Board Meeting

Date (UTC):	3 April 2020 14:00:00 - 3 April 2020 15:00:00
Attendees:	Bryan Hildebrand, Cindy Cicalese, Eric-Jan, Evita Hollis, Lex Sulzer, Mark Hershberger, Markus Glaser

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Meeting agenda

1. Welcome New Member - Eric-Jan

Notes

1. Organizational update
   • (Mark) Still waiting for non-profit approval from the IRS.
   • (Mark) Not sure if they are impacted by COVID-19, but we are at the minimum time predicted by our lawyer.
2. Introduction from Eric-Jan
   • (Eric-Jan) Worked in Industry, saw WikiBase (WB) make an inspection tool for $5k that impressed me and I joined them.
   • (Eric-Jan) Wife is a lawyer and daughter going to school in the medical field.
   • (Eric-Jan) My strength is in Marketing and Strategy.
3. Eric-Jan's outline for MWStake funding
   • (Eric-Jan) Shared his presentation
   • (Eric-Jan) The proposal uses the same method used at WB
   • (Eric-Jan) The process looks like a pyramid, from top down:
     1. Goal
        • Need is in the 10s of thousands
        • With the goal of financial independance
     2. Required
        • Is there a conflict with the WMF?
          • Currently, WB makes a monthly donation to WMF
          • Some donors currently give money to the WMF and may stop to give money to the MWStake. Is this a problem?
          • (Markus) No, Wikimedia Germany takes their own donations, WMF likes this autonomy
          • MWStake used to take grants from the WMF, this will allow us to stand on our own
          • In the future, MWStake can send excess money to the WMF
     3. How to
        • Can we allow donations to effect work?
          • (Lex) During the formation, I outlined a solution to define how voting, work, and payment can be handled
        • (Markus) We do have a wishlist of improvement to MW
          • (Markus) May need to repeat the survey, although it largely stays the same (ACL)
        • (Eric-Jan) With regards to Marketing here are some options:
          • Wikiapiary
          • Professional development and consulting
          • Previous conference attendees

            (Cindy) I have the contact list for the previous EMWCons

4. Change to Bylaws
   • (Mark) Called a vote to change the notice for board meeting from 30 days to 15
   • The vote passed unanimously with the 7 board members present
   • ACTION ITEM Bryan to change the bylaws and send an output
     • (Bryan) This effects Section 5.6.3, "Notice must be sent to each Director 30 calendar days before a meeting of the Board of Directors."
     • (Bryan) However, Section 3.2.2 states, "Notice must be given to the Directors at least 30 calendar days before the Board of Directors may consider an amendment, supplement, or repeal of the Charter or these Bylaws."
     • (Bryan) Our vote can be considered the notice to all, but we need to inform James and then change the Bylaws 30 days from the vote
     • ACTION ITEM Bryan will review the Bylaws to determine additional changes to discuss during the next meeting.
   • ACTION ITEM Mark to send out meeting invites. The goal was to meet the Friday before the next MWStake meeting, which would make the Board Meeting April 24th.
5. EMWCon thoughts
   • (Cindy) The conference attendees had a max of 26 in Zoom and 20 on YouTube (with some possible overlap)
   • (Cindy) Given the circumstances, I think it went very well.
   • (Bryan) I think it went amazingly well (thanks Cindy).
   • (Bryan) We should aim to replicate the successful remote conference to all future in-person conferences and allow those that cannot attend in person to have a similar experience to this years virtual conference.
   • (Cindy) The remote venue allowed more speakers from around the world
   • (Cindy) I liked Zoom as a platform even though it has some privacy issues and missed the mark slightly in some areas (breakout rooms open for attendees to enter/leave as they need).