[Wikimedia-l] Outcomes from the March Meeting for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

ania in Poland,
where I hope to see some of you as well!

[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-12-06

[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Executive_Committee_Charter

[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committee_Membership,_March_2024


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Handbook#Election_of_Board_Officers

[5] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Main

[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2024

[7]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/31/progress-on-the-plan-how-the-wikimedia-foundation-has-advanced-on-its-annual-plan-goals/


[8]
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth/Newcomer_experience_projects#Scaling_the_new_donor_Thank_you_page_to_English_Wikipedia


[9]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-08-15#Committee_updates

[10]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Wikimedia_Foundation_perspectives_on_the_Global_Council


[11]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2024-03-21_Conversation_with_Trustees

[12]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/03/05/wikipedia-a-multigenerational-pursuit/

Take care, and thank you,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
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[Wikimedia-l] Affiliations Committee: members and advisors appointment

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

o 14:30 UTC) [7].

Best regards,

Nat & Mike & Lorenzo

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations
Committee

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Legal_department/Committee_appointments#Affiliations_Committee


[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Candidates/2023

[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Affiliations_Committee_Charter

[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_regions#2022_Wikimedia_Foundation_regions


[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Review

[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Review#Live_sessions


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 11:28 AM Nataliia Tymkiv 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> TL;DR
>
> There are two topics this letter talks about – 1) the call for new
> members of the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee (AffCom) is open
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Legal_department/Committee_appointments>
> on Meta until 17 November 2023; and 2) there are membership changes in the
> committee to ensure the transition process for offboarding existing
> members, and onboarding new ones.
>
> == 2023 Call for AffCom members ==
>
> The Affiliations Committee
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee> is, until 17
> November 2023, seeking additional members to help the Wikimedia Foundation
> Board of Trustees (Board) support the affiliate ecosystem. As a note: two
> other movement groups (Ombuds commission and Case Review Committee) are
> also seeking members. You can read about the process and how to apply here
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Legal_department/Committee_appointments>
> on Meta.
>
> AffCom makes recommendations to the Board on the recognition, approval, or
> derecognition of Wikimedia movement affiliates. It helps Wikimedians from
> around the world self-organise into chapters, thematic organizations, and
> user groups, and to gain official recognition from the Wikimedia
> Foundation. AffCom’s work involves the recognition of new affiliates,
> helping them retain their affiliate status through yearly reportings, and
> conflict mitigation when challenges happen within affiliates.
>
> Volunteers in this role should be experienced Wikimedians from any
> project, have experience working with affiliates to practice good
> governance. International perspectives, collaboration, teamwork and
> experience handling sensitive situations are among traits needed. Given the
> scope of work, proficiency in English is required. AffCom seeks members
> committing 7-10 hours monthly for a 3-year term. The members will have the
> option to run again after completion of their terms.
>
> Members are required to sign the Confidentiality agreement for nonpublic
> information
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality_agreement_for_nonpublic_information>
> and must be willing to comply with the appropriate Wikimedia Foundation
> board policies (such as the access to non-public information policy
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_to_nonpublic_information_policy>).
> Members must also be over 18 years of age.
>
> The information about this was previously shared on village pumps of the
> Wikimedia projects, but as usual this call is also shared here, on the
> mailing list.
>
> == AffCom transition period ==
>
> The number of members AffCom needs to recruit this year is not set, as
> there was the intentional delay in selecting new members last year
> (announced in December 2022, as AffCom was “a key input for the Board in
> developing the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy” [1]), but it has
> created a need to stagger selection - as all AffCom members term come to
> end at the same time: December 31, 2023. The number of seats available will
> depend on how many existing members decide to carry on.
>
> As having a committee formed entirely of new members is not sustainable,
> there is an option for the current members to remain in their seats for a
> transition period of 6 to 12 months (maximum until December 2024). Others
> may choose to step down, before or after helping to onboard new members,
> and pass on open tasks, and some may choose to join the volunteer process
> to apply for another three year term as AffCom members.
>
>

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user groups recognition changes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

 Thanks for the feedback, Gnangarra.

The applications submitted during this time would be treated as EOI
(Expression of Interest) – so after the conversation ends, people do not
need to resubmit again. Applicants will receive a message about the delay,
and that there might be potential changes to the process.

As usually a bigger influx of submissions follows big community events, and
as there are no regional big events during this period of time, hopefully
there would not be a lot of applications affected.

And if the workload would allow it (the discussion might be very active or
not really; there may be few applications), some work would be done even in
the background with some clearer cases (with a geographic scope, rather
than thematic).

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Thu, Feb 8, 2024 at 11:47 AM Gnangarra  wrote:

> Kaya
>
> I like the concept of adjusting requirements and processes to improve the
> creation of Affiliates. I am concerned that by placing the opportunity on
> hold while discussions take place, we know from experience that such
> reviews tend to drag out a lot longer than planned.
>
> Just stopping opportunities like this are counter productive to expanding
> the community, surely there must be away for new groups to at least submit
> an EOI to be recognised and get support they need as other WMF functional
> opportunities like funding cycles wont wait for this part.
>
>
>
> On Wed, 7 Feb 2024 at 23:57, Nataliia Tymkiv 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I would like to share with you the outputs of the Wikimedia Foundation
>> Affiliate Strategy process [1], and to invite you to give feedback on the
>> proposed changes to requirements for all affiliates & to user groups
>> recognition process (more below).
>>
>> The 2017 Strategic Direction
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017> says
>> that we, the Wikimedia Movement, would build “the services and structures
>> that enable others to … advance our world by collecting knowledge that
>> fully represents human diversity” while carrying on “our mission of
>> developing content”. As Wikimedia affiliates are a key and integral part of
>> the Wikimedia movement and have knowledge and expertise to share, the
>> movement’s success depends greatly on affiliates as they help people join
>> us in doing mission-aligned work. The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates
>> Strategy report [2] identified a need to streamline the role of the
>> Affiliations Committee (AffCom) on recognition of Wikimedia Affiliates, and
>> identified issues with the current state of the process.
>>
>> After conversations with AffCom, the Board liaisons to AffCom identified
>> two areas for improvement. These areas are about the relevant work and
>> mandate of the Board related to affiliate recognition:
>>
>> 1) requirements for affiliates; and
>>
>> 2) improving the workflows around the process for the creation and
>> recognition of a user group.
>>
>> The proposal on Meta [3] is suggesting to change the requirements for all
>> existing Wikimedia affiliates, not just the legal entities. There are ten
>> proposed criteria for a healthy affiliate. Examples include focusing on
>> continuity by being an active group and welcoming new users, having good
>> governance, and actively delivering on mission goals. Compliance with these
>> requirements would be self-reported by the affiliates. The Board liaisons
>> will work with the Affiliations Committee to publish a resolution outlining
>> how affiliates would be expected to fulfill these requirements to remain in
>> good standing.
>>
>> Throughout the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process, there
>> was also feedback about user groups. Initially, user groups were meant as a
>> first step toward creating chapters or thematic organizations. Over the
>> years, user groups have evolved and there are now legally incorporated user
>> groups, user groups with boards, etc. Getting started does need to be easy,
>> but also needs to make sense, and so there is a proposal for changes to the
>> current workflow. The recommendations [3] include an outline of the
>> sequential steps of a revised process.
>>
>>
>> The feedback can be given from today up till March 20, 2024 (Anywhere on
>> Earth). Hopefully a fairly long feedback period will allow affiliates

[Wikimedia-l] Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user groups recognition changes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I would like to share with you the outputs of the Wikimedia Foundation
Affiliate Strategy process [1], and to invite you to give feedback on the
proposed changes to requirements for all affiliates & to user groups
recognition process (more below).

The 2017 Strategic Direction
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017> says
that we, the Wikimedia Movement, would build “the services and structures
that enable others to … advance our world by collecting knowledge that
fully represents human diversity” while carrying on “our mission of
developing content”. As Wikimedia affiliates are a key and integral part of
the Wikimedia movement and have knowledge and expertise to share, the
movement’s success depends greatly on affiliates as they help people join
us in doing mission-aligned work. The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates
Strategy report [2] identified a need to streamline the role of the
Affiliations Committee (AffCom) on recognition of Wikimedia Affiliates, and
identified issues with the current state of the process.

After conversations with AffCom, the Board liaisons to AffCom identified
two areas for improvement. These areas are about the relevant work and
mandate of the Board related to affiliate recognition:

1) requirements for affiliates; and

2) improving the workflows around the process for the creation and
recognition of a user group.

The proposal on Meta [3] is suggesting to change the requirements for all
existing Wikimedia affiliates, not just the legal entities. There are ten
proposed criteria for a healthy affiliate. Examples include focusing on
continuity by being an active group and welcoming new users, having good
governance, and actively delivering on mission goals. Compliance with these
requirements would be self-reported by the affiliates. The Board liaisons
will work with the Affiliations Committee to publish a resolution outlining
how affiliates would be expected to fulfill these requirements to remain in
good standing.

Throughout the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process, there was
also feedback about user groups. Initially, user groups were meant as a
first step toward creating chapters or thematic organizations. Over the
years, user groups have evolved and there are now legally incorporated user
groups, user groups with boards, etc. Getting started does need to be easy,
but also needs to make sense, and so there is a proposal for changes to the
current workflow. The recommendations [3] include an outline of the
sequential steps of a revised process.


The feedback can be given from today up till March 20, 2024 (Anywhere on
Earth). Hopefully a fairly long feedback period will allow affiliates to
consult with their membership, thinking it through practically.

To provide your feedback, please review the page here, on Meta, [3] and
leave comments on the talk page. Alternatively, you can join an open
call (February
14 and 28 at  14:00 to 14:30 UTC) or request a conversation as a part of
Talking:2024
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024>.
You can use the Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Talking:
2024#Let’s Talk|Let’s Talk
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#Let's_talk>
feature to sign up for a time to speak with me and other trustees about
this conversation or any other topic regarding the Wikimedia Foundation
Board, Movement Strategy, and more.

Note: New user group applications will be placed on hold for the duration
of this conversation – but the ones received before will be reviewed
according to the current process.

Best regards,

Nat & Mike & Lorenzo
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations
Committee

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy


[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy:_Summary_and_Report


[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Review

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Outcomes of December Meeting for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,


First of all -- Happy Wikipedia Day to all of us today! <3 Even if not all
of us are Wikipedians, the launch of Wikipedia on January 15, 2001, started
something precious for all of us.

And now to regular business --


The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met virtually for their final
meeting of 2023 on December 6. Two members of the Movement Charter Drafting
Committee (MCDC) – Risker and Daria Cybulska – joined as Board visitors as
we have done in the past for Board meetings. The outcomes were briefly
reported at the Open Conversation with the Trustees on December 7, and here
is a letter with more details and corresponding links.

== Board Business ==

This Board meeting contained several administrative actions, including
officially appointing Kathy Collins
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/kathy-collins/> to the Board,
which was announced back in November [1]. Kathy has replaced Tanya Capuano
as Audit Committee Chair. I would like to thank Tanya for her service on
the Board. Tanya has served as the Audit Chair for several years, and the
Board is fortunate that she will stay on as an Advisor to the Audit
Committee.

Each December, the Board approves its committee assignments for the
following year. You can see the new committee membership here [2]. Most of
the work of the Board is done via its committees, so these are important
assignments. We have also published the Board committee updates, which you
can read here [3]. In addition, the Board approved the August meeting
minutes [4].

== Foundation Updates ==

The Board received brief updates from Wikimedia Foundation staff, including
information on the ongoing Big English fundraising campaign and a recap of
the Foundation’s first quarter progress towards the goals set out in the Annual
Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024>.
You can read more about the campaign here
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising/2023_banners#Campaign_update>.
The Board meeting concluded with an executive session.

== Affiliations Committee Update ==

I would also like to provide an update related to the Affiliations
Committee (AffCom). The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) has appointed
Mike Peel as a Board Liaison to AffCom to replace Shani Evenstein Sigalov.
The Board Liaisons to AffCom are now Mike Peel, Nataliia Tymkiv, and
Lorenzo Losa.

In October, AffCom announced a call for volunteers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Candidates/2023>
for the committee. AffCom received over thirty candidate applications,
which the Foundation staff vetted, conducting trust and safety checks. The
Board Liaisons, staff, and AffCom members not running this time, have been
interviewing candidates, including AffCom members who wish to renew their
terms, over the last few weeks. It is encouraging to see this level of
interest in joining AffCom, and with the large number of candidates, the
process has taken longer than was initially planned. Due to this, the CAC
has granted the current AffCom members' term a short extension until
February 29, 2024 (or until their replacements are appointed, whichever
comes first).

== Open Conversation with Trustees ==

On December 7, the CAC hosted an Open Conversation with the Trustees I
mentioned above. You can watch the recording [5] of the meeting or read the
notes [6].

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/YXZED5QJFQHJ6CIBA6NRRIQSVUFXX7EU/


[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee_Membership,_2023

[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes,_2023-08-15#Committee_updates

[4] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes,_2023-08-15

[5] Recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQwwNiIkW0

[6] Notes
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2023-12-07_Conversation_with_Trustees


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Welcoming a future Trustee to the Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am writing with an update on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
Audit Committee Chair search process.

You may recall that in July 2023, I wrote about the Board’s need to
identify a replacement for trustee and Audit Committee chair Tanya Capuano
[1] and the requirements that the Board had identified for the position
[2]. The Governance Committee conducted a search over a months-long
process, which included a search firm as well as a call for candidates
through the communities; the main components of the recruitment process are
described here [3]. In August at Wikimania, the Governance Committee made a
recommendation to the Board to move forward with the top finalist, and the
Board accepted it [4]. I am pleased to announce that Kathy Collins [5] will
be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023.

Kathy has extensive financial and nonprofit governance experience that she
brings to this role. She has worked as a financial expert for her entire
career, across both higher education institutions and state and federal
governments in the United States. She was Vice President of Finance at Rice
University in Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years, a position she held until
last year when she retired. She has also been a trustee at Mount Holyoke
College in Massachusetts, where she served in multiple Board leadership
roles including Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Finance Committee and
member of the Audit, Governance and Development Committees and the DEI
(Diversity,
equity, and inclusion) Task Force. Her experience and expertise are very
relevant to the challenges we  as the Board are seeing for this role.
Please join me in welcoming her!

This is a planned role succession, with a very clear profile needed, and as
I mentioned before [4], over the past year, there have been quite a lot of
intentional improvements to all of our processes (e.g., recruitment,
appointments, onboarding, succession planning), so that Trustees with no or
limited Wikimedia experience can start engaging in community conferences,
events, and on-wiki discussions as soon as possible, and as the role of a
Trustee is complex, it is better if the process can start before the
official appointment, when already a certain level of knowledge is expected
to start making informed decisions.  And Kathy has wasted no time in
pre-onboarding to the Wikimedia Foundation and learning about the Movement
and Board. She has been joining the Audit and Governance Committee meetings
for the past few months. Kathy also will also be joining other Trustees in
person at the WikiConference North America event in Toronto, which will be
her first community event, and also an opportunity to get to know some of
her future colleagues on the Board better.

I would like to thank Tanya Capuano for continuing to support the
Foundation while Kathy is pre-onboarded to the Audit Committee and the
Board. Tanya has also graciously agreed to remain an Advisor to the Audit
Committee after her term officially ends in December.

Recently, Maryana Iskander announced Talking: 2024 [6], conversations to
share, listen, and learn with intention as we all continue to plan our
future as a movement. If you would like to talk to me about this or any
other Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees topics, you can use the Let’s
Talk feature to sign up for a time to speak with me [7].

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/OG3NQUL4HKUYPRSLUKM2RI2LRXGJRG5I/

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment


[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Recruiting_procedure


[4]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/PAKLDS53PN7GVLYVML6OWSTEEF5KWJ2M/


[5]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/11/01/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-kathy-collins-as-new-incoming-board-trustee-and-audit-chair/

[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#October_2023_Update_and_Invitation_to_Talking:_2024

[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#Let's_talk

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy: Summary and Report

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

rs were interviewed 1-on-1
   -

   11 Wikimedia Foundation staff were interviewed 1-on-1
   -

   14 Affiliate Executive Directors interviewed in 5 group sessions
   -

   65+ community members attended 9 different online sessions and one
   face-to-face session at WikiConference India
   -

   7 stakeholders interviewed 1-on-1
   -

   38 responses to 2023 Affiliate Experience Survey


=== The findings ===

Over the years, AffCom’s role has evolved into a very difficult set of
tasks, creating a demanding workload for hard-working volunteers. There are
opportunities to streamline the work to focus on affiliate recognition.
There needs to be further clarity around which decisions on recognition,
derecognition and conflict rest with AffCom, which are with the CAC, which
are with Foundation staff, and which with the Foundation Board.

