Wikimedia Foundation elections/2025/Candidate application

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2025 WMF Board election

Introduction

For candidates

For voters

Election method and platform

Organization

This box: view · talk · edit

Candidate criteria

Minimum qualifications

English fluency (required)
Previous experience serving on a collective decision-making body, especially Boards or committees
Significant experience in Wikimedia (or equivalent) movement building and organizing
Candidates must complete the Wikilearn WMF Board of Trustees Candidate Pre-Onboarding module

The following are not requirements but are desired experiences or qualities the Board is seeking for the 2025 election cycle. Candidates should be encouraged to apply even if they do not possess all of the skills or experiences.

Demonstrates the ability to guide others in solving problems, adapting to change, and achieving goals
Has experience participating in or leading an organization in planning for its future
Demonstrates skills related to relationship building and management, engagement, and socialization of ideas
Possesses strong communication skills
Understands governance principles and the role of the board versus the role of management

Candidate eligibility requirements

The eligibility requirements for candidates are the same as for voter-eligibility with these additional requirements.

Main article: Wikimedia Foundation elections/2025/Voter eligibility guidelines

Editors

You may vote from any single registered account you own on a Wikimedia wiki. You may only vote once, regardless of how many accounts you own. To qualify, this one account must:

not currently be blocked globally;
not be site-wide blocked in more than one public project;
not currently be locked;
not be a bot;
have made at least 300 edits before July 28, 2025 across Wikimedia wikis; and
have made at least 20 edits between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025.

The AccountEligibility tool can be used to quickly verify basic editor voting eligibility.

Developers

Developers qualify to vote if they:

are Wikimedia server administrators with shell access; or
have made at least one merged commit to any Wikimedia repos on Gerrit, between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025.

Additional criteria

Developers may qualify to vote if they:

have made at least one merged commit to any repo in nonwmf-extensions or nonwmf-skins, between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025; or
have made at least one merged commit to any Wikimedia tool repo (for example, magnustools) between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025; or
are maintainers/contributors of any tools, bots, gadgets, and Lua modules on Wikimedia wikis; or
have substantially engaged in the design and/or review processes of technical development related to Wikimedia.

Translators

Translators qualify to vote if they have made at least 300 edits before July 28, 2025, and 20 edits between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025, on translatewiki.net.

Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors

Current Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors qualify to vote if they have been employed by the Foundation as of July 28, 2025.

Wikimedia movement affiliates’ staff and contractors

Current Wikimedia chapter, thematic organization or user group staff and contractors qualify to vote if they have been employed by their organization as of July 28, 2025.
Members of formal bodies as defined in the bylaws of the current Wikimedia Chapters, thematic organizations or user groups qualify to vote if they have been serving in those functions as of July 28, 2025.

Individuals requesting to vote under this category must include proof from their respective affiliate. Their Affiliate must be deemed “compliant” with their reporting requirement. The Affiliations Committee and Elections Committee will confirm the list of eligible Wikimedia Affiliates by July 28, 2025.

Wikimedia Foundation board members and advisory board members

Current and former members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board qualify to vote.

Wikimedia movement committee members

Current members of the Wikimedia movement committees qualify to vote if they have been serving in those functions as of July 28, 2025.

For the purpose of this guideline, Wikimedia movement committees are defined as Communications Committee, Elections Committee, Language Committee, Product & Technology Advisory Council, the Global Resource Distribution Committee, and Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee.

Wikimedia movement community organizers

Community organizers in good standing, who do not qualify to vote under other categories, qualify to vote if they meet one of the following:

have applied for, received and reported on at least one Wikimedia Foundation grant since August 28, 2024.
were an organizer of at least one funded hackathon, competition or other Wikimedia event with on-wiki documentation and at least 10 attendees/visitors/participants between August 28, 2024 and July 28, 2025.
are a staff member, contractor, or Board member of a pilot hub that receives funding from WMF specifically for piloting a hub since August 28, 2024.

Individuals requesting to vote under this category must include proof of their activity. If you received a Wikimedia Foundation grant, please provide a link to your grant report. For organizers, please provide a link to the invite page or any proof of the event online.

Note

If you meet the main editors’ criteria, you will be able to vote immediately. Due to the technical limitations of SecurePoll, people who meet the additional criteria may not be able to directly vote, unless they meet any of the other criteria. If you think you meet the additional criteria, please email electcomwikimedia.org with the reasoning at least four (4) days before the last date for voting. If you meet the criteria, we will add you to a manual list, to be able to vote.

Note: these are requirements set by law or by the Board of Trustees

You must not have been convicted of a serious crime or any crime involving dishonesty or deception. You do not have to provide any documentation for this at this time;
You must not have been removed from a position at a non-profit organization or company because of mismanagement or misconduct;
At the time of nomination or election, you may not be banned or blocked on more than one Wikimedia project for a period of 30 days or longer;
If you only meet the voter eligibility requirements as an editor, your first edit must have been before June 17, 2024;
You must disclose your real name on your Candidate Application;
You must be at least 18 years old and of legal age in the country where you hold permanent residence;
You must not have been a member of Wikimedia Foundation workforce after July 1, 2024; [NOTE: July 1, 2025 is the last day of the open period of the call for candidates]
You must submit proof of your identity and age to the Wikimedia Foundation; and
If you are selected and appointed to the Board of Trustees, you must resign from any other board, governance, or paid engagements with the Wikimedia Foundation, chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups within two weeks of the appointment.

The Wikimedia Foundation runs a background check and a media check on all selected candidates before they are appointed to the Board. Trustees are also required to complete an orientation and onboarding process. In addition, all appointed Trustees must be willing and able to uphold their legal and fiduciary duties and follow Wikimedia Foundation policies, including:

Candidate application

Applications accepted between June 17, 2025―~~July 1, 2025~~ July 8, 2025. You can only change your application by the close of the nomination period at 23:59 AoE, July 1 8 (11:59 UTC, July 2 9).

You must submit proof of your identity to the Wikimedia Foundation before 11:59 UTC, July 9, 2025. The Election Committee will contact you about this after you apply.

How to submit proof of identity

Candidates for this position must submit proof of identity and evidence of age of majority as a condition of candidacy. A copy of one of the following documents fulfills this:

Driver's license
Passport
Other official documentation indicating real name and age

This may be provided to the Wikimedia Foundation via email at secure-info@wikimedia.org.

If you are one of the selected candidates, the Wikimedia Foundation may need to request additional information to run a candidate's background check prior to your appointment to the Board.

Candidates who fail to meet the above requirements and deadlines will be disqualified.

Submitting your candidacy

Call for candidates closed on 23:59 AoE, July 8 (11:59 UTC, July 9).

If you are eligible, you can Apply to be a Candidate.

Please follow these steps:

Enter your name in the field below and click on the button
Fill all the requested information and publish the page
- There are 10 (ten) required questions for all candidates to answer. The support team will coordinate its translation to a select number of languages

All candidate subpages

This automatically generated list includes all candidate pages, both eligible and ineligible.