Movement roles/Proposal

The following is a draft for a formal proposal to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, concerning the Movement Roles process.

Background

The structure of the Wikimedia movement has evolved organically without much deliberation about the direction or the roles and responsibilities of the different players. Beside the Wikimedia Foundation, there currently are 30 established Wikimedia chapters and some other groups with ambiguously defined roles. The strategy for the growth of Wikimedia calls for an expansion of the activities of chapters and for the growth of new chapters or other entities all over the world. While this expansion can bring the sum of human knowledge to many more people, it could increase organizational complexity and confusion among all of the entities within the Wikimedia movement.

Therefore, Wikimedia as a whole needs to develop clarity around roles and responsibilities within the network of Wikimedia organizations now and in the future. There is a need for a shared understanding of where Wikimedia is as an organization today, and how it can scale-up: i.e. become more successful where it already is, and become a real global organization with a presence everywhere - not just in developed countries.

To that end, the board of the Wikimedia Foundation agreed on the following resolution during its meeting in February 2010:

“The board affirms the importance of a strong decentralized movement structure and its own responsibility to lead organizational development of the international Wikimedia movement, and directs the ED to dedicate necessary resources to this.”

In the following months, Jan-Bart de Vreede and Arne Klempert had some formal and informal conversations with several stakeholders - many during the chapters meeting in Berlin - to develop a better understanding of possible courses of action. At its board meeting at Wikimania in Gdansk, the board "approved the creation of a Board workgroup to manage the movement roles project and develop recommendations that will lead to a formal resolutions to be considered by the Board of Trustees. Arne Klempert was appointed Chair of the workgroup with Bishakha Datta and Samuel Klein as participating members. The workgroup committed to presenting their first recommendations during the October Board of Trustees meeting."

Subsequent discussions and a call for nominations lead to an expansion of the initial workgroup in August (see section "Steering Committee"). Since then the workgroup had several conference calls - mainly working on this proposal. An early draft was published on Meta and announced to the Foundation-l mailing list, prompting extensive discussion both on- and off-wiki by members of the community. This resulted in significant improvements to the document.

Purpose of the movement roles project

The purpose of the movement roles project is to clarify the roles and responsibilites of different entities, groups and people working to support the international Wikimedia movement. We believe that this is crucial to set up the Wikimedia movement for growth and success in its mission to bring the sum of human knowledge to all people, which will require yet more scaling and reach in those parts of the world. We hope that this will position the Wikimedia to achieve its full potential by remaining coherent as it grows – avoid the risk of drowning in its own complexity, or fragmenting into a set of vaguely related but incoherent affiliates working towards similar goals. By tackling these emerging issues now they can be solved more easily. Letting movement roles issues fester will make them harder to solve.

Deliverable

Recommendations for the development of Wikimedia as a global network of organizations to enable the Wikimedia movement to scale its impact and order of magnitude. It will:

• Address current issues and investigate models that allow a strong global network including currently underrepresented regions (more than to deliver a consensus among current stakeholders)
• Build on fundamental best principles, not incremental changes from current structures and systems

The recommendations will include a "charter' which will be clear and endorsable by the entire Wikimedia movement, and need no revision for at least three years.

Key Issues

1. What roles in the Wikimedia movement should be played by:
   • National chapters
   • Subnational chapters
   • Chapter committee and other groups among chapters
   • The Wikimedia Foundation
   • Other and new entities
2. What are the rights and responsibilities of entities in the Wikimedia movement:
   • Rights of chapters and other entities to represent and initiate partnerships on behalf of Wikimedia in their countries
   • Responsibilities of chapters to dues paying members, other volunteers in the country, and the rest of the Wikimedia movement
   • Rights to use the brand name
   • Responsibility to raise money to support Wikimedia worldwide
3. How should decisions be made within the Wikimedia movement
   • Specifically, which decisions should be made within chapters and other entities, which decisions for the movement should be made by Wikimedia Foundation, and which decisions for the movement should involve chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation. For decisions that should involve chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation, what process should chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation follow to make decisions together.
4. How money should flow within the Wikimedia movement
   • Where is the responsibility for raising money: Foundation; chapters, old and new
   • How much money raised by any entity is shared with the movement
   • How transparent do entities need to be with money they retain
   • How are movement costs distributed among entities
5. How can the Wikimedia movement build coherence as it grows, not confusion
   • Leadership in an increasingly global movement
   • Clarity of focus on goals for impact
   • Strength of complementary relationships to bind the movement
6. What changes need to be managed for existing chapters
   • “Grandfathered” roles, duties or rights for existing chapters
   • “Sunset” schedule for “grandfathered” arrangements
   • A process for changing from current to future arrangements

Operating Principles

The project will reflect the board affirmation of “the importance of a strong, decentralized movement structure and its own responsibility to lead organizational development of the international Wikimedia movement”

1. The process will be transparent, incorporating the input of any and all interested parties.
2. A workgroup will make sure that steady progress is being made towards the determined goals. This workgroup is responsible for making a recommendation, reflecting input, and presenting a “neutral” view when inputs and perspectives conflict.
3. The Wikimedia Foundation Board will consider the recommendations of the workgroup in the context of all input before deciding the new charter for the Wikimedia movement worldwide.

Stakeholders

Key stakeholders will include the Wikimedia Foundation (board and staff), Wikimedia chapters (both existing and in active development, Chapters committee - formally a part of Wikimedia Foundation (as a board committee), unaffiliated volunteers, and informal groups which are looking for organizational participation or recognition.

Approach

To address these issues will require a mixture of facts, frameworks and facilitation.

1. Together we will develop a fact base of:
   • Current and projected needs of Wikimedia entities and movement members
   • Best demonstrated practices within Wikimedia and from global movements
2. To facilitate decisions we will employ select frameworks, such as:
   • Decision-making roles, e.g. RAPID
   • Effectiveness in global NGO networks

Timing

This work will be tackled in phases, separated by the milestones of Wikimedia meetings. The main deliverable from each phase will be the preparation for decisions at the meeting.

1. Steering Committee Meeting, Jan 2011
   • Review of needs of Wikimedia movement
   • Analyze best demonstrated practices
   • Develop hypotheses for decision-making processes
   • Sketch out initial draft of charter
2. Steering Committee and Chapters Meeting, March 2011
   • Discuss draft of charter to be recommended by Wikimania 2011
3. Wikimania, August 2011
   • Recommend charter to Wikimedia Foundation board for approval or amendment
   • Announce board decisions to all attending Wikimania

Workgroup

The workgroup to make sure that steady progress is being made to develop the charter will include:

• Morgan Chan (Wikimedia Hong Kong board member; Chinese Wikimedia conference organizer)
• Bence Damokos (Wikimedia Hungary board member; Chapters committee member)
• Bishakha Datta (Wikimedia Foundation board member)
• SJ Klein (Wikimedia Foundation board member)
• Arne Klempert (Wikimedia Foundation board member; Chair of the workgroup)
• Barry Newstead (Wikimedia Foundation staff; Chief Global Development Officer)
• Galileo Vidoni (Wikimedia Argentina board member)
• Alice Wiegand (Wikimedia Deutschland board member; Involved in WM-DE's and WMF's strategy processes)

Advising and facilitating:

• Jon Huggett (Consultant with 25 years of experience in the field of NGO management)
• Austin Hair (Chapters committee member and long-time community volunteer)