I share many of the same concerns others have raised. However I did want
to say that I appreciate the time and effort that Nat and Lorenzo put
into writing the detailed message they sent, and the time and energy it
will take to read responses and possibly respond to them.
That said, I have a request for the members of the MCDC. If you,
individually or collectively, feel comfortable doing so, please share
your thoughts about these issues. If any of you have concerns about
anonymity/confidentiality because of possible retribution and/or other
reasons, I would be happy to receive your comments, and post them on
this email list after removing any information that identifies you,
other than that you are a member of MCDC. I believe that it is important
to understand at least 2 differing perspectives on any substantive issue.
One more concern, and this is not specific to today's email: It has
become almost de rigueur for WMF leadership to send messages they know
will be controversial on Fridays, often very late in the afternoon for
US time zones. Professionals use that tactic to reduce and delay
responses. For me, that is quite inappropriate behavior for WMF
leadership to engage in. It is disrespectful and insulting, and is
another sign that leadership does not really care what "the community"
has to say. I put "the community" in quotation marks because I don't
think that members of a true community would use that tactic on other
members of the community.
Paul (Libcub)
On 2024-06-20 7:17 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv wrote:
Dear all,
We are grateful to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC)
members, who have dedicated their time and energy to putting forward
this final draft of the Movement Charter. They have demonstrated
tremendous resilience and perseverance in grappling with ways to
increase our collective sense of belonging as a movement, and
outlining roles and responsibilities intended to help us all make
better decisions in steering the Wikimedia movement into the future.
For some, this final draft Charter represents an extension of the
Movement Strategy process that began in earnest in 2020. There are
many reflections on this history, some nostalgic and others less so.
The 2030 strategic direction has guided and continues to guide the
Wikimedia Foundation’s strategy. As the Foundation’s annual plan this
year
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025/History>
observed, there is much to celebrate in the collective advancement of
the original ten movement strategy recommendations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations>,
including shared progress in creating more equitable and decentralised
decision-making structures.
At the same time, we should all recognise that the world around us has
shifted significantly since the movement strategy process began, that
our limited resources require much more pragmatic trade-offs and
choices, and that the Board has a duty to consider the risk, value,
cost and benefit of any significant commitments being made to advance
the mission.
As requested by the MCDC, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
has, over the last few months, shared with the committee its direct
feedback on the previous Movement Charter drafts, including its
perspectives on the Global Council
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter/Archive_5#Wikimedia_Foundation_perspectives_on_the_Global_Council>
and its feedback on a previous draft
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter/Archive_5#Wikimedia_Foundation_feedback_on_Movement_Charter_Final_Draft>
that we posted publicly. Liaisons have also engaged in regular and
ongoing meetings with the MCDC members, including inviting the MCDC
members to all Board meetings and Strategic retreats since June 2022.
Our general observation, which is elaborated in the body of this
letter, is that the final draft of the Movement Charter *still does
not address the significant concerns* previously raised by the Board.
Thus, as liaisons, *our recommendations* to the Wikimedia Foundation
Board of Trustees are:
* *not to ratify* the final draft of the Movement Charter *as
proposed; and*
* *support* the Foundation in developing *concrete, time-bound next
steps* on a more practical scale, allowing us all to *evaluate
progress*, and see what to change or build on.
We believe that approving this version of the Charter, despite the
tremendous amount of work and resources already put into it, would not
be the right call. Instead, we think it is better to continue pursuing
the same goals the draft Charter also sought to pursue in a different
way, by identifying key areas where the final draft Charter provides
us with guidance on concrete steps that can be taken towards
increasing volunteer and movement oversight of certain core areas of
responsibility. We believe this will allow the Foundation, and all of
us, to live into the recommendation of Movement Strategy to evaluate,
iterate, and adapt
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Evaluate,_Iterate,_and_Adapt>
as we go, rather than too quickly to agree to new structures that may
not yet be fit for purpose.
