Exec Minutes 2011-12-14

Present:

• Roger Bamkin (Chair)
• Mike Peel
• Jon Davies
• Richard (Minutes)
• Andrew Turvey

Meeting started at 19:35

Minutes were taken on etherpad.

Apologies & Board Agenda

Proposal: Future exec meetings have a chief exec report (including finance) as a basis. This was not taken up. Concerns were raised about there being too many meetings and the potential of 'burnout'. The weekly meetings are going to be turned into weekly reports to be circulated amongst appropriate parties.

Chief Executive Report inc Fundraiser

JD reports that CK is happy with the fundraiser as a whole. There are issues with the development of the DD API, but the banners should be able to be turned off by New Year's Eve.

JD reports that our DD direct mail replies are coming back very well. Very few complaints, very few "not known at this address". Donations have dropped to around 17k per day, but Plan B is now seen as 'very unlikely'.

OTRS: 76 emails outstanding - need to engage more volunteers, possibly from the OTRS workshop page.

Management accounts; expenditure incl WMF

AT has been regularly emptying PayPal into the bank account, but the bank account is quite full - need to be aware of this. AT has uploaded bank statements to the office wiki AT, JD, CK, Fae, Mike and SV have discussed paying the grant to the WMF - there were concerns as to whether this would be within our charitable objectives under UK law. ACTION: JD to forward Stone King original letter to the WMF, and to confirm that we are paying the WMF a grant of £301,000 as previously agreed. AT hopes to make the payment through Baydon Hill at some point in the future. Payment to be made in two tranches, as our limit is £200,000. AT: Two weeks expenses backlog.

Recruitment (office manager; comms; events; developer)

Office manager will start on 2 January. Blog post about this has been drafted. Conference call on Wednesday between AT, JD and RS to discuss handover of financial reports Events manager - we will be spending up to £600 per post advertising for these roles. Mike to come to London for interviews at some point in January? They should be in post by beginning of February. We will be advertising inside the community a lot more than previously. Comms manager - Job description is being circulated to SV and the board for comments. Role will encompass press enquiries, talking to community, etc. Ideally to start 2nd week of february, at same time as Events manager Developer - needs more work on whether this will be a series of contractors or a single position. MP to discuss with JD about this, especially QRPedia.

Staff workload and volunteer engagement

Is Office Manager working too hard - board keen to make sure he is not. Four volunteers have come in to the office to say hello this week. Rock Drum and HJ Mitchell are giving editing classes to other charities in the building.We also have ordered screens and laptop cradles for visitors. There are three weekend volunteer meetings already planned.

Policy development

Financial protocols: These have been on the wiki [add link] for consultation. JD to work it into a policy. There was a discussion about the roles of trustees who are in charge of budgets and staff who are paying the expense. Jon to send around a summary of this by email, incorporate it into policy and for it to be discussed at the board meeting on 3 Jan (20 minutes).

IT: IT policy [link] has been placed on the wiki, but has still to be commented on by board. This is now very urgent. Board raised some concerns about the use of Google Apps over open source. JD to send a newsletter about this around to the UK community.

Towards a 2012-13 budget

JD and AT will put together a budget in time for the January board meeting.

RB will look at the timing of when things in the budget will take place.

Wikimania process (& bids)

Important that we have a clear set of criteria that we are weighing bids against.

RB posted a set of criteria for the Wikimania bids. RB to improve these to make it clear that they are graded rather than 'yes/no' criteria.

Simplistic phrasing: community will make the decision, and the board has veto power of a sort. There need to be Action: RB to talk to bidders and come up with a process, ideally by 2012. . JD happy to be a neutral chair.

Readiness with other upcoming Events

Various meetups are happening: one to keep an eye on is the chapters meeting in April. We need to send two representatives (possibly two trustees plus the Chief Exec). Candidates to be discussed by email and decided on Feb 11/12. AGM: at the national Archives. Will be held in May, on a Sunday, at National Archives. Willing to pay a reasonable fee for the room - budget is under £5000. Cancel Exec meeting, and have a full board meeting in Newport on the weekend 21-22 April Edu-Wiki: JD to check with MLP on how this is progressing and if any assistance is required.

Europeana Mass Upload project

Need to make sure that the money is being spent effectively, well governed and that we are being appropriately represented. We need more knowledge of finances etc. Fae will discuss this with WMNL and then Fae will bring it back to the board for a decision.

AOB

QRPedia

More work needs to be done on the legal transfer agreement; JD to talk to MLP about this. There was a discussion about who would be running QRpedia once we are hosting it. RB will approach TD about supporting QRpedia in future on contract.

Infrastructure for events at the office, inc. catering and nearby accommodation

Action: need a page to discuss accomodation, catering, wireless etc. JD to action. Possibly a subpage of http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Office.

Next Meeting

3 January, call, full board.

• Meeting ended at 21.50