Wikimedia committees
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Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees committees
Staff committees Community-wide committees Movement governance committees Movement-wide preparation committees Resources allocation committees |
This page describes committees created by the Wikimedia Foundation and by the Wikimedia community. Each committee has a charter describing its structure and function.
Active committees
[edit]Board of Trustees committees
[edit]| Committee | Constituting instrument | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Governance Committee | Charter | "ensure that the Board of Trustees ("Board") of the Wikimedia Foundation ("Foundation") fulfills its legal and fiduciary obligations, and to improve its governance, efficiency, and effectiveness over time." |
| Audit Committee | Charter | "assist the Board of Trustees ("Board") of the Wikimedia Foundation ("Foundation") in its general oversight of the Foundation's annual plan and budgetary planning, accounting and financial reporting processes, audits of the financial statements, and internal control, and audit functions." |
| Talent & Culture Committee | Charter | "assist the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities through the implementation of sound compensation and personnel policies and practices." |
| Product and Technology Committee | Charter | "assess and explore current and future product development efforts to continuously improve the value that Wikipedia as a platform, as well as the other Wikimedia projects, delivers to its communities and users around the world." |
| Community Affairs Committee | Charter | "assess, explore and address current and future community-related efforts [...] work with both WMF staff and the wider Wikimedia community in order to bridge conflicts and offer guidance, with a main goal of continuously improving the relationships between the WMF and its wider community, as well as working jointly to achieve the mission and vision of the Wikimedia Movement, while considering the different needs of the WMF, our communities and users around the world." |
Community-wide committees
[edit]Defined as a committee that is "typically led by a Community member and may include representatives from the community, advisory board, staff, board, or outside advisors" by January 2009 Board of Trustees resolution on Wikimedia committees.
| Committee | Constituting instrument | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliations Committee | Charter | "support the overall health of the ecosystem of Wikimedia movement affiliates (Chapters, Thematic Organizations, and User Groups) and to advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (“Board”) on matters related to affiliate recognition and the affiliate ecosystem." |
| Language Committee | Charter | "The development and maintenance of:
The processing of requests for new language subdomains of existing Wikimedia projects, providing it gives the Wikimedia Board of Trustees four days advance notice before approving a request." |
| Wikimania Committee | Charter | "oversee and guide Wikimania from year to year, supporting each conference's individual organising team and providing them with resources, experience and advice" |
Staff committees
[edit]Defined as a committee that is "typically led by a member of the staff and may include representatives from the community, advisory board, staff, board, or outside advisors" by January 2009 Board of Trustees resolution on Wikimedia committees.
| Committee | Constituting instrument | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Communications Committee | Board of Trustees resolution (2006) | Facilitate communication between the Wikimedia Foundation, the general public, the media, and the communities of the various Wikimedia projects |
Movement governance committees
[edit]| Committee | Constituting instrument | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Elections Committee | Charter | "assist with the design and implementation of the process to select Community- and Affiliate-Selected Trustees for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (“Board”) [...] may also assist with similar community-selected positions as determined by the Board." |
| Ombuds Commission | Board of Trustees resolution (2015) | Investigate complaints about infringements of the Privacy Policy, the Access to nonpublic information policy, the CheckUser policy and the oversight policy on any Wikimedia project for the Board of Trustees |
| Case Review Committee | Charter | Reviews eligible Trust & Safety investigations that are appealed either by those who originally requested the investigation or those who have been sanctioned by them. |
Movement-wide preparation committees
[edit]| Committee | Constituting instrument | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Movement Charter Drafting Committee | Principles | Drafting the Movement Charter |
| U4C Building Committee | Art. 4.5. of the UCoC Enforcement Guidelines | Drafting a charter that outlines procedures and details for the UCoC Coordinating Committee (U4C) |
| UCoC drafting committees | Board May 2020 statement | Drafting the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) and its Enforcement Guidelines (UCoC-EG) |
Resources allocation committees
[edit]| Committee | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Conference Support Committee | |
| Regional Grants Committees |
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Inactive or closed committees
[edit]Organized policies, practices and priorities for Wikimedia-related research, and maintaining the Wikimedia Research Index.
Board expansion committee
[edit]Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
The Board was successfully expanded from 5 to 7 members in November 2006, and the committee consequently disbanded.
Executive committee
[edit]Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution, intended to hold executive authority delegated from the Board when the Board was not in session (see a common definition).
It was meant to be organized by Angela, but was never really in operation. To be considered disbanded. A sub-meeting (discussion log) of the 11 February 2006 open meeting was used to discuss the setting up of the executive committee and the possibility of an administrative director (or a similarly worded executive position).
- Selection of and transition to a new Executive Director (2013-2014)
Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
First meeting took place on April 5, 2006. The initial members were Delphine Ménard, Arne Klempert, Simon Pulsifer, Frank Schulenburg. The last update indicated the committee was working on a paper about the scope of the committee. Considered disbanded.
Financial committee
[edit]Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
Was to be organized by Daniel Mayer and Michael Davis. Status: disagreement between the organisers, original proposals were rejected. Now deprecated after accountant and financial director were hired (see Current staff).
Created June 7, 2006. It was active throughout its first year of operation, but was disbanded in its original description in August 2007. Previous membership list available here: wmf:Resolution:Fundraising committee/Membership. Committee's abandonment is mentioned at wmf:Resolution:Wikimedia Committees.
Insurance committee
[edit]Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
The original members were Michael Davis, Angela Beesley, Jimmy Wales, and Danny Wool. Status: work in progress to complete applications for board and officers liability insurance and cyber-insurance. Committee de facto disbanded in January after meeting about the forms. D&O active.
Created April 2008 by board resolution. Deprecated since early 2010.
Special projects committee (2006)
[edit]Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
Was originally organized by Florence Devouard, Jakob Voss, and Danny Wool. No longer active as of August 2007. It was dissolved in January 2009 per board resolution.
Special projects committee (2019)
[edit]Established in 2019, to "assist the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities through helping on special, one-off projects that temporarily require some Board member involvement and input for periods of time". It was dissolved in December 2021.
Created January 15, 2006 by board resolution.
Was to be organized by Jens Frank, Brion Vibber and Domas Mituzas. Status: was never organized, although the core team of developers constitute a sort of de facto committee.
Trademarks committee
[edit]Created January 2, 2006 by board resolution, intended to oversee the legal process to secure trademarks, make timely reports on the trademark status to the board, make recommendations to the Board about the top priority concerning trademarks (categories, locations and their estimated costs), and was responsible for registering and monitoring domain names for the Foundation.
Status: was partly active for a while, but disbanded as of August 2007.
Responsible to make recommendations to the WMF Board of Trustees for funding activities and initiatives in support of the mission goals of the Wikimedia movement. Created in 2012 and dissolved by the Board of Trustees in 2022.
See also
[edit]- Wikimedia:Resolutions – for details and transcripts of meetings about the setting up of these committees
- Wikimedia Foundation departments