Volunteer Policy

This is a proposed policy that is on the agenda for adoption by the board on 11th February. Please feel free to contribute either here or on the talk page

The Wikimedia movement, and Wikimedia UK as part of it, is driven by volunteers. Volunteers provide a wide range of services to the movement include generating content, administering our projects, forming and implementing policies, speaking to the press and maintaining relations with our users and the public. This is central to the way our movement, and Wikimedia UK, operates.

In particular, Wikimedia UK is led by volunteers. It has a membership of volunteers that elect a board of volunteers. The membership also exercises its will over the chapter through the AGM and through other means.

However, for Wikimedia UK, and our movement generally, to be as effective as it can be, certain roles must be performed by paid staff. Volunteers cannot always provide the expertise, time or reliability that is necessary to perform certain roles. Where necessary, therefore, we must hire staff.

To operate effectively, Wikimedia UK must meet various legal, financial and other obligations. Therefore, Wikimedia UK is committed to a course of professionalisation. In order to maintain our values and culture as a volunteer-driven movement, that professionalisation must take place within certain limits. These limits include:

1. staff should only do things that volunteers either cannot do or do not want to do,
2. wherever possible, volunteers should be included in all the activities of the chapter,
3. the chapter should be represented to the public and the media by volunteers wherever possible,
4. the chapter and its staff will, wherever possible, facilitate the work of volunteers to further our goals,
5. the operations and activities of the chapter, and in particular the work of staff, should be as transparent as possible in order to enable volunteers to perform their vital role in the oversight and governance of the chapter.