Meetings/2011-05-24

Province	Time zone
British Columbia	16:00 PDT
Alberta	17:00 MDT
Saskatchewan	17:00 CST
Manitoba	18:00 CDT
Ontario, Quebec	19:00 EDT
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island	20:00 ADT
Newfoundland and Labrador	20:30 NDT
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A board meeting is planned on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 19:00 EDT (Ottawa time). The meeting will take place electronically via Webex. All directors will receive an email to their Wikimedia Canada email account with instructions on how to connect to the meeting. You will be also able to read the minutes in the days following the meeting. Alan Walker will send out the invites for the Webex meeting and James Heilman will chair the meeting.

Attendees

Attendance is open to members of the board of directors.

• Alan Walker
• James Heilman
• Benoit Rochon (available only at 18:00 EDT)
• Jeffery Nichols
• Ray Saintonge

Agenda

1. Declaration of Conflict of Interest.
2. Alan Walker - Wikimedia Foundation Grant (Approved) - Next steps (10 minutes)
3. Jeffery Nichols - Report on Membership (5 minutes)
4. Ray Saintonge - Report on Finance (5 minutes)
5. Benoit Rochon - Report on French Communications (5 minutes)
6. Jit Lahiry - Report on legal obligations / Charity application (5 minutes)
7. Jit Lahiry - Executive powers for directors
8. Jeffery Nichols - Report on Privacy policy
9. James Heilman - Schedule of next 2 meetings

Minutes

• Date: 2011 May 24, 19:00 EDT
• Location: Teleconference
• In attendance:
  • Board members:
    1. Zana Gordon
    2. James Heilman
    3. Alan Walker
    4. Jeffery Nichols
    5. Ray Saintonge
  • Observers:
    • None

Text of minutes

Approval of minutes

• James Heilman motioned to approve the minutes of the meeting of 20 April 2011.
  • Seconded by Ray Saintonge.
  • Unanimous agreement.
  • Motion passed.

Declaration of conflicts of interest

• None

Wikimedia Foundation Grant

• Alan Walker reported that today we were approved as a Wikimedia chapter. The next step is signing an agreement with the foundation regarding the use of trademarks. There exists a standard form for this, which we might modify. This status might help in the future aim to get charitable status.
• He also reported that funding from the foundation was approved, but it is not known if the money has been transferred.
• He also reported that we might be limited in our ability to use online banking because we require two signatures. Even so, we some board members should be able to check the organization's bank balance easily. Official bank statements are currently going to James Heilman’s house. We need a policy for who can approve money acts, who must sign for withdrawal, and how much the executive can spend without first getting a board resolution.
• Action: Ray Saintonge will draft a proposal for a banking policy.

Report on Membership

• Jeffery Nichols reported that no additional members have joined since the last board meeting.
• He reported that a new sign-up page is needed for new members, preferably before public announcements or recruiting drives.
• Board members agreed that members should be given membership cards and newsletters.
• Action: Jeffery Nichols will draft a list of features needed for a new member sign-up page.
• Action: Anyone will send articles to Jeffery Nichols for use in a newsletter.

Report on Finance

• Most relivant subjects were discussed during the discussion of the Wikimedia Foundation Grant, above.
• Alan Walker reported that if the organization wished to participate in the Wikimedia Foundation's banner ad fundraiser, we must make a list of possible budget items.
• He also raised the possibility of buying board insurance.
• He also noted complications of asking for donations on the website while it is not owned by the organization.
• Action: Ray Saintonge will investigate the transfer ownership of the domain wikimedia.ca to the organization before 7 June.
• Action: Anyone may contribute to an on-wiki discussion of possible budget items for the banner ad fundraiser.

Report on French Communications

• Deferred for Benoit Rochon
• Alan Walker reported that we have been in contact with a Wikimedia France for possible future participation in each other's events.

Report on legal obligations / Charity application

• Alan Walker reported that we have to sign an agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation regarding use of their trademarks. Most chapters sign the default agreement, but some changes might be made to accommodate local laws. The agreement is mostly a formality, we only have to make sure it complies with Canadian charity law.
• Alan Walker motioned that legal council will refine an agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation to be signed before the next board meeting notwithstanding an objection by more than one member.
  • 4 in favour — 1 abstention
  • Motion passed.
• Action: Prosenjit Lahiry will refine an agreement.

Executive powers for directors

• Deferred for Prosenjit Lahiry

Report on privacy policy

• Jeffery Nichols presented a privacy policy for the website and a privacy policy for personal information of members of the organization.
• Alan Walker made an amendment with unanimous approval.
• Alan Walker motioned to adopt the policies.
• Unanimous agreement.
• Motion passed.

Report on UBC scholarship

• James Heilman reported that he is working on establishing a scholarship in the organization's name at the University of British Columbia related to the free distribution of medical knowledge.

Schedule of next 2 meetings

• The next two meetings are scheduled for 29 June and 13 July.

Verification

• James called the meeting to a close at 20:30 EDT.
• Minutes verified by Jeffery Nichols, secretary.