Notes 2012-07-14

These minutes are in draft. They have not yet been formally approved, and they may not accurately reflect the discussions and decisions from the meeting.

Notes from an informal board meeting held in Washington on 14 July.

Present:

• Jon Davies [JD]
• Mike Peel [MP]
• John Byrne [JB]
• Doug Taylor [MP]
• Joscelyn Upendram [JU]
• Fæ [Fæ]

Five-year plan

Previously agreed that the one-year plan from the 5-year plan could be used as a basis for the 2013 budget page, and that discussion on the 5-year plan would continue. Comments on the talk page. Some operational. One point was about integrating the staff costs into the individual budgets. John commented on the reporting and accountability sections.

Have had 6 versions of the 5-year plan. Most sensible thing to do might be to take on board some of the specific comments, incorporate those into the working practices in the office, and park the plan for further community comment/discussion and return to it in a year's time.

Need to assess the amount of growth that we want the chapter to have. John pointed out that some of that is out of our control - in particular, the amount of volunteers that we have. Mike pointed out, however, we do control our funding (largely) and staff/office capabilities. There was discussion about WMDE and staff vs. volunteer roles.

Jon proposed parking this until September, once the 2013 activity plan is done, and then re-integrate the 1-year element into the plan and integrate suggested changes, to create a document that can continue being discussed.

"One-year plan" is for 1 February 2013 onwards.

Discussion about Tom's alternative strategy - define the objectives, then move on to the details. Currently implicitly using the WMF's objectives.

Mike recommended parking this, and revisiting it in a board meeting/strategy workshop once the the 2013 activity plan is out of the way.

Joscelyn pointed out that there are different expectations - some wanting SMART goals, some wanting more strategic goals. Need to come to a consensus on what the document is aiming to do.

There was discussion about the budget for next year, including the overall budget, the ratio of operational to programmatic spend, and benchmarks (comparing to other chapters - particularly DE, FR, NL). Also discussion about doing scenario planning.

Focus now will be on 2013 activity plan, and for there to be consensus prior to the September board meeting.

There was also discussion about budgeting for our contribution to the WCA - we are currently budgeting 5% of our UK spend into the budget.

Agenda items for the next board meeting:

1. WCA
   1. Fæ report from WCA first meeting
   2. Financial support for the WCA in the rest of this financial year.
2. Progress on 2013 activity plan
3. CE report on interns, developer post, etc.
4. Treasurer report
5. September meeting
6. Any other business