Chapters Committee
The Chapters committee (ChapCom) is the committee entrusted with advising the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on the approval of chapters. It was created on January 15, 2006 by a resolution of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, along with several other Wikimedia committees. Its original mandate includes coordination of Wikimedia chapters; and also facilitating communication among chapters, and between chapters and the Foundation – its current main duty is facilitating the creation and approval of new chapters.[1]
You can get in touch with us quickly and easily using any of the details below. The talk page is always open too for comments, or questions.
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[edit] What we do
The Chapters' Committee is charged with supporting all aspects of the work of Chapters of the Wikimedia Foundation. Chapters are officially recognised by the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, and there are now over 40 Chapters either established, or planned in almost every continent of the world - Antartican Wikimedians, we'd love to hear from you!
The work of Chapters across the globe has made a significant impact in spreading enthusiasm for Wikimedia projects, growing and nurturing localised support, and sharing 'best practice' and ideas. Volunteers have also reported that it's also great fun to be involved in Wikimedia on a local level.
Creating an organization from scratch is a hard task however, and creating one capable of fulfilling the requirements of a "Wikimedia chapter" is even harder. One of the Committee's tasks is to make this process an easier one. If you are interested in creating a local Chapter, and your nation or location is unrepresented here, we can help guide you through the founding process by helping you draft bylaws, answering questions about what the Foundation expects from a chapter, and if appropriate, approving limited financial support, as well as providing general help and advice. If you're interested in getting in touch with local efforts in your area, do feel free to contact us using any method below, and we'll be happy to put in touch with the right people.
Each Chapter is of course unique, as well as embracing all of the world's cultures, we aim to help you meet individual legal requirements, and accommodate wide ranging ideas as to the nature and requirements of your organisation.
[edit] Who we are
The Chapters Committee is comprised of people who have volunteered to help groups of Wikimedians all around the world self organize into Wikimedia Chapters or other types of groups. They are selected based on their enthusiasm, skills in community organizing, cross cultural communication and the ability to review bylaws and provide governance advice. There are currently 10 members with terms of 2 years.
The ten voting members of the Committee are helped by an unspecified number of non-voting members. They liaise between the Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation Board, and provide on-the-ground experience, language skills, cultural and governance advice.
- Voting members
- Austin Hair (term ends in Q1 2012)
- Nathan Carter (term ends in Q1 2012)
- Damian Finol (term ends Dec 2012)
- Delphine Ménard (term ends in Q1 2012)
- Lodewijk Gelauff (term ends in Q1 2012)
- Jeromy-Yu Chan (term ends Dec 2012)
- Bence Damokos (chair; term ends Dec 2012)
- Vladimir Medeyko (term ends in Q1 2012)
- Sebastian Moleski (term ends Dec 2012)
- Ray Saintonge (term ends Dec 2012)
- Non-voting members
- Future members
- Apply by February 15!
[edit] Get in touch
- IRC channel: #wikimedia-chapters on freenode
- Mailing List : chaptercommittee-l
lists.wikimedia.org - You can also contact any member of the ChapCom individually by clicking on their Usernames above, feel free to use our talk pages and emails for any chapter related questions or comments at all.
- Please note that the Committee can be sometimes slow in responding to e-mails - if you don't receive a reply in a reasonable time, please send a reminder.
lists.wikimedia.org[edit] Useful links
- Wikimedia chapters
- Step-by-step chapter creation guide
- Chapters committee/Pipeline: a rough frame for evaluating and projecting chapters applications
- Chapters committee/Chapters applications: ongoing applications for Chapters
- Chapters committee/Resolutions
