Affiliate-selected Board seats/2016/Call for candidates

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This call for candidates will be announced on WikimediaAnnounce-l, Wikimedia-l and Chapters-l.

Call for nominations: affiliate-selected seats on the WMF Board of Trustees[edit]

The Wikimedia chapters and thematic organizations are seeking to appoint two candidates to sit on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees for three years, starting in June 2016 at the Wikimania conference. The two new members of the board will help to decide the future direction of the world's leading non-profit website. Wikimedia projects are constructed by hundreds of thousands of volunteers worldwide, supported by a growing number of staff and an international network of affiliate organizations. Board membership is unpaid.

The chapters and thematic organizations wish to appoint two excellent board members and believe this can best be achieved by selecting from a large number of varied and skilled candidates. Therefore, the chapters and thematic organizations call for nominations by everyone who believes they or someone they know would be suitable. This call for candidates should be distributed as widely as possible through such forums as mailing lists, village pumps, and blogs.

The successful candidates will be committed to the Wikimedia mission and willing and able to engage constructively with the stakeholders of the movement, including the volunteers and the affiliate organizations that provide it with essential support. The successful candidates will have:

  • the ability to provide expertise to the board in its goal of implementing a coherent vision on how the projects' communities, the foundation, the chapters, the thematic organizations, the user groups, and other affiliated groups work together;
  • sensitivity to complex issues surrounding the multiplicity of languages, cultures, and jurisdictions served by the foundation’s projects;
  • knowledge and understanding of the governance of international non-profit organizations, balancing autonomy and subsidiarity;
  • the ability to think strategically and to work both as part of a team and independently;
  • a good standard of written and oral English (fluency in additional languages would be well regarded);
  • sufficient time to devote to the role of board member, and the ability and willingness to travel.

Increasing the geographical diversity of current board membership would be an advantage.

The selection process is set out at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016

Nominations must be submitted no later than 8 March (24:00 UTC) using the form on the following Meta page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Nominations

The facilitators of the ASBS election,

Chris Keating
Lorenzo Losa
Lane Rasberry