=== Recommendations ===

One recommendation from the report is to move some of the administrative
work from AffCom to staff, including the tasks that require quick response
and detail. There also need to be new ways to select members of AffCom.
Finally, over the long term, some responsibilities could be transferred to
a Global Council. Further details on these recommendations can be found
directly in the report.

=== What happens next ===

The Trustees have reviewed the recommendations and the CAC will be working
with AffCom to implement some of the changes, the prioritisation and
implementation of which would be discussed with the AffCom, and further
communicated to the communities and affiliates. Community members can look
forward to periodic updates from the CAC.


[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/SRHX3KLSYAEDCM4T35RSNNRWWLYVNCQB/


[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Report
(summary page)

[3]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliate_Recognition_Strategy.pdf
(pdf)

On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 8:01 PM Nataliia Tymkiv 
wrote:

> 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 ste

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Affiliations Committee: Call for New Members + Membership changes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

liations_Committee/Candidates/2023>
from 17 October to 17 November. Candidates will meet with AffCom, Board
liaisons and staff to discuss the role and their interest in it. The
Board’s Community Affairs Committee will also review the AffCom candidates,
to provide input. Per its Charter [2] the AffCom will appoint new members,
taking into account also the community feedback. The new members will be
announced in late December 2023, after individuals have been notified.

Thank you for reading this long letter, and thank you in advance for your
interest to join AffCom – or Ombuds commission and Case Review Committee!
And if you are not interested but know someone who might be, please share
this message with them, personal encouragement goes a long way in the
Wikimedia Movement. Also please let us know if you have any questions.

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/SRHX3KLSYAEDCM4T35RSNNRWWLYVNCQB/


[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee_Charter

Best regards,

Nat & Shani & Lorenzo

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations
Committee


--
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
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[Wikimedia-l] Outcomes of August Meeting for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

ovement Charter Drafting Committee Sessions ==

The board’s liaisons to the MCDC also met with members of the Movement
Charter Drafting Committee, to talk about the Movement Charter drafts
published shortly before Wikimania, and the timeline, that meeting also
included our colleague Richard (User:Nosebagbear
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nosebagbear>), who as many of you know,
passed away shortly after Wikimania. Trustees and I have shared our deepest
condolences and reflections about Richard with the MCDC and on his memorial
page. Over the years, Richard has made many contributions to the Wikimedia
movement and we are all very saddened by his sudden passing.

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=138045586

[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Review,_Ratification,_and_Approval_of_Consent_Agenda,_August_2023


[3]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/OG3NQUL4HKUYPRSLUKM2RI2LRXGJRG5I/

[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment


[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Product_%26_Technology_Committee_Membership_Update,_2023

[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Minutes_Approval,_June_2023


[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Committees

[8]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/SRHX3KLSYAEDCM4T35RSNNRWWLYVNCQB/


[9]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/F5YP6AJ64HFDU6THDBF3M566HVZ66UCX/


[10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Values

Take care, and thank you,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
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[Wikimedia-l] Outcomes of June Board meeting + Wikimedia Foundation updates + Board

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

the ones that are identified by the board itself. If you have a
potential nominee, please email recruitm...@wikimedia.org by July 31 with
“Audit Chair” as a reference with some information about them (a resume or
LinkedIn profile) and a rationale why they would be a good fit. More
information is on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment


== Foundation updates ==

The Board additionally receives regular updates from Maryana on her
priorities; she communicates directly about them on this list and on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Updates>,
and will continue to do so. Her current goals have focused on
strategy/planning, leadership, and culture/values.

On leadership, the Foundation’s executive team
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/executive/> reflects Maryana’s goal
to promote internally where possible and hire externally when necessary. In
addition to Stephen LaPorte’s
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/28/stephen-laporte-becomes-the-new-general-counsel-for-the-wikimedia-foundation/>
recent elevation to General Counsel, Anusha Alikhan
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/06/27/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-new-chief-talent-and-culture-officer-and-chief-communications-officer/>
has now been promoted to Chief Communications Officer after ably leading
the Foundation’s communications department since 2021. Maryana will be
handing over management of the Foundation’s human resources team to a new
Chief Talent & Culture Officer, Courtney Bass Sherizen
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/06/27/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-new-chief-talent-and-culture-officer-and-chief-communications-officer/>,
who starts in August and brings prior experience from big tech and also
non-profits.

The Foundation is also investing in a broader leadership team that better
reflects its global footprint. Recent elevations of both long-tenured and
newer staff living outside of the United States include 17-year Foundation
veteran Mark Bergsma
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mark_Bergsma_(WMF)> as Vice President
of Site Reliability Engineering, and Jean Delage-Sié
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:JDelage-Si%C3%A9_(WMF)> as Vice
President of People Experience.

Finally, the Wikimedia Foundation staff recently completed their values
refresh <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Values>,
which is intended to grow a culture of accountability, learning, and mutual
respect for how the Foundation conducts itself and engages with others.

The Board of Trustees will meet next on August 15 in Singapore. Following
this meeting, there will also be an open session with the Wikimedia
Foundation and Endowment Boards during Wikimania to answer questions on
these topics or others you may have. We hope to see some of you either
virtually or in-person at Wikimania.

Regards,

Nat and Maryana

[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-03-09

[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-06-21

[3]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/7FGUGF74DMLS6MLUV2AFUTWRKHABECPL/


[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/FAQ#Why_is_this_being_run_by_a_subsidiary
[5]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/4TALOUFPAP2VDBR27GKRVOP7IGQYU3DB/

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee: members and advisors appointment

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am writing to let you know that the Wikimedia Foundation Governance
Committee has appointed a new Elections Committee [1]. The Elections
Committee is tasked with assisting “with the design and implementation of
the process to select Community- and Affiliate-Selected Trustees for the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees” [2].

To recap the process: there was an open nomination period for 2-4 open
seats on the Elections Committee from April 10 to April 24 (Anywhere on
Earth). 11 candidates applied, and you can read all applications on Meta
[2]. After that, staff checked their documents (proof of identity), and if
there are any trust & safety concerns. Some candidates opted to not move
forward.

Once the first checks were completed, I interviewed each candidate in an
hour-long interview where I asked the same questions of each candidate -
including if they would be willing to be an advisory member of the
committee if they are not selected as a member (this is a non-voting role).
Each candidate was also given time to ask questions of me. After the
interviews, I provided a confidential summary of the discussions to the
Governance Committee and continuing members of the Elections Committee with
a recommended slate of Members and Advisory members. Both committees
provided feedback before the Governance Committee officially appointed the
Elections committee on June 20. Many factors went into determining the
committee composition, for example we tried to balance languages, regions,
projects, relevant onwiki and offwiki experience.

In parallel the members of the Elections Committee, whose term ended on
March 31, 2023, were asked if they wanted to stay on. Four of them decided
to continue as voting members for the next term, and one – as a non-voting
advisor. I am grateful to the outgoing Elections Committee members for all
the work done in the past to support the process.

So, without further ado, the Elections Committee members through May 31,
2026, are:

   -

   User:AbhiSuryawanshi
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:AbhiSuryawanshi> (continuing
   member)
   -

   User:Carlojoseph14 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Carlojoseph14>
   (continuing member)
   -

   User:HakanIST <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:HakanIST>
   (continuing member)
   -

   User:KTC <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KTC> (continuing member)
   -

   User:Der-Wir-Ing <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Der-Wir-Ing>
   -

   User:Mervat <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mervat>
   -

   User:Emufarmers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Emufarmers>
   -

   User:Ameisenigel <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ameisenigel>


The non-voting advisory members through May 31, 2024, are:

   -

   User:Matanya <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Matanya>
   -

   User:ThadeusOfNazereth
   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ThadeusOfNazereth>
   -

   User:Arcuscloud <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Arcuscloud>
   -

   User:Guerillero <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Guerillero>
   -

   User:Nealmcb <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nealmcb>


As a note: the Elections Committee might decide to prolong their term as
advisory members if needed, and if they are willing to serve more in this
role. There might also be transitioning to voting member status, if a need
arises.

Members and advisors will have a short orientation and onboarding process
and will begin their work sometime in September.

I am looking forward to working with this group of volunteers and I want to
thank everyone who participated in this process with input, advice,
endorsements, and of course to staff supporting this endeavour.

Best regards,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Elections Committee Board Liaison

Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee


[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Elections_Committee_Charter
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Nominations/2023


*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 9:00 AM Nataliia Tymkiv 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Thank you very much to everyone who expressed interest in joining the
> Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee [1], and also to those who asked
> questions, expressed support, and helped to spread the word. I would
> especially like to thank the Committee Support and Movement Strategy &
> Governance teams, who shared the information to different communities about
> the call.
>
> Staff and Governance Committee [2] will be in touch with the candidates
> regarding next steps.
>
> Best regards,
>
>

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy Updates + survey

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

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 Fo

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for FY 2021-2022 now on-wiki

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

dation_Form_990_Frequently_Asked_Questions=edit=1>.


[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/#a2-2021-2022
[2]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/09/highlights-of-form-990-for-the-wikimedia-foundation/
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_Foundation_Form_990_Frequently_Asked_Questions#FY_2021-2022_Form_990:_Executive_Summary
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_Foundation_Form_990_Frequently_Asked_Questions#Overview
[5]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/04/06/wikimedia-foundation-global-guidelines-policies-practices/

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee: Call for New Members [closed]

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

Thank you very much to everyone who expressed interest in joining the
Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee [1], and also to those who asked
questions, expressed support, and helped to spread the word. I would
especially like to thank the Committee Support and Movement Strategy &
Governance teams, who shared the information to different communities about
the call.

Staff and Governance Committee [2] will be in touch with the candidates
regarding next steps.

Best regards,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Elections Committee Board Liaison

Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Nominations/2023

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 7:51 PM Nataliia Tymkiv 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee>
> (Elections Committee) [1] is, from today until April 24, seeking an
> additional 2–4 members to help facilitate the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> Trustee (Board) selection process.
>
> The Elections Committee oversees the Board Community- and Affiliate seat
> selection process. This is a volunteer role, and the appointment is for
> three years. Please note that while you are a member of the Committee, you
> will not be able to run for any election overseen by the Committee – this
> includes the upcoming 2024 Wikimedia Foundation Board elections and any
> other election for 18 months following the end of your term on the
> Committee. You will also be restricted in your ability to publicly advocate
> for community members running in those elections. You can read more in the
> Elections Charter [2], recently updated by the Wikimedia Foundation
> Governance Committee (GC) based on the lessons learnt from the previous
> Elections and the feedback received.
>
> The term of the previous members of the Elections Committee expired on
> March 31, 2023, and some of them confirmed their willingness to continue.
> After their paperwork is done (if needed), they will be reappointed by the
> GC along with the new members.
>
> Please read carefully the information below before applying or
> recommending that somebody applies.
>
> == Duties and time commitment ==
>
>
> The purpose of the Elections Committee is to assist with the design and
> implementation of the process to select Board Community- and
> Affiliate-Selected Trustees. The Committee may also assist with similar
> community-selected positions as determined by the Board.
>
> The Committee has responsibilities throughout every phase of the selection
> process for Community- and Affiliate-Selected Trustees, as established in 
> Article
> IV, Section 3(C) in the Foundation Bylaws
> <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Bylaws#(C)_Community-_and_Affiliate-selected_Trustees.>,
> including:
>
>
>
>-
>
>Timeline – Work with Foundation staff to determine and communicate
>election timeline specifics, based on target end date set by the Board.
>-
>
>Candidacy – Working with Foundation staff and in consultation with the
>Board, design the process for collecting and reviewing candidate
>declarations.
>-
>
>Outreach – Work with Foundation staff to reach the various Wikimedia
>communities with information about the election, including voting and the
>call for candidates.
>-
>
>Volunteers – Determine whether additional volunteers are needed to
>assist with election administration, and work with Foundation staff to
>recruit and coordinate those volunteers.
>-
>
>Communications – Review communications about the election drafted by
>Foundation staff and collaborate in determining when communications should
>be issued by the Committee, by staff, or by the Board.
>-
>
>Evaluation – Assist in reviewing candidates based on criteria set by
>the Board.
>-
>
>Campaigning – Set and enforce rules regarding how candidates can
>campaign, and oversee the process of asking candidates to answer campaign
>questions.
>-
>
>Voting – Determine the voting method and voter eligibility criteria,
>and work with Foundation staff to determine the voting platform and review
>voter eligibility requests.
>-
>
>Results – Review and announce vote results.
>
>
> You can see a more detailed matrix 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee: Call for New Members

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

members from the Governance Committee. The interview will be
approximately one hour, and a member of Foundation staff will likely be
present for note taking purposes. The Governance Committee (GC) will most
likely appoint new members at its meeting on May 15, 2023.

Given the private information that committee members handle, you must be 18
years of age or older, and be willing to sign the confidentiality agreement
for nonpublic information [5] if you haven't already. You can view
information on how to sign this on Meta-Wiki [6]. You will need to submit
proof of your identity and age to the Wikimedia Foundation at
secure-i...@wikimedia.org. You would be able to hold this position on the
Committee under a pseudonym, but the Foundation needs to confirm your age
and identity.

To sum it up:



   -

   Please carefully read the information in this letter, and follow the
   links in it, pay attention to the time commitment requirements
   -

   Submit your application by Apr 24, 2023 at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth)
   on Meta at
   
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Nominations/2023
   [7]
   -

   Submit proof of your identity and age to the Wikimedia Foundation at
   secure-i...@wikimedia.org
   -

   If you are shortlisted, please attend an 1 hour interview with the GC
   members
   -

   Sign the documents needed if appointed


Thank you in advance for your interest! If you are not interested, but know
someone who might be, share this message with them. Please let me know if
you have questions.

Best regards,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Elections Committee Board Liaison

Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee

[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Elections_Committee_Charter

[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Roles


[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees

[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality_agreement_for_nonpublic_information

[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality_agreement_for_nonpublic_information/How_to_sign
[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee/Nominations/2023


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[Wikimedia-l] March Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met in person in New York City
over March 8-11. The official Board of Trustees meeting was held on March
9. During the Board meeting, the Board approved the December meeting
minutes [1], and approved an update to the Talent and Culture Committee
composition, with Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight becoming the chair [2]. The
Board also approved the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines
[3], as mentioned in Shani’s prior email to the list.

Also, the Product & Technology, Governance Committee,  Community Affairs
Committee took advantage of the time together to conduct their own meetings.

Operational and committee updates were shared with the Board prior to the
meeting itself as a pre-read and did not require Board action, you can see
the board committee reports here [4]. The Board also received updates on
the Foundation’s annual planning process for the 2023-2024 fiscal year,
ahead of a first draft of the plan that will be shared with communities in
mid-April.

Following the Board meeting, there was a two-day planning meeting where the
Board was brought together with the Wikimedia Endowment Board and eight
representatives from the Movement Charter Drafting Committee for the first
time. The goal of this meeting was to engage in longer-term planning about
the work of the Foundation across multiple years. There were discussions
around the Foundation’s approach to fundraising and how that can evolve in
coming years, a long-term view on product and technology strategy aligned
with the three buckets of work that CPTO Selena Deckelmann has already
shared
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024/Draft/Product_%26_Technology>,
and Foundation support for other priorities around the movement using
education as an example. Importantly, the retreat enabled these groups to
engage with each other as partners.

The Board will meet again virtually in June and then in person at Wikimania
in Singapore, where I hope to see some of you as well. Until Wikimania, you
are all invited to meet the Board in the next Open Conversation with
Trustees, that will be hosted on May 18
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee#Upcoming_events>
.

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Minutes_Approval,_December_2022

[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Talent_%26_Culture_Committee_Membership_Update,_2023

[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Approval_of_Universal_Code_of_Conduct_Enforcement_Guidelines
[4] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-03-09

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: See you around...

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear Amanda,

Throughout these past few years, I had a pleasure of working with you more
closely than is “a normal usual” for the Board’s Vice-Chair or Chair, and I
am sure your next chapter will be quite interesting and wish you all the
best with all of your undertakings!

