Board Member Support
This page is an overview on certain issues that are relevant for board members of Wikimedia affiliates and lays a basis for a community-wide board-skill-documentation. The materials presented here have been used during the annual Board training workshops.[1][2][3][4][5][6] An evaluation of these workshops was published in 2020.[7]
Board member transition
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Presentation WMCON 2017: Moritz Rahm (WMDE) "Board member transition. How to secure continuity in the governance of your affiliate"
- Presentation CEE 2018: Affiliate Growth Cycle and Adaptive Board Governance
- Presentation CEE 2019: Presentation: Finding, Selecting and Onboarding of new Board Members for Wikimedia Affiliates
- Examples
- Assessing candidates for the Affiliate-selected Board seats of the Board of Trustees 2019 This is an easy-to-use tool developed for ASBS, but also very useful for assessing candidates for affiliate board member positions.
Bylaws and policies
[edit]- Definition/General info
- „Corporate and organizational bylaws regulate only the organization to which they apply and are generally concerned with the operation of the organization, setting out the form, manner or procedure in which a company or organisation should be run. “ (w:en:By-law#Organizational_by-laws).
- The Affiliations Commitee can be asked for advice and review of by-laws in preparation.
- Course material
- Examples
- wmf:Bylaws - Current bylaws of the Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikimedia chapters bylaws
- Belgien
- Deutschland
- Frankreich
- (Polish) Poland
- Russland
- (Italian) Italy
- Ukraine
- Serbien
- Sweden, (Swedish version)
- Norwegen
- Kanada
Communication policies
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Examples
Conflict engagement
[edit]- Slides for the session on Conflict Engagement at the Boards training 2018. Presents a deeper understanding of the nature of conflicts. How they arise, how to recognize underlying patterns and personal behavior, how to avoid that misunderstandings grow into conflicts and some patterns that can help to solve existing conflicts.
Conflict of interest
[edit]- Definition / General info
„A conflict of interest (COI) exists when you have a personal or financial interest that competes with your duty to Wikimedia's mission. If you have a duty to a Wikimedia organization, that duty is your primary obligation. Another personal interest should not influence your ability to make a decision in the best interests of your Wikimedia organization.“
- Course material
- Examples
- Several Wikimedia movement entities have board-level codes of conduct and conflict of interest policies. You can find them on Code of conduct and conflict of interest policies.
Finanzierung
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Fundraising ... (also known as "development") is the process of gathering voluntary contributions of money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies (see also crowd funding). (w:en:Fundraising).
- Besides the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Germany and Wikimedia Switzerland are able to run banners and process payments in their respective countries ("payment processing chapters"). General information on Fundraising in the movement can be found here.
- The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) is a group of Wikimedians who make recommendations to the WMF Board about Annual Plan Grant proposals. Annual Plan Grants (APG) are Wikimedia movement funds allocated to support an organization’s overall annual plan to achieve mission objectives. Further information can be found here.
- Course material
- Diversifying fundraising models and sources: Presentation by Kaarel Vaidla (WMEE), Douglas Scott (WMZA), Ichsan Mochtar (WMID). Summary: External funds has advantages, easier than WMF funds. However, it brings a lot of administration and your programmes are influenced by others.
- Boards_training_workshop_March_2014/Minutes#How_does_the_FDC_process_work How does the FDC process work? Results of a session by Jessie Wild (WMF) and Dariusz Jemielniak at the Boards training workshop 2014.
- Chapters Dialogue: Fundraising and funds dissemination (2014)
- Examples
- see presentation about diversifying fundraising above
- FDC-example-agreement
Governance reviews
[edit]- Definition/General info
Links to external governance reviews of different WM-affiliates.
- Course material
- Examples
See Governance Review.
Handbooks
[edit]- Definition/General info
A board handbook is a document which exposes what it means to be on the board − expectations, posture, dos & don'ts − like a shareholders' agreement. It ensures that every current member of the board has the same vision of the governance. It's also necessary that new or prospective members of the board read and assimilate this vision. The aim is to improve the governance by defining explicitly with all stakeholders "who decides what?" and "who does what?". Thus the handbook does not have to describe the current (and maybe inadapted) functioning but it has to describe the ideal functioning. That way, each stakeholder knows what they have to do, what is expected of them and what they can expect from others.
- Course material
- Example
See Board Handbook
International relations
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Presentation WMCON 2016: Nicole Ebber "Introduction to international relations" Contains an excellent overview of the international dimensions of the movement: WMF, affiliates, committees, communication channels.
- Examples
Participatory management
[edit]- Definition
Participatory management requires guessing the motivations and expectations of the stakeholdes and designing their interactions during the planning phase of most projects.
