Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-29 Thread Nathan 
On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 6:36 PM, Quim Gil  wrote:

> On Tuesday, May 27, 2014, Nathan  wrote:
>
> > On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Markus Glaser
> > >wrote:
> > > As we have more than 1 members now
> >
>
>
> > I did not realize WMDE had >1000 active members!
>
>
> While 1 > 1000 is true, I just want to stress that Markus said more
> than ten thousand members, which is an even more impressive number.
>
> This translates to 240,000 EUR coming annually from absolutely affordable
> membership fees. A very good foundation to build upon. Bravo WMDE!
>
>
Yes indeed - 10k members, where according to Markus 90% are supporting (pay
the member fee but don't participate). To me, that's great, but that there
are over 1000 people ("active members") who do or intend to participate in
chapter events is what I find astounding and an incredible accomplishment.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-29 Thread Quim Gil 
On Tuesday, May 27, 2014, Nathan  wrote:

> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Markus Glaser
> >wrote:
> > As we have more than 1 members now
>


> I did not realize WMDE had >1000 active members!


While 1 > 1000 is true, I just want to stress that Markus said more
than ten thousand members, which is an even more impressive number.

This translates to 240,000 EUR coming annually from absolutely affordable
membership fees. A very good foundation to build upon. Bravo WMDE!


-- 
Quim Gil
Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-28 Thread Federico Leva (Nemo) 

Liam Wyatt, 28/05/2014 08:15:

I was surprised that the other major announcement
- about the fundamental changes at WMDE (particularly regarding Pavel
Richter) - were not discussed at all.


Do you mean you feel there was insufficient response to the 
announcement? Maybe you should reply there.

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-May/071815.html

It seems to me that WMDE is being very open and frank in this process by 
bringing it up for public discussion and decision-making since very 
early stages. There was a lot of discussion around the general assembly; 
it is my understanding that the WMDE board is digesting discussions and 
summarising their current thinking and the way ahead. For less active 
WMDE members and for non-members, it will be easier to understand and 
more appropriate to comment after that happens.


Nemo

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Liam Wyatt 
Congratulations on your new role Tim.

In all noise generated on this list by the bizzare detour into
Wikipediocracy last week, I was surprised that the other major announcement
- about the fundamental changes at WMDE (particularly regarding Pavel
Richter) - were not discussed at all. For such a major announcement it was
almost as if the list had been stunned into silence. I don't think I can
think of another similarly significant event in the Wikiverse that has had
so little response on this, often verbose, mailing list. I have absolutely
no doubt that there are thousands and thousands of words written on
German-language lists, but all I've seen is the WIkipedia Signpost's
report:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-05-21/News_and_notes

I would appreciate if someone could point to good summaries of the issues
that led to this radical change.

-Liam

wittylama.com
Peace, love & metadata
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Nathan 
On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Markus Glaser
wrote:

> Hi Nathan,
>
> I put my answers inline.
>
> Am 27.05.2014 16:18, schrieb Nathan:
>
>  The fees are the same for either type of member, 24 euros per year?
>>
> Yes.
>
>  Double the term length of the supervisory board,
>>
> A term length of one year is considered to be very short. At the board
> workshop in London, e.g., a term length of three years was recommended. It
> takes some time for a new board member to get familiar with their tasks.
>
>  permit them to be paid expenses,
>>
> To be clear about this: we do not have permission to be paid expenses. In
> order to do so, we would need another resolution by the general assembly,
> which we do not have and do not aim for. The change in the bylaws was
> proposed for taxation reasons. It is specially designed to prevent
> accidential risks to our tax exempt status.
>
>make it much easier to hold a meeting at
>> which bylaws can be changed (by eliminating supporting members in
>> calculating quorum),
>>
> This is about extraordinary assemblies. We do have regular general
> assemblies where bylaws can be changed twice a year. As we have more than
> 1 members now (90% of them being supporting members), it is vitually
> impossible to reach the quorum for an extraordinary assembly. Please also
> note this change to the bylaws was proposed by a member, not by the board.
>
>  Were the changes enacted because supporting members largely don't attend
>> meetings or participate in chapter activities?
>>
> That is the nature of supporting members. Otherwise they'd change their
> status to be active. In the recent years, we have had a huge increase in
> the number of supporting members, shifting the ratio between active and
> supporting members. As I said, roughly 90% do have "supporting" status. The
> changes adapt the bylaws to this fact and strengthen the position of the
> active members.
>
>What types of expenses do
>> you expect to reimburse, and are there caps already set up?
>>
> As I said before: There will be no changes in our expenses.
>
> You wrote, you think these changes to be interesting. Is that still the
> case now? If so, could you be more specific?
>
>
Interesting, sure. But with your clarifications it all makes sense (with
the exception that I don't really understand the reimbursement change, but
accept that it will not result in any money changing hands). I did not
realize WMDE had >1000 active members! I can imagine a quorum could be
difficult to achieve under any circumstances. Thanks Markus.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Markus Glaser 