I would like to thank you for all your hard work at the Wikimedia
Foundation on behalf of the Board of Trustees – you had an impressive
learning curve, and found yourself playing multiple roles in the
organisation during  your tenure – ranging from General Counsel, Head of
the Legal Department, Board Secretary and staff liaison to board
committees, and one of three members of the Transition Team. In all your
roles you were supporting the Foundation’s work, and though some phases
were more demanding than others – we appreciate you supporting the
Foundation with us on this journey.

The Legal Department under your leadership was one of the most consistent,
reliable and professional departments in the Foundation, and it helped us
navigate through difficult times, especially now that Foundation is under
increasing pressure from undemocratic governments and disinformation
campaigns.

One of the traits of a strong and thoughtful leader is building a
succession plan from Day One, and I wanted to stress how the Board values
your intentionality in this – that you recognised, mentored and elevated
Stephen LaPorte (whom a lot of community members know as a member of the
Wiki Loves Monuments International Team) as your next in line, and that you
will remain available to help ensure a smooth transition.

The Board is confident that Stephen will support the Foundation’s work on
the mission going forward, and thanks you for setting a good example to
follow on how succession and transition plans should be handled.

With thanks and best wishes,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 6:33 PM Amanda Keton  wrote:

> Dear fellow Wikimedians,
>
> I came to Wikimedia 3.5 years ago to build our global advocacy profile,
> transform our legal team to further support the Foundation’s global
> ambitions, partner with the Board to reform its Governance practices, and
> ensure that the Foundation was ready to meet regulatory requirements
> arising across the world. I am very proud of how much of this has been
> accomplished, even in the midst of significant organizational change and
> transition.
>
> When Maryana joined in January, I began a long-term conversation with her
> about how I could set her up for success as our new CEO, while also
> identifying a capable successor for the General Counsel role. We have been
> working on this plan together for the past year so that I could oversee a
> robust succession plan while also planning ahead for more time to begin
> exploring my next adventure. As you know, we appointed Stephen LaPorte as
> Deputy General Counsel in July.  He will succeed me as the Foundation’s
> next General Counsel on February 1, 2023.
>
> I am so excited about the chapter ahead for all of us, and for the role
> that Wikimedia has to play in advancing the mission of free knowledge and
> open access across the world. When I reflect back on my time at the
> Foundation, I am proud of so many things:
>
>- In late 2020, I was asked by the Board of Trustees to provide
>leadership at a critical time for the organization and to help us navigate
>our path forward. This period for the transition team was rewarding and
>challenging, but it certainly took its toll!
>- Growing our global advocacy team from a mention in the medium-term
>plan into a small and very mighty team.
>- We commissioned the first Human rights impact assessment, developed
>a Human Rights policy & responded to several situations with real-world
>implications.
>- Numerous Litigation fights and victories.
>- Supporting the board of trustees in their own journey to optimize
>their governance of the Foundation.
>
> It has been an honor to serve and lead our amazing Legal team. Though my
> role will shift, I will continue to be a Wikimedian, cheering the movement
> on toward future success because the world needs us now more than ever!
>
> In solidarity,
> Amanda (she/they)
> General Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation
> --
>
> Amanda Keton (she/they)
>
> General Counsel
>
> Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
> *NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you
> have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
> mistake. As a

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement Guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear Chico, and Peter, dear all.

Speaking as the chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, I have
a few thoughts. First, the UCoC is being enforced now. Not only does it
help guide the Wikimedia Foundation in its current actions (and has since
it was adopted by resolution [1]), but multiple communities have referred
to it in their own actions. The policy is in place already, and its
enforcement by communities is encouraged, there is no expectation that it
be delayed until the guidelines for globally approaching the enforcement of
the policy are agreed upon.

You do raise a valid question about the success of the last round of votes.
At that point in time, as at this time, staff had recommended that we, the
Board, review any version that passed a simple majority, but such a
situation was never a guarantee of ratification. We respected the results
of the vote – if communities at large could not support the outcome, we
would not have evaluated it at all – but we were interested not only in
support numbers but in causes of concern. What we noticed last time was
that concerns coalesced around a few specific areas, so we felt the
guidelines would benefit from deeper discussion and exploration of those
specific areas. We wanted to make sure the enforcement guidelines were as
widely understood and supported at their launch as they could be and
greatly appreciate the work the communities have done together with the
volunteer-led revisions drafting committee to explore those areas.

With this next round of voting, we hope to find that the further
conversations have led to alignment in these few challenging areas.
Ideally, the guidelines will meet with even more support than last time. If
not, if the changes have actually reduced support, then it might be worth
considering whether those revisions were actually beneficial to the broader
community. If this version of the enforcement guidelines do not exceed the
level of support of the last, we may instead need to consider ratifying the
last or some hybrid of the two or even further reviewing with the community
certain aspects for different development.

No matter what happens with the enforcement guidelines vote, the UCoC is
important to our community health. While global alignment on how to
approach issues is being sought, we trust local communities are continuing
to uphold this policy and other requirements of the Terms of Use to the
best of their abilities.

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Approval_of_a_Universal_Code_of_Conduct

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 5:23 PM Peter Southwood 
wrote:

> An interesting standoff. I don’t suppose anyone has analysed the potential
> losses and gains associated with each option. If that is even possible,
> considering the number of unknowns. I agree that it is taking an amazingly
> long time, and it is not obvious why.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> *From:* Chico Venancio [mailto:chicocvenan...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* 05 January 2023 16:56
> *To:* Wikimedia Mailing List
> *Subject:* [Wikimedia-l] Re: Upcoming vote on the revised Enforcement
> Guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct
>
>
>
> The heart of the matter is why are we voting? What is the threshold that
> will enact the UCoC?
>
> > Who it would be respected by.
>
>
>
> WMF and the board. We've had 3 and a half years of discussion on the UCoC
> and a majority vote to approve enforcement guidelines, and yet no
> functioning UCoC.
>
> >As volunteers, if a significant part of the community sufficiently
> dislikes the proposed UCOC, we simply lose them, and some may become
> vociferous opponents because reasonably fixable issues were ignored. Taking
> longer and getting it closer to right is to me a better plan. You may not
> care about some of the issues that needed to be fixed, but some of us do.
>
> As volunteers, if a significant part of the community sufficiently
> dislikes the status quo we simple lose them, and some may become vociferous
> opponents because reasonably fixable issues were ignored. Taking over 3
> years to implement an Universal Code of Conduct is to me a bad plan. You
> may not care about some of the issues that needed to be fixed, but some of
> us do.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chico Venancio
>
>
>
> Em qui., 5 de jan. de 2023 às 11:22, Peter Southwood <
> peter.southw...@telkomsa.net> escreveu:
>
> It seems that sorting out problems that are pointed out during an approval
> process is not an unreasonable thing to do, as leaving them unc

[Wikimedia-l] December Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

r,_2022

[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Updating_Language_Committee_Oversight,_2022

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board: welcoming two community-and-affiliate-selected trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board has appointed the two
community-and-affiliate-selected trustees, so please join me in welcoming
Mike Peel to the Board of Trustees [1]. I would also like to congratulate
Shani Evenstein Sigalov on her re-appointment to the Board [2]. Their terms
will run from December 7, 2022 to December 31, 2025. You can read more
about them on Diff here [3].

Mike’s first committee assignments will be: member of the Community Affairs
Committee (CAC), alternate to the Audit and Product & Technology Committees
[4]. Shani remains Vice-Chair of the Board, Chair of the CAC, member of the
Governance and Product & Technology Committees [4]. She is also a Board
liaison to the Affiliations Committee and the Movement Charter Drafting
Committee.

Also I would like to thank all who took part in the most recent selection
process – be it as a voter or as a volunteer or staff member supporting the
process. And of course a very special thank you to candidates, who put
their names forward [5].

[1] 
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Mike_Peel_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[2] 
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Shani_Evenstein_Sigalov%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2022

[3]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/12/12/the-wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-two-community-and-affiliate-selected-trustees/
[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Committee_Membership,_2022
[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2022_candidates

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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[Wikimedia-l] Beginning work on a Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy + AffCom elections update

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

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
Affiliates Strategy.

Once the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy is ready, there would be
clarity on what is expected from the Wikimedia Foundation for supporting
affiliates, and what is expected from affiliates.

As the weeks progress in the new calendar year, a plan of the process will
be released, including opportunities for communities and affiliates to
engage. You can find some FAQs below to assist further understanding of the
Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy.
Best regards,
Nat & Shani
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations
Committee

 == FAQs ==
1. What are Wikimedia movement affiliates? What is AffCom?

Wikimedia movement affiliates are "independent and formally recognised"
groups of people intended to organise and engage in activities to support
and contribute to the Wikimedia movement [1]. Currently there are three
active models for affiliates: chapters, thematic organisations, and user
groups. The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) advises and makes
recommendations regarding the recognition and existence of Wikimedia
movement affiliates.

2. How is the work with affiliates at the Wikimedia Foundation organised
now?

As of now, processes are fragmented across different teams at the Wikimedia
Foundation, and some decision making regarding affiliates is happening at
different levels. A unified and consistent process is beneficial to all
parties, hence the start of the work on the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates
Strategy.

3. What is the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy? Is this an update
of some existing document or something brand new?

Until now there has not been any unified vision regarding how the work
around affiliates should happen, as there was no affiliate-specific
strategy developed before. The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy is
to be a blueprint that will guide the Foundation’s immediate work with
affiliates. This strategy will be in place to inform and guide the
Wikimedia Foundation budget and support to affiliates, until some kind of
Movement-wide Affiliates Strategy is developed.

4. Why do we need a Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy?

The Affiliates are a key part of the Wikimedia movement as mentioned in the
Wikimedia Foundation mission, and their success is integral to the success
of the whole Wikimedia Movement. As the affiliate ecosystem has grown in
size and complexity, it is increasingly important to review existing
approaches and ensure that the focus is on the right areas. The Wikimedia
Foundation Affiliates Strategy will help to strengthen and advance the work
of the affiliates.The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy will take
into account Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy recommendations
.

The Strategy will direct Foundation attention to the needs of affiliates
and focus resources on those needs towards impact by affiliates.

5. Does the decision of developing the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates
Strategy change the role of AffCom?

There are no immediate changes in the role of AffCom, which is continuing
doing its job. However, the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy will
direct the future work of the Wikimedia Foundation in support of the
affiliates, which could result in revising the role and scope of AffCom.

6. Why are the AffCom Elections delayed?

Traditionally, AffCom had elections at least once every year to select (not
elect) and appoint members who will serve in AffCom for a period of two
years. This year AffCom elections will not be held. Instead, the elections
will be delayed as AffCom is a key input for the Board in developing the
Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy, and adding the burden of
selecting and on-boarding new members will encumber the committee and 

[Wikimedia-l] September Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board recently met in Berlin for our quarterly
Board meeting, before a majority of the trustees attended this year’s
Wikimedia Summit. This was our second in person Board meeting since the
pandemic, and we used the two days to review critical governance and
election decisions and kick off a conversation around strategic planning
aligned with the 2030 movement strategy goals. Several members of the
Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) joined us as we continue to work
together and share visibility of Board governance.

On Wednesday, three Board committees - the Governance Committee, Talent and
Culture Committee and the Community Affairs Committee (CAC) - met and
conducted regular business. Anass Sedrati and Manavpreet Kaur joined the
Community Affairs Committee meeting as representatives of the MCDC. They
provided valuable input (and fresh eyes!) on the ongoing work of the CAC.

The next day was our Board meeting, and we were joined by Risker and Daria
Cybulska from the MCDC. This was also our first opportunity to meet face to
face with Selena Deckelmann, the Foundation’s new Chief Product and
Technology Officer, and hear more about her first impressions from her
ongoing listening tour with staff and volunteers.

We spent the first half of the day discussing a few big questions around
the Foundation’s long term strategic goals and its key stakeholders. We
looked at models for the lifecycle of an organization and how that may be
relevant to a global movement. This discussion will help us shape our March
2023 Board meeting where we plan to begin developing a longer term
strategic plan for the Foundation that connects the Foundation’s annual
plan to the broader goals of the 2030 movement strategy and also addresses
ongoing external trends around access to information.



During the Board meeting, we also spent time discussing governance topics.
After a year of discussion and input, the Board voted to keep its size at
12 for the next two years [1]. You can read our rationale here [2]. Members
of the Board will be meeting with the Elections Committee in November where
we will debrief on the 2021 and 2022 Board elections, review the
committee’s charter, and begin working through what is required for a
successful 2024 Board election. We plan to keep you all informed along the
way.

The Board also approved an update to the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC)
to remove a footnote within the policy itself
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Universal_Code_of_Conduct=revision=23859645=23820546>,
specifically within section 3.1, which created equity issues within our
community and did not meet its intended purposes of supporting a safe and
inclusive environment [3]. As usual, we approved the minutes of the
previous Board meeting in June [4].

The majority of the Board stayed for the Summit and I would like to thank
the many people who came together to make the Summit happen. It had been
years since we were together in Berlin, and I appreciated the time I was
able to spend with Wikimedians.

Overall, we were impressed with how well the integration of live in-person
and virtual participation worked, especially with such a large event. It is
a model that hopefully can be replicated in the future as it is a great way
to reduce barriers to participation. It was great to reconnect with people
that we have not seen in almost three years. This allowed us to make sure
we are all on the same track regarding strategy - old and new. Thank you
for the candid conversations and open dialogue in the individual tracks.

P.S. And as a reminder – there is a "Conversation with the [Wikimedia
Foundation] Trustees" session hosted by the CAC in a few hours today, so
you can register for the event or send your question to ask...@wikimedia.org
[5]. The call will be recorded, and there will be a live YouTube stream
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7lr8jNr1Es>.

Links:

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Updating_Board_Expansion_Plans,_2022

[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Governance_Committee_recommendation_on_optimal_Board_composition.pdf


[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Revising_Universal_Code_of_Conduct,_September_2022

[4] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes,_June_2022
[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2022-10-20_Conversation_with_Trustees

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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[Wikimedia-l] June Meeting Outcomes from Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

Following up on my message from a few weeks ago about prior meeting
outcomes of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees [1], Maryana and I
wanted to share more information about the board’s most recent meeting in
June 2022.

The Board spent most of the meeting reviewing the Wikimedia Foundation’s
Annual Plan, which the Board unanimously approved. This plan is a summary
of the Foundation’s goals for the coming 2022—2023 fiscal year [2]. The
plan is now anchored in the strategic direction of our movement strategy:
knowledge equity and knowledge as a service. It identifies the Foundation’s
focus on regions and on projects. Thank you to volunteers who provided
input. There were about 12,000 pageviews of the plan on Meta-wiki (4x
increase from last year) with 30+ contributors engaging on the talk page
from across 8 wikis, including Arabic, Swedish, German Wikipedias,
Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. 750+ community members from all regions of
the world were reached through ‘two-way planning conversations’ that
included multilingual support in 15 languages [3]. The final version
includes an appendix and summary of the feedback we received from these
processes. The Board of Trustees will continue to partner with Maryana and
Foundation leadership to share information and invite co-planning with
communities as the year progresses. Please continue to share any
reflections and questions about the Annual Plan on Meta; while the plan has
been approved, we welcome opportunities to explain, elaborate, or take into
account (and for future planning) things not considered before [4].

There were a few other items on the meeting agenda including an update on
the Universal Code of Conduct, reviewing [5] the Foundation’s annual
environmental sustainability report [6] and approving a working capital
policy for the Foundation [7].

In the spirit of making the board’s work more visible to others, two
observers from the Movement Charter Drafting Committee joined the Board
meeting and the Board hosted an open call with Wikimedia Foundation staff
immediately following the meeting.

The Board will also host a session at Wikimania for conversation and
answering questions on these topics or others that you may have. We plan to
meet again in September in Berlin in conjunction with the Wikimedia Summit.
We hope to see some of you there.

Nat and Maryana

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/KDTE47PGO2HIMMWR46DR4IDLLVNR5ZNN/

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023

[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023/draft/Your_Input

[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023/


[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Updating_Environmental_Sustainability_Commitments,_2022


[6]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/06/27/wikimedia-foundations-carbon-footprint-report-for-2021/


[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/June_2022_Meeting_Outcomes_from_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Working_Capital_Reserves_Policy


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] March Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes and June 23 agenda items

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

/Resolution:2022_Trustee_Selection,
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Nataliia_Tymkiv%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2022


[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Dissolving_the_Funds_Dissemination_Committee


[8]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/06/23/thanking-the-members-of-the-funds-dissemination-committee/
[9]

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023/draft

[10]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Inviting_visitors_to_a_Board_of_Trustees_meeting_(2015)
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Inviting_visitors_to_a_Board_of_Trustees_meeting_(2015)>

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Luis Bitencourt-Emilio Joins Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear All,

Please join me in welcoming Luis Bitencourt-Emilio to the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees. Luis was unanimously appointed to a 3-year
term and replaces a board-selected Trustee, Lisa Lewin, whose term ended in
November 2021 [1].