As liaisons, we first shared this recommendation and our reflections
with the MCDC on June 18 and then with the rest of the Wikimedia
Foundation Board on June 20 (including a short draft brief
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Board_liaisons_reflections_on_final_Movement_charter_draft/Brief>).
The Board is reviewing the final draft of the Movement Charter now and
*plans to vote during a special meeting between June 25 and July 9*,
during the voting period for all affiliates and individuals
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Supplementary_Document/Ratification_Methodology#Sequence_of_voting>.
== Context for sharing these reflections: why now? ==
As liaisons, we believe that the final draft does not address the
concerns previously stated by the Board of Trustees in its feedback
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter/Archive_5#Wikimedia_Foundation_feedback_on_Movement_Charter_Final_Draft>
on previous drafts of the Charter. Specifically, the final draft still
falls short of providing a clear enough explanation of *how* it will
advance Wikimedia's public interest mission and effectively address
the shortcomings of Wikimedia's current structures to enable more
effective and equitable decisions.
These points are not new and were shared in previous Board feedback to
the MCDC, including the January 22 letter (shared publicly in February
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter/Archive_5#Wikimedia_Foundation_perspectives_on_the_Global_Council>)
in response to the first public draft and the May letter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter/Archive_5#Wikimedia_Foundation_feedback_on_Movement_Charter_Final_Draft>
in response to the second public draft. In response to both affiliates
and individual contributors who have asked the Foundation to speak
more clearly about its views, and do it sooner, we felt it was
important to reiterate these points in the interest of transparency
and learning.
== Process accountability ==
We, as liaisons, have heard concerns and frustrations about the
Movement Charter process. It faced significant challenges and
constraints from the impact of the pandemic limiting travel and
in-person meetings; resignations of several members of the MCDC; and
other issues that extended the timeline to 2.5 years. It was a shared
hope by all to have this process successfully wrapped up sooner.
For some of this, the Board certainly must take some responsibility.
This is the purpose of the Board’s oversight, as well as its
governance responsibilities. An important lesson learnt through this
experience is that large-scale processes should have more explicit and
clear expectations up front so that as a stakeholder the Foundation
can engage directly and openly earlier about its own positions, views
and boundaries. It is not easy to find this balance, but this is
essential to moving forward differently. These and other lessons
should be documented, and built upon in any future processes aimed at
hard-to-reverse movement-wide commitments (for example, the Playbook
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Reports/Movement_Strategy_Playbook>
that was developed after the Wikimedia's Movement Strategy process).
== Reflections on the final draft ==
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has a legal and fiduciary
duty to consider any significant commitment or decision in light of
the expected risk, value, cost, and benefit to Wikimedia's public
interest mission. The value of new structures proposed in the final
draft of the Movement Charter has to be weighed against their risk,
their cost, and the resource demands of this movement at a time when
we have all seen that the growth rate of revenue is not increasing at
the same rate as in the past, while demands to invest more in the
Wikimedia platforms, projects, and communities are increasing.
As liaisons, we believe the *risks and costs* associated with the
currently proposed form of the Global Council *outweigh its potential
value*.
Firstly and most importantly, the proposed Global Council's *purpose*
is not clearly connected to advancing Wikimedia's public interest
mission. It lacks a compelling explanation of *how* it will ensure
more equitable decision-making and support the mission of sharing free
knowledge. It also does not guide us on how to address many of the
most pressing issues facing community governance on Wikimedia
projects. We recognise that for some, the status quo *also* does not
provide that clarity, but we do not believe that the final draft
Charter moves us closer.
Secondly, we note that the *proposed structure and makeup* of the
Global Council have changed significantly with each iteration of the
published drafts (from a small body to a large assembly to a
flexible-sized body in the most recent text). This may have been done
in response to feedback from multiple stakeholders, but it raises an
ongoing concern we have expressed in all of our feedback that this
proposed structure is not based on the /form following function/
principle -- we do not see a deliberate or intentional design that
seeks to meet the purpose of such a critical and important new body.
