User:Rock drum/Wikimedia UK

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Wikimedia UK is a London-based charitable organisation. It is a local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation and was founded in November 2008 and approved as a chapter on 12 January 2009. It was registered as a charity under registered number 1144513 in November 2011.

Goals
Wikimedia UK is a charity and its objects are:

...to promote and support the widest possible public access to, use of and contribution to open content of an encyclopaedic or educational nature or of similar utility to the general public, in particular the open content supported and provided Wikimedia Foundation, Inc....

Wikimedia UK v1.0
An initial Wikimedia chapter for the UK was incorporated under the name of Wiki Educational Resources Limited in February 2006 and was the sixth group to have organised itself as a chapter. It was announced that it would be dissolved in late 2008 due to difficulties with bank accounts and its relationship with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikimedia UK v2.0
In January 2009 a second attempt at a Wikimedia chapter for the United Kingdom was made under the name Wiki UK Limited. The board of the Wikimedia Foundation approved it in January 2009 7-0 in favour.

It was granted charity status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales in early November 2011.

Original Board of Trustees
The initial board of trustees of Wiki UK Limited was:
 * Kwan Ting Chan — Chair
 * Andrew Turvey — Secretary
 * Thomas Holden — Treasurer
 * Michael Peel — Membership Secretary
 * Michael Conn — Communication Officer

Employees
For the first few years of its existence, tasks relating to the administration of the chapter were carried out by board members and volunteers. Though the number of employees has grown, the chapter's staff is still very small, and the bulk of work continues to be done by volunteers.

In September 2010 long-time Wikimedian Charles Matthews was hired for six months as a temporary "Office Manager". The 2011-12 board of trustees elected to hire a temporary "Office Administrator" in Autumn 2011 to assist with the annual fundraisier. This position was filled by Richard Symonds who later became "Office and Development Manager". The first permanent employee of Wikimedia UK was Chief Executive Jon Davies who was responsible for finding an office for the chapter.

In early 2012, the chapter went through a surge of growth and hiring employees to organise events, communications and fundraising

Board members
Following the 2012 AGM the board of trustees consists of:
 * Chris Keating — Chair (until 2014 AGM)
 * Doug Taylor — Vice Chair (until 2013 AGM)
 * Michael Peel — Secretary (until 2014 AGM)
 * John Byrne — Treasurer (until 2013 AGM)
 * Roger Bamkin (until 2013 AGM)
 * Ashley van Haeften (until 2014 AGM)
 * Joscelyn Upendran (until 2014 AGM)

Ashley van Haeften began his term as chair but resigned and was replaced by Chris Keating during the year.

Projects and initiatives
In addition to supporting community events and meetups Wikimedia UK runs several outreach projects and initiatives.

Collaborations with the cultural sector
In June 2010 Wikimedia supported the first Wikipedian-in-Residence placement at the British Museum. He organised various projects during his tenure including a Backstage Pass event for Wikipedians, a Featured Article challenge and one-on-one collaborations between Wikipedians and British museum curators.

In addition to collaborations with a number of smaller cultural institutions, Wikimedia UK has begun partnerships with The National Archives (utilising QRpedia) and the British Library, assisting with the hiring of a Wikipedian in Residence.

Collaborations with educational institutions
In 2011, Wikimedia UK supported the formation of a Wikipedia society at Imperial College, London. Other outreach efforts to educational institutions include "wikilounges" and stalls at "Freshers' Fairs".

MonmouthpediA
Headed up by Welsh Wikipedia editor John Cummings, the MonmouthpediA project aims to improve content on Wikipedia related to the town of Monmouth and then allow residents to access the information through QRpedia codes. The project led to Monmouth being described as the "world's first Wikipedia town".

Finances
As with the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia UK relies upon donations to fund its projects. During the 2011-12 fundraiser, the charity raised over £1 million for the first time.

In March 2012 the board of the Wikimedia Foundation ruled that only Wikimedia UK and three other chapters would be allowed to process payments separately from the Wikimedia Foundation during the 2012-2016 annual fundraising campaigns.

Documents (reports, plans etc.)

 * 2012 Activity Plan
 * 2011-2012 Annual Report (1.17 MB)
 * 2010-2011 Activities summary (198 KB)
 * 2010-2011 Finance report (911 KB)