Currently based in São Paulo, Luis is the Chief Technology Officer at Loft,
a technology startup in the real-estate industry. He brings product and
technology experience from a globally diverse career that has spanned large
technology companies including Microsoft, online networking sites like
Reddit, and a series of entrepreneurial technology ventures focused in the
USA and Latin America. Luis has led product and technology teams across
Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia. He is passionately
involved in building and promoting the entrepreneurial ecosystem for Latin
American-based startups.

Luis has more than two decades of experience across product development,
software engineering, and data science. At Microsoft, he led engineering
teams shipping multiple Microsoft Office products. At Reddit, he led the
Knowledge Group, an engineering team that owned critical functions such as
data, machine learning, abuse detection and search. He was deeply involved
in Reddit’s growth stage and worked closely with Reddit’s communities in
that evolution. Luis also co-founded a fintech startup to help millennials
manage and automate their finances.

His career has also been shaped by a visible commitment to recruiting
diverse leaders. At Reddit, Luis was a key member of the recruitment
efforts that achieved equal representation of women engineering directors.
Luis says his proudest achievement at Microsoft was building their
Brazilian talent pipeline by working closely with local universities to
place thousands of engineering candidates at Microsoft, as well as his
involvement in expanding global recruitment to markets including Ukraine,
Poland, Great Britain, the EU and Mexico.

Luis was educated in Brazil and the United States, receiving a Bachelor of
Science in Computer Engineering with Honors from the University of
Maryland. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English. He is also a
proud father and dog lover.

I would like to thank the Governance Committee, chaired by Dariusz
Jemielniak, for this nomination process as well as volunteers in our
Spanish and Portuguese speaking communities who also met with Luis or
shared their experiences.

You can find an official announcement here [2].

PS. You can help translate or find translations of this message on
Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/January_2022_-_Luis_Bitencourt-Emilio_Joins_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees


[1] Lisa Lewin served from January 2019 till November 2021:
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Lisa_Lewin%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2021

[2]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/01/12/luis-bitencourt-emilio-joins-wikimedia-foundation-board-of-trustees/

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board September/October meeting outcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees [1] has concluded its meetings
for this quarter and I would like to provide you with an overview of the
outcomes of its September/October one [2]. All resolutions and other
resources are linked at the end of this message. Other relevant pages on
Meta are being updated.

As previously posted here on this list, the Board appointed the new
Trustees (Victoria Doronina, Lorenzo Losa, and Rosie
Stephenson-Goodknight), renewed Dariusz Jemielniak’s term [3] [4] [5] [6]
[7], and approved the Brand Resolution [8]. Many thanks to all of those
involved.

The Board also approved committee assignments [9]. Much of the Board’s
business is completed through the Board Committees, which are now tasked
with creating their priorities for the coming year. The Board will review
these priorities in December and vote to approve them as the 2022 Board
priorities, and will then publish them on Meta. The Board has approved its
Officer appointments for the next term. I shall continue as Board Chair
with Shani Evenstein-Sigalov and Esra’a Al Shafei continuing as Vice
Chairs.

The Board recently completed a committee evolution plan [10] that we are
now implementing. Part of this plan included creating an Executive
Committee [11], which will be composed of the Board Chair, Board
Vice-Chairs, and the Chairs of the Board committees. The Board approved
this as well as updating the Product Committee to the Product and
Technology Committee.

Each Committee also provided an update on their activities for the last
quarter. Highlights include:

   -

   The Audit Committee reviewed and approved the 2019 Form 990 [12], the
   annual informational document required by the Internal Revenue Service
   (IRS) for non-profit organizations in the United States.
   -

   The Board Governance Committee drafted a Trustee Code of Conduct [13],
   which was unanimously approved by the Board.
   -

   The Human Resources Committee completed its work around recruitment of a
   new CEO [14]. Maryana Iskander
   
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour>will
   officially begin as CEO on January 5, 2022.
   -

   The Community Affairs Committee has been involved in community facing
   communication related to the Board selection process, Strategy
   implementation, Grants etc, hosted several public facing events, including
   an interactive session at Wikimania. The CAC also facilitated sessions with
   the candidates running for election.
   -

   The Product Committee continued its work, in partnership with Wikimedia
   Foundation staff, on a multi-year product-platform strategy.
   -

   The Special Projects Committee worked with staff to create a new
   onboarding process for incoming trustees. This work will continue over the
   next several months.


The Board also heard many updates from staff regarding the ongoing work of
the Foundation, including Wikimedia Enterprise. Please read the Board
statement for more information [15].

Also, the Board approved the minutes from the last meeting in August [16].

The Community Affairs Committee will be providing additional information on
the work of the Board at the October 20 Conversation with the Board
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2021-10-20_Conversation_with_Trustees>
[17]. You can submit questions via ask...@wikimedia.org in advance. I hope
you are able to join this session.

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees

[2] The meeting was online, over the course of a few days -- September (8,
15, 29), October (4, 13)

[3]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/13/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-new-trustees-rosie-stephenson-goodknight-victoria-doronina-dariusz-jemielniak-and-lorenzo-losa/


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Victoria_Doronina_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Lorenzo_Losa_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Rosie_Stephenson-Goodknight_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Dariusz_Jemielniak%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2021

[8]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Next_Steps_for_Brand_Work,_2021


[9]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committee_Membership,_2021


[10]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:2021_Committee_Evolution_Plan


[11]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_an_Executive_Committee_and_Updating_Committee_Charters


[12]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2019_Wikimedia_Foundation_Form_990_Frequently_Asked_Questions


[13]
https://foundation.wikime

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board: good-byes and welcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Board has appointed the three new community-selected trustees, so
please join me in welcoming Victoria Doronina [1], Lorenzo Losa, and Rosie
Stephenson-Goodknight to the Board of Trustees [2] [3] [4]. I would also
like to congratulate Dariusz Jemielniak on his re-appointment to the Board
[5]. Their terms will run from October 13, 2021 -- November 1, 2024. You
can read more about the new trustees in a blog post here [6].


I thank all of those who participated in the most recent selection process
-- the candidates
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2021/Candidates#Candidate_Table>,
the election volunteers, the Elections Committee, Foundation staff and the
thousands of Wikimedians who voted.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the trustees who are
rotating off the Board, James Heilman and Lisa Lewin. Serving on the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is deeply fulfilling but it is also
challenging. I am appreciative of all of the work James and Lisa have done
over the years -- the late nights, the weekends, and countless emails and
calls. Thank you for your time and dedication.

James, who has served for five years, has been Chair of the Special
Projects Committee, and under his lead, for example, the Onboarding plan
for Incoming Trustees was developed. He has also been a liaison to the
Language and the Affiliations Committees, and has served on other Board
committees such as the Audit, Board Governance, Product, and Community
Affairs. James’s term ended today, October 13, 2021.

Lisa, who has been on the Board for three years, has been Chair of the
Board Governance Committee and has also served on the Human Resources
Committee. Lisa’s governance experience has helped to strengthen the
Board’s operating procedures and she has kept the board focused at the
strategic level, under her lead, for example, the board has started to
implement recommendations from the Governance Review [7]. Lisa’s term ends
November 1, 2021.

On a personal note: getting off the Board also means having more free time,
and to fight the withdrawal symptoms of volunteering one’s time to
Wikimedia (even though mostly to governance work in practice as a trustee),
I cannot recommend enough to just embark on a journey of #100wikidays [8]
in a wikiproject -- it can definitely help!

On a more serious note: many thanks to the Trustees -- incoming,
continuing, and outgoing -- for their work and commitment.

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1] Due to some background checks still not being completed, Victoria’s
term officially will start in a few days. The Board resolution on
appointment will be effective as soon as the full background check is
complete and clean. But the end term will be the same for everyone.

[2]

https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Victoria_Doronina_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Lorenzo_Losa_to_the_Board_of_Trustees


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Rosie_Stephenson-Goodknight_to_the_Board_of_Trustees


[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Dariusz_Jemielniak%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2021


[6]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/13/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-new-trustees-rosie-stephenson-goodknight-victoria-doronina-dariusz-jemielniak-and-lorenzo-losa/
[7]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Veritas_Governance_Recommendations_Final_Public_Copy.pdf


[8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/100wikidays
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: WMF Product department transition

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am following up on Toby’s email to acknowledge that he has been a key
leader at the Foundation and his departure will be felt across the
organisation.

As a CPO Toby centered the priorities of the Product department around the
reading and editing experience on the Wikimedia projects. He worked both to
develop and lead work to expand access in emerging editing and reading
communities.

Toby played an instrumental role in supporting the formation of the
Wikimedia Foundation Product Committee [1] and in continuously engaging the
Board on platform strategy. He worked in close collaboration with the board
committee in prioritising security and diversifying community growth. I
myself got to work with Toby quite a lot through the committee work, and I
personally appreciate getting additional context on product development
efforts by the department.

Toby’s departure comes during a period of executive transition within the
Foundation. The Board is committed to working closely with the Transition
Team at the Foundation to ensure that this does not interrupt the many
crucial initiatives being led by the Product department. We, as the board,
are confident that the appointment of the new CEO, Maryana Iskander,
signals a strong path forward for the Foundation and the common desire to
meet the vision outlined in the movement strategy.

In this interim period, the Product department will be led by its two Vice
Presidents, Margeigh Novotny and Carol Dunn, with the full support of
Maryana, the Board and the Foundation transition team.

For now, please join me in wishing Toby well as he begins his next chapter.

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Product_Committee
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 8:36 PM Toby Negrin  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I’m writing to share that I’ve decided to step down as Chief Product
> Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation and my last day will be November 1.
>
> I’ve said before that I believe this is the most interesting job in the
> world. After all, what happens in the world happens on Wikipedia. I have
> felt incredibly fortunate to be a part of this movement, working on some of
> the most urgent problems around knowledge and access that we face today.
>
> I first joined the Foundation in 2013 as the Director of Analytics, and if
> you had told me back then that I would end up staying for eight years, I
> would never have believed you. Eight years is a long time. I am proud of
> the work that this department has done, and I will take many lessons with
> me. And at the same time, I’ve also realized I’m ready for the next chapter
> in my career.
>
> As I leave the Foundation, I want to express my deep gratitude to all of
> you - the volunteers who have built these projects into what they are
> today. Your contributions, your knowledge and your time have created these
> projects that have become the largest collection of open knowledge in human
> history. Every technology leader seeks passionate, engaged users who are
> actively sharing feedback on the platforms they build. This community has
> never let us down in that regard. Our work together between the communities
> and the Product department wasn’t always easy, but on the whole we operated
> under an assumption of good faith[1] and with a recognition of our
> respective roles in helping improve the reading and editing experience of
> our projects. I’m immensely proud of the work that we’ve accomplished and
> the chance to work alongside so many talented people.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation was the first nonprofit of my career. At the
> time, it was a welcome change and a chance to use my skills for good. I
> have seen the Foundation go through many iterations and transitions. I’m
> proud to have been part of its incredible growth and the increasing impact
> we are making in the world. There have been many successes and many
> challenges too, as we have tackled the new realities of the internet, and
> sought to make our projects truly global and inclusive. In considering all
> of this, now feels like the right time for me to step back and get closer
> to why I became an engineer in the first place —  being a builder and a
> developer. I’ve been energized by the work of this department and this
> movement, bringing values of privacy, respect for users, inclusion and
> safety to building on the open web. I hope to carry these forward as I take
> on a more hands-on role in technology innovation in my next chapter.
>
> Thank you to everyone that I’ve had the chance to

[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
[1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
international research university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
organisations shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
working on the African continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
(CCed) to the Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

*[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/>*

*[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander> *

*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator>*

*[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood>*

*[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University> *

*[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021>
*
*[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO>*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO>

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, 

[Wikimedia-l] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
[1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
international research university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
organisations shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
working on the African continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
(CCed) to the Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

*[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/>*

*[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander> *

*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator>*

*[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood>*

*[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University> *

*[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021>
*
*[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO>*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO>

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board: trustee reappointment, extension, and newly posted minutes and resolutions

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I wanted to bring to your attention that the minutes from Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees meetings since April 15, 2021, are published
and linked from here [1]. The resolutions since June 1, 2021, are linked
from here [2].

Also, there was a special board meeting on August 26, 2021, to renew the
term of Tanya Capuano (Audit Committee chair, Human Resources (HR) and
Transition Committees (TC) member) for another 3 years. Her term was
expiring September 1, 2021, and she graciously agreed to continue serving
[3].

Three other trustees’ terms were about to expire -- Lisa Lewin (Board
Governance Committee (BGC) chair, HR Committee alternate), Dariusz
Jemielniak (HR Committee chair, BGC and TC member), and James Heilman
(Special Projects Committee chair), so we renewed/prolonged their terms
“until November 1, 2021 or until the Board appoints a replacement for that
seat, whichever comes first” [4], [5]. Currently we are searching for a
replacement for Lisa’s seat (a Board selected seat), and the last two seats
are up for replacement by board appointing candidates from the current
Community and/or Affiliate nomination process underway per our Bylaws [6].
These extensions and reappointment will allow us to have the minimal
authorized number of Trustees (9) per our Bylaws [7].


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*

[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings

[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolutions

[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Tanya_Capuano%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2021


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Lisa_Lewin%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2021


[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Term_Extension_of_Dariusz_Jemielniak_and_James_Heilman,_2021


[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#(C)_Community-_and_Affiliate-selected_Trustees
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#(C)_Community-_and_Affiliate-selected_Trustees.>
.
[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#(A)_Number
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#(A)_Number.>.
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Sharing more details about the Equity Fund

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Thank you Lisa, Janeen, Tony and the Equity Fund Committee for working on
this pilot project.

Some of the major barriers preventing more people from joining our movement
are barriers of power and privilege. In many parts of the world, that
correlates with histories of racial discrimination and inequality. The
Board of the Wikimedia Foundation supported this idea as a way for us as a
Movement, not only an organisation, to directly address these obstacles and
hopefully bring new partners and newcomers into our movement.

As a Wikipedian I know that having good reliable sources is crucial. As a
Ukrainian Wikipedia volunteer I know that sometimes these good reliable
sources are just manuscripts collecting dust in some drawers, as people who
do research do not always get the support they need, so they do not
publish. And thus we editors cannot use those sources. And I am positive my
experience is not unique. I imagine that in some countries and communities
this can be even harder because of the obstacles mentioned above.

I hope that through this pilot program, Wikimedia can support work to
improve access to knowledge where the need is great. And I am sure we
(collectively) will learn a lot while trying something new, and that would
influence how we pursue these issues in the future. I would like to think
that our efforts would not be futile and that we could change things and
(at some point) all people would be able to share in the sum of all
knowledge, not just privileged ones.


