of diverting donations, but what are the other impediments if any? I
set up a non-profit corporation in high school, it didn't strike me as that
difficult at the time.

If this has been discussed at length, as I'm sure it has, on meta - could I
get the link as well?

thanks,

Nathan

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner[at]wikimedia.org> wrote:

> effe iets anders wrote:
> > What you seem to mean to me, is a group of enthusiast volunteers who
> > want to do stuff. Yeah, the Volunteer Coordinator (Cary) might be a
> > good point of approach then. And maybe in some cases (conferences,
> > Wikipedia academies) the guy who is handling reachout (Frank). But the
> > same goes for enthusiast volunteers in southern Spain, Zambia, Nepal
> > or New Zealand. They would have to approach the same people for the
> > same things, and I still do not see why US volunteers should take a
> > different position on this. They are not more important, at most
> > higher in number (although that would have to proof itself first).
> >
> > As soon as there are legal entities (or at least groups with
> > formalized structures) in the US, incorporated or not, I guess their
> > point of approach would be the chapters coordinator (Delphine) /
> > chapters committee . As long as you're not, I think that the regular
> > current structures should be sufficient (because you're no "affiliate"
> > anyways)..
> >
> > BR, Lodewijk
> >
> >
> Effe's correct.
>
> Delphine is the point person for chapters, so if volunteers in the
> United States want to formally organize, she would be their contact for
> that. The fact that she's not in the United States doesn't/shouldn't
> matter - she's the chapters' global representative (Hong Kong, Taiwan,
> Argentina, Israel) and is used to working with people who are far from
> her geographically. There's no need for the United States to get any
> special treatment.
>
> People who don't want to organize formally into chapters or chapter-like
> entities can continue to work with Cary, who is the point person for
> individual volunteers. So Pharos working with Cary for Wikipedia Takes
> Manhattan makes perfect sense :-)
>
> --
>
>
> Sue Gardner
> Executive Director
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> Your donations keep Wikipedia running! Support the Wikimedia Foundation
> today: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l[at]lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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pharosofalexandria at gmail

May 5, 2008, 10:38 AM

Post #3 of 3 (115 views)
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Re: Cary Bass as "Wikimedia US Affiliates Coordinator" [In reply to]

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner[at]wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Effe's correct.
> Delphine is the point person for chapters, so if volunteers in the United
> States want to formally organize, she would be their contact for that. The
> fact that she's not in the United States doesn't/shouldn't matter - she's
> the chapters' global representative (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Argentina, Israel)
> and is used to working with people who are far from her geographically.
> There's no need for the United States to get any special treatment.

I first entered contact with Delphine on these issues several months
ago. She does not appear to be unsympathetic to these ideas.

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 7:44 AM, Delphine M�nard <notafishz[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> I think that Pharos' approach, ahving the WMFoundation dedicate
> specific resources to a "US local chapter" (which by the way, does not
> have to operate US wide, but could just be the point of communication
> of more regional chapters) actually makes sense, and it is definitely
> one approach I am going to take into consideration, among others.

We have a situation where the US, because of its population
distribution, is ripe for regional affiliates. Other countries may be
similar, and there may be a desire, for say, a "Wikimedia Canada
Affiliates Coordinator", appointed by a future Wikimedia Canada. But
the WMF is the non-profit responsible for Wikimedia in the US, and
fulfills the role of 'de facto' chapter here, and so I think would be
the appropriate entity to designate an "Affiliates Coordinator" for
this country.

The WMF also has a unique role vis-a-vis US groups in that it has the
capacity to grant them a "Group Exemption Letter", conferring
non-profit status on a related organization. It is not possible to do
this for groups in other countries.

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner[at]wikimedia.org> wrote:
> People who don't want to organize formally into chapters or chapter-like
> entities can continue to work with Cary, who is the point person for
> individual volunteers. So Pharos working with Cary for Wikipedia Takes
> Manhattan makes perfect sense :-)

We do wish to organize formally; we just don't wish to register as
many separate non-profits. We would be organized in a manner legally
identical to local chapters of the American Red Cross.

Thanks,
Pharos

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