Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees/Call for feedback: Board of Trustees elections

Board elections: Call for feedback

Key Question Proposals

Other Proposals

Reports

The Movement Strategy and Governance team supported a Call for Feedback about the Board of Trustees selection processes from 10 January to 16 February 2022. The problem statement and key questions explored in this Call are below.

Problem to Solve

The Wikimedia Foundation and the movement have grown over the past ten years, and the Board has largely remained the same in structure and process. In the 2019 governance review, capacity, performance, and lack of representation of the movement’s diversity were noted as concerns.

In 2021, some of these concerns were discussed during the Call for Feedback: Community Board seats. The 2021 Board of Trustees election included updated practices to start to address the concerns listed above. Two additional seats were added to address the Board’s capacity needs. Single transferable voting was used to improve the opportunity for representation of the movement’s diversity. The trustees shared their skills and asked candidates to share theirs to inform voters. Broad and multilingual outreach sought out candidates and voters in many communities on many communication channels.

During this 2022 Call for Feedback we hope to identify additional solutions to reflect the diversity of the movement on the Board. Additionally, we want to use this opportunity to learn from the community about engaging with candidates during the election process.

Call for Feedback Design

With this Call for Feedback, we are taking a different approach that incorporates community feedback from the 2021 process. Instead of leading with proposals, the Call is framed around key questions. The intention is to inspire collective conversation and collaborative proposal development.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in this Call for Feedback and helping to form a more diverse and better performing Board of Trustees.

Key questions

What is the best way to ensure more diverse representation among elected candidates?

The Board of Trustees noted the importance of selecting candidates who represent the full diversity of the Wikimedia movement. The current processes have favored volunteers from North America and Europe.

What are the expectations for the candidates during the election?

Board candidates have traditionally completed applications and answered community questions. How can an election provide appropriate insight into candidates while also appreciating candidates’ status as volunteers?

How should affiliates participate in the elections?

Two seats of the Board of Trustees due to be filled this year were filled in 2019 through the Affiliate-selected Board seats process. A change in the Bylaws removed the distinction between community and affiliate seats. How should affiliates be involved in the selection of new seats?

Discuss the key questions

How to participate

Movement Strategy and Governance staff are able to support conversations in many languages. Discussions are welcome in any language, although we may need to rely on volunteer translators to help summarize languages we do not have on staff. You can find links to conversations in many languages in a table on the Discuss Key Questions page. You can find conversation on the Telegram Board selection chat. Contact a facilitator in your region to plan a community conversation or provide feedback.

Timeline

23 December: Announcement of Call for Feedback
10 January: Call for Feedback opens
16 February: Call for Feedback closes
26 February: Publish final report of the Call for Feedback

Each week the Movement Strategy and Governance team will publish a weekly report to capture the feedback and discussion happening during the previous week.

Useful background information

The Board of Trustees is the governing body for the Wikimedia Foundation, a +450 staff organization supporting an international movement formed by hundreds of projects, communities, and affiliates. The Board’s sole role is to oversee the management of the Wikimedia Foundation. This includes:

Participating in setting the Wikimedia Foundation’s long-term strategy.
Monitoring activities and finances to ensure that finances are healthy, mission-aligned and compliant with legal obligations.
Hiring, managing, advising, and setting compensation for the Wikimedia Foundation’s CEO.

More information is available in the Board Handbook.