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Wed, Jun 9, 2021 at 8:15 PM Lisa Gruwell  wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I’m excited to share more information about the Wikimedia Foundation’s
> Knowledge Equity Fund.
>
> The Equity Fund is a pilot initiative that came out of the commitment the
> Foundation’s leadership team made in June 2020 [1] in the wake of global
> protests against racial injustice. Our goal was to create a grant-making
> fund with an explicit focus on addressing barriers to free knowledge
> experienced by Black, indigenous and communities of color around the world.
>
> This is a $4.5 million USD fund to address racial inequities that impact
> the work of free knowledge. It was created to provide focused grants to
> organizations that are advancing knowledge equity, one of two key pillars
> of our 2030 strategic direction of becoming the essential infrastructure of
> free knowledge. Specifically, the fund is meant to support organizations
> working to address the racial injustices and barriers that prevent
> participation in free knowledge.
>
> We allocated funds for the Equity Fund at the end of the Foundation’s
> fiscal year last June. [2] It took more time than we expected to share our
> plans for this pilot program, as we’ve been navigating the operational
> and logistical issues of creating a new type of fund. Over the past
> several months since the Equity Fund was first announced, Foundation staff
> and volunteers have been meeting to discuss the goals and the details of
> the Equity Fund, and we finally have more to share.
>
> The Equity Fund will be used to support local and international
> organizations that don’t currently qualify for grants funding from the
> Foundation, such as external organizations that can help advance our
> mission and are not working directly on wikiprojects. We recognize that the
> work of knowledge equity is work that we as a movement cannot do alone. Our
> projects can only do so much when, for example, academic and mass media
> representation of marginalized communities remains insufficient, which in
> turn limits citations and primary sources for us to build from.  Through
> Equity Fund investments, we wish to create an ecosystem of partners,
> collaborators, and grantees working on knowledge equity that will benefit
> the movement. This could include journalism projects to increase content
> about underrepresented regions of the world, or scholarship and research
> initiatives that are focused on expanding academic understanding of
> structural barriers to knowledge and potential solutions.
>
> The Equity Fund is separate from the grants that are available for
> community groups and the ongoing Grants Relaunch [3]. It is a new pool of
> funds that we can use to directly impact knowledge equity, and specifically
> barriers due to race that prevent access and participation in free
> knowledge.
>
> We are currently working to identify the first grant recipients for the
> Equity Fund.  The Meta page for the Equity Fund [4] includes more
> inform

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Update from the Wikimedia Foundation Board chair

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear María,

First of all, thank you for all the work you have done over the past 8
years - it is not always easy to be a Trustee and sometimes the work is far
from gratifying. I know it was not a quick decision for you to stay on for
an additional year to help us see Wikimedia Foundation and the board
through some challenging times, and I am personally grateful for your
accepting the challenge and putting yourself on the line.

There was quite a bit of turmoil when I joined the Board - and no one
really had time to onboard me back then. And I *needed* onboarding and
support. You offered to mentor me if need be, invited me to shoot any
questions and concerns at you, any time of the day. Things like that -
going above and beyond when needed and really meaning it - are a pattern
with you. And I deeply appreciate your dedication to the cause.

You were in the room when the Board decided to embark on a long journey to
support the creation of the Movement strategy, and saw it through all the
hardships we had along the way. I do hope that being able to help in
implementing it will somehow account for all those mishaps on the way here,
and you will seriously consider the advisory role where you can support the
Movement Strategy from the trenches, so to say.

You have been one of the strongest voices for making sure our projects
diversify and are more equitable, helping direct the Wikimedia Foundation
to a direction of increasing readers and donors and raising editing numbers
from when they were declining. Your energy and readiness to participate in
hundreds, maybe thousands of conversations on the future of Wikimedia and
ensuring its stability and sustainability is really something, and I think
this deserves recognition on our part.

I believe you will remain involved in the movement with the same drive and
passion you have always shown. And our paths will cross again even though
we do edit different-language Wikipedias, but we still reside in the same
Wikiverse :)

With thanks and appreciation,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 10:40 PM María Sefidari 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> There is one last bit of news I would like to share following the Board
> meeting update.
>
> After ~ 8 years on the Board of Trustees at the Wikimedia Foundation - a
> long time! - I have notified the Board that I am stepping down as Chair and
> trustee, effective end of day today.
>
> As all of you know, the community-selected seats were due to expire last
> year and were extended at the request of the Board to see through these
> difficult and unprecedented times. Now, after chairing the last meeting of
> the fiscal year and having the call for candidates for the upcoming
> elections approved, it is the least disruptive moment for me to step down.
> The Foundation has asked me to consider an advisory role to support
> Movement Strategy and the onboarding of new trustees and the new CEO/ED, to
> help support leadership and this strategic transition. Nataliia Tymkiv,
> currently Vice Chair, will act as Chair until a new one is elected by the
> Board ensuring continuity.
>
> Hopefully this news will not come as too much of a surprise. I am grateful
> to the community members who lent me their trust and support to become a
> trustee on two different occasions, to the staff, and to the trustees for
> their confidence in me in the different leadership positions I have held
> within the Board - first as committee chair, then two terms as Vice Chair,
> and two terms as Chair.
>
> Together we have accomplished many things during this time, but if I had
> to single out only a few they would be the following: launching the
> Movement Strategy process, engaging in the most ambitious governance reform
> in the history of the Board, and working to ensure the stability and
> sustainability of the Foundation. It has been a time of change, of
> discussing strategy and our future, and deciding together what the path
> forward should be.
>
> Of course, the work is never finished - it will be the task of the Board
> to continue what has been done and face the newer and complex challenges
> that will no doubt arise. I hope that we will see many of the women of the
> movement and people from the Global South as candidates in the upcoming
> community elections - I know there are many qualified people ready to step
> into these important roles. I look forward to supporting an increasingly
> capable and diverse Board.
>
> Be safe and well everyone.
>
> Tupananchiskama,
>
> María
>
> --
>
> María Sefidari Huic

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Call for Feedback: Community Board seats and February 2 office hours

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear Ad,

Thank you for being a part of Affiliate-Selected Board Selection 2019
facilitators — organising a selection process is not an easy task. And
thank you for sharing your concerns about the process so far. I would like
to clarify and explain some things below.

First, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, as a board of a legal
entity, must decide how we select board members. Legally we cannot let a
third party decide for us, even if that third party is the Wikimedia
movement. This is why we are involving the movement in this call for
feedback, to inform the decision that the Board will make. The Board
believes requesting community feedback about how to fill Board seats is the
right thing to do, as is sharing our reasoning for why we are changing our
approach. After the Bylaws community review last October, we committed to
organising another feedback round with more time, focusing on the trustee
selection pathways [1]. This is that other round.

It is also important to note that deciding deep changes in how the Board
selects members is not in the scope of the Elections Committee mandate [2].
We count on them, but we cannot delegate this task to them completely.

Also, just for clarity, the Affiliate-Selected Board Selection 2019 (ASBS
2019) facilitators were organised for a specific purpose, which all of you
completed successfully by the end of that election. But there is no ASBS
standing committee — and there never was. The debrief of ASBS 2019 that you
shared has been informative and appreciated as well, and was the end of
your work. It was therefore inappropriate and misleading to offer your
personal opinion “on behalf of the ASBS committee”, I assure you, we
respect your opinion as it is, without you trying to add additional weight
to it.

About the current process: volunteers (the Board) are leading it, the staff
is supporting it. The staff does not decide, the board will make a decision
based on the feedback.

The Board has requested to have more venues for collecting feedback, thus a
team of multilingual facilitators connected with the communities in
multiple regions is reaching out to wiki projects and affiliates to ensure
that their perspectives are captured in this call for feedback. As a key
stakeholder, we are inviting the Elections committee to participate as
well. We think that input is important. Volunteers who served in the 2019
Affiliate-Selected Board Selection are also important, and we invite you to
participate as well.

This call for feedback has started and conversations have begun; many more
conversations are being scheduled. We invite you to join these, and take
advantage of its process and its facilitators. Bring your ideas, mobilise
your peers, and help promote this call among volunteers, projects and
affiliates who haven’t been involved in governance conversations before. We
are hoping to gather input widely from across the movement to ensure that
ideas are shared and considered from community members with diverse
experience and backgrounds to help build a strong Wikimedia Foundation
Board.

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/January_2021_-_Approval_of_Bylaws_amendments_and_upcoming_call_for_feedback_about_the_selection_of_new_trustees


[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Elections_Committee


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees


*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 12:17 AM Ad Huikeshoven 
wrote:

> Members of the Board of Trustees and staff of the Wikimedia Foundation,
>
> Please WMF Board of Trustees grant control of the WMF Board elections to
> the Wikimedia community, especially to the two existing committees. The
> Wikimedia community can manage its own values and ethics and has no need of
> non-volunteer, non-community members to assist with the fundamentals of
> designing the election.
>
> On behalf of the ASBS committee I request you
> * remove the "problems to solve" section from that page,
> * remove the "ideas discussed with the board" section from that page,
> * remove the 8 subpages with "ideas"
> * include a section with words like:
> "The Board asks the Election committee and ASBS election facilitators to
> work together to set up a process, define rules, and hold a (s)election
> process for six community- and affiliate sourced board seats. The board
> asks the joined committee to pay respect to the strategic direction of the
> Wikimedia Movement and the strategy recommendations. The board would like
> to welcome a diversity of candidates. The board oversees an organization
> with an annual budget over one hundre

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Bylaws amendments and upcoming call for feedback

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello!

The concerns expressed by Yair and SJ can be divided in two main categories:


   1.

   The process to select and appoint Community- and Affiliate-selected
   trustees are not defined in the Bylaws. This is correct. This was a topic
   discussed and not resolved during our last community review. We said that
   the Board would not make any decision before organizing another community
   discussion. This is the call for feedback mentioned in the same
   announcement, planned to run between February 1 and March 14. After this
   call for feedback, the Board plans to approve the process and start the
   renewal of the three overdue seats and the selection of the three new seats.
   2.

   The newly approved Bylaws allow for a circumstance where Board-selected
   trustees can get a majority and take control over the Foundation. Here we
   disagree. The intention of the Board is clear: the community- and
   affiliate- trustees have one seat more than the directly appointed
   trustees, and in addition we have Jimmy Wales’ Founder seat. The changes in
   the language just want to accommodate for real-life circumstances causing
   seats to become vacant until they are filled again. We don’t want loopholes
   either. If someone demonstrates a loophole, Bylaws in hand, we shall review
   it.


About SJ’s questions.

> * "As many as" eight community/affiliate seats -- under what conditions
would there be fewer?  Are there conditions where a term might expire or be
vacated without replacement?



For example, today we are only five community- affiliate- selected
trustees, and there will be a period of time until the three new seats are
filled. The Bylaws contemplate situations like resignations and removals.
Life happens, and when a seat becomes vacant during a term, it takes time
to appoint a new trustee.



> * No mention of voting -- just the promise of "a series of options [for]
strong community processes to select representatives". How are these being
developed / is there a long-list of potential options under consideration?



As said, we shall decide on community processes only after the upcoming
call for feedback.



> * The change from "majority community-selected" to "at least half
community-selected"  - intentional, and if so to what end?



This is for clarity of language and math. Before it said “A majority of the
Board Trustee positions, without counting the Community Founder Trustee
position  shall be selected or appointed from the Affiliates collectively
and the community.” Now the same point reads: “The Board shall not appoint
a new Board-selected trustee if it would cause the Board-selected Trustees
to outnumber the Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees.” The current
text is more specific and directly applicable to the real-life
circumstances mentioned above.

As said, life happens and sometimes seats may be vacant for a while. The
previous text was not clear about what to do in a scenario where
temporarily community- and affiliate- selected trustees are not in majority
over the Board-selected trustees. If that would happen, we would become
automatically out-of-compliance with our Bylaws. The current language is
clear and would allow us to handle a delicate situation without worrying
about compliance.

I hope that helps!

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 3:55 AM Samuel Klein  wrote:

> Yair, thanks for looking it over carefully.
>
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 6:35 PM Yair Rand  wrote:
>
>> Those "loopholes" people mentioned are still there, with the addition of
>> at least one new one.
>>
>
> Hm.  Maria, an easier-to-read diff like the one Laurentius made for the
> proposal, would be most welcome.
>
> For each of these loopholes, could you be explicit about the intent, and
> whether or not the new apparent loophole is desired, or a bug to be fixed?
>
> * "As many as" eight community/affiliate seats -- under what conditions
> would there be fewer?  Are there conditions where a term might expire or be
> vacated without replacement?
> * No mention of voting -- just the promise of "a series of options [for]
> strong community processes to select representatives". How are these being
> developed / is there a long-list of potential options under consideration?
> * The change from "majority community-selected" to "at least half
> community-selected"  - intentional, and if so to what end?
> * The loophole where "shall not appoint" still allows the Board to become
> minority community-

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Board of Trustees elections, membership, quorum, and

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello,

I can answer a few of the questions raised in this thread.

When the Board postponed the community selection of trustees, we also
extended the terms of the trustees in the affected seats (María Sefidari,
Dariusz Jemielniak, and James Heilman)[1]. Their terms were originally set
to expire last month, but because of that term extension they are still
serving as trustees, and as such María remains the Board Chair and Dariusz
and James continue on as Committee Chairs[2].

Raju Narisetti and Esra'a Al Shafei have been reappointed to the Board for
an additional three-year term[3][4].

The current members of the Board of Trustees are listed on the Wikimedia
Foundation website[5].

We do not currently have a shortage of trustees on the Board, and we have
had a quorum for every decision we have made this year. We have published
some outstanding Board records, many of which were just approved at our
recent meeting in September[6][7].

I have just sent an email to this list, as well as posted an update to
Meta-Wiki, with a request for feedback on matters related to the
Foundation’s Bylaws and trustee selection[8]. That announcement contains
more information about the postponed community selection of trustees.

Best regards,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Postponement_of_Community_Selection_of_Trustees_and_Extension_of_Community_Selected_Trustee_Terms_until_next_selection_process


[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committee_Membership,_2019


[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Raju_Narisetti%27s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2020


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Esra%27a_Al_Shafei%27s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2020


[5] https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/board/


[6] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings


[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolutions

[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/July_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric>


*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*



On Thu, Oct 1, 2020 at 9:52 PM Bill Takatoshi 
wrote:

> After I asked my questions on September 4, I was sent the message
> below by some role account I've never heard of, asking about claims
> that have used the names of five other people. I don't edit under my
> real name, but I have never used the names in the linked forum
> postings.
>
> The linked posts also claim that the Foundation's nonprofit status is
> at risk. I am not a lawyer, but I am skeptical of that claim even
> though five Trustees whose three-year terms expired in August
> apparently voted on a Resolution in a Board meeting on September 24.
> According to Section 4 of the Bylaws, "A quorum shall consist of a
> majority of Trustees then in office." Section 6 says, "the Board may
> continue doing business as a Board during the vacancy of any Trustee
> position." Therefore, since four of the five remaining Trustees all
> voted in favor, the Resolution was properly carried, in my layperson's
> view. I am less certain about the propriety of allowing a Trustee
> whose three year term expired to continue to serve as Chair.
>
> The lack of any update or even ETA for an update on
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2020#Postpone%3F
> is baffling. Elections have never been held in person, only online,
> and so the excuse that they were postponed because of the pandemic
> crisis seems extremely suspicious. Indefinitely delaying elections for
> such a vacuous reason makes the Foundation look like the worst of the
> bad actors in today's international political climate. Doesn't the
> cancelled travel of the pandemic crisis give the Foundation more time
> to hold elections, not less? Whether non-profit status is at risk or
> not, I would hope that the Foundation, Board, and Elections Committee
> would be more interested in upholding the principles of good
> governance than failing to even announce a new schedule or even a date
> by which a new schedule will be announced.
>
> -Will
>
> On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 10:31 PM Gender Desk 
> wrote:
> >
> > Mr. Takatoshi,
> >
> > Wikipediocracy has suggested that you have also used the names "Rogol
> Domedonfors, Renée Bagslint, Jennifer Pryor-Summers, Felicity Braingut,
> Thomas Townse

[Wikimedia-l] Call for feedback about Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws changes and Board candidate rubric

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

 but also the ability
for as wide a range of diverse candidates and community voters as possible
to participate. We postponed the process in part because we were not sure
that it would have that necessary participation if it had happened at the
originally scheduled time. We appreciate everyone’s patience and
understanding as we do our best to move this work forward in a way that is
mindful of both the desire to move quickly and our responsibility to
achieve the best possible outcomes.

Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to participate
constructively in these conversations.

You can find the original version of this announcement at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/July_2020_-_Call_for_feedback_about_Bylaws_changes_and_Board_candidate_rubric>


Best regards,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Proposed_Bylaws_changes


[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/October_2020_-_Board_candidate_rubric


[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Updates_from_April_28,_2020

[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Postponement_of_Community_Selection_of_Trustees_and_Extension_of_Community_Selected_Trustee_Terms_until_next_selection_process

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[Wikimedia-l] Board update on Branding: Briefing postponement

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

 Hello! Just a quick update: the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees was
notified by staff on the night of July 7th that the briefing of July 8th
needs to be rescheduled because of the illness of one of the key staff
members. We are looking for a new date before the August board meeting, and
we shall share an updated timeline in a few days.

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

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[Wikimedia-l] Board update on Branding: next steps

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I want to share with you the next steps of the Wikimedia Foundation Board
of Trustees about the Brand Project.

Originally the Board meeting dedicated to the brand project was supposed to
happen no earlier than October. The expected outcome from the project were
the recommendations on what the rebranding should look like - from changing
fonts/logos to renaming. And if there is going to be a renaming - to what.
Of course, the Board’s role is not in approving a change in fonts, but if a
recommendation to rename was to be made - the Board’s role would have been
to make a decision on that recommendation. The timeline has now been
changed, and the renaming part of rebranding will be discussed in our
August meeting.

