Movement Charter/Glossary

Translate this page

These supplementary documents are provided by the Movement Charter Drafting Committee for information purposes, and to provide further context on the Wikimedia Movement Charter’s content. They are not part of the Charter, and therefore are not included in the ratification vote, but they have been developed during the course of the MCDC’s research and consultation process. They include several types of documents:

Information on topics related to the Charter.
Suggestions for policy or process development or consideration by the Global Council after the Charter is ratified.
Processes related to the Charter ratification vote.

Alongside the publication of the final Movement Charter version on June 10, 2024, these supplementary documents were updated on June 18, 2024.

Care Responsibility

The “care responsibility” formalizes and describes the relationship between organizations and the Wikimedia Movement communities that they serve. It includes, but is not limited to: providing an inclusive and diverse working environment for Wikimedia Movement community members; supporting Wikimedia Movement activities in online Wikimedia projects; conducting work to further free knowledge initiatives together with such communities; and, serving as an intermediary between such communities and the general public.

Community

A group of individuals active in the Wikimedia projects or supporting them in several ways (advocacy, event organization, coordination, etc.). These individuals are generally referred to as Wikimedians.

Content

Any material added, removed, altered, revised, edited, deleted, or otherwise modified by a registered or unregistered user using any user interface that creates a change to any aspect of a Wikimedia project.

Equity

Equity is an attempt to ensure that the different qualities of each party are justly recognized and valued. This includes acknowledging the circumstances and barriers that affect the ability of all parties to prevent them from having the same types of achievement. It is not accomplished by treating everyone equally.

Free knowledge

Free knowledge, open knowledge, and free and open knowledge is free of charge and openly licensed knowledge that can be used, reused, and redistributed without monetary, social or technological restriction.

Fundraising

Fundraising is the act of seeking and acquiring donations. In this Charter, the term “fundraising” is used to describe the process of seeking monetary donations from independent organizations and individual donors. The term includes grants provided by third parties, often to support specific objectives.

For other means of raising money, see revenue generation.

Inclusivity

The act of reducing exclusion and discrimination (including but not limited to age, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation) by both individuals and groups through modifying settings, policies, and structures to create the conditions for the emergence of diversity.

Revenue generation

Revenue generation is the process of obtaining funds to support one or more aspects of the movement. Some examples of revenue generation are:

fundraising
- including grants provided by third parties (unrestricted or to support specific objectives), major gifts, or fundraising events,
membership fees for affiliates

Related to revenue generation is “donation-in-kind,” when an organization or individual provides services and/or physical items without charge, or by charging a discounted fee. Examples can include:

meeting rooms or office space;
internet access; and
free access to archival material.

Resources

Resources are a stock or supply of money, materials, staff, knowledge, or other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively.

In the case of the Wikimedia movement, resources include:

monetary assets obtained by revenue generation;
people (including their time, effort, and capacity; the very large number of volunteers who drive the movement; and, the small number of paid staff who support the volunteers);
the reputation of the Wikimedia movement and its projects and activities as a source of knowledge made available to the world freely and openly;
the content of the Wikimedia projects as developed and managed by volunteers;
the physical storage that contains the software and the content of the Wikimedia projects; and
the educational and informational documentation to support the projects and other movement activities.

Stakeholders

Any individual or group, whether volunteer or not, having invested human, financial or other capital in an organization, who can affect the realization of organizational objectives or is affected by the realization of those objectives.

In this Charter, “stakeholders” are individuals or groups who have a stake in fulfilling the Wikimedia Movement’s vision. More precisely, the term includes online and offline communities, organized groups like affiliates, the Wikimedia Foundation, and members from the wider online information ecosystem, like partners and allies.

Subsidiarity

Subsidiarity is the principle that decisions should be made at the lowest level possible, with other stakeholders located at higher levels stepping in only when necessary.^[1]

Wikimedia Movement

The “Wikimedia Movement” refers to the totality of people, groups, and organizations who support and participate in Wikimedia websites and projects. It includes all of those who operate within the policies, principles, and values of the movement.^[2]

Wikimedia projects

Wikimedia has a series of knowledge projects (e.g., Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiversity, and others). Local or individual Wikimedia projects are primarily language versions of a knowledge project (e.g., English Wikipedia, Turkish Wiktionary). Certain Wikimedia projects are cross-language and do not have specific language versions (e.g., Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons). There are also projects that act as infrastructure for the Wikimedia community, such as the Meta wiki and the MediaWiki wiki.

Notes

↑ See also the definition of Subsidiarity & Self-Management from the Movement Strategy Principles
↑ Della Porta & Diani (2006) observe that social movements share three criteria: (a) are networks of informal interactions between a plurality of individuals, groups, and/or organizations; (b) are engaged in political or cultural conflicts/change; and (c) exist on the basis of shared collective identity. Movements do not have hard boundaries, since different movements tend to fit one inside the other.

[1] See also the definition of Subsidiarity & Self-Management from the Movement Strategy Principles

[2] Della Porta & Diani (2006) observe that social movements share three criteria: (a) are networks of informal interactions between a plurality of individuals, groups, and/or organizations; (b) are engaged in political or cultural conflicts/change; and (c) exist on the basis of shared collective identity. Movements do not have hard boundaries, since different movements tend to fit one inside the other.

[1]

[2]