board to perform its primary roles of setting strategy and overseeing implementation.
One of the main activities of Wikimedia UK volunteers is writing and editing entries in Wikipedia. We recognise that this requires a strong focus on evidence, precision about detail and a high degree of transparency. While it is important that governance is based on good information, the culture of contributing to an encyclopaedia is different from the most appropriate culture for charity governance. In the case of governance an onus needs to be placed much more strongly on using information to make good judgments on matters that are often difficult and seldom clear-cut. This requires a different ‘mind-set’, and the requirement at key moments to stand back from some of the detail.
Good governance in many UK charities also benefits from board members having the opportunity to ruminate about difficult issues and express opinions knowing that they are not being watched and that what they first say could be used against them. This is not available to Wikimedia UK’s board without going into in-camera sessions, given the movement’s commitment to transparency, board meetings that are attended by the organisation’s members, and occasional live streaming of board meetings.
2.3 Governance progress
The board of Wikimedia UK encountered several issues in its first year as a charity. It needed to:
- oversee the very rapid growth of the organisation, leaving little time for people to settle into teams and for systems to become fully embedded
- face strong and sometimes critical external scrutiny, some arguably justified and some not
- manage some conflicts of interest
- undertake a large fundraising campaign that might more often be managed by a more developed charity
- oversee the integration of Wikimedia philosophy with UK charity governance.