Moreover, the Board will meet in early July to receive a briefing about the
project and talk about the process between June 2018 - June 2020. The
consolidated materials on what the brand project team has been working on
for a while now will be presented to the Board, and these materials are
also going to be posted publicly. The more-strategic conversation is
planned for the August meeting. Time to prepare the materials is needed,
and the ongoing conversations need to be summarised, so the Board can have
an in-depth discussion about this, before making any kind of decision.

We would like to continue with the survey [1] - we have discussed the
possibility of technical changes to the survey with an additional option
like “no renaming is needed” (not the exact words, mind you), but with more
than 700 respondents it is not methodologically sound to change the survey
now. Staff have confirmed to the Board that responses to the survey will
not be calculated as support for a change. The survey was only designed to
collect feedback on the possible renaming options, not as a yes/no vote on
whether to adopt them.

Thus the timeline on rebranding for the next 6-7 weeks is as follows:

* Early July - special Board meeting with the Brand project team to review
and discuss the process so far, and for the Board members to receive the
briefing on discussions happening;

* July - consolidated materials prepared for the July meeting will be
posted publicly after the meeting;

* August 5th - the Board meeting on renaming part of the rebranding, not
about the process. The Board will make the decision about whether to stop,
pause, or continue the work on this, within the framework of a discussion
on strategic goals, tensions and tradeoffs, and potential next steps.

* August (after the meeting) - the Board statement on the next steps about
the Brand project.

I also want to acknowledge receiving the Community open letter on renaming
[2] that was posted this week. Thank you for this statement on the position
of those of you who signed. I know there are other perspectives, and that
some would agree with it who have not signed it, and that there are also
some who would not agree. We expect that the Board meetings and
communication after them will address the concerns raised in the letter.

Stay safe,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[1] https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9G2dN7P0T7gPqpD

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_open_letter_on_renaming


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[Wikimedia-l] Board Update on Branding

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

 to another name, as the Board has not
yet had a final report on the results of the Brand Project, or the
opportunity to discuss the findings and tradeoffs, and make a decision for
what the Board will do. The Board conversation about this is planned to
happen during the August meeting.

Did the Board want to possibly have the rebranding (if approved) to take
place before Wikipedia’s 20th birthday in January 2021? Yes, in a way. The
resolution [5] talks about the work being done by then, but it is indeed
unclear whether the changing of the brand was included or just the
completion of the research by the Foundation. The timeline can still change
if the Board decides it.

Should the Board be clearer in what the Board is directing the Wikimedia
Foundation to do? Yes, I believe so. Some of this unclarity and
misalignment is the cause of all this unfortunate frustration.

What are the possible outcomes for the August Board meeting on branding?
The Board can 1) stop the project, 2) pause the work being done or 3)
continue with it.

Does the Board still want you to take the survey [6] then? Yes. The
currently open survey [6] is intended to find the best possible outcome if
the Foundation's (!) branding were centered around Wikipedia, and your
voice is needed. It is an opportunity to provide constructive feedback on
those alternatives. If you are engaging in discussions around it, please be
kind to each other.

Do all organisations in our movement have to have a uniform name? Per the
Board’s resolution from 2013
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-11#Movement_roles> [7]
- yes, but it was a decision made at that time when the Board believed
there was a chance to increase visibility and recognition of Wikimedia as a
brand. It is 2020 now, and it may be the right time to loosen up on this
approach and allow all organisations in the movement to use different names
[8], best suited for their local context. Or keep uniform names, but allow
using any of our brands for fundraising purposes. Or something else. The
Board does have a sense that there is a need to be much more
outward-looking and optimize our key assets, including our brands, for the
challenges to come.

All across the Movement we have a lot to do to accomplish our 2030 goals
and build out our movement strategy. And that work can be done as the
Wikimedia Movement, Wikimedia communities, and the Foundation even with a
new name, depending on our needs.

Stay safe,

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees


[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2020-02#Board_Business

[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Wikimedia_brand_strategy_proposal_for_2030.pdf


[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2018-11-9,10,11#Branding

[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_movement_brand_project/Executive_statement


[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Brand_Project_Support_(May_2020)


[6] 2030 Movement Brand Project: Naming Convention Proposals Survey:
https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9G2dN7P0T7gPqpD

[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-11#Movement_roles
[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates/Naming_guidelines

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Trust and safety on Wikimedia projects

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello, Dennis!

Not at all. What it means is that this a not a process that goes into play
*before* a decision to act is made, but *after*. It should stand as an
option for those who want to ensure that actions taken are fair, as long as
the case does not relate to legal risks or other severe concerns.

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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On Sat, May 23, 2020, 01:58 Dennis During  wrote:

>  "Work with community functionaries to create and refine a retroactive
> review process for cases brought by involved parties, excluding those cases
> which pose legal or other severe risks "
>
> What does "retroactive review process" mean?
>
> I hope it doesn't mean applying standards that were not promulgated at the
> time to past actions and applying severe sanctions to the alleged
> perpetrators.
>
> On Fri, May 22, 2020 at 5:59 PM María Sefidari 
> wrote:
>
> >  Hello everyone,
> >
> > Today, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees unanimously passed a
> > resolution and published a statement[1] regarding the urgent need to make
> > our movement more safe and inclusive by addressing harassment and
> > incivility on Wikimedia projects. The statement builds on prior
> statements
> > from 2016 and 2019,[2][3] affirms the forthcoming introduction of a
> > universal code of conduct, and directs the Wikimedia Foundation to
> rapidly
> > and substantively address these challenges in complement with existing
> > community processes.
> >
> > This includes developing sustainable practices and tools that eliminate
> > harassment, toxicity, and incivility, promote inclusivity, cultivate
> > respectful discourse, reduce harms to participants, protect the projects
> > from disinformation and bad actors, and promote trust in our projects.
> >
> > Over the past nearly twenty years, the movement has taken a number of
> > unique and sometimes extraordinary steps to create an environment unlike
> > anything else online: a place to share knowledge, to learn, and to
> > collaborate together. In order for the movement to continue to thrive and
> > make progress to our mission, it is essential to build a culture that is
> > welcoming and inclusive.
> >
> > Research has consistently shown that members of our communities have been
> > subject to hostility and toxic behavior in Wikimedia spaces.[4][5] The
> > Wikimedia 2030 movement strategy recommendations have also identified the
> > safety of our Wikimedia spaces as a core issue to address if we are to
> > reach the 2030 goals, with concrete recommendations which include a
> > universal code of conduct, pathways for users to privately report
> > incidents, and a baseline of community responsibilities.[6]
> >
> > While the movement has made progress in addressing harassment and toxic
> > behavior, we recognize there is still much more to do. The Board’s
> > resolution and statement today is a step toward establishing clear,
> > consistent guidelines around acceptable behavior on our projects, and
> > guiding the Wikimedia Foundation in supporting the movement’s ability to
> > ensure a healthy environment for those who participate in our projects.
> >
> > * Developing and introducing, in close consultation with volunteer
> > contributor communities, a universal code of conduct that will be a
> binding
> > minimum set of standards across all Wikimedia projects;
> >
> > * Taking actions to ban, sanction, or otherwise limit the access of
> > Wikimedia movement participants who do not comply with these policies and
> > the Terms of Use;
> >
> > * Working with community functionaries to create and refine a retroactive
> > review process for cases brought by involved parties, excluding those
> cases
> > which pose legal or other severe risks; and
> >
> > * Significantly increasing support for and collaboration with community
> > functionaries primarily enforcing such compliance in a way that
> prioritizes
> > the personal safety of these functionaries.
> >
> > Together, we have made our movement what it is today. In this same way,
> we
> > must all be responsible for building the positive community culture of
> the
> > future, and accountable for stopping harassment and toxic behavior on our
> > sites.
> >
> > We have also made this statement available on Meta-Wiki for translation
> and
> > wider distribut

[Wikimedia-l] Updates from Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

 lot of topics to talk about, please post your
thoughts/comments on the talk page of my message on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Updates_from_April_28,_2020
. It would be easier to have a structured discussion there, rather than
dozens of emails in this thread. Depending on interest and our shared
situation we might hold a video “town hall” to discuss more details of some
of these plans with you all.

Also we are currently working on an update to our 2016 statement on
community culture in order to reinforce our commitment to safety on our
projects. We look forward to sharing it with you in May.

Please take care of yourselves.

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Veritas_Governance_Recommendations_Final_Public_Copy.pdf

[2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2019-7-10

[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws changed plus next steps

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello all!

The Wikimedia Foundation Board has unanimously approved the changes to the
Bylaws [1] during the last Board meeting on January 30, 2019. This will be
covered in the minutes, and the resolution will be published in short order.

This change allows the participation of User Groups [2] in the
Affiliate-selected Board seats (ASBS) 2019 process [3].  The discussion
about this process should start as soon as possible in order to have these
two seats selected by Wikimania. This is why we are sending this letter
now, before the resolution is published.

There are now over 100 recognized User Groups, covering over 50 countries,
several languages and topics, many of whom represent new and emergent
communities within the Wikimedia movement. The Board believes that the
added perspectives of the User Groups, combined with the voices of Chapters
and Thematic Organizations, will lead to a richer collection of guidance
for our movement. The conversation about how User Groups may participate in
this process has been on for years, it is not a new topic [4].

Once the facilitators of the Selection process are appointed by the
affiliates, they should work with María Sefidari, who has been chosen by
the Board as the Board liaison for the ASBS process.

Given the potential complexity of organizing a process that now will
include over a hundred user groups, the Wikimedia Foundation is offering
its support to set up infrastructure and help with communications if
requested by the affiliates.

A page for translation can be found at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Wikimedia_Foundation_Bylaws_changed_plus_next_steps

On behalf of the Board

antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

Chair of the Board Governance Committee

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_bylaws/December_2018_-_Affiliate-selected_trustees,_term_limits,_and_diversity


[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_user_groups


[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019


[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_bylaws/January_2014_-_Amendment_for_Trustees_selected_by_Chapters_and_Thematic_Organizations

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[Wikimedia-l] Board approval of FDC recommendation 2017-2018 - Round 2

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear members of the Wikimedia community,

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, I write to
confirm that the board has approved [1] the full slate of the FDC’s Round 2
2017-2018 recommendations [2] for the Annual Plan Grants. In this round, 5
organizations will be receiving a total of roughly US $1,517,363. Grants
are made in local currency, so the USD figure is approximate.

The Board wants to thank the Funds Dissemination Committee members and
staff for the time and effort they have put into this process, as well as
all members of the community who have participated in this round of review,
analysis and deliberations. We appreciate and value the efforts put in this
process.

Thank you to all the organizations who submitted proposals in this round,
and for the work that the volunteers and staff of these organizations have
put in to further our movement’s mission.

Volunteers are at the heart of the Funds Dissemination Committee. We are
lucky to have a committee comprised of nine dedicated community members who
give a lot of their time and energy into making this funding program a
reality. We thank you all for your work this year!

[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_approval_of_FDC_
recommendation_(2017-18,_Round_2)

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_
recommendations/2017-2018_Round_2

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv, on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment: Updates

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

As you may know, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has two
appointed Board members whose terms will expire during Wikimania 2018 -
Kelly Battles and Alice Wiegand. We have been working to fill those seats
 and our goal is for potential candidates to join us in Cape Town during
Wikimania 2018.

== Finance expert seat ==

This is a very specific profile: we need a person with strong financial
management background and auditing skills. The BCG (Board Governance
Committee) is currently interviewing a short list of candidates prepared by
Kelly Battles and Jaime Villagomez (the CFO of Wikimedia Foundation). Once
interviews are complete, the BCG will send their recommendations  to the
full Board.

== Technology/organizational growth expert seat ==

Over the last few months, we have conducted a series of conversations on
Board  expertise needs. With the support of Katherine Maher (ED) and Josh
Weinberg (Chief of Staff), the BGC developed a candidate profile for the
soon-to-be-vacant seat and gave its recommendation to the Board during
their meeting in Berlin. We need your help to identify potential candidates
for this position who are interested in serving the Wikimedia community as
a member of the Board of Trustees.

We shall begin accepting applications and referrals for these positions
today. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process is
available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203 [1]. You
can find the candidate package here [2].

Applicants may apply online at:
https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1162305?gh_src=8b8yun5r1#.WvaOKPKMTCv.
We will also accept applications and referrals by email at
board-nominati...@lists.wikimedia.org.

We look forward to hearing from you.

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Recruiting_Candidate_Packet_May_2018.pdf

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Appointment of Gabriele Theren and Peter Dewald to the WMDE Board of Trustees

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear Gabriele and Peter,
Welcome!

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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On Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 2:47 PM, Tim Moritz Hector <
tim-moritz.hec...@wikimedia.de> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am delighted to announce that Wikimedia Deutschland’s Board has taken the
> opportunity to appoint two new members for the first time. Dr. Gabriele
> Theren and Peter Dewald are taking appointed seats in our board.
>
> After our general assembly decided to make way for up to 3 appointed seats,
> we created a profile of skills we would like to add to the board. We
> focussed on the future of Wikimedia Deutschland, strategically and
> financially, and got about 60 applications. Many of them showed impressive
> profiles, striving for Free Knowledge.
>
> We decided for Gabriele, who is a trained lawyer, mediator and serves as
> department head in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the German
> federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. We also elected Peter who has 35 years of
> expertise as managing director at Apple and the software group Sage, was
> member of the board of Germany’s digital association Bitkom and has a lot
> of experience in volunteer work.
>
> Both will be members of the board until the next election by the general
> assembly in about one year. Please join me in welcoming Gabriele and Peter
> to the Wikiverse.
>
> Best regards,
> Tim Moritz Hector
>
>
> --
> Tim Moritz Hector
> Chair of the Board
> Wikimedia Deutschland
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment: Updates

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Board Governance Committee (BGC) has been working on finalizing another
potential candidate [1]. The results of the process were successful and the
Board has unanimously appointed the candidate the BGC has recommended. The
announcement is planned for December 1, 2017, so in two days the Wikimedia
Foundation Board will be finally complete (ten members).

But the Board recruitment is actually not over: we have two appointed Board
members, whose terms expire next Wikimania - Kelly Battles and Alice
Wiegand - so we are going to start working on filling those seats. The
ideal timeline is to have potential candidates join us in time for
Wikimania 2018.

The Board Governance Committee and I personally are thankful to those
people who were highly involved in the Board recruitment process: Anna
Stillwell, Michelle Paulson and Michelle Muñoz, our Legal and
Communications teams, and of course Katherine Maher. And many, many more.

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-October/088797.html

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment: Updates

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

imedia Foundation staff

2daa) Criminal and financial background check conducted by outside firm

2dab) Thorough review of online and public coverage of candidates

This background check was started in August 2017, after the Board meeting.
The results were ready at the end of September. It is not unusual, this
process takes from 1 to 2 months.

3) Executive Director and BGC meet to determine recommendations and provide
recommendations to the full Board (June)

We did not have a special meeting for that, after the meeting on June 16,
2017 [3] we coordinated our efforts via emails.

4) Board vote to confirm candidate (September)

The draft resolution was posted on Board wiki on Thursday, September 28.

5) Announcement of new candidates (October)

We plan to announce a candidate next week. And we are working on scheduling
meetings for voting members of the BGC for another potential candidate.

I am aware that this letter is a bit long to read. Please ask questions if
something is confusing or not clear.

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-January/085978.html

[2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-March/086971.html
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_16-06-2017

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello! Please find my answers inline.

>> What is the status of the Avisory Board?

There is no active Advisory Board at the moment, but the Board has approved
inviting new members for the year. I have added a template to the page on
Wikimedia Foundation site about it not being accurate at the moment. Thank
you for noticing this.

>> Has it been reconstiuted, and if so, when, and who are its new members?

The Board has resolved to set up the Advisory Board during its meeting on
June 16, 2017. The invitation letter will be sent tonight. As Dariusz
mentioned already, the BGC discussion resulted in a proposal to the Board
[2] to set up the Advisory Board on a lightweight structure (without budget
and staff support at first), relying on the most active core of the former
Advisory Board members, and a few individuals selected by the Board of
Trustees based on the recommendation of the Governance Committee. So,
basically it will consist of people mentioned here [3], but only those who
took part in discussions about the AB role and strategy discussions and
only after they accepted the invitation to join.

>> If it has not been reconstituted, what is the status of Florence's
record?

