User:Mccapra/Statement on managing potential conflict of interest

Preamble

The Charity Commission requires that charities take steps to manage potential conflicts of interest which trustees may encounter arising from other roles they have, whether these are paid jobs or merely connections with other parties. The Commission’s guidance on these matters is set out at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/trustees-staff-and-volunteers/trustee-board/conflicts-of-interest/. The key principle is that potential conflicts should be declared, managed and recorded.

Each trustee makes a declaration of interests which they must keep regularly updated. This document provides further details of the potential conflicts of interest which may arise in respect of Alastair McCapra’s salaried position as Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). The statement which follows has been seen and agreed by the Board of Wikimedia UK as well as by the Board of CIPR.

Statement

If any potential conflict of interest arises for me in respect of my employment, from 1 November 2013, as Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, I anticipate that it will be one of the three following types:

1. Normal employer conflicts of interest. I am conscious of my responsibility as a trustee to ensure that my employer and those associated with my employers in no way derive material benefit from my position as a trustee. The potential for such benefit to exist might arise in a situation where Wikimedia UK was putting contract work out to tender and either CIPR or one of its members was bidding for the contract. In any situation where CIPR or one of its members is competing for work from Wikimedia UK I will recuse myself from all Board discussions and decisions relating to this matter from the time I become aware of it. The potential for such benefit might also exist in a situation where the CIPR or one of its members was offering sponsorship to Wikimedia UK. While I am a trustee I will neither solicit nor encourage any such sponsorship and if such sponsorship is offered I will recuse myself from all Board discussions and decisions relating to this matter from the time I become aware of it. I consider both of these situations to be extremely unlikely.

2 Fundamental conflict of values/Conflicts of loyalty. If my employer espouses core values in respect of Wikimedia projects which are at odds with the values of the Wikimedia movement itself, there is a potential conflict of interest. For the present CIPR and Wikimedia UK volunteers have agreed a set of guidelines for PR practitioners on how to interact with Wikipedia, which states essentially that PR practitioners should not edit articles for their clients and should always follow Wikipedia policies and guidelines. In addition, CIPR TV carries an interview with David Gerard, a Wikipedia community member, advising PR practitioners how and how not to engage with the encyclopedia. The incoming CIPR President, Stephen Waddington, has authored a chapter in the recently published book ‘Share This Too’ about how PR practitioners should engage with Wikipedia in accordance with the guidelines. I therefore feel that the likelihood of my being placed in a situation where there is a serious conflict of values or loyalties is low.

However I must be mindful of the fact that if, in future, CIPR and Wikimedia no longer agree on matters which relate to Wikipedia, the potential for a conflict of interests will exist for me. The degree of that conflict would depend on the nature of the disagreement. Potentially such a conflict could be so serious as to be unmanageable and I would have to resign as a trustee. Among these situations are:

i. If I become aware that CIPR is seeking to modify the guidelines I would need to make the WMUK Board aware of this and take no part in any following discussion. If CIPR ceases to respect Wikimedia community guidelines for acceptable behaviour I would probably need to resign my WMUK trustee role.

ii. I may learn something in my capacity at CIPR which represents a risk to WMUK, and which I ought, as a trustee, to disclose to WMUK, but cannot. I will ensure that my employers are aware that I will operate on the basis that I can disclose anything relevant to WMUK to WMUK.

iii. It may be that a leading spokesperson for the CIPR could in future make public remarks which are damaging to the Wikimedia community even if these remarks are not consistent with CIPR policy. As Chief Executive, I would not be able to contradict these remarks in public, so if they were not retracted I would probably need to resign as a WMUK trustee.

iv. It is conceivable that WMUK and CIPR might at some future stage be lobbying government or campaigning for positions which are opposed to each other. If this situation developed, I would probably need to resign.

3. Sensitivities relating to PR practitioners editing Wikipedia. It is likely that some PR practitioners might edit Wikipedia in a way that is not consistent with existing guidelines, and which brings them into conflict with the Wikimedia community. In this strictest sense this does not present me with a conflict of interests. Firstly, the PR practitioners involved are failing to adhere to the guidelines set out by my employer, and secondly, the Wikimedia UK Board does not generally discuss editing. I am not on the Board to represent the PR industry, least of all those elements within it who do not follow the guidelines provided for them. However although I do not believe I have any conflict of interest arising from editing disputes, given the sensitivity of this matter I think it is reasonable for me to indicate clearly how I will conduct myself if I find myself involved in a discussion about such matters.

i. If questions about editing by PR practitioners are raised at the WMUK Board I will recuse myself from any discussion or decision relating to them. I will not use my position as a Wikimedia UK trustee to influence discussions about paid editing and the PR industry with the Wikimedia Foundation, should such discussions occur.

ii. If this matter is raised outside the Board within the Wikimedia community I will limit my contributions, if any, to speaking in support of the existing guidelines.

iii. If the matter is raised within CIPR I will not recuse myself, but actively advocate the existing guidelines.

iv. I will in all cases say nothing and act in no way which encourages anyone not to follow Wikipedia policies or guidelines, and specifically, I will not play any part in any initiative by CIPR or any other party to relax those guidelines.

v. I will not act as a representative of CIPR or of the PR industry to Wikimedia UK and if there are bilateral discussions between CIPR and Wikimedia UK I will recuse myself entirely from them.