Since that point, AffCom has been working with the Board of Trustees, Foundation staff, affiliates, and wider community members to enable them to provide appropriate guidance to affiliates regarding what it means to be an active and healthy Wikimedia organisation. As a result of those conversations, the committee has voted to adopt the following 10 criteria for affiliates, grouped into four main areas:
Goal delivery
Organisational Development
Good governance & communication
Financial & legal compliance
Affiliate health & resilience
Leadership & Inclusion
Diverse, skilled, and accountable leadership
Diversity balance (especially gender)
Universal Code of Conduct compliance)
Engagement & Collaboration
Internal (membership) engagement
Community connection
Partnerships & collaboration
You are encouraged to read more details about each of these criteria here, including guidance on how each can be met. All criteria will be tracked for all affiliates, except for the criteria around financial and legal compliance, which only apply to those affiliates receiving funds and/or that are incorporated.
Staff and AffCom are working on streamlining affiliate reporting requirements, and responding to feedback raised during the community feedback period about the reporting burden. The new requirements of data collected in reports would be useful also for different Foundation teams and departments, and allow for the creation of detailed regional or global reports that demonstrate affiliate health and impact.
In July 2024, AffCom will work to finalise the implementation plans for the changes to the affiliate requirements and application process. In August 2024, updates will be made to Meta-wiki and other supporting platforms.
The insights from the 2023 process also included recognising a need to strengthen AffCom processes for evaluating potential User Groups’ furtherance of shared movement goals, sustainability, and general ability to be healthy and active movement participants. AffCom has adopted a revised process for User Group recognition, and will be pausing new User Group recognitions until September 2024.
No immediate changes are happening, except the pause of considering new User Group recognitions until September, for applications received after today, June 12, 2024. Once more detailed implementation plans are developed, there will be an update here and on the relevant Meta pages with the next steps after Wikimania.
Alternatively, you can join AffCom's open office hours on June 19 at 14:00 UTC or request a conversation as a part of Talking:2024. You can use the Let’s Talk to sign up for a time to speak with us.
Looking forward to your feedback!
Best regards,
Nat, Mike & Lorenzo
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations Committee
The final text of the Wikimedia Movement Charter is now up on Meta in more than 20 languages for your reading.
What is the Wikimedia Movement Charter?
The Wikimedia Movement Charter is a proposed document to define roles and responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia movement, including the creation of a new body – the Global Council – for movement governance.
Join the Wikimedia Movement Charter “Launch Party”
Join the “Launch Party” on June 20, 2024 at 14.00-15.00 UTC (your local time). During this call, we will celebrate the release of the final Charter and present the content of the Charter. Join and learn about the Charter before casting your vote.
The Community Affairs Committee (CAC) of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees invites you to give feedback on a draft Procedure for Sibling Project Lifecycle. Affiliates play important roles in the Movement, working with communities and external partners, and thus they bring valuable perspectives to the table. We warmly welcome you to the conversations. In addition, please share information about this with your affiliate membership, and any project communities your affiliate works with or supports. You can also help translate the procedure into more languages so that people can join the discussions in their language.
This draft Procedure outlines proposed steps and requirements for opening and closing Wikimedia Sibling Projects. It aims to ensure any newly approved projects are set up for success. This is separate from the procedures for opening or closing language versions of projects, which is handled by the Language Committee. It is also separate from the closing projects policy.
You can find the details of the proposal on this page, as well as the ways to give your feedback from today until the end of the day on June 23, 2024, anywhere on Earth.
We have also reached out to your contact persons via the emails provided.
The call for candidates for the 2024 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees selection is now open from May 8, 2024 - May 29, 2024 at 23:59 UTC. The Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation's work, and each Trustee serves a three-year term. This is a volunteer position.
This year, the Wikimedia community will vote to fill four (4) seats on the Foundation Board in August 2024. You can see the timeline of the full selection process here.
Traits
Wikimedia is a global movement and seeks candidates from the broader community. Ideal candidates are thoughtful, respectful, community-oriented and align with the Wikimedia Foundation mission. Candidates should think about what experiences and perspectives they will bring to the Board.
The Board would like to find perspectives and voices that are essential but underrepresented in our movement. Accordingly, all candidates will be asked to include statements in their application that speak to their experiences in the world and in the movement and share how those experiences have equipped them to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
English is the language of business for the Board. Candidates must be fluent in written and spoken English. Previous experience serving on a collective decision-making body, especially Boards or committees, and significant experience in Wikimedia (or equivalent) movement building and organizing are expected from candidates.
Apply
Candidates from all projects and communities who meet the criteria to become a Wikimedia Trustee are welcome to apply. Could you - or someone you know - be a good fit to join the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees? Encourage them to run for election. Candidates can find information and submit their nomination on the candidate application page. If you want to learn more about the role of Trustees or have questions, refer to this candidate resources page.
Community questions for candidates
All community members, including affiliates, are invited to submit questions for the Board of Trustees candidates to answer. From the list of questions, the Election Committee selects 5 questions for candidates to answer, which the candidates are expected to answer. The selected questions may be a combination of what’s been submitted from the community, if they’re alike or related. Questions can be submitted between May 8 - June 12 at 23:59 UTC. Learn more about how to submit your questions on this Meta-wiki page.
The full draft of the Movement Charter has been published on Meta for your review.
Why should you care?
The Charter is important as it will be an essential document for the implementation of the 2030 strategy recommendations. Participating in the Charter discussions means that you ensure that your voice is heard and your interests are represented in shaping the future of the Movement.
Community Engagement – April 2nd to April 30th, 2024
The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) cordially invites everyone in the Wikimedia movement to share feedback on the full draft of the Movement Charter.
The Movement Charter Drafting Committee is happy to announce that the full draft of the Movement Charter will be published on April 2nd, 2024. This will kick off the community engagement period from April 2nd to April 22nd.
The Movement Charter is a proposed document to define roles and responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia Movement, including to lay out a new Global Council for movement governance.
Everyone in the Wikimedia Movement is invited to share opinions on the full version of the Charter draft – this is the last chance to offer feedback before the Charter draft is updated for the ratification vote in June 2024.
We hope this message finds you well and that you are in good spirits. We are the Let’s Connect working group - a team of movement contributors/organizers who are liaison representatives of 7/8 regions. We are connecting with you to see if Wikimedia LGBT+ is interested in and/or know about the peer-to-peer program, Let’s Connect!
The program creates an open and safe learning space for any Wikimedian who is part of an organized group to share and learn different skills (organizational/interpersonal / grant related / learning & evaluation ...) with other peers to add value and contribute collectively to the community. The purpose is to further develop skills, share knowledge and promote human connections and mutual support between different groups and communities, in alignment with the Movement Strategy.
Every month, we host 2-3 live 2-hour learning clinics with interesting topics selected by our team and our interested sharers. Our live learning sessions have up to 4 interpreters translating the clinic for our participants. Our main languages are Spanish | Arabic | French | Portuguese. If there is a specific language you would like to see in the calls, we are happy to see how we can accommodate it.
Let’s Connect is directed at Wikimedians in all regions that are part of organized groups (this can range from a group of individuals that are not formally organized user groups, chapters and mission-aligned organizations). Please see our Meta page for more criteria. To participate as a sharer, you can register in this initial registration form where you can register your learning and sharing interests and state if you want to share your knowledge through Learning Clinics.
Below, you will find our team of 8 who are excited to meet with you if you are interested. Please email our team at letsconnect@wikimedia.org if you have any questions:) We look forward to hearing from you.