Hi Nathan,

I put my answers inline.

Am 27.05.2014 16:18, schrieb Nathan:

The fees are the same for either type of member, 24 euros per year?

Yes.

Double the term length of the supervisory board,
A term length of one year is considered to be very short. At the board 
workshop in London, e.g., a term length of three years was recommended. 
It takes some time for a new board member to get familiar with their tasks.

permit them to be paid expenses,
To be clear about this: we do not have permission to be paid expenses. 
In order to do so, we would need another resolution by the general 
assembly, which we do not have and do not aim for. The change in the 
bylaws was proposed for taxation reasons. It is specially designed to 
prevent accidential risks to our tax exempt status.

  make it much easier to hold a meeting at
which bylaws can be changed (by eliminating supporting members in
calculating quorum),
This is about extraordinary assemblies. We do have regular general 
assemblies where bylaws can be changed twice a year. As we have more 
than 1 members now (90% of them being supporting members), it is 
vitually impossible to reach the quorum for an extraordinary assembly. 
Please also note this change to the bylaws was proposed by a member, not 
by the board.

Were the changes enacted because supporting members largely don't attend
meetings or participate in chapter activities?
That is the nature of supporting members. Otherwise they'd change their 
status to be active. In the recent years, we have had a huge increase in 
the number of supporting members, shifting the ratio between active and 
supporting members. As I said, roughly 90% do have "supporting" status. 
The changes adapt the bylaws to this fact and strengthen the position of 
the active members.

  What types of expenses do
you expect to reimburse, and are there caps already set up?

As I said before: There will be no changes in our expenses.

You wrote, you think these changes to be interesting. Is that still the 
case now? If so, could you be more specific?


Best,
Markus

--
Markus Glaser
Präsidium
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Nathan 
On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 9:30 AM, Markus Glaser
wrote:

> Am 27.05.2014 15:18, schrieb Andy Mabbett:
>
>  On 26 May 2014 13:38, Tim Moritz Hector 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The wording regarding the quorum to hold an exceptional general assembly
>>> has
>>> been changed from “members” to “active members”.
>>>
>> How is "active members" defined?
>>
>>  This is a membership status. "Active" members can vote and are elegible
> for any position that requires elections, such as being on the board. This
> is a status each member can choose freely when they become members (and
> they can change their status afterwards). If you choose to be a
> "supporting" member, you basically choose to support the chapter with your
> membership fees without wanting to get involved in the politics. The above
> mentioned change basically makes it way easier to request an extraordinary
> assembly.
>
> Best,
> Markus


The fees are the same for either type of member, 24 euros per year?  The
changes are interesting. Double the term length of the supervisory board,
permit them to be paid expenses, make it much easier to hold a meeting at
which bylaws can be changed (by eliminating supporting members in
calculating quorum), and allow supporting memberships to be easily
terminated. This is in addition to the rule that allows membership
applications to be denied without providing a reason.

Were the changes enacted because supporting members largely don't attend
meetings or participate in chapter activities? What types of expenses do
you expect to reimburse, and are there caps already set up?
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Markus Glaser 

Am 27.05.2014 15:18, schrieb Andy Mabbett:

On 26 May 2014 13:38, Tim Moritz Hector  wrote:

The wording regarding the quorum to hold an exceptional general assembly has
been changed from “members” to “active members”.

