Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections/2013
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The election ended 22 June 2013. No more votes will be accepted. The results were announced on 24 June 2013. |
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The 2013 elections to the Board of Trustees will be held from June 8 through June 22, 2013. Members of the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to elect three candidates to a two-year term which will expire in 2015. The Board of Trustees is the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in the United States. The Wikimedia Foundation manages many diverse projects such as Wikipedia and Commons.
The Election Committee will announce the results on or before June 28. Detailed results will be available.
Information for candidates
The selection of new board members must comply with the WMF Board's duty of care. The Board must act in a reasonable, diligent, and informed manner, and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would use in similar circumstances. This duty of care, for example, applies to the careful selection of qualified individuals to serve on the Board who would not bring disrepute to that body.
Those who are considering a candidacy are urged to read the board manual in full prior to submitting their candidacy.
Roles and responsibilities as member of the Board
- From the board manual
The Board of Trustees is the governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation. Responsibilities of the Board include:
- determining mission, goals, long-term plans and high level policies of WMF and its projects
- selecting the Executive Director of the WMF, who oversees its day-to-day operations, and evaluating his or her performance
- ensuring the sustainability of the organization by defining a number of independent revenue sources
- communicating about the direction and the activities of the WMF to the community
- providing oversight to staff with regard to accounting, budgeting, and programs
- maintaining legal and ethical integrity
- recruiting and orient new trustees
- articulating the mission of the WMF in public
The responsibilities of the Board do not include:
- interfering in day-to-day operations, except in emergencies
- setting Wikimedia project-level editorial policies
- resolving basic community disputes
- volunteering in specific areas of regular WMF organizational work
Prerequisites to candidacy
To be eligible, candidates must be willing and able to fulfill the duties of board and committee service, including expending the time and energy required to conduct due inquiry into relevant issues, to make informed decisions in good faith, and to attend board meetings regularly. The eligibility requirements for candidates are the same as for voters (see voter requirements), with the following additional requirements:
- You must not have been convicted of a serious crime or any crime involving dishonesty or deception; and
- You must not have been removed from a position at a non-profit organization or other company because of mismanagement or misconduct; and
- At the time of nomination or election, you may not be banned or blocked from any Wikimedia project for a period of 30 days or longer; and
- You must publicly disclose your real name in your candidate presentation (because the identities of Board members are a matter of public record, it is not possible to hold a position on the Board of Trustees anonymously or under a pseudonym); and
- Be at least 18 years old and of legal age in your home country; and
- Submit proof of your identity to the Wikimedia Foundation (see below).
Exception: current Board of Trustees members may be candidates regardless of the above prerequisites.
How to submit your candidacy
If you are eligible, you can submit your candidacy by doing the following:
- Write a brief summary of no more than 1200 characters (excluding spaces) stating what you would do if you were elected to the Board of Trustees, your relevant opinions and experience, and anything else you think is relevant. You may not use your candidate summary to link to lists of endorsements or other platform pages, and may not run on a slate with other candidates.
- Submit your summary between 00:00, April 24, 2013 (UTC) and 23:59, May 17, 2013 (UTC). Your statement may only be changed in the 3 days after submission, or up to May 17, whichever comes first, except for minor corrections (for instance, spelling correction) or translation. Any additions or changes to content submitted after this deadline will be time-stamped and presented separately from the original summary, and will only be presented to voters if they get translated into all of the same languages as the original summary. You should note that earlier submissions allow time for translation into more languages, and that submissions provided on the due date or just before may not be as widely translated.
- Submit proof of your identity to the Wikimedia Foundation before 23:59, May 17 (UTC). You will be privately contacted by a member of the Election Committee with further information about meeting this requirement when you list yourself as a candidate.
Candidates who fail to comply with the above requirements and deadlines will be disqualified.
Submitting proof of identity to the Wikimedia Foundation
Candidates for this position must submit proof of identity and evidence of age of majority as a condition of candidacy. This proof may be provided in one of the following manners:
- Copy or scan of driver's license.
- Copy or scan of passport.
- Copy or scan of other official documentation indicating real name and age.
This may be provided to the WMF in one of the following means:
- via email to secure-info
wikimedia.org - via facsimile to +1 (415) 882-0495
- via post (snail mail) to:
- Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
- ATTN: PHILIPPE BEAUDETTE
- 149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor
- San Francisco, CA 94106
- USA
- Note that post is not recommended. Exceptions will not be made if a candidate's documentation has not arrived at the WMF offices by the deadline of 23:59 UTC, 17 May 2013.
Organization
Time line
- 24 April–17 May 2013: candidate submissions
- 17 May 2013: deadline to send proof of identity (late or missing submissions will be disqualified)
- 8–22 June 2013: elections
- 23–25 June 2013: vote-checking
- 25–28 June: publication of results