Wikimedia UK community supports worldwide Wikipedia black-out

This is a statement issued by Roger Bamkin, Chair of Wikimedia UK:

As I am sure you know, the English version of Wikipedia will be taken down for 24 hours from 0500 UTC tomorrow in protest at the US SOPA and PIPA bills.

Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the Wikimedia movement. We regard the SOPA and PIPA legislation in the United States as a threat to the current operation of Wikipedia. This could also affect Wikimedia’s other projects, which operate under U.S. law.

The members of the Wikipedia community have been balloted to determine whether they wish to blackout Wikipedia on Wednesday and agreed that this should happen. Wikimedia UK is an independent British charity that defends the decision of our community.

For more information contact our office on 0207 065 0990, or read the press release from the Wikimedia Foundation in San Francisco.

Could you help lead one of Britain’s newest and fastest-growing charities?

Wikimedia UK is on the lookout for Trustees to join the Board in May.

This year, we’ve achieved charitable status, raised over £1 million in our annual fundraiser, and run a bigger-than-ever programme of outreach work. However, we have also started to go through a major change. While before we were a purely volunteer organisation, our work is now supplemented by a growing number of staff.

The new Board of Trustees elected in May will need to build on these successes. It will also need to overcome the challenges that come with continuing growth and professionalisation. To this end, the current Board will soon be starting to advertise for expressions of interest in becoming a Trustee.

Presently, the Board is mainly composed of people who are active editors of one or more of the Wikimedia projects. However, we would particularly like to encourage new trustees who have valuable skills and experience – regardless of whether they are currently involved in the Wikimedia movement. The only essentials are commitment to our vision of making the world’s knowledge freely available to all, and an understanding of the dynamics of a charity that relies on a community of volunteers for its impact. We value increasing Board diversity and in particular encourage female candidates to apply.

The Board currently holds four weekend meetings a year and four evening phone conferences between those meetings. All Board members are expected to attend these meetings, and work in between meetings is generally a minimum of five hours a week. Trustees are currently elected for a period of one year, though there will be a motion at our AGM to increase this to a two-year term.

Anyone interested is invited to look at our website for further details of our work, and to contact either Roger Bamkin (Chair) or Jon Davies (Chief Executive) for an exploratory discussion. Potential candidates are invited to our Board meeting on 10th Saturday 11th Feb in London to observe, and for a discussion about future growth and the role of Trustees. The AGM will be in May.

Wikimedia UK raises over £1 million

Wikimedia UK is delighted to announce that it has raised over £1 million in the recent annual Wikimedia fundraiser.

This is our highest ever fundraising total – a truly remarkable 81% increase on the £560,000 raised in Autumn 2010. Over 43,000 people contributed.

This year also saw the widest variety of fundraising messages. Alongside fundraising banners featuring Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, we shared the stories of over a dozen men and women from all over the world who help create Wikipedia articles.

We are really grateful to everyone who has donated. More and more people believe Wikipedia is a cause worth supporting, and there is growing awareness that Wikipedia is a volunteer movement supported by a network of charities worldwide. The global fundraising campaign has raised over $20 million, with donations in more currencies than ever before.

We became a registered charity on November 3rd, just in time for the start of the Wikimedia fundraising season, and so were able to benefit from Gift Aid. We expect to be able to claim about £88,000 of Gift Aid back on the gifts we received, and by the end of the fundraiser, 60% of donations were being Gift Aided.

Also for the first time, Wikimedia UK offered donors the chance to donate by Direct Debit, with nearly a third of the total being donated in this way. The generosity of our Direct Debit donors will help keep us on a strong financial footing for years to come.

The donations we received range from £1 to several thousands. The average cash gift was £16 and the average Direct Debit £43. A number of supporters also pledged their support in ways we haven’t seen before, for instance by offering to leave a gift to Wikimedia UK in their will.

Once again, many, many thanks to everyone who has supported us in this year’s fundraiser. We are also looking forward to building on our successes in future. The Wikimedia movement continues to grow in size and impact every year and we look forward to playing a major role in raising vital funds to support this work in future.

Office and Development Manager Appointed

Wikimedia UK announces the appointment of Richard Symonds to the position of Office & Development Manager.

Richard supports Jon Davies, our Chief Executive, in preparing financial reports and budgets as well as managing office processes in our drive to professionalize in line with charity best practice and our values. He will be responsible for developing relationships between the chapter and community as well as reporting on the outcomes of projects and funding.

He is a regular long-term figure at social meetings (wiki-meets) and chapter events and has held significant positions of trust within our Wikimedia community. He is passionate about the mission and values of Wikimedia UK and is established as a driving force in our outreach activities.

Wikimedia received and reviewed 343 applications for the position with six outstanding candidates making the final interview. With his experience and commitment, Richard offers a firm and stable hand on the tiller for the coming year.

Links

 

Sausages and Scholarship: Wikipedia and Digital Literacy

The Economic and Social Research Council is supporting a series of academic seminars on “Digital Policy: Connectivity, Creativity and Rights”, led by Prof. Gillian Youngs of the University of Wales, Newport. Last Friday’s seminar at the University of Leicester invited four representatives from outside academia, including myself for Wikimedia UK. Although the day’s theme was “digital literacy”, the twelve presentations covered a dizzying range of issues, from the legal structures that regulate television, to community journalism, to “sexting”.

