Meetings/2009-10-20
Wikimedia UK Board meeting Tuesday 20th October 2009, 9:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board, following informal board meeting at 8:30pm on Skype
Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Tom Holden (TH); Steve Virgin (SV); Paul Williams (PW); Joseph Seddon (JS)
Apologies: Zeyi He (ZH)
Minutes of previous meetings
The minutes of the meetings dated 29 September and 11 October were approved.
The following actions were carried forward:
1. AT will look into where we could produce branded merchandise. Carried forward
2. MP to work with SV to do mini press releases, no more than one per month, advertising spikes in traffic per WP:POPULAR related to particular news events. Carried forward
3. PW will develop a proposal for buying a computer for the Schools Project with, potentially, peripherals such as a projector, screen, printer etc. Carried forward
4. JS to draft an email for the Open Knowledge Foundation mailing list, to recruit new members. Carried forward
5. AT to arrange printing of the business cards Done
6. MP to investigate moving our wiki at http://uk.wikimedia.org to http://www.wikimedia.org.uk subject to technical feasibility re Single User Logins and hosting, with gb.wikimedia.org as a potential alternative. Bug Report. Once this has been completed, MP to follow up with Wikimedia Ukraine regarding the "uk." website conflict. Carried forward
7. AT agreed to investigate getting paid legal advice on charitable status, using the Foundation's offer to fund. Doing...
8. JS agreed to follow up with his contacts at the BBC Digital Revolution and click and get them in touch with the Workplace Learning Lunches. Carried forward
9. MP agreed to investigate options for a Britain Loves Wikipedia domain name and recommend one to register. Carried forward
10. AT agreed to contact each board member to complete the register of interests. Done
11. MP agreed to arrange CRB checks for board members and Schools Project volunteers. Carried forward
12. MP agreed to investigate moving our OTRS system to one hosted by ourselves to reduce the risk that confidential emails are inappropriately viewed by non-WMUK people or emails are sent in the name of the chapter without approval. Carried forward
13. MP agreed to follow up with the foundation his request for detailed statistics on the proportion of UK internet users who use Wikipedia. Carried forward
14. AT to add to http://board.wikimedia.org.uk/ the press contact lists that PW and SV have emailed round. Done - [1]
15. AT to ask about Ian Hawkins filming the AGM on the email list and with OKFN and to ask Ian Hawkins if we could have a copyright-free copy of his filming. Carried forward
16. MP to follow up with WildScreen. Carried forward
17. AT and MP to negotiate the Chapter Fundraising Agreement with the Foundation. Doing...
Reports
The Secretary's Report was noted. AT agreed to save a copy of the letter receipt confirmation.
ACTION: AT Cancelled as response received
The Treasurer's Report was noted. Application from three new members (33-35) were approved. TH to update the Register of Members and inform applicants.
ACTION: TH Done
The Chair's Report was noted.
The Conferences Report was noted.
The Corporate relations Report was noted. SV to email round the board the email regarding the Museums / Galleries Show.
ACTION: SV Done
The Volunteers report was noted.
The Fundraiser report was noted.
Fundraiser
Progress with the 2009 Winter Fundraiser was discussed. MP and AT to continue discussions with Rand. Once agreement is reached, MP and AT to email round the board and if no objections received within 48 hours then MP and AT are authorised to sign. If there are objections or if they are unable to achieve our preferred or fallback options, an emergency board meeting will be called, possibly for Friday.
ACTION: AT, MP Done
Three options were discussed for Annual Fundraiser donors to join Wikimedia UK: a check box on the donation form to sign up; a prominent invitation to join on the donation page and an invitation to join sent with the acknowledgement. Discussions included whether the membership subscription would be taken from the gross amount or our part and the expected activity of new members.
It was agreed that we use the Fundraiser to gain new members but it should not be as easy as a check box as this may result in large numbers of inactive members. Therefore it was agreed we would have a prominent invitation to join on the donation page. The membership money will be received separately so there is no need to split this with the Foundation. AT/MP to confirm with Rand they are happy with this treatment.
ACTION: AT, MP Done
We are required under the agreement to provide a use of funds statement which will be shown to potential donors as well to encourage them to give. AT agreed to email the board and WMUK List to ask for suggestions.
ACTION: AT Done
Other decisions required are approving the wording on the WMF and WMUK sites, and agreeing how the 40/60 split should be done in practice. MP agreed to follow up with the Foundation on the split.
ACTION: MP Done
Newsletter
The October Newsletter was discussed. MP and JS agreed to draft a section on their discussions with the National Archives et al.
ACTION: MP, JS Carried forward
TD agreed to draft a section on the Annual Fundraiser.
ACTION: TD Done
SV agreed to draft a section on the in-person meeting and the Skype experiment.
ACTION: SV Done
MP to follow up with Gordon about a Wiki Wednesday section.
It was agreed this would be completed and sent out by 24 October.
ACTION: MP, PW Carried forward
AOB
The Board agreed that AT can go back to the usability study regarding potential use of our Fundraiser funds and say the board is positive in principle but agreement and details will be decided after the Fundraiser money has started to come in.
ACTION: AT Done
The Board was also positive in principle about the Celtic League project but not sure about spending significant money on cash bounties. AT agreed to write up a proposed Initiative to support the Celtic League project and to update the Celtic League.
JS agreed to follow up discussions with icommons on getting legal advice for our charity commission application.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be held on Skype at 8:30pm on Tuesday 3rd November and then at #wikimedia-uk-board at 9:30pm.
Meeting closed at 10:53pm.