Membership
Template:WMUK This is a draft version of the informal membership application "Rules" prior to the first General Meeting. It is still a work in progress; please leave comments on the talk page, or on the mailing list. The current Membership Secretary is User:Mike Peel.
Overall rules:
- Membership initially consists solely of Guarantor Membership (future membership levels, e.g. supporters/friends and corporate membership, are to be decided by the next Board)
- Guarantor Membership is open to all residents of the UK that are over the age of 16
- Guarantor Membership is not restricted to editors of the Wikimedia Foundation projects
- Guarantor Membership is not transferrable
- Guarantor Membership will probably require the payment of an annual fee, to be decided by the next Board at the first General Meeting. Until that time, Guarantor Membership is free of charge.
Details required on the Application Form for guarantor membership will be:
- Full name (required)
- Wikimedia foundation username (optional; specifying which project)
- Full address, including postcode (required)
- Country of residence (required)
- Email address (optional?)
- Date of Birth (required)
- Signature and date (required)
- If under 18, then signature of parent or guardian (required if under 18)
The following are the valid reasons for the Board rejecting a membership application:
- Applicant has not provided, or has obviously fabricated, any of the required details on the application form
- Applicant does not agree to support the Object of the charity (indicated by signing the application form)
- Applicant does not agree to not bring the charity into disrepute (indicated by signing the application form)
- Applicant is under the minimum age of 16, or is not a resident of the UK
- Applicant has not provided payment of the appropriate membership fee
Invalid reasons for rejecting membership include behaviour, activity or inactivity on the Wikipedia Foundation websites. All rejected membership applications should be raised and discussed at the next available General Meeting (subject to the data protection act).
Names, addresses and dates of start (and if appropriate, end) of membership, the member's class ("Guarantor") and the member's number will be recorded in the Register of members, which will exist in digital form on the computers of the Membership Secretary and the Secretary (the Secretary's copy will be the "master" copy, otherwise notification must be given to the registrar: section 114 of the Company's Act 2006). Successful membership applications will be retained by the Membership Secretary for at least 10 years from the date at which the person ceases to be a member (legal requirement?). Unsuccessful applications will be retained until after the General Meeting at which they are discussed.