My presentation paraphrased the German saying, “People who enjoy sausages or legislation should not watch them being made.” I contrasted this with scholarship: it is better to have a closed system of publication and review, or an open, wiki-based process which lets us see the sausages being made before we eat them?

For the topics of rights, connectivity, creativity, digital policy, and digital literacy, I argued that the Wikimedia perspective Continue reading “Sausages and Scholarship: Wikipedia and Digital Literacy”

UK attendees attending WikiConference India 2011

WikiConference IndiaThis Friday, the first WikiConference India will take place in Mumbai. The three day event will see over 600 participants discussing a wide range of topics related to Wikipedia, and will provide a significant boost to the reader and editor community of Indian-language Wikipedias.

Wikimedia UK has given four scholarships to attend the conference from the UK, all four will give presentations to share their experiences and knowledge. They are:

  • Dr Toni Sant, Director of Research at the University of Hull’s School of Arts and New Media in Scarborough, UK, talking about Embracing Wikipedia as a Learning & Teaching Resource
  • WereSpielChequers, a long-time contributor to Wikipedia and Wikimedia UK’s activities, talking about experiences of Wikimedia-GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) partnerships in the UK
  • Dhaval Vyal, currently the only active administrator on the Gujarati Wikipedia, talking about Growth of Gujarati Wikipedia and possible aspects of dissemination
  • Vinesh Patel, founder of the Imperial College Wikipedia Society, talking about Wikimedia and student societies: present and future

The scholarship recipients will be putting together public reports of their experiences which will be posted to the Wikimedia UK wiki over the next few months.

Charity Status for the world’s favourite encyclopaedia – and a milestone for Charity Law

Today the Charity Commission has approved Wikimedia UK, the UK membership organisation supporting Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, as a registered charity.
The news comes shortly before the launch of this year’s global Wikimedia fundraiser. Starting  on 14th November, Wikimedia UK aims to raise £1 million to support Wikipedia and its sister projects. The Charity Commission’s decision, regarded as a milestone in charity law, means that for the first time British donors to Wikimedia will be able to make their donations go further with Gift Aid.
For Wikimedia UK, being recognised as a charity is a springboard for ambitious plans to work with a growing range of major organisations (including the British Museum and British Library). Wikimedia UK recently appointed its first Chief Executive and will open new offices in central London on November 14th.

Gaining Charitable Status

Wikimedia UK one step closer to charitable status

There was a record-breaking turnout of UK Wikipedians on Sunday 16th October for the 50th London Meetup and an Extraordinary General Meeting of WMUK.   The single resolution passed with 49 votes for, none against and one abstention (including 24 proxy votes).   The resolution adopted a new  “Objects clause” in our constitution to make us ready to become a UK Registered Charity – our full Articles of Association are available to view here. It was explained at the meeting that discussions with the Charity Commission have been progressing well, and the Board are optimistic that Wikimedia UK will achieve charity status soon, hopefully in time for the start of the 2011 Fundraiser in November.   This will enable WMUK to collect Gift Aid, and brings other advantages, such as discounts on normal business rates – and providing a more professional and trustworthy image to the public.   The new CEO, Jon Davies, also answered questions from attendees.

Our plans for 2012

Wikimedia UK has just published its 2012 Activity Plan. Please have your say!


The Activity Plan is an outline of the work we will do in 2012, and the resources we need to support it. It is an important stage in the development of our 2012 Budget. When we’re asking people for money in this Autumn’s fundraiser, the Activity Plan will show people what we’re hoping to achieve with their donations – so it’s also important for the openness and accountability of our fundraising.

We’d welcome your views – please edit the talk page if you have any comments or suggestions.  There will be plenty of scope to take feedback from the community into account when we finalise the 2012 Budget later this year in the light of the actual fundraising income.

Welcoming our new Chief Executive

I am delighted to announce that we have offered the position of Chief Executive to Jon Davies and he has accepted. He will start on 1 October 2011, in time to help us prepare for the annual fundraiser that is due to start on 1 November.

Many of you will have met Jon at the September Wikimeet, along with the other finalists. He is the former Chief Executive of Families need Fathers, Britain’s leading shared parenting charity, and a former leader of the London Cycling Network. He will be coming along to the 50th London Wikimeet and the Wikimedia UK EGM on 16th October, where he is keen to meet as many people as possible and hear how they would like the chapter to develop.

Jon is a fantastic find for us. His skills and experience – working with volunteer led organisations and leading charities though periods of change and growth in activities – are just what we have been looking for. His consensual approach is a natural fit to Wikimedian culture and his confident and reassuring manner will be invaluable in the times of change ahead. I am very confident that he will be a very successful addition to the chapter.

Finding and choosing the right person would not have been possible without the help of many people along the way. I would like to thank everyone involved in this. In particular, thanks go to: Continue reading “Welcoming our new Chief Executive”