Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee/Agenda 2012-2013

The Board Governance Committee's composition was finalized at the October Board meeting in San Francisco. Subsequently the committee met on October 28 to collect the things to work on and determine timeframes and responsibilities. As much work as possible is going to happen here on meta. Some may require a more confidential place for the start. But there are no secrets to hide and the committee documents the process steps and interim results here.

Input from the community is not only appreciated but urgently needed. Not only to get the best results for the several tasks but also to raise the level of mutual understanding when we share our ideas and expectations of governance.

Here comes the agenda for the current term:

Successor for Matt

We need to find a new Trustee to fill one of the four appointed seats as soon as possible. Kat is leading this process which starts these days. The Board hopes to have in-person meetings with the finalist candidates in Milan at Wikimedia Conference 2013 (18–21 April).

• responsible: Kat
• work area: Appointed seats
• input desired: What makes a good board member?

Done Alice Wiegand (talk) 11:08, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Self evaluation

The Board has started 2010 an annual self evaluation, which has taken place twice now. This year's evaluation has not been realized so far and needs to be prepared. Synthesizing the former experiences and processes the rough concept shall be there until christmas.

Update

1. It emerged from the discussion that the Board will perform the individual self evaluation in summer 2013 before the community elected Board members take office.
2. At its Milan Meeting the BGC commissioned the HR Committee to realize the peer evaluation before Wikimania Hong Kong.

• responsible: Alice

Done Alice Wiegand (talk) 14:23, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Community elected board members

Three Board members are elected by the community in odd-numbered years. So the next election will be in 2013. There will be a community run election committee preparing and performing the election with a liaison to the Board. The timeframe is not yet fixed but will likely follow the previous elections suggestions will be published soon.

• responsible: Ting, followed by Bishakha
• see Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections/2013

Done Alice Wiegand (talk) 11:09, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Rules of procedure

Although we have the bylaws and the Board manual there is still something missing that describes and determines processes and procedures of the Board's work. To support the decision making and to help to get a common set of practices, which hopefully will also help new board members to understand how things are being done the committee will work on rules of procedure. Another part of this is the creation of an annual task calendar to make dates and deadlines more visible. The process starts 2013 and should lead to an approval at the Hong Kong meeting.

• responsible: Alice
• Board Handbook

Term limits

The board has discussed this issue several times in the past but hasn't finalized it yet. The committee wants to collect arguments and prepare a decision. As this discussion is already going on, there is no personal responsibility on it, but the committee takes care that it's not going lost. The Board discussed the points on term limits highlighted in Democratizing the Wikimedia Foundation at its meeting in February 2013 and published a statement about the outcome.

Done Alice Wiegand (talk) 11:10, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Advisory board

The Board has identified that there are no specifications or standards on the composition, purpose and consultation of the Advisory Board. To get the best out of this amazing pool of experienced and motivated people with different backgrounds it's worth to spend some time to think about how to improve this concept. There is neither a timeframe nor a responsible contact set. A discussion was proposed for the agenda of the February 2013 Board meeting but was postponed due to more urgent topics.

Charter review

All WMF charters need periodical review to fulfill their purposes and follow legal conditions. Although this charter was approved only in March 2012, it should be reviewed to be comparable with the other board committees' charters.

• responsible: Alice with support of legal

Done

Transparency

Would like us to discuss this further in a forward-looking manner. Meaning, how can we continually and gradually increase our transparency to the rest of the movement, while ensuring we have the privacy we need to carry on our work and discussions? Also, how can we monitor that we are continuing to remain transparent, and not falling back on this?

• suggested by: Bishakha