Thanks for sharing these points with us. Thus, in short, do "Wikimedia" Ghana qualify for chaptership based on your points? What do you think?
rexford | google.com/+nkansahrexford | sent from tab On May 3, 2014 9:05 AM, "rupert THURNER" <[email protected]> wrote: > fyi. > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: rupert THURNER <[email protected]> > Date: Sat, May 3, 2014 at 9:02 AM > Subject: simple and effective creation process for chapters > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <[email protected]> > > > hi, > > out of the experiences of creating 50 chapters, and the recent > frustrated feedback from persons involved in the creation of new > chapters, e.g. belgium and ghana, could we please find a simple and > effective way to organize the chapters creation process? existing > chapters not meeting the requirements have 3 years to adjust their > bylaws. > > target and purpose of chapters: > chapters match a country as defined by the league of nations defined > in 1939 and reaffirmed by the united nations in 1945 [1], to follow > local jurisdiction. they are membership organizations. > > requirements to be a chapter in the bylaws: > * support the mission of the wmf > * be a membership organization, i.e. the highest body is > the assembly of members > * be a member must be possible for everybody who > contributes (i.e. edits, writes software used by wmf projects) > at zero cost (or low cost, e.g. price of one meal?) > * meet the tax exemption criteria. justification needed > if not possible, reviewed regularly. > * an audit committee, consisting of members, who are also > allowed to seek professional help > > this means chapters can created within days, not years. the rules are > clear right from the beginning. measures are already in place if > something goes wrong. > > problems addressed: > * creating a chapter is possible immediately one > finds the legal minimum number of contributors in a > country, most of the time 2 or 3. > * the bylaw requirements guarantee contributors can > easily join any time and no lockout can happen. > negative example: german football federation, > allowing a red bull club (rb leipzig) with 7 members, exorbitant > membership fee, existing rb leipzig board decides who can > become member. > * proper names may be used immediately, current negative > example: "planning wikimedia ghana" registers facebook, and > other social accounts with a temporary name to gather > people. the risk is that it is "planning" forever. later change > of such accounts is nearly impossible without breaking history. > * bank accounts with limited liability are used immediately, > allowing to properly pursue misuse in local jurisdiction. negative > example: kenya, where money disappeared from a > personal account. > * the bylaw requirements allow the inclusion or lockout of people > not contributing at the chapters discretion. example: germany, > switzerland allowing persons and even legal entities to become > member. > * it allows to organize itself in some federal way within a country, > at the discretion of a chapter. > * it guarantees to have the highest level of local jurisdiction control > by meeting tax exemption criteria. examples: germany, uk. > there critieria are in place which can be fulfilled, austria. criteria > exist what cannot be matched, but discussions are ongoing to > change the law. > * initial signing of policies and contracts with the wmf is not required. > using trademarks without approval is easily controlled by established > procedures (legal, fdc, etc). the movement is used to deal with > people and organizations trying to do that every day, in many > countries. > * "contributing" is easily and globally defined by commits, and edits, > as currently used for elections [2] > * no block is there by enforcing auditing costs, as well preventing a > chapters board to "appoint a best friend auditing firm". negative > examples: enron, which was audited by arthur anderson, and > anyway exploded. positive examples: wmf, using volunteers and > kpmg, most chapters. > * there is no different treatment of newborn chapters, chapters with > experienced boards, and chapters who just changed the whole board. > > [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013 > > kind regards, > rupert. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-GH mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-gh >
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