2012 Annual Report/Wiki version/Evaluation
Shaping, Sharing, Growing — 2011–2012 by the Numbers — The year in Fundraising — When Wikipedia went dark for a day — Our key Media Stories — Wikimedia gets GLAM — Building a Legacy: Our work in Education — Monmouthpedia: A case study in innovation — Evaluation Summary from Ting Chen, Chair, Wikimedia Foundation
Evaluation Summary
- From Ting Chen, Chair, Wikimedia Foundation
Dear Wikimedia UK,
Last September you invited me to visit your board meeting in Derby. It was very insightful for me to see which topics you are working on, how you are working on them, and the interactions within your board and between your board and your visitors. Both I and the Wikimedia Foundation are very grateful for your invitation, your hospitality and your openness.
We talked about a lot of important issues there. Some of them, like the charity status, you have already achieved within the year. Other topics, like the planning and development of the chapter, are going well and progressing. I am especially happy to see that you have successfully got your first employees, which is changing the chapter into a more professionally organised company.
I remember the session where you planned for the future, the potential, all the things you can do, the volunteers you can organise. For me it is one of the most impressive sessions I ever attended on a chapter’s board meeting, because it reminds me again why we have chapters, why chapters are important for the Foundation: they organise volunteers, provide help, gather ideas and do really cool things. And one of the most cool things I ever saw is the QR codes in the meeting venue, the Derby Museum. It is innovative, it is useful and helpful, and it is a really magnificent thing.
For me chapters are brothers and sisters. And the UK chapter is one of the most promising shooting stars of the last year. Disputes among brothers and sisters can be the most painful disputes. We had a lot to dispute in the last year, and we will continue these disputes in this year, and maybe also in the coming years. But nevertheless we are brothers and sisters, we share the same vision, in our deepest belief, we also share the same goal. And this is why we need to keep talking with each other, in good faith to each other's motivation, and try hard to understand each other’s points of view. I want to once again congratulate you for your achievements, and thank you for the wonderful things you did in the past year, and look forward to see what you will do in the coming years.
With love and honest respect,
Ting Chen