User:Adamw/20130918 Report-back from Resilient Communities Legal Cafe

Originally sent as https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/private/wmfall/2013-September/006834.html

Hi all,

I spoke with Janelle Orsi from Sustainable Economies Law Center [1] (CC'd), and we ended up brainstorming about whether or not there is room for improvement in the WMF articles of incorporation [2] and bylaws [3]. The one thing that really jumped out was the definition of the "Community" in our bylaws, as a group that can elect the Board [4]. The big C "shall be defined by the Board, consistent with the mission statement", and "The Board shall determine who is qualified to vote for community-selected Trustees."

Maybe we should consider revising the Bylaws to make them less tautological, and give the community more autonomy by using a clause like IV.3 gives Chapters: "The [Trustee election] process will be conducted according to a procedure approved by a majority of the chapters and approved by the Board." In practice, I think we do exactly that for community board elections: the community has freedom to develop its own election rules and qualifications for the franchise, and if that is true, then we should change the Bylaws language to better reflect reality.

Beyond that, it might further our mission if we became a membership organization.... To be debated. Did I understand Tim correctly, that the story about how Wikimedia was a membership org once upon a time and failed, is apocryphal?

-Awight