Finance meeting 2012/etherpad WMFINMEET2012

See:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Finance_meeting_2012#Unofficial_collaborative_statement

Finance meeting 2012 [8]
- event organized in Paris the 17, 18 and 19 of February 2012.

== Outline ==
* (a short sentence expressing hope and friendship)
* (a factual description of the kind of interactions and general topics
covered)
** new terms / subjects defined / announced [3]
** FDC
** payment processing
** accountability
** entitlement
** chapters council
* (a forward-looking paragraph on next steps)
* (a note of thanks for WMFR, Christophe and Sebastien, and the participants)

Outcomes / Results:
* Trust and understanding
* make ourselves heard / listened to each other
* The Chapters Council[2] - first considered being the "worst case scenario"
for this meeting if it doesn't work out to come to agreement, now
considered reflecting "hope"
* Board Members are friendly human beings, too
* hard path ahead, but a common direction?
* Everybody is now better equipped to make an informed decision
* Ideas on FDC[4]/acountability
* discussion about GAC[9]

== Text ==
In the weekend of 17-19 February 2012, 39[1] delegates of 19 movement
organizations, 18 chapters and Amical (30)[5] (mostly board
representatives), Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation (5)[6],
and Wikimedia Foundation staff (4)[7], convened in Paris to discuss
fundraising and funds dissemination[4], hosted and facilitated by
Wikimédia France.

Despite considerable tension surrounding the issues in question, the
entire meeting maintained a friendly, collegial atmosphere of
collaboration, shared purpose, and mutual respect. We are encouraged and
inspired by this, and consider it a strong indication of the possibility
of finding agreed answers to these large questions of funds,
accountability and governance. Participants agreed they felt they are
being heard and acknowledged by everyone else, and a significant amount of
trust was regained.

Most of the meeting saw participants working in parallel small groups of
6-7 persons, discussing issues of trust, accountability, strategy,
entitlement, funds dissemination, and committee models[3].  Additionally,
there was a Q&A session with the WMF Trustees present, as well as one with
Sue Gardner and one with representatives of the chapters present.

One central topic was the proposed Funds Dissemination Committee, which
would be in charge of advising the WMF on larger grants, such as annual
operating grants of chapters and other movement organizations. Discussion
was exploratory, focusing mainly on exchanging ideas, and dicussing
possible issues, based also on experiences with the current Grants
Advisory Committee.

===Chapters council===

An informal discussion was held about the Wikimedia Chapters Council
(WMCC)[2], a body which should be created as a forum for Wikimedia
Chapters and Partner Organisations for exchange of ideas and experiences,
self-governance, the setting of accountability standards, and peer review.

Similar ideas have been discussed throughout the last several years and
the last time it was brought up again and drafted on Meta Wiki was after
the Haifa letter, when chapters felt they would need a body for speaking
with one voice. The idea soon was abandoned again because of other duties
chapters representatives had to deal with (program plans, fundraising,
negotiations etc.). [NOTE: I would delete this paragraph, because it
focuses on the past rather than results / the future] <--Hmm, I think it's
important to note that little priority is given to this because of short
term needs. Also it is important to acknowlege the work that has been
done, though it may not  have been effective (due to those short-term
needs, I suppose)

The Financial Meeting in Paris offered a platform to bring the topic up
again and to get chapters into the boat. While the last attempt to discuss
the WMCC was a defensive reaction towards the Wikimedia Foundation it is
today perceived as a tool to improve the collaboration between chapters
and set up rules of governance, accountability and peer-reviews among the
chapters themselves, making pressure in these directions by Wikimedia
Foundation bodies unneccessary.

Wikimedia Deutschland is willing to fund an employee to facilitate the
process of designing and setting up the Council. The goal is to come to
results during the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin[10]. Until then the
chapter representatives will revert to their boards and discuss the idea
and come up with a mandate so decisions can be made during the Berlin
meeting.

Anticipating the next global gathering -- the Wikimedia Conference in
Berlin at the end of March -- we commit to further work towards consensus
on possible models for the Chapters Council, the Funds Dissemination
Committee, and agreed standards of governance and accountability, to
inform the decision-making by the board of trustees and the creation of
the Chapters Council. <--For models see link [2] below

===Ending notes===

We thank Wikimedia France for its generous support and hosting of this
meeting, and in particular to Sébastien (Seb35) and Christophe, who
oversaw logistics and who stepped in to facilitate the meeting at the last
minute.

-- The Participants of the Paris Finance Meeting 2012

== References ==
[0] http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/WMFINMEET2012
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Finance_meeting_2012#Participants
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters_council
[3] http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/finmeet12
[4]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_and_Funds_Dissemination/draft_Board_resolution
[5] Participating organisations:  Argentina (Patricio Lorente), Austria
(Reiner Strubert, Manuel  Schneider), Switzerland (Ilario Valdelli, Rupert
Thurner), Chile (Daniel  Bravo), Czech Republic (Michal Reiter, Danny B.),
Germany (Pavel  Richter, Sebastian Moleski, Delphine Ménard), Spain (María
Sefidari, Marcos Tallés), France  (Seb35 (organizer), Schiste (organizer),
Thierry Coudray, Florence  Devouard), Hungary (Bence Damokos), Indonesia
(Siska Doviana), Italy  (Frieda Brioschi), Macedonia (Kiril Simeonovski,
Brest),  Mexico (Iván Martínez), Netherlands (Siebrand
Mazeland, Paul Becherer),  Poland (Polimerek), Serbia (Dungodung), United
Kingdom (Mike Peel, Chris  Keating), South Africa (Charlene Foster),
Amical (Joan R. Gomà)
[6] Participating trustees: Phoebe Ayers, Stu West, Matt Halprin, Jan-Bart
de Vreede (aka "duh", "vre" or "jab"), Arne Klempert
[7] Participating Wikimedia Foundation staff members: Geoff Brigham, Asaf
Bartov, Garfield Byrd, Sue Gardner
[8] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Finance_meeting_2012
[9] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GAC
[10] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2012
[11] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles/affiliations

==Links==
http://wikistu.org/2012/02/fundraising-letter-comments/