As far as I know, Florence has indeed worked with the former AB members as
a group on their input to the Strategy process. Although the  Advisory
Board has not been active for a few years, we are still very thankful for
their perspective.

>> If and when the Advisory Board is reconstituted, will input from the
Community for potential members be welcome, and if so how will it be
gathered? Once the Board is in operation again, is it expected that it will
interact with  the Community, and if so, what will the mechanism be for
that interaction.

That’s for the AB to work on and come up with a suggestion to the
BGC/Board. The first task of the AB will be working on internal
coordination, other questions may follow.

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_2016-07-08#Advisory_Board

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_13-04-2017
[3] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Advisory_Board#Former_members

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*


On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 2:10 PM, Rogol Domedonfors <domedonf...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> This Board was fomed in 2007 to advise the  Wikimedia Foundation, and was
> required to be renewed annually.  No resolution was made to do so in 2015,
> so by the beginning of 2016 it had lapsed.  This status is reflected at
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Board but the corresponding page
> at https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Advisory_Board is seriously out of
> date (it was written when the board was still in existence).  Just about a
> year ago, Dariusz assured me that "it is one of the BGC's priorities to
> revise and re-ignite the Advisory Board" and indeed the BGC minutes for
> April published a couple of days ago at
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_
> Governance_Committee/Minutes_13-04-2017
> show that the BGC took a paper (not made public) from Dariusz on the
> subject and agreed to "submit a formal proposal to the Board".  No Board
> resoultion on the subject has yet been published.
>
> Rather confusingly, shortly after the BGC meeting, Florence wrote a page
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/
> 2017/Sources/WMF_Advisory_board
> recording the Advisory Board's opinions on matters arising in the current
> movement strategy process.  So it would seem that within a fortnight of the
> BGC meeting, an entity called the Advisory Board was already in existence
> again.
>
> What is the status of the Avisory Board?  Has it been reconstiuted, and if
> so, when, and who are its new members?  If it has not been reconstituted,
> what is the status of Florence's record?  If and when the Advisory Board is
> reconstituted, will input from the Community for potential members be
> welcome, and if so how will it be gathered?  Once the Board is in operation
> again, is it expected that it will interact with  the Community, and if so,
> what will the mechanism be for that interaction.
>
> "Rogol"
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[Wikimedia-l] James Heilman joins the Board Governance Committee as a volunteer and advisory member

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,



I wanted to inform you that starting today James Heilman joins the Board
Governance Committee (BGC) as a volunteer and advisory member [1]. That
means that he will be working with the BGC as a non-voting member, together
with Ira B. Matetsky, Gayle Karen Young, Tim Moritz Hector, Ido Ivry and
Kat Walsh [2].



The BGC believes that in case James is approved by the Board as a Board
member [3] it would also be a good onboarding opportunity for him.



=== James Heilman ===
James Heilman is “an active contributor to WikiProject Medicine, is a
volunteer Wikipedia administrator, was the president of Wikimedia Canada
between 2010 and 2013, and founded and was formerly the president of Wiki
Project Med Foundation. He is also the founder of WikiProject Medicine's
Medicine Translation Task Force. In June 2015, he was elected to the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, a position which he held until he
was removed on December 28, 2015” [4]. He is among top three candidates for
the community selected seats selected by the community to be recommended to
the Board for approval, according to the results from the 2017 Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees selection process [5].



If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask me.



[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee_Charter#Volunteer_and_Advisory_Members
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
Board_Governance_Committee#Composition_2016-2017

[3] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Bylaws#ARTICLE_III_-_MEMBERSHIP

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Heilman

[5] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/05/20/board-of-trustees-elections-2017/

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Updates regarding the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello Rogol, hello all,

Frankly speaking, I have not personally seen your question on the talk page
of the Committee. And my announcement followed the example of the first
announcement from 2016 [1], mentioning the usernames, not names of real
people. So I actually did not know this is even an issue. As Ajraddatz (a
current and former member of the committee) said in response to your talk
page message this is also the norm for most of our community committees [2].

The real names are disclosed to Wikimedia Foundation, as these people must
sign confidentiality agreement for nonpublic information [3]. I do not
think that the disclosure of real names publicly should be a requirement,
though it should be an option. Please consider that: some volunteers may
come from countries where it is a really bad idea to reveal the connection
between your real name and your username.

As for a short description of the members: Wikimedia projects give a rare
possibility to actually see what people do objectively, anybody can see for
themselves what flags these volunteers have and what contributions they
bring.


[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-July/084787.html
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_
committee#Names_of_committee_members
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Confidentiality_agreement_for_nonpublic_
information

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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advance!*


On Sat, Apr 8, 2017 at 11:04 PM, Rogol Domedonfors <domedonf...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Nataliiya,
>
> Thank you for that information.  It seems that you are happy to introduce
> the new members of this Committee to the community under pseudonyms.  I
> suggested at
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_
> elections_committee
> back in July 2016 that, considering that this Committee is functioning in
> the real world, putting forward real people for real positions on a real
> body which is responsible for spending real money, transparency would
> benefit from their doing so under their real names.  If a question of
> conflict of interest arises, for example, it would be all but impossible to
> resolve if the real identity of the individual in question were not
> available for scrutiny by the community.
>
> Please publish the real names and a short description of each of the
> members of this Committee.
>
> "Rogol"
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 2, 2017 at 6:49 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv <ntym...@wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Greetings,
> >
> > The Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee has been joined by two new
> > members, Masssly and Matanya. They were appointed by the Board Governance
> > Committee at the recommendation of the current Elections Committee
> members
> > following an open call for additional members earlier this year [1].
> >
> > They have each been appointed for two-year terms, in accordance with the
> > new setup for the standing Elections Committee. The now 8-member
> volunteer
> > committee is tasked by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees to
> > facilitate the elections for the Board of Trustees and Funds
> Dissemination
> > Committee [2].
> >
> > Additionally, the committee has selected KTC to serve as its chair for
> the
> > upcoming year. As we prepare for an upcoming election, we have also
> changed
> > the Board Liaison from Dariusz to myself, and asked Tim Moritz Hector
> from
> > the Board Governance Committee to serve as an additional advisor to the
> > committee.
> >
> > The upcoming process for both the Board and Funds Dissemination Committee
> > elections will begin soon and run through June. There will be more
> > information coming from the committee on the timeline and nomination
> > process in the coming days.
> >
> > Please join me in welcoming, congratulating, and thanking Massly,
> Matanya,
> > KTC and Tim!
> >
> > Best regards,
> > antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
> >
> > [1]
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-
> > February/086239.html
> > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_
> > elections_committee
> >
> >
> > *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
> working
> > hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
> > should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
> > advance!*
> > _

[Wikimedia-l] Updates regarding the Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Greetings,

The Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee has been joined by two new
members, Masssly and Matanya. They were appointed by the Board Governance
Committee at the recommendation of the current Elections Committee members
following an open call for additional members earlier this year [1].

They have each been appointed for two-year terms, in accordance with the
new setup for the standing Elections Committee. The now 8-member volunteer
committee is tasked by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees to
facilitate the elections for the Board of Trustees and Funds Dissemination
Committee [2].

Additionally, the committee has selected KTC to serve as its chair for the
upcoming year. As we prepare for an upcoming election, we have also changed
the Board Liaison from Dariusz to myself, and asked Tim Moritz Hector from
the Board Governance Committee to serve as an additional advisor to the
committee.

The upcoming process for both the Board and Funds Dissemination Committee
elections will begin soon and run through June. There will be more
information coming from the committee on the timeline and nomination
process in the coming days.

Please join me in welcoming, congratulating, and thanking Massly, Matanya,
KTC and Tim!

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-February/086239.html
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_committee


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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment Kick-Off: Changes to the Timeline

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I have updates about the board recruiting process. As you may recall, March
6 was the original deadline for accepting submissions [1], but we need more
time to develop more solid candidates. Our original deadlines were
extremely ambitious, thus we decided to extend the deadline by two months.
Here is an outline of the updated timeline:


   -

   Application and referral submission period (January 23 - May 6)
   -

   Application and referral review, proactive candidate recruitment, and
   interviews (January - June 5)
   -

  Initial application review and screenings (January - May)
  -

  Board Governance Committee
  
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee>
  (BGC) discussions with candidates (January - May)
  -

  BGC meets and makes short list (May)
  -

  Second-round interviews (May - June 5)
  -

 Background check conducted by BGC and Wikimedia Foundation staff
 -

Criminal and financial background check conducted by outside
firm
-

Thorough review of online and public coverage of candidates
-

   Executive Director and BGC meet to determine recommendations and provide
   recommendations to the full Board (June)
   -

   Board vote to confirm candidate (July)
   -

   Announcement of new candidates (mid-July)


We decided to run this search ourselves, rather than going with a
recruiting firm. If we need additional help, we’ll assess in one month and
potentially discuss whether we need to look for external firms to support
our recruitment efforts.

As a reminder, applicants may apply online at:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers. We
also accept applications and referrals by email at
board-nominati...@lists.wikimedia.org. The recruitment materials can be
found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=55283092 [2].


I shall update the Meta page shortly [3].

Please forward this information to people who are potentially interested in
serving the Wikimedia movement on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees.

[1] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment
(as of Jan 23)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment=16250784>
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Board_Recruiting_Candidate_Packet.pdf
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*


On Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 8:44 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv <ntym...@wikimedia.org>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> We would like to announce that we are officially beginning recruitment for
> two open appointed positions on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
> This email will outline the process and timeline for the recruitment.
>
> The Board initially began discussions on recruitment in May-June 2016 [1].
> After a pause, the Board Governance Committee (BGC) has renewed recruitment
> for its vacant appointed seats and would love to share an update with you
> today.
>
> With support from Anna Stillwell (from the Talent & Culture department)
> and Michelle Paulson (our interim General Counsel), the BGC developed four
> candidate profiles for the vacant and soon-to-be-vacant seats and gave its
> recommendations to the Board in December 2016.
>
> During its December meeting, the Board decided that it hopes to find the
> following types of experience and expertise:
>
>
>1.
>
>Growing a global movement: apply
>
> <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src=3vh7tx1#.WIZGvrYrL-Y>
>[2]
>2.
>
>Engaging new communities: apply
>
> <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src=b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1>
>[3]
>3.
>
>Social sector governance: apply
>
> <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src=5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1>
>[4]
>
>
> After that Anna, Michelle, and the Communications team integrated Board
> feedback and developed recruitment materials, which include background
> information about the Wikimedia movement and Foundation as well as the
> profiles describing the types of candidates we are looking for. These
> recruitment materials can be found at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/
> ?curid=55283092 [5].
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees currently has two vacant
> appointed seats. We also have a vacant community-selected seat, but this
&g

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment Kick-Off

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hello!

Thank you for the question, Lodewijk.

The Board Elections Committee kickoff meeting

is planned for January 31st, and I hope the discussion

about how the two processes can support each other

would be on the table as soon as the Committee will

determine its own timeline for the process.

Personally I would like us working together:

the BGC and the Board and the ED have identified some

expertise we lack, and the development of these three profiles

is the result from those discussions. A possible role of the

Elections Committee was discussed before, but the vision on

how exactly was not finalized, so it indeed ended up

not being possible at this point and with this timeline.

Ideally I would see us working on the whole picture:

what we need at all, and then filling the positions we need

through whatever selection processes there are.

If we couldn't find somebody with the expertise we needed

during the appointed seats search, we can continue looking for them

during the community selection, etc.

But for this to happen the timelines should not be so close.

Even though we have three profiles developed for two seats,

the profile we were unable to find via appointed seats search

will be known too late for the Elections Committee

to take it into consideration. The fourth profile

(discussed, but not prioritized for this appointed seats search)

was Technology Innovation. It would be nice to have it on the table

via the community selection process.

To be clear, as with all Trustee roles, this competency

is not someone who will get involved in the technical details

or day-to-day operations.

I think that a discussion involving the community about what more

the Board needs would be welcome before the selection process starts,

so we can concentrate on recruiting candidates with the competences

that we need to stand for election. But I do believe that it greatly
depends on how

the Committee will organize its work and the selection process.

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*


On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 1:23 AM, Lodewijk <lodew...@effeietsanders.org>
wrote:

> Hi Anna,
>
> Thanks for the quote. I read that in the email as well - but it doesn't
> answer the interaction between the two timelines though. It's mostly the
> interaction between the two processes I'm interested in at this point.
>
> The moment that the candidates join the board could be many months later
> than when the decision has been made. This actually was suggested as a best
> practice, if I recall correctly, for an effective transfer of knowledge to
> the incoming board members before they take up their duties.
>
> I hope the board took this interaction between processes into account while
> planning, but I suspect it at least didn't end up being possible. But maybe
> Nataliia sees other ways how the timelines can support each other. I hope
> they are not being developed in vacuum.
>
> Best regards,
> Lodewijk
>
> 2017-01-24 19:09 GMT+01:00 Anna Stillwell <astillw...@wikimedia.org>:
>
> > Hello Lodewijk,
> >
> > Good to hear from you.
> >
> > In Nataliia's original email she wrote:
> >
> > The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees currently has two vacant
> > appointed seats. We also have a vacant community-selected seat, but this
> > seat will be filled through the community selection process. *The
> Election*
> > *Committee, who runs the election process for community-selected seats,
> > will*
> > *provide further information about the process and timeline at a later
> > date.*
> > We hope to have all three candidates join the Board no later than
> Wikimania
> > in August.
> >
> > Hope that helps.
> > Warmly,
> > /a
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 1:35 AM, Lodewijk <lodew...@effeietsanders.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Nataliia,
> > >
> > > Thanks for the update. It's promising to see a closed timeline for the
> > > board recruitment.
> > >
> > > I am wondering though, when do you expect to wrap up the process for
> the
> > > appointed seats? There's always been a lot of talk that the community
> and
> > > affiliates don't take the needs of the board in certain areas into
> > account
> > > - and it would probably be good if the board could communicate back
> > before
> > > the election process starts what kind of expertise they're looking for.
> > >
> > > I guess that is not going to fly this time around, as you will be in
> the
&g

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment Kick-Off

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

We would like to announce that we are officially beginning recruitment for
two open appointed positions on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
This email will outline the process and timeline for the recruitment.

The Board initially began discussions on recruitment in May-June 2016 [1].
After a pause, the Board Governance Committee (BGC) has renewed recruitment
for its vacant appointed seats and would love to share an update with you
today.

With support from Anna Stillwell (from the Talent & Culture department) and
Michelle Paulson (our interim General Counsel), the BGC developed four
candidate profiles for the vacant and soon-to-be-vacant seats and gave its
recommendations to the Board in December 2016.

During its December meeting, the Board decided that it hopes to find the
following types of experience and expertise:


   1.

   Growing a global movement: apply
   
<https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src=3vh7tx1#.WIZGvrYrL-Y>
   [2]
   2.

   Engaging new communities: apply
   
<https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src=b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1>
   [3]
   3.

   Social sector governance: apply
   
<https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src=5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1>
   [4]


After that Anna, Michelle, and the Communications team integrated Board
feedback and developed recruitment materials, which include background
information about the Wikimedia movement and Foundation as well as the
profiles describing the types of candidates we are looking for. These
recruitment materials can be found at:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=55283092 [5].

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees currently has two vacant
appointed seats. We also have a vacant community-selected seat, but this
seat will be filled through the community selection process. The Election
Committee, who runs the election process for community-selected seats, will
provide further information about the process and timeline at a later date.
We hope to have all three candidates join the Board no later than Wikimania
in August.

We will begin accepting applications and referrals for these positions
today and will close the submission period on Monday, 06 March 2017 at
17:00 PST. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process is
available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203 [6].

Applicants may apply online at:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us#Wikimedia_Careers. We
also accept applications and referrals by email at
board-nominati...@lists.wikimedia.org.

Over the next six weeks, we invite you all to tell us about people who are
potentially interested in serving the Wikimedia community on the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees. And we look forward to hearing from you.

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/2016_competence_matrix

[2]
https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567318?gh_src=3vh7tx1#.WIZMiFyzlP1

[3]
https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567342?gh_src=b1ftgs1#.WIZL_FyzlP1

[4]
https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/567375?gh_src=5gwopi1#.WIZMoFyzlP1

[5]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Board_Recruiting_Candidate_Packet.pdf

[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF Board: Vacant appointed seats and Turnover (Was: Personal Update)

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Lodewijk, Anders, James, Dariusz, thanks for your input!

