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.

Membership levels

Membership initially consists solely of what WMUK1 called "Guarantor Membership", but here is simply called "Membership". Other membership levels, e.g. Friends (non-voting; what WMUK1 called "Supporting Membership") and Corporate Membership, are left to be decided on at the first AGM. Membership is open to all; there are no restrictions in the location or age of members, and members do not need to be editors of any of the Wikimedia Foundation projects.

Membership is not transferable. There will be an annual membership fee, the amount of which is not yet decided; it may be free until the first board meeting at which point a membership fee will be due, or it may require payment up front.

Application form

Details required on the Application Form for guarantor membership will be:

• Full name (required)
• Full address, including postcode (required)
• Country of residence (required)
• Email address (optional)
• Wikimedia foundation username (optional; specifying which project; used for messages only)
• Checkbox to state whether the applicant is over 18
• Signature and date (required)
• If under 18, then signature of parent or guardian (required if under 18)

Possible reasons for rejection of application

Membership applications may be rejected if it is considered by the Board to be in the best interests of the charity to do so - note that they must have a good reason for rejecting the application. Possible reasons for rejecting applications include (but are not limited to):

• 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 indicates that they are under 18 but form has not been signed by a parent or guardian
• Applicant has not provided payment of the appropriate membership fee

Invalid reasons for outright rejection of a membership application include behaviour, activity or inactivity on the Wikipedia Foundation websites. This excludes the sections used by WMUK2 that are hosted by WMF, i.e. (currently) the Meta pages, the mailing list and the IRC channels; the applicant's behaviour on these may be considered.

All rejected membership applications should be raised and discussed at the next available General Meeting (subject to the Data Protection Act).

Data retention

Membership details will be recorded in two, digital databases. The first is the Register of Members, which will hold the member's:

• Membership number
• Surname and forename
• Postal address (or some other contact address?)
• Date of start and (if appropriate) end of membership
• Class of membership

The master copy of the Register of Members will be held by the Secretary (otherwise notification must be given to the registrar: section 114 of the Companies Act 2006). A working copy will also be held by the Membership Secretary. The legal requirement is that member's names will stay on this register for at least 10 years from the date at which they cease to be a member.

The register of members may be inspected, and a copy taken of, by any member without charge, and anyone can make a request to inspect and/or take a copy of it subject to a fee. The latter can be refused only by application to the court. (See Chapter 2 of the Companies Act 2006, section 113 onwards)

The second database will hold the member's

• Membership number
• Name
• Full address, including postcode
• Country of residence
• Email address (if provided)
• Wikimedia foundation username and project (if provided)
• Class of membership
• Date of receipt of application, start and (if appropriate) end of membership
• Indicators of whether they have paid the year's dues
• Derived values from the above (e.g. date on which membership reminder needs to be sent out)

The master copy of this will be held by the Membership Secretary, and other Board members may also hold a copy of it. It will not be publicly available.

In addition, successful membership applications will retained by the Membership Secretary until a year after the applicant ceases to be a member. Unsuccessful applications will be retained until after the General Meeting at which they are discussed.