Wikimedia Ghana overly qualifies if these points are anything to go by Rexford.
www.about.me/oralofori On May 3, 2014 4:24 PM, "Nkansah Rexford" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 >> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-GH mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-gh > >
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