Re: timing. I absolutely agree. But internal discussions are not happening
at once as well, before writing this I have waited for people to chime in
with the arguments to have my own opinion shaped. I would really love to
find a good balance between transparency and efficiency and safe space for
discussions. But I haven't found it. I had a plan to publish this last
week, so there would be at least two weeks for discussing, but
unfortunately I had some work and health related issues that prevented me
from writing this sooner. Remember, there is no shared understanding on the
desired level of transparency, and how to achieve that transparency [1]

Re: onboarding. An interesting idea. I was also thinking of having some
kind of "a letter" from one outgoing Board member to the incoming Board
member, but it (probably) should be not personal, rather officer wise (the
chair of the Audit committee to the next chair of the Audit committee).

Re: extended terms. Aye, Lodewijk, I can see reasoning behind "6 months to
make entry points fit together better". Though I can also understand that
this is not the time to lose expertise.

Anders, I also agree. Three year time sounds better, as it is really
difficult to become a part of the team in a shorter period of time: we have
a few in-person meetings and it is not that we interact with each other too
much (well, at this point I would rather say even "enough" rather than too
much).

James, yes, the challenges were really big. The issue is to learn from the
crisis. And just to clarify, you said that "New perspective can be
critical" - are you referring to new people joining the Board?

Dariusz, Alice, for example, haven't served 6 years yet, if I am not
mistaken. It seems that this is her fourth/fifth year.
And I doubt her expertise is not needed anymore. Probably now more than
ever.

Yes, onboarding of 6 new members does not seem optimal, even four seem to
be a little too much.
But there is a possibility that some not brand new people would join the
Board.
And I hope we will improve the onboarding process (having people join as
members of the Advisory Board or just non-voting observers can be a good
practice to implement).

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_transparency/Status_report_October_2016

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
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On Sat, Nov 5, 2016 at 3:28 PM, James Heilman <jmh...@gmail.com> wrote:

> The last group of community elected trustees were presented with an
> exceedingly difficult issue to solve months into their term. Moral among
> staff was critically low and many key employees had left, were leaving, or
> were thinking about leaving.
>
> The board at that time disagreed about what to do about the situation in
> question. We saw turn over of three board members at the end of 2015
> including Jan Bart, Stu West, and myself. The community gained greater
> clarity of the issues and played a critical roll in pushing for a new ED.
> We are now in a much better position than before even though it took longer
> to get there than I had hoped.
>
> The issues became more solvable in part as we saw two long term board
> members leave after more than six years on the board. I am supportive of 6
> year maximum term limits. New perspective can be critical.
>
> James
>
> On Sat, Nov 5, 2016 at 6:07 AM, Nataliia Tymkiv <ntym...@wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am forking a discussion on Wikimedia Foundation Board of trustees
> vacant
> > appointed seat(s) and turnover at this point.
> >
> > == The Board members start and end terms (Turnover) ==
> > I have drafted here three charts indicating the starting and ending of
> the
> > terms of the Board members:
> >
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_
> > Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_terms
> >
> > The first chart shows how it will go now, if nothing is changed.
> >
> > As you can see we have a lot of onboarding / offboarding even without
> > anything extraordinary happening, and it means that the Board has
> scarcely
> > any time to work as a team and concentrate on things beyond looking for
> new
> > people and onboarding them.
> >
> > The picture is "darkened" by the fact that the onboarding process is not
> > formalized enough and I would rather concentrate on working on improving
> > the onboarding process, so we have it in place when new members join,
> &

[Wikimedia-l] WMF Board: Vacant appointed seats and Turnover (Was: Personal Update)

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Hi all,

I am forking a discussion on Wikimedia Foundation Board of trustees vacant
appointed seat(s) and turnover at this point.

== The Board members start and end terms (Turnover) ==
I have drafted here three charts indicating the starting and ending of the
terms of the Board members:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_terms

The first chart shows how it will go now, if nothing is changed.

As you can see we have a lot of onboarding / offboarding even without
anything extraordinary happening, and it means that the Board has scarcely
any time to work as a team and concentrate on things beyond looking for new
people and onboarding them.

The picture is "darkened" by the fact that the onboarding process is not
formalized enough and I would rather concentrate on working on improving
the onboarding process, so we have it in place when new members join,
rather then rush to appoint new Trustees.

We had a discussion about it in the Board Governanace Committee (BGC), and
it seems that having less on- and off-boardings-points per year (f.ex., at
Wikimania) should be something to plan for. And less people joining per
year.

The second and third charts illustrate this idea: every year three new
trustees join the Board, with the community-, affiliates- and appointed
seats joining in different years (well, one appointed seat join together
with the affiliates).

Of course the transition period will be a challenge. But it should improve
the workflow.

== Continuity ==
The second and third charts also suggests that the terms are extended. WMF
had a really turbulent last two years, this Board (from my perspective)
needs some time to work together as a group, so (again, my perspective) I
would really love if the terms can be extended, so we can concentrate on
improving how we work and creating / formalizing the processes.

But in case this extension is too much to ask from the current trustees,
I'd rather leave the seats vacant.

== Onboarding and Pool of candidates ==
Just so it is clear to everyone, it is a real challenge if a new trustee
joins. It should not be so. We have started collecting things for a new
Board member to have a smoother onboarding process.

There is also an idea about having Advisory Board working: to not lose the
knowledge we had with every trustee who leaves the Board, but maybe we can
also use this group as a pool of excellent possible candidates to "optimize
the hiring process" [1]. And joining the Advisory Board can also be used to
onboard people gently. Without too much time commitment, working rather on
separate tasks, but already being included in the discussions to some level.

== Discussion ==
I hope it is clear from things I said above, but in case it is not, the
discussion is not finalized yet and I plan to have it decided one way or
another at the Board meeting in a week. It should be decided, so the BGC
can move on with hiring new Board members or concentrate on the improvement
of the hiring and onboarding processes; so the Standing Elections committee
can plan the timeline; so the Chair of the Board can plan the dates for the
Board meetings for the next year etc.

As I have mentioned before, please comment / suggest. I have listed the
problems I myself see from the inside. And my thoughts about that. You can
raise questions and concerns from your points of views. The more issues
discussed, the more informed our decision will be.

If you prefer posting on Meta, please comment / suggest on the relevant
talk pages:
- The Board members start and end terms
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_terms>
- Appointing someone to the vacant appointed seat
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Appointing_someone_to_the_vacant_appointed_seat=edit=1>
- Onboarding for new members
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Onboarding_for_new_members=edit=1>

And (just in case) please understand that all mentioned above is my
understanding of how things stand and my conclusions on how to move forward
better, based on things I heard from the BGC members and other people I had
talks with. It does not represent the position the BGC is going to
recommend, or the Board will approve. So I would welcome negative and
positive comments equally well.

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-03-16/Op-ed

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
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advance!*


On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 1:38 AM, Pete Forsyth <petefors...@gmail.com> wrote:

> In case my blanket "I disagree" left doubt,

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Introducing Victoria Coleman, WMF Chief Technology Officer

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

+1 to Cheristophe and Katherine:
Welcome Victoria :)

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*


On Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 8:27 PM, Christophe Henner <chen...@wikimedia.org>
wrote:

> \o/
>
> Welcome Victoria! Really really glad to have you joining us!
>
> Welcome again!
>
> And thank you to everyone that contributed to make this search successful!
> :)
>
> Le 2 nov. 2016 7:23 PM, "Katherine Maher" <kma...@wikimedia.org> a écrit :
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I’m excited today to introduce the Wikimedia Foundation's new Chief
> > Technology Officer, Victoria Coleman. Victoria’s first day is November 7,
> > and she will be based in the Foundation's office in San Francisco.
> >
> > Victoria comes to us with more than 20 years of experience in consumer
> and
> > enterprise technology. And as you’ll learn quickly when you start getting
> > to know her, she is deeply passionate about the importance of education,
> > and how the Wikimedia mission advances education and equity around the
> > world.
> >
> > When we started looking for a CTO for the Foundation, projects, and
> > communities, we knew we were looking for a unique person - someone with
> the
> > experience to lead confidently, and the confidence to embrace open
> > collaboration in leadership. We were looking for someone with a track
> > record of success leading strategy and execution for technology platforms
> > at scale, someone will be an effective mentor and leader for our
> Technology
> > department, and a strong partner to Product teams. We needed someone who
> > would thrive in our culture and be an inclusive collaborator with staff
> and
> > community. We agreed that Victoria met these requirements and then some.
> >
> > Victoria has deep experience across consumer and enterprise technology
> > fields and is a longtime advocate for innovation in education and the
> > public sector. She has seen and done many things in her career, from
> > mobility platforms to connected devices to cyber security to web services
> > at scale. She brings operational excellence in strategic long-term
> > planning, execution, delivery, and running large distributed teams.
> >
> > Most recently, Victoria served as Senior Vice President and Chief
> > Technology Officer for the Connected Home Division of Technicolor, where
> > she was responsible for innovation strategy, product management,
> technology
> > roadmaps, and technical due diligence for acquisitions and partnerships.
> > Previously, as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at
> Harman,
> > she led the core technology platforms of the Infotainment Division
> > including systems and software, media, tuner, navigation, connectivity,
> and
> > advanced driver assist systems. Before this, she served as Vice
> President,
> > Emerging Technologies at Nokia, Vice President, Software Engineering of
> > Hewlett-Packard’s webOS global business unit, and Vice President of
> > Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology.
> >
> > Victoria also has deep familiarity with open source software development,
> > having witnessed the rise of the Unix movement first as a student and
> later
> > as an instructor. She has been actively involved in the development of
> the
> > Linux-based LiMo (renamed Tizen). She passionately believes in the power
> of
> > open source and is familiar with how a commitment to open source
> > strengthens platforms and products at an integral level.
> >
> > Victoria received her B.Sc and M.Sc in Electronic Computer Systems and
> > Computer
> > Aided Logic Design respectively from the University of Salford, UK and
> her
> > Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, UK. She is
> the
> > author of over 60 articles and books (!). She has worked with teams
> around
> > the world, including in Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Finland, Germany,
> > India, Israel, Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
> >
> > One thing that struck many of us throughout our conversations was
> > Victoria's commitment to volunteering her knowledge and expertise outside
> > of her daily professional activities, serving on advisory councils in
> > higher education and the public sector. She is on the advisory Board of
> the
> > Santa Clara University Department of Computer Engi

[Wikimedia-l] Board Governance Committee: Board transparency/Status report

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I have prepared a status report on Board transparency and published it on
Meta:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_transparency/Status_report_October_2016

Please feel free to share your thoughts/comments/suggestions on the talk
page. I do not pretend to be able to affect/influence the whole situation.
Thus I started by publishing the summary of how the things are at this
moment from my point of view, including current thoughts for possible
changes and next steps.

I have tried to keep to the structure of the page on the BGC task on Board
transparency:


https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_transparency

I intend to be as transparent as possible while talking about transparency.
And I would expect the same from you. But please be respectful to others
and assume good faith. We are not pointing at some “bad” people; we are
trying to improve how the system works, so that fewer things depend on who
is (or is not) a member of the Board of Trustees, who is the secretary of
the Board, etc.

I am really thankful that the Wikimedia movement has introduced me to lots
and lots of fantastic people. I just want us to work better together.

And here is the link again:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_transparency/Status_report_October_2016

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
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[Wikimedia-l] 2016 call for Board Governance Committee Volunteer and Advisory members [results]

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am honestly delighted to announce the results of the public call for
Board Governance committee volunteer and Advisory members, announced on
July 15, 2016  [1]. We received nine applications, and after discussing
them with BGC and reviewing the committee's needs and interviewing a short
list of candidates,I have chosen five volunteer advisory members for the
committee. I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who offered to serve on
the committee.

Please find below a short introduction for our new volunteer advisory
members. They are all quite well known in the movement and I think their
insights would be helpful. They join the Committee once they sign the
documents that Stephen LaPorte, our Interim Secretary, sent to them (the
same ones as the Board members sign - the confidentiality agreement
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Confidentiality_agreement_of_the_Board_of_Trustees>
, code of conduct
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Code_of_conduct_of_the_Board_of_Trustees>
, conflict of interest disclosure
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest_policy>).

=== Gayle Karen Young ===

Gayle Karen Young is a WMF's former Chief Talent and Culture office. In her
time at Wikimedia, she was accountable for building the current HR team and
had an active hand in board development and staffed the board HR committee.
She brings experience with the Wikimedia movement, with the workings of the
Foundation, and through her own consulting work in leadership and board
development with organizations in both the for-profit and non-profit space,
and in technology and human rights.

=== Kat Walsh ===

Kat Walsh is a former member of Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees,
12/2006-8/2013 (Chair, 2012-2013; Executive Secretary, 2009-2010). Now she
works as an attorney specializing in copyright, Internet law, and free and
open source software.


=== Tim Moritz Hector ===

Tim Moritz Hector is Chair of the Board of Wikimedia Deutschland since
2014. Tim has been an active Wikimedian for more than eight years and was
engaged in several positions on national and international level. His most
recent engagement (with Frans Grijzenhout from WMNL) is focussed on
building the capacities of board members in all Wikimedia-organizations. He
is going to finish his B.A. in politics and german philology this month and
shall work as an advisor to the ED at the "Academy for volunteerism" in
Berlin beginning in September.

=== Ido Ivry ===

Ido Ivry is a board member of Wikimedia Israel. He has extensive NGO
experience, as well as business understanding, both in large corporates,
NGOs, GLAM institution (National Library of Israel), and is currently a CTO
in his own startup, developing open data solutions for city governments.
Ido has been active on the Grants Advisory Committee and as part of the
Simple APG Committee, working with many organizations in our movement on
carrying out their missions successfully and effectively.

=== Ira B. Matetsky (User:Newyorkbrad) ===

Ira Brad Matetsky (User:Newyorkbrad) is a long-time editor, administrator,
and former arbitrator on English Wikipedia as well as a board member of
Wikimedia New York City.  Professionally, he has been a litigation attorney
in New York City since 1987.  He has broad experience with board and
community governance issues, best practices, and legal requirements from
serving with and representing a number of organizations.

[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-July/084756.html

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
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[Wikimedia-l] Board structure (Was: New Elections Committee)

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

As Christophe mentioned, BGC has discussed Board composition issue and
decided that the best way is to wait for the results of the governance
review.
It was mentioned in the minutes, by the way [1]

If you have relevant arguments and think that it would make sense for other
people to be aware of these arguments, please, *discuss them on Meta*.
Mailing lists are not very useful for things like that.
There is a talk page for this [2]

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_07-08-2016#Board_structure
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Board_structure=edit=1

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv

On Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 11:22 AM, WereSpielChequers <
werespielchequ...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Pine has a point. We all know that the founder seat will go eventually.
> Whether it goes on the death or incapacity of the founder or earlier is a
> valid question for the board and the community. I'm not convinced that an
> elections committee should be deciding which posts to elect, and even if
> such governance issues do fall into its remit they should probably focus on
> how to elect first. So I'd say this should be a board decision.
>
> As for the arguments to retain a founder seat for the next few decades, I
> suggest that those who favour such a position try to couch their arguments
> in terms of institutional knowledge, the value of an element of continuity
> and the positives for the community to still retain such a link with our
> founder. Then hope that the incidents of a few months ago fade in memory
> and are not repeated. There is a case to be made for a founder seat, but as
> with any argument in this community there are ways to argue respectfully
> and effectively, and there are arguments that undermine your cause and
> weaken your reputation.
>
>
> WereSpielChequers
>
>
> On 26 July 2016 at 06:39, <wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> > Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to
> > wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> > wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> > wikimedia-l-ow...@lists.wikimedia.org
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >
> >2. Re: New Elections Committee (Pine W)
> >3. Re: New Elections Committee (Gerard Meijssen)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2016 21:53:59 -0700
> > From: Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com>
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Elections Committee
> > Message-ID:
> > 

[Wikimedia-l] Board governance committee meeting minutes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

Board governance committee has published minutes from our first meeting on
July 08, 2016. You can find the meeting minutes on Meta:
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-04>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_07-08-2016

We shall be very grateful for your *doable* suggestions and ideas.

Feel free to ask *relevant* questions and offer your help with the tasks
[1].

Make sure to contact me at (ntymkiv at wikimedia.org
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l> <mailto:ntymkiv
at wikimedia.org <https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l>>)
even if you do not qualify as a volunteer advisory member yet. I am sure we
can use some help with a lot of other things (mostly online, of course).


[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-July/084756.html

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
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