Minutes 2023-12-13

Wikimedia UK board meeting

13th December 2023, 4pm - 6.30pm at NCVO

MEETING MINUTES

Chair’s Welcome

1. Present, Apologies, and Introductions

Present: Monisha Shah (MS), Vivan Wineman (VW), Rod Ward (RW), Caroline Ball (CB), Adrian Beidas (AB), Alex Ashby (AA),  Daria Cybulska (DC), Lucy Crompton-Reid (LCR), Sharon Mitcheson (SM), Mark Cruickshank (MC), Natasha Iles (NI), Sammy Tarling (ST) (remote) and Chuks Ogbonna (CO) (minutes).

Apologies: Sangeet Bhullar (SB).

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and recognised the difficult circumstances that members had to go through to get to the venue due to train strikes...

Declaration of interests: None

1. Review and Approval of minutes of the previous meeting Approved

1. Matters arising None

Presentation

1. Overview of programme planning, development and evaluation (LCR and DC)

DC gave the report, and it was taken as read.

• AA asked about the list of people who have been considered as partners and associates and DC responded that she will share it with the team later on. DC also mentioned the mix & scale adding that there are some major partners already in terms of monitoring. Also adds that one thing she looks at is the Wikimedians-in-Residence pipeline and checking that there are high output and high gain programmes. She concluded by saying that there is a tracking of key contributors which Karla assists in doing.

• MS thanked DC for her report and said that as trustees we can have our own ways of tracking activities and progress. She also stressed that as things change our current partners may change but that we should be dynamic in our thinking.
• NI added that it is a good opportunity to stop and reflect on our activities including trying to do things that will bring us engagements.
• RW asked about the evaluation process saying that we have to be careful to not attribute and claim certain views of articles to activities that are not necessarily connected to them.
• AB asked if our donors ever audit the numbers that we give them, DC answered that they see the same numbers that we see
• MC asked if there's any world where we can monetise some of our work, and DC responded that very rarely but we do work with for-profit organisations and that can be a possibility.

Executive Reports

CEO Report (LCR)

DC presented the report and it was taken as presented. MS gave a reaction to the report, there was a discussion about the funding from the WMF, there was a

• JM asked that from a systems perspective if there’s a group and from an incentives perspective if we are too good at raising money, if it might hurt us. MS responded that there’s always the risk but we just have to make our case.
• SB asked if the agenda has been set for February, suggesting that we also have to work in case we don’t get the funding. MS said that she would get back to the board on that.
• AA asked what we can learn from Wikimedia Deutschland who are very successful in their approach. MS responded that maybe we could invite someone from that chapter to share some knowledge with us about their strategy and approaches.

LCR spoke to the report and gave credit to her team for getting the biggest-ever grant from the WMF, she suggested that we’re from the biggest funded region of the world. She also reported that she’s added AI to our risk register based on a recommendation by ARC.

ACTION: Continue discussion about the Wikimedia Deutschland later.

Organisational Dashboard for (LCR)

LCR gave the report, and it was read as presented.

Programmes Report (DC)

DC gave the report and informed that the Connected Heritage programme was completed in November, meaning that at the moment she is integrating the learning into future programmes. She highlighted metrics and said that whilst we are doing very well in some including advocacy, there are a few challenges in others. She said that as it is Q4 she’s set a target to try and reach them as it is 6 weeks left of our programme year.

• MS asked if there’s a plan if we do not reach those targets, and DC answered that the plan will be to have a compelling story that will convey the reasons clearly and succinctly. On the question about the reduction in volunteers, DC said that we monitor only the programme volunteers but there is no sense of the wider community but that she can find it.

Development and Communications Report (NI)

NI gave the report, and said there; 's a very positive performance for the year, on major donors, there’s a 50% delivery rate at the moment, but positive. On gift aid, she reported 28K and credited CO for the efforts. She said that we have delivered a website and there’s an impact to be shared in Q4 numbers, due to the banner that is now on the Wikipedia foundations’ website there’s been a surge in donations recently.

• AA asked what the change was with the WMF that caused the banner to be put up and NI responded that it was a first and not something they have done before. It was regarded as a big Win by the Board and acknowledged to raise visibility for Wikimedia UK.
• MC asked if we ever do our donor events and NI answered that it is something we can look at.

Finance and Operations Report (SM)

SM gave the report, it was taken as read. She gave updates on the CRM and explained that we are nearly ready to integrate it.  Additionally we are in the process of choosing an IT company to help with some of the much needed updates to a Knowledge Management System and enhancements of security we are making at the moment. She also talked about the restricted reserves which are expected to be spent down. We are expecting more earned income in the coming months.

• AA gave his comments on the finances highlighted the strong surplus, and good fundraising performance and touched on gift aid. He expressed that he is satisfied with the financial performance for the quarter as we approach year-end.
• MC asked about tracking the impact of the storytelling that is coming up soon and NI responded that we are being smarter with what we have got.
• AB mentioned the Insignis platform investment  and said that we should aim to get the investment transferred before the end of the financial year while interest rates are still high. SM confirmed that we are on track for this..  

SM also presented the budget for the next financial year which has an income target of over £1 million for the first time. All other items are taken as presented. AA was satisfied with what was presented, saying that this seemed reasonable and achievable given our track record. .

DECISION: The budget was Approved.

Reports from Committees

ARC (30 November), including the proposed budget for 2024/25 for approval

Report was taken as presented, The committee reported an Unrestricted Surplus of over £47k for the quarter, which is expected to be lower by the end of the financial year, given significant investment in areas of fundraising, comms and IT., Cash deposits were at £593K, and creditors as of 30/11/23 are less than 30 days old and due to be paid in full. SMnoted that the two of the restricted funds are showing a deficit at the end of the quarter but this is due to outstanding payments from NLHF and ECF which have been followed up and aren’t a concern. Restricted income from Culham St Gabriel Trust, and funding from the Wikimedia Foundation for Wikimania and Celtic Knot have been fully spent down. There were gift aid claims from previous years amounting to £28K and more is expected from the year 2020. ARC also gave approvals for a storytelling session to be conducted in conjunction with staff members during the new year.  

Community Development Committee (6 December)

CB took the reported and highlighted the following important topics that the committee had to deal with in their last meeting, they included:  

1. Recruitment to the ComDev committee, she said that due to the low level of applications, the deadline could be extended to February.
2. A suggestion from members of the committee to potentially run the community day more than one time a year.

Updated Policies for Approval

SM gave this report and detailed all the changes that have been proposed to the board for approval, and asked for comments and questions. Members gave their comments and it was agreed that SM should go and have another look at the proposed changes and send them to MS & LCR.  

Finance Policy

The changes were taken as read:

• The Treasurer gave comments and suggestions, and it was taken.

• JM asked a question about physical assets, and SM answered that given that we have very few physical assets (only laptops) that there isn’t a need to go into too much detail here.
• MS asked management to simplify the policies and send to MS, AA & AB for perusal, she thanked SM and Chuks.

ACTION: Send the changes to MS, AA & AB for perusal.

Leave Policy

DECISION:: APPROVED

Any Other Business

Nil

2024 meeting dates - all meetings 10 am - 12.30 pm unless stated:

Thursday 8th February: Board Away Day; in person followed by lunch

Thursday 14th March: Q1 board meeting, online

Tuesday 11th June: Q2 board meeting, in person, followed by lunch

Monday 16th September: Q3 board meeting, online

Saturday 21st September: AGM, online morning meeting

December: Date to discuss

MS thanked everyone for joining and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.