How is "active members" defined?

This is a membership status. "Active" members can vote and are elegible 
for any position that requires elections, such as being on the board. 
This is a status each member can choose freely when they become members 
(and they can change their status afterwards). If you choose to be a 
"supporting" member, you basically choose to support the chapter with 
your membership fees without wanting to get involved in the politics. 
The above mentioned change basically makes it way easier to request an 
extraordinary assembly.


Best,
Markus

--
Markus Glaser
Präsidium
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Martin Rulsch 
Have a look at our Charter §§3–4, esp. §3 (3)–(5)
http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Satzung/en : §3 (3) Active members have the right
to elect and to stand for election as well as the right to file motions,
vote, and speak at the Members Assembly. §3 (4) Sustaining members have the
right to speak and file motions at assemblies, but no right to vote or
elect. §3 (5) Honorary members (currently just Jimbo Wales) are exempt from
the obligation to pay fees but have all the rights and duties of active
members.

Cheers,
Martin


2014-05-27 15:18 GMT+02:00 Andy Mabbett :

> On 26 May 2014 13:38, Tim Moritz Hector 
> wrote:
> > The wording regarding the quorum to hold an exceptional general assembly
> has
> > been changed from “members” to “active members”.
>
> How is "active members" defined?
>
> --
> Andy Mabbett
> @pigsonthewing
> http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Andy Mabbett 
On 26 May 2014 13:38, Tim Moritz Hector  wrote:
> The wording regarding the quorum to hold an exceptional general assembly has
> been changed from “members” to “active members”.

How is "active members" defined?

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Erlend Bjørtvedt 
Viel gluck damit, fur dich Tim und dein neues team!

Erlend
Wmno

Den tirsdag 27. mai 2014 skrev Tanweer Morshed 
følgende:

> Congratulations Tim! It's great to learn that you've been selected as the
> Chair of the Supervisory Board. Wishing you all the best.
>
> Regards,
> Tanweer Morshed
> Member, Executive Committee
> Wikimedia Bangladesh
>
>
> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 11:06 AM, Nurunnaby Chowdhury 
> 
> >wrote:
>
> > ​​Congratulations Tim for your new role!​
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Michael Maggs 
> > >
> wrote:
> >
> > > ​​
> > > Congratulations on your new role
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive*
> > Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia<
> > http://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:nhasive>
> > Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia
> > Foundation
> > Social Media Interaction Expert | The Daily
> > Prothom-Alo
> > Bangladesh Ambassador | Open Knowledge Foundation Network
> > 
> > Treasurer | Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN)  >
> > Task Force Member | Mozilla Bangladesh 
> > fb.com/nhasive | @nhasive  | Skype:
> > nhasive
> > | www.nhasive.com
> > ___
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> >  ?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Regards -
> Tanweer Morshed
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-- 
*Erlend Bjørtvedt*
Nestleder, Wikimedia Norge
Vice chairman, Wikimedia Norway
Mob: +47 - 9225 9227
 http://no.wikimedia.org 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-27 Thread Tanweer Morshed 
Congratulations Tim! It's great to learn that you've been selected as the
Chair of the Supervisory Board. Wishing you all the best.

Regards,
Tanweer Morshed
Member, Executive Committee
Wikimedia Bangladesh


On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 11:06 AM, Nurunnaby Chowdhury wrote:

> ​​Congratulations Tim for your new role!​
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Michael Maggs  wrote:
>
> > ​​
> > Congratulations on your new role
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> *Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive*
> Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia<
> http://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:nhasive>
> Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia
> Foundation
> Social Media Interaction Expert | The Daily
> Prothom-Alo
> Bangladesh Ambassador | Open Knowledge Foundation Network
> 
> Treasurer | Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) 
> Task Force Member | Mozilla Bangladesh 
> fb.com/nhasive | @nhasive  | Skype:
> nhasive
> | www.nhasive.com
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-- 
Regards -
Tanweer Morshed
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-26 Thread Nurunnaby Chowdhury 
​​Congratulations Tim for your new role!​



On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Michael Maggs  wrote:

> ​​
> Congratulations on your new role





-- 
*Nurunnaby Chowdhury Hasive*
Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia
Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia
Foundation
Social Media Interaction Expert | The Daily
Prothom-Alo
Bangladesh Ambassador | Open Knowledge Foundation Network

Treasurer | Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) 
Task Force Member | Mozilla Bangladesh 
fb.com/nhasive | @nhasive  | Skype: nhasive
| www.nhasive.com
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-26 Thread Michael Maggs 
Dear Tim

Congratulations on your new role. And all the best!

