MWStake incorporation/Board meeting

The inaugural board member meeting topics:

1. MWStake incorporation
   • Status
2. Board/Officer role/title selection
   • Basic non-profit rolls: president, treasurer, and secretary

   The "normal" officer positions to accomplish the statutory functions of a corporation are president, treasurer, and secretary (one to be in charge and execute directions of the board, one to handle and account for the finances, and one to keep records).  They can be called whatever one desires and the same person can conduct more that one function, although if there are enough people it is preferable to separate the duties.  For a non-profit such as yours, there are also issues of accountability that strongly argue for separating the duties, so that no one person has too much power.  For the board itself, there are no positions, although most boards will elect a chairperson to run the meeting.  Other than that, you are free to choose whatever structure works for you.

3. Membership/election/term
   • How membership is granted
   • How officers are selected
   • How board members are selected
4. Non-profit type
   • 501(c)(6) vs. 501(c)(3) - See [MWStake incorporation#Non-profit type|here] for more information
5. Funding
   • We are funded through a WMF grant ($2,000) for incorporation, funding for non-profit status (estimated cost is $1,500) is still undecided.
     • Self fund
     • 2^nd Rapid grant
6. Bylaws
   • Our lawyers are drafting a standard non-profit bylaws
   • We can edit as we see fit

   We (our lawyer) usually draft general bylaws for the normal positions, however, if you have a particular operating concept in mind, please let me know.  I am also interested in how you plan to choose the board members on an ongoing basis.  Part of this equation will also be determining who is a member of MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group and who gets to vote for the board.

7. Insurance

   Generally you are looking at two types of insurance: commercial liability to protect the organization and "errors and omissions" coverage to protect the board members and officers.  The latter is often provided by more established organizations (as opposed to organizations like the local soccer club) to encourage people to take on the roles of responsibility, although it is not required.  This coverage could be purchased by individuals. Each business/non-profit have its own risk profile to consider in the commercial liability area.  Those companies that demolish large city buildings with carefully placed explosives will have some different risks than MWStake.  At the same time, you will have similar concerns for risks like sexual harassment claims.  I (our lawyer) would recommend contacting an insurance professional who could go into the details, answer your questions, then come up with some price quotes.  In the Smoker group of companies is Smoker-Sheaffer Insurance LLC.  They broker insurance coverage and their website is smokersheaffer.com  You certainly don't need to go through Smoker-Sheaffer -- that makes no difference to me -- and you may know of other insurance agents/brokers to contact and compare.

8. Goals for the future
   • Cindy's example
   • Brainstorm on others