Meetings/2009-08-05

These minutes were approved at the Board meeting on 18 August 2009.

Wikimedia UK Board meeting Wednesday 5th August 2009, 8:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board

Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Zeyi He (ZH); Tom Holden (TH); Joseph Seddon (JS); Paul Williams (PW) (part)

Apologies: PW for late arrival; Steve Virgin (SV)

Note: Please mark your actions with one of the following: * {{done}} if you have completed what was agreed * {{doing}} if you have started doing what was agreed but haven't finished * {{cf}} if you have not yet done what was agreed but will do in the future * {{canc}} if you have not done what was agreed and will not now do it In addition please mark {{discuss}} if the board needs to discuss the action and add it to the agenda of the next meeting.

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Reports

Secretary

The Secretary's Report was noted. AT will reply to the charity as proposed.

ACTION: AT Carried forward

It was agreed that we would try to move our wiki at http://uk.wikimedia.org to http://www.wikimedia.org.uk subject to technical feasibility re Single User Logins and hosting, with gb.wikimedia.org as a potential alternative. MP will investigate.

ACTION: MP Doing... [1]

Treasurer

The Treasurer's Report was noted, which includes the receipt of the Foundation's grant. TH has created subaccounts in the accounting software which ensures that the funds, which are designated for particular purposes, are not used for other expenses. Balances for each initiative will be reported in future Treasurers' Reports.

Chair

The Chair's Report was noted. MP agreed to follow up with Wikimedia Ukraine regarding the "uk." website conflict.

ACTION: MP Doing...

Initiatives

PW joined the meeting

The Initiatives Report was noted. ZH agreed to follow up with each initiative leader on progress with the timeline milestone of "Establish a plan for each initiative including timetable, aim and outline costing", which is due by 31 August.

Corporate relations

SV had spoken to AT before the meeting: SB has been in touch wanting to progress the BBC work, having received his token of thanks. For the next fortnight, SV has focus on his work where he is facing possible redundancy. After then, he will return and pick up his actions. If anything arises that needs an immediate response he will refer it to AT or MP.

Conferences

The Conferences Report was noted.

Charity Commission application

Section C (public benefit)

It was agreed that the chapter would, in princple, consider supporting non-Wikimedia Foundation free content work as appropriate.

With that agreed, the text of section C was agreed.

Section D (vulnerable people)

JS has investigated the situation with Criminal Record Bureau checks for board members and found that all board members will need to be checked if the Schools Project goes ahead, as this makes us a "children's charity". We will also be obliged to comply with other procedures such as child protection policies and complaints procedures. These obligations also mean that it is more likely that our Charity application will be refused.

PW left the meeting

It was agreed that we would not delay the Schools Project but would apply for charitable status and establish our procedures in parralel.

JS agreed to look into CRB checks - who to approach for them and how much they will cost.

ACTION: JS Doing...

AT agreed to investigate NCVO and other charity support groups for guidance on setting up procedures.

ACTION: AT Doing...

AT agreed to investigate getting paid legal advice on charitable status, using the Foundation's offer to fund.

ACTION: AT Carried forward

JS agreed to start drafting some child protection policies.

ACTION: JS Carried forward

Section E (Conflicts of interest)

AT has drafted a conflicts of interest policy based on various guidance. The Board discussed where a conflict of loyalty may arise that would prejudice a decision on a transaction with the Wikimedia Foundation. It was agreed that being an administrator on a Wikimedia Foundation project normally wouldn't present a conflict, but being a former appointee to a Wikimedia Foundation committee would. It was felt that MedCom and ArbCom would also present conflicts and this should be considered when the forthcoming Fundraising Agreement is discussed.

MP agreed to clarify his status on the Communications Committee.

ACTION: MP Done

The section will be discussed again at the next regular meeting to give members time to read it thoroughly.

Newsletter

It was agreed we would aim for the 14th August as a date for the next newsletter. Each initiative leader will be asked to write a section, plus a section on charity status update (AT) and Wikipedia Loves Art prizes (AT).

ACTION: PW, MP, AT Carried forward

Next meeting

The next meeting, to focus on initiatives with a brief discussion of the charity commission application, was agreed for Tuesday 18th August, 8:30 - 10:30pm.

The meeting closed at 23:00