Michael


Michael Maggs
Chair, Wikimedia UK 


On 26 May 2014, at 13:38, Tim Moritz Hector  
wrote:


> Hi all,
> 
> yesterday, Wikimedia Deutschland’s 14th General Assembly was held in 
> Frankfurt am Main.
> 
> In addition to the presentation of the strategic planning and several 
> amendments to the articles of the association’s bylaws, the agenda included 
> among other things reports of the Executive Director, the Supervisory Board 
> and volunteer auditing committee. Of course, the transition process and the 
> succession of Pavel Richter announced this week were widely discussed.
> 
> We are a young association and the change in the position of Executive 
> Director, which has been shaped by Pavel for many years, is a new experience 
> for all of us. Over the coming months, the process of succession is going to 
> entail a lot of work and Pavel will be a part of it. Obviously, first of all 
> we have to mutually deliberate on the procedure and the specific schedule – a 
> process in which we are going to include as many people as possible and whose 
> opinions we are going to take very seriously. We will report on any concrete 
> actions as soon as possible.
> 
> Unfortunately, Nikolas Becker, who held the Chairman position of the 
> Supervisory Board for the past six months, will not take an active part in 
> the transition process. He resigned yesterday. As a result, we gathered as 
> the supervisory board on this Sunday in order to elect a new Chair.  I am 
> glad that my Board colleagues expressed their confidence in me and as of now 
> entrusted me with the presidency of the supervisory board. I am well aware of 
> the immense responsibility and, with a clear focus on the future, accepted it 
> yesterday.
> 
> I want to thank Nikolas for everything he has accomplished over the past 
> years – not only as Chair but also as a member of the Supervisory Board and 
> for the association in general. In the name of the Supervisory Board we 
> thanked him yesterday in Frankfurt.
> 
> As usual, there will also be a protocol for this general meeting of members. 
> I do not want to anticipate the minutes, as long as they are being completed. 
> Yet, I would like to give a short personal overview at this point:
> 
> There were six requests for amendments to articles of the association’s 
> bylaws (a seventh has been withdrawn). All six of them were accepted with 
> clear majorities. The Supervisory Board’s term of office was extended from 
> one to two years. A leave of absence from the Supervisory Board is now 
> possible, as is a lump-sum for refunding of honorary expenses according to 
> German customs. Furthermore, it was formally clarified that members of the 
> Supervisory Board must also be members of the association. In the future, it 
> will be much easier to terminate supporting memberships. And finally: The 
> wording regarding the quorum to hold an exceptional general assembly has been 
> changed from “members” to “active members”. Besides the amendments to 
> articles of the association, the general assembly confirmed the Supervisory 
> Board’s structure according to departments.
> For more details to all these and further points I want to refer to the 
> minutes mentioned above, which are to be published soon.
> 
> I am convinced of Wikimedia Deutschland being in a stable position. It is up 
> to us to shape our association over the coming years together. This involves 
> self criticism, or at least the realization that a neutral point of view is 
> helpful in pretty much all circumstances in life. That is why I am glad that 
> the general meeting approved the supervisory board’s request and that we will 
> now start an external governance review to gather different expertise and new 
> insight.
> 
> Within Wikipedia, this is common practise and a strength that helps Wikipedia 
> get better. In my opinion, the same applies to Wikimedia Deutschland: our 
> willingness to improve is our strength.
> 
> Best regards,
> Tim
> 
> -- 
> Tim Moritz Hector
> 
> Chair of the board
> Wikimedia Deutschland e. V.
> 
> +49 (0)160 - 36 16 234
> tim-moritz.hec...@wikimedia.de
> 
> 
> Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | D-10963 Berlin
> Tel.: +49 (0)30 - 219 158 260
> http://www.wikimedia.de
> 
> Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch auf der Erde freien 
> Zugang zum gesamten menschlichen Wissen hat. Das ist, was wir machen. Helfen 
> Sie uns dabei! http://spenden.wikimedia.de
> 
> Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free 
> access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. Help us 
> make it reality! http://spenden.wikimedia.de
> 
> Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
> Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter 
> der Nummer 23855 B.
> Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durc

