Dear all,
Please find below a process update regarding the Wikimedia Foundation
Affiliates Strategy [1], which was announced back in November 2022 [2].
Here is a page with FAQs [3].The primary focus is determining the support
affiliates need, especially during the recognition process, which is the
Affiliations Committee’s core purpose [4].
The first phase of the process was internal – interviewing current
Affiliations Committee (AffCom) members, its advisors, staff support
(former and current), staff from different teams and departments of the
Wikimedia Foundation who work closely with affiliates (like Legal,
Community Resources, and Advancement). The interviews were conducted by Jon
Huggett, a consultant on governance related topics, who some of you may
know from Movement roles project (2010–2011) [5]. The result of the first
phase was summarised in a report presented to Wikimedia Foundation Board
Liaisons to AffCom, and discussed with AffCom itself. This initial report
was used to scope out the next phase of work and the aggregated comments
from both phases will be included in the final report.
The second phase is to collect data from affiliates – for this there are
calls with affiliates being organised (the next ones are on June 18, and if
you are interested, you can register and join them, here is the calendar
[1]). Also there is a survey to fill in [6] (the privacy statement is here
[7]). The data is being collected till June 30, 2023 (AoE - anywhere on
Earth).
As a note: the survey [6] is meant to be filled in by an individual, and it
is important to hear from members of affiliates (not only from its main
contacts). Also, it is possible to fill it in even without being affiliated
with any affiliates – a community member can have a perspective about the
work of affiliates in their region, language or thematic activities, and
that perspective would be a bit different, as they would not know some
internal issues the affiliate might have, but, that perspective would be
still valuable. So please fill in the survey, if you have thoughts on the
topic. Also there is an option to request a meeting with the Board liaisons
to Affiliations Committee, if these forms of collecting data (calls and
survey) are not enough in a specific case.
After this second phase is done, the data would be processed, and a report
will be produced, including the perspectives collected from the calls and
survey. This report, including some immediate recommendations, would be
first presented and discussed by the AffCom, Community Affairs Committee
[8], and eventually by the Wikimedia Foundation Board at the Singapore
meeting at Wikimania in August 2023.
There would be an update here and on the Meta page [1] with the next steps
after Wikimania.
Best regards,
Nat & Shani & Lorenzo
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations
Committee
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy
[2]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/SRHX3KLSYAEDCM4T35RSNNRWWLYVNCQB/
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/FAQ
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee
[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_project
[6]
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyRTQSIMYj9ymX4S-pbjtpZSqnQ8Icr-P3quvlAeh6sAk0aw/viewform
[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:2023_Affiliate_experience_survey_privacy_statement
[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee
-- Forwarded message -
From: Nataliia Tymkiv
Date: Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 7:03 PM
Subject: Beginning work on a Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy +
AffCom elections update
To: Wikimedia Mailing List
Hello all,
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees believes that Wikimedia
affiliates are a key and integral part of the Wikimedia movement, and
affiliates’ success is vital to the Wikimedia movement’s success. To that
end, it is crucial to develop a clear vision regarding the affiliates,
making it possible to assess whether the Foundation’s investment in,
collaboration with, and policy towards affiliates is promoting the right
goals. The Board will be embarking on building a Wikimedia Foundation
Affiliates Strategy in collaboration with the Affiliations Committee (AffCom),
the affiliates, and the broader communities. This strategy will help guide
the Foundation’s immediate work in supporting affiliates for the next few
years.
In order to ensure that there is continuity and institutional memory during
this process, there will be a delay of the elections for AffCom until after
the strategy is complete, and the terms of the current AffCom members will
be prolonged (in a separate resolution) to December 31, 2023. While the
strategy is under development, AffCom will continue its current
responsibilities, in addition to collaborating on the Wikimedia Foundation
