Board Minutes 2022-04-22

Board Meeting Minutes, 22nd April 2022 4pm

Chair’s Welcome

Present

Monisha Shah, Lorna Campbell, Jane Carlin, Marnie Woodward, Kelly Foster, Rod Ward, Andrea Chandler. Staff: Lucy Crompton-Reid, Davina Johnson, Daria Cybulska, Natasha Iles, Katie Crampton (minuting)

Apologies

Caroline Ball, Sangeet Bhullar, Mark Cruikshank, Julian Manieson

Declaration of interests

KF has been doing contract work for the Wikimedia Foundation.

Review and Approval of minutes of the previous meeting

Approved.

Matters arising

The approval to co-opt Mark Cruickshank to the board was done by email. The formal date of his appointment was 28th March 2022.

Executive reports

CEO report

There have been few small updates to the CEO report since it was first circulated more than a month ago for the original March meeting date. In particular, we have now offered the role of Volunteer Coordinator to Esma Gjertson.

At the time of the meeting, the role of Finance and Operations Coordinator was still unfilled, but we hope to share a positive update on that soon.

Organisation dashboard for Q1

LCR talked through the purpose and development of the Organisational Dashboard and invited comments. There was a discussion about whether or not having so many metrics as ‘green’ suggested our targets are not challenging enough, or whether that would be expected at this point in the year, with different views expressed by board members.  

Programmes report

DC gave an overview of the updates made to the report since it was first drafted for the rescheduled March meeting.

There was a discussion about a recent report on copyright from Art UK, commissioned by Towards a National Collection (AHRC). The report is quite problematic from an open access perspective. Amongst other things,  it essentially promotes claiming copyright on digital copies of public domain works, which is against the advice of the UK IPO. LCR had responded to some tweets about this, stating Wikimedia UK’s position.

There was a question about a reference to building meaningful connections with Black and Asian communities in DC’s report. She responded that this will be a focus of the newly appointed Volunteer Coordinator.

DC talked to some of our other work with underrepresented and minoritised groups - for example, our work with the Bengali User Group, and events with the LGBTQ+ community at Strathclyde and Edinburgh universities. Queer Britain’s new museum was mentioned by a trustee, as was the Bishopsgate Institute, which has the best archive of LGBTQ+ history in London.

It was asked whether WMUK is getting involved with the Community Leadership Committee. Action: DC to look into whether we should be part of it.

It was asked whether the Volunteer Coordinator will have a specific plan laid out for them. The VC will be looking at how we adjust our current programmes to be more inviting to new editors, to communities of editors with whom we have little contact, and to re-engage lapsed editors, etc. We don’t have a one year plan as there will be some experimentation around what works.

The work around mental health in Wales was seen by the board as very worthy, but questioned where it fits in with our current strategy. It was outlined that this is a project that Jason Evans, Open Data Manager at the National Library of Wales, is working on so it is not taking up WMUK staff time. However, the project happening in Welsh meant that it fits into our minority languages strand (rather than the specific focus on mental health).

Development and communications report

NI gave an overview of the Development and Communications team report, which included a summary of our position with our various types of funding in major donors, small donors, regular givers, and trusts and foundations. The report also outlined some of our digital donations, e.g. PayPal.

We’ve been trying different approaches to see what works with lapsed donors, and are pleased to report that we’ve had some success. George sent an email about our climate work, to which we had a good response.

WMUK took part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge in Q4 of 2021, and all of the £1.2k pledge (from a new Major Donor) was match funded by 45 donors, of which 15% were first time donors to Wikimedia UK.

The report also included highlights of our communications in Q4 of 2021, which included the announcement of a new WiR at the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

The board was asked whether they have connections with David and Elaine Potter Foundation, Arts Council England, Historic England or Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Finance report and Budget for 2022-2023

LCR gave an outline of any changes in our finances since ARC met, and MW gave a brief overview of the finance reports (JC outlined the minutes of the ARC meeting later in the meeting).

It was suggested that while we have a year end surplus of funds and are in a healthy position, we should use it to fix CiviCRM, and should look into funders for charity CRMs.

WMUK will be applying to the Foundation for Wikimania event funding. We are planning to host a couple of community days.

The budget was approved.

Reports from committees

Govcom minutes

MS and LCR gave an overview of the GovCom meeting. The purpose of a new committee focused on volunteers was outlined, which is an area we don’t currently cover formally at board level beyond reporting. It will be a formal subcommittee like GovCom and ARC, but will meet bi-annually rather than quarterly. It will focus on WMUK’s engagement with volunteers. Board agreed that it was a good idea to form this committee, and was keen for more of a liaison between the chapter and communities of editors that we have low interaction with. There are of course challenges in reaching certain groups, and we have not yet had the time to analyse it at board level.

Planning for 2022 AGM

It was proposed to the board that we separate out the formal AGM and the community aspects of the event. Historically, we merged the two to encourage our members to attend and vote with the opportunity to also hear interesting talks and engage in activities. But we've been in a strong position for the last few years for the voting, even prior to the meeting through proxy votes, so the issue of quoracy isn’t a high risk. The community aspects of the day will be a separate event later in the year as part of Wikimania. We are experimenting with this format this year, and there’s no reason we can’t revert to merging them together in future years.

ARC minutes

JC invited the board to comment on the ARC minutes.

The motion to add NI to the Unity Bank account was unanimously approved.

The motion to get NI a corporate credit card was unanimously approved.

Strategy and business items for discussion

Strategy 2022-25

The strategy for 2022-25 was formally approved.

Theory of change

DC presented a map of how the pieces of our community and strategy come together, that she has developed with input from LCR and external consultant Megan Gray. The board approved the Theory of Change.

AOB

WMUK and wider movement leadership was discussed, as spaces on the Wikimedia Foundation’s board are up for a vote. It was flagged that has previously been a heavy skew towards candidates who are European or North American and white. Action: for Wikimedia UK to play a role in helping to diversify the Board of Trustees, using its influence as an Affiliate to do so.