- Course material
- Presentation "Participatory management" (Board Training Workshop 2017, Edouard Hue)
- Project stakeholders matrix #1 • #2 • #3 • #4 (created during the Board Training Workshop 2017)
- Examples
- Wikimédia France's partnership policy.
- (French) Wikimédia France's guide for partners.
- Wikimedia_Foundation_partnership_reflections
Personal effectiveness
[edit]- General info
The origin of the word "effective" stems from the Latin word effectīvus, which means creative, productive or effective. w:en:Effectiveness
- Course material
- Expectations of being a board members and how to avoid burning out: Results of a session given by Sandra Rientjes (WMNL) and Claudia Garad (WMAT).
- Examples
Role of a board
[edit]including board composition and diversity
- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Presentation and results workshop Boards Training 2018: What makes my board successfull. The board's role in securing good governance and community engagement
- Presentation WMCON 2016: Being a board member for Wikimedia
- Presentation for Board of Trustees of WMF 2012 Containing valuable tips concerning board responsibilities (US law).
- Results of the Wikimedia board governance survey 2014 Gives insight into the areas of interest for a board
- Skills, abilities, behavioral aspects of leaders of WM affiliates, as listed during one of the sessions of the Boards member training 2017
- The future of our board, Alice Wiegand, from WMF's July 2018 board meeting
- Presentation CEE meeting 2023 in Tbilisi Board Governance. What makes my affiliate successful and the role of the board
- Presentation for the Board Member Workshop at the Wikimedia Summit 2024 How to be a successful board
- Examples
Role of ED / staff
[edit]- Definition/General info
Board-ED-relation is – if applicable – one of the most crucial relationships of the whole association (cf. Carver 2006a).
- Course material
- Presentation WMCON 2016: Being a board member for Wikimedia
- Chapters Dialogue: Challenges (Staff)
- Examples
- WMUK: Description of the Chief Executive role Wikimedia UK
- WMNL: This document contains a description of the division of tasks and responsibilities between board, staff and volunteers as applied by Wikimedia Nederland
- WMSE: The association's work (in Swedish). Description of the responsibilities of the board (chairman, treasurer, members), staff (ED, financial assistant, project manager) and board meetings.
- Learning pattern
Self-evaluation of the board
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Examples
Strategy
[edit]- Definition / General info
«Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. [...] Strategy has many definitions, but generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources).»[8]
- Course material
- Presentation on Strategic planning and monitoring, shared during the Board Member Training 2019 (Frans Grijzenhout)
- Strategy, planning and evaluation: Presentation about SWOT and strategic choice of domain, SMART goals and portfolio review (Jessie Wild, Dariusz Jemielniak)
- Introduction to the process of strategy making (Frans Grijzenhout)
- The benefits of strategic planning (Sandra Rientjes)
- Examples
- Some examples of strategies of Wikimedia entities can be found here.
- Learn about the successful approach of WM Ukraine: Presentation WMCON 2016 - Growth of a small chapter into a succesfull one
- Report from Wikimedia Polska's organizational audit, conducted by an external auditor - translation into English
Tasks of individual board members
[edit]- Definition/General info
- Course material
- Presentation WMCON 2016: My task as a board member
- Examples
- Trustee officer roles (Wikimedia UK)
- Roles and responsibilities of the directors of Wikimedia Canada
Travel policies
[edit]- Definition/General info
A travel policy is a document that defines the conditions, processes, amounts and expectations surrounding travel reimbursements.
- Course material
- Examples
See Travel policies.
Volunteer Support
[edit]- Course material
- Job Description Volunteers. This is a form that can be used to write a Job Description for volunteers. It was first presented at the Pre-conference Boards training 2018.
Wikimedia Trademarks
[edit]- Definition/General info
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself.
The Wikimedia marks are trademarks of the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia trademarks may only be used in accordance with the Wikimedia trademark policy and the visual identity guidelines. Use of these trademarks with the permission of the Wikimedia Foundation does not suggest endorsement by or affiliation with the Wikimedia Foundation.
Almost all Wikimedia chapters have signed the Chapter agreement. Article 4 and 5 of the 2007 Chapter agreement template deal with the use of the Wikimedia trademarks by Wikimedia chapters.
- Course material
May I use the Wikimedia marks? Q and A page
- Examples
Here you can find the official Wikimedia trademarks.
References
[edit]- Carver, John (2006a): Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
- Carver, John (2006b): Reinventing Your Board. A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Policy Governance. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Wikimedia_Summit_2019/Boards_Training
- ↑ Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Pre-Conference_Boards_Training
- ↑ Wikimedia_Conference_2017/Pre-Conference_Boards_Training
- ↑ Boards training workshop April 2016
- ↑ Boards training workshop March 2014
- ↑ Boards training workshop August 2014
- ↑ Evaluation Board Member trainings 2016 - 2020
- ↑ strategic planning on English Wikipedia