Board/Becoming a trustee

This document is a draft and not yet finished

Are you interested in becoming a Trustee of Wikimedia UK? If so, this page is for you!

The opportunity

Wikimedia UK is one of Britain's newest and most innovative charities. We exist to support and promote open knowledge, with a strong focus on Wikipedia and its sister projects. We go about this by working with the volunteers who edit the Wikimedia projects, and with institutions across the UK, to increase understanding of Wikipedia, strengthen the editing community, and increase the amount and quality of free knowledge. We are remarkably community- and volunteer-driven.

We have recently taken part in a Governance Review conducted by Compass Partnership, which made a number of recommendations about how to improve our governance practices. You can find the review here.

What we need in a Trustee

We need Trustees to join the Board who are committed to our vision, mission and values, and who have skills and perspectives that will strengthen the Board.

Many Board members have volunteered their time editing Wikipedia, but this is certainly not required, and we aim to have a strong and balanced Board including people with different backgrounds and skills.

It is also worth noting that being a Trustee is unlikely to be compatible with being a staff member of Wikimedia UK or elsewhere in the Wikimedia movement. If you are in doubt about this please see our Conflict of Interest Policy.

Time commitment

There are four in-person Board meetings a year, normally held at weekends, as well as the annual AGM. We aim to hold half the meetings at our London office and half in other parts of the UK. There are also a number of Board phone calls in between meetings. Board members may also serve on one or more committees, but this is entirely voluntary.

The process

Trustees are appointed either by election or co-option. At present, seven Trustees are elected by the membership for two-year terms and casual vacancies are filled by co-option. The Governance Review's recommendation is that we change to having six Trustees elected and three co-opted by the Board. All Trustees need to be members of the Charity, and you are encouraged to join right away - it is only £5.

For Trustees seeking election, there will be a hustings at the AGM with brief speeches. Candidates are also asked to supply election statements and there is also likely to be an online question & answer page on this site.

The election schedule will be;

Getting to know us

We are a remarkably open and transparent organisation and a huge amount of information about what we do is on this wiki. To get an idea, you could have a look at;

• our 2013 Activity Plan setting out the coming year's budget
• the agendas and minutes of Board meetings
• our 2012 Annual Report
• our Articles of Association.

You are also encouraged to get in touch with us. In the first instance, please contact the Chief Executive at jon.davieswikimedia.org.uk. You are also very welcome to attend our Strategy Day on 23 March, or to come to some of the many Wikimedia UK events.