[Wikimedia-l] New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect

2014-05-26 Thread Tim Moritz Hector 

Hi all,

yesterday, Wikimedia Deutschland’s 14th General Assembly was held in 
Frankfurt am Main.


In addition to the presentation of the strategic planning and several 
amendments to the articles of the association’s bylaws, the agenda 
included among other things reports of the Executive Director, the 
Supervisory Board and volunteer auditing committee. Of course, the 
transition process and the succession of Pavel Richter announced this 
week were widely discussed.


We are a young association and the change in the position of Executive 
Director, which has been shaped by Pavel for many years, is a new 
experience for all of us. Over the coming months, the process of 
succession is going to entail a lot of work and Pavel will be a part of 
it. Obviously, first of all we have to mutually deliberate on the 
procedure and the specific schedule – a process in which we are going to 
include as many people as possible and whose opinions we are going to 
take very seriously. We will report on any concrete actions as soon as 
possible.


Unfortunately, Nikolas Becker, who held the Chairman position of the 
Supervisory Board for the past six months, will not take an active part 
in the transition process. He resigned yesterday. As a result, we 
gathered as the supervisory board on this Sunday in order to elect a new 
Chair.  I am glad that my Board colleagues expressed their confidence in 
me and as of now entrusted me with the presidency of the supervisory 
board. I am well aware of the immense responsibility and, with a clear 
focus on the future, accepted it yesterday.


I want to thank Nikolas for everything he has accomplished over the past 
years – not only as Chair but also as a member of the Supervisory Board 
and for the association in general. In the name of the Supervisory Board 
we thanked him yesterday in Frankfurt.


As usual, there will also be a protocol for this general meeting of 
members. I do not want to anticipate the minutes, as long as they are 
being completed. Yet, I would like to give a short personal overview at 
this point:


There were six requests for amendments to articles of the association’s 
bylaws (a seventh has been withdrawn). All six of them were accepted 
with clear majorities. The Supervisory Board’s term of office was 
extended from one to two years. A leave of absence from the Supervisory 
Board is now possible, as is a lump-sum for refunding of honorary 
expenses according to German customs. Furthermore, it was formally 
clarified that members of the Supervisory Board must also be members of 
the association. In the future, it will be much easier to terminate 
supporting memberships. And finally: The wording regarding the quorum to 
hold an exceptional general assembly has been changed from “members” to 
“active members”. Besides the amendments to articles of the association, 
the general assembly confirmed the Supervisory Board’s structure 
according to departments.
For more details to all these and further points I want to refer to the 
minutes mentioned above, which are to be published soon.


I am convinced of Wikimedia Deutschland being in a stable position. It 
is up to us to shape our association over the coming years together. 
This involves self criticism, or at least the realization that a neutral 
point of view is helpful in pretty much all circumstances in life. That 
is why I am glad that the general meeting approved the supervisory 
board’s request and that we will now start an external governance review 
to gather different expertise and new insight.


Within Wikipedia, this is common practise and a strength that helps 
Wikipedia get better. In my opinion, the same applies to Wikimedia 
Deutschland: our willingness to improve is our strength.


Best regards,
Tim

--
Tim Moritz Hector

Chair of the board
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V.

+49 (0)160 - 36 16 234
tim-moritz.hec...@wikimedia.de


Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | D-10963 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0)30 - 219 158 260
http://www.wikimedia.de

Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch auf der Erde freien Zugang 
zum gesamten menschlichen Wissen hat. Das ist, was wir machen. Helfen Sie uns 
dabei! http://spenden.wikimedia.de

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access 
to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. Help us make it 
reality! http://spenden.wikimedia.de

Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der 
Nummer 23855 B.
Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, 
Steuernummer 27/681/51985.

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