Finally, as liaisons we believe that important elements within the
final draft Charter, including, most critically, the /Values and
Principles/, require more consensus of communities before attempting
to incorporate them into a larger document that enshrines binding
commitments on us all. Ensuring values are understood, shared, and -
importantly - prioritised similarly across the movement is essential
to relying on them to help craft an effective and accepted
decision-making framework.
== Wikimedia Foundation’s commitment: what to do irrespective of
the outcome of the ratification vote ==
As liaisons, the proposal that we are making to the Board is that,
instead of ratifying the Movement Charter in its current form, it is
better to follow the Movement Strategy Recommendation to experiment
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Evaluate,_Iterate,_and_Adapt>
more quickly with key areas of responsibility before establishing a
more permanent body with a wider scope. That is why, irrespective of
the outcome of the final draft Charter vote, the Foundation has
already begun to work on shifting core areas of decision-making
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025/History#Clarifying_movement_roles_and_responsibilities_moving_forward>
to increased volunteer oversight, including *fund dissemination*, and
volunteers offering more immediate input on Foundation decisions, such
as *advising on product & technology*.
More specifically, we propose that by January 2025, fund
dissemination, which is one functional area of the proposed Global
Council, be handled by a global decision-making body to determine the
Wikimedia Foundation's regional allocation of grants budgets for the
rest of fiscal year 2024-2025 and to plan grantmaking estimates for
the next two years. A global, but narrower scope, will help to
experiment with more accountability for the results.
This process, which we shall ask to be co-created with affiliates and
individual community members, would build on the experience of the
Regional Funds Committees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021/Regional_Committees>,
and the past Funds Dissemination Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee>,
in line with the Movement Strategy 2030 Initiative #27
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Initiatives/Flexible_resource_allocation_framework>
and the work currently taking place with Affiliate EDs and Regional
Funds Committees to determine the Wikimedia Foundation's regional
allocation of grants budgets for FY 2024-2025. It is important to
document and publish the lessons learned from each step of the process
and use these to inform future decision-making and the possible
creation of permanent committees and/or movement bodies.
Additionally, as liaisons we also propose moving forward with the
establishment of a Product & Technology Advisory Council
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Proposal>,
following a proposal from the Foundation that was shared with the
MCDC. This is in line with Movement Strategy 2030 Initiative #31
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Initiatives/Technology_Council>
to advance shared decision-making and co-creative spaces in technology
spaces that are fundamental to support the mission.
== Next steps ==
As all affiliates and individuals prepare to vote on the final Charter
draft, we as liaisons hope that voters will also take the time to
provide written comments alongside their “yes”, “no”, and “--”
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Supplementary_Document/Ratification_Methodology#Method_of_voting>
vote so that everyone will learn as much as possible about how we all
can move forward with decision-making structures that are more
effective, with an equity lens, for our complex global community to
advance Wikimedia’s mission in the world.
As previously noted, the Board is reviewing the final draft of the
Movement charter now and *plans to vote during a special meeting
between June 25 and July 9*, during the voting period for all
affiliates and individuals
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Supplementary_Document/Ratification_Methodology#Sequence_of_voting>.
This will allow the Board to consider all public comments available
before the start of the voting while casting its vote alongside
affiliates and individual contributors.
At the MCDC’s request, the results of the Board’s vote will be shared
only after the vote of individuals and affiliates has concluded, so as
not to influence their voting, but likely before the outcomes of those
votes are published, and not before July 10.
As we all await the outcome of the final draft Charter vote, it will
be important to be ready to take concrete steps that will help move us
forward as a movement. Wikimania will be an opportunity to begin
constructive and productive conversations on these and other immediate
next steps, informed by the comments left by individuals and
affiliates during the vote. Working together on practical, time-bound
steps will shape a better and more equitable framework for making
decisions. With a shared commitment, this moment of change can foster
a greater sense of belonging, one that can sometimes feel elusive in
this widely diverse global movement.
Best regards
Nat and Lorenzo
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees liaisons to the Movement
Charter Drafting Committee
===========================================
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
/NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during
weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days
off. Thank you in advance!/
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