Wikimedia Foundation elections/FDC elections/2015

The election ended 31 May 2015. No more votes will be accepted.
The results were announced on 5 June 2015. Please consider submitting any feedback regarding the 2015 election on the election's post mortem page.

The 2015 elections to the Funds Dissemination Committee will be held from 3 to 10 May 2015. Members of the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to elect five candidates to a two-year term which will expire in 2017. The purpose of the FDC process is to make allocations to FDC-eligible Wikimedia entities, based on an assessment of the extent to which requested funding will enable those entities to have an impact on realizing the mission goals of the Wikimedia movement.

The Election Committee will announce the results on or before 15 May 2015. Detailed results will be available.

Information for voters

Requirements

Editors

You may vote from any one registered account you own on a Wikimedia wiki. You may only vote once, regardless of how many accounts you own. To qualify, this one account must:

not be blocked on more than one project;

and not be a bot;

and have made at least 300 edits before 15 April 2015 across Wikimedia wikis (edits on several wikis can be combined if your accounts are unified into a global account);

and have made at least 20 edits between 15 October 2014 and 15 April 2015.

The AccountEligibility tool can be used to quickly verify basic editor voting eligibility.

Developers

Developers qualify to vote if they:

Are Wikimedia server administrators with shell access;

Or have commit access and have made at least one merged commits in git to Wikimedia Foundation utilized repos between 15 October 2014 and 15 April 2015.

Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors

Current Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors qualify to vote if they have been employed by the Foundation as of 15 April 2015.

Wikimedia Foundation board members, Advisory board members, FDC committee members

Current and former members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board and the Funds Dissemination Committee are qualified to vote.

Information for Nominators

The Funds Dissemination Committee is looking for an especially diverse candidate pool and knows that the community itself is most likely to know who would be a good fit. Do you know someone who would be a good candidate for the FDC? If so, you can nominate them for the position!

How to nominate someone else

If you think that the candidate is eligible, you can ask the election committee to reach out to them, provide information about the position and invite them to apply or ask questions. If you want to do this, you should write an email to board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org with:

The username of the user you want to nominate.
What position(s) you think they would be a good fit for.
Are you ok with your name or username being provided as the nominator?
A short description of why you think they would be a good fit for the position and what they could offer the movement.

What will happen next

After receiving a nomination, the elections committee or their WMF advisors will reach out to the nominee to provide information about the position and it's requirements and to see if they are interested in running. If they are interested, they will be provided with instructions on how to submit their candidacy and, as always, will be able to ask questions about the process or the position.

Information for candidates

Roles and responsibilities of FDC members

From the FDC portal

FDC members will be expected to dedicate considerable time, focus, and effort, including:

In-person attendance at FDC meetings (two meetings expected per year, plus orientation at Wikimania);
Reading and evaluating proposals during the two proposal rounds per year (April/May and October/November);
Ongoing monitoring and participation in FDC discussions and activities within the community; and
Sporadically intense email and IRC communication with FDC staff and other FDC members.

Criteria for FDC membership

To be eligible for the FDC, candidates:

Be at least 18 years old and of legal age in your home country;
Must be able to work effectively in English (although full fluency is not required);
Must present to WMF appropriate personal identification, a copy of which will be maintained by WMF for record-keeping;
Have sufficient time and dedication to commit to this process and availability to attend in-person meetings;
Be available to attend deliberations in San Francisco Nov 15-21, 2015 (May 2016 dates not yet set);
Have a track record of constructive engagement in community discussions and an orientation toward collaborative problem solving; and
Be able to set aside any conflicts of interest and work towards the mission goals of the Wikimedia movement without considering individual or organizational interests.

Board members of entities requesting funds from the FDC may serve on the FDC; however, they must recuse themselves from deliberations pertaining to their entity's application.

Through careful selection of candidates through both the Board-appointment and community election processes, the FDC membership (as a whole) should have the following skills and attributes:

Experience directing or evaluating programs;
Grant-making expertise (either as a grantee or grantor of funds);
Exposure to, understanding of, and personal credibility in the Wikimedia movement (that is, experience in programs, chapters, or administrative roles within the Wikimedia movement); and
Gender, geographic and linguistic diversity.

FDC members will be expected to adhere to articulated conflict of interest provisions that will reduce their risk of being unduly influenced.

Prerequisites to candidacy

The eligibility requirements for candidates are the same as for voters (see voter requirements) with the following additional requirements:

You must not have been convicted of a serious crime or any crime involving dishonesty or deception; and
You must not have been removed from a position at a non-profit organization or other company because of mismanagement or misconduct; and
At the time of nomination or election, you may not be banned or blocked from any Wikimedia project for a period of 30 days or longer; and
You must be over 18 years old and over the age of majority in your home country; and
You must submit proof of your identity to the Wikimedia Foundation (see below).

Submission process

If you are eligible, you can submit your candidacy by doing the following:

Write a brief summary of no more than 1200 characters (excluding spaces) stating what you would do if you were elected to the Funds Dissemination Committee, your relevant opinions and experience, and anything else you think is relevant. You may not use your candidate summary to link to lists of endorsements or other platform pages, and may not run on a slate with other candidates.
Submit your summary between 00:00, April 20 2015 (UTC) and 23:59, April 30 2015 (UTC). Your statement may only be changed in the 3 days after submission, or up to April 30, whichever comes first, except for minor corrections (for instance, spelling correction) or translation. Any additions or changes to content submitted after this deadline will be time-stamped and presented separately from the original summary, and will only be presented to voters if they get translated into all of the same languages as the original summary. You should note that earlier submissions allow time for translation into more languages, and that submissions provided on the due date or just before may not be as widely translated.
Please note: To allow voters to engage with candidates quickly statements will be sent for professional translation within 48 hours of submission. While the first translation will be on a 24 hour turn around future updates will be grouped together and may take longer.
As part of your submission, you must respond to standard questions. The responses to these questions will not count as characters for your summary. The standard questions are:
1. What experiences of yours do you think will enhance the work and recommendation process of the FDC?
  1. Around directing and/or evaluating annual plans and programs?
  2. Around grantmaking?
2. How does your history with Wikimedia make you suited for the FDC?
Submit proof of your identity to the Wikimedia Foundation before 23:59, April 30 (UTC). (see below)

Candidates who fail to comply with the above requirements and deadlines will be disqualified.

Submitting proof of identity to the Wikimedia Foundation

Candidates for this position must submit proof of identity and evidence of age of majority as a condition of candidacy. This proof may be provided in one of the following manners:

Copy or scan of driver's license.
Copy or scan of passport.
Copy or scan of other official documentation indicating real name and age.

This may be provided to the WMF in one of the following means:

via email to secure-info wikimedia.org
via facsimile to +1 (415) 882-0495 (if you do this please email secure-info wikimedia.org to warn them that the fax is incoming)
via post (snail mail) to:

Wikimedia Foundation Inc.

ATTN: JAMES ALEXANDER

149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94106

USA

Note that post is not recommended. Exceptions will not be made if a candidate's documentation has not arrived at the WMF offices by the deadline of 23:59 UTC, April 30 2015.

Organization

Time line

30 April 2015: Deadline for candidate submissions and Identification verification
30 April – 2 May 2015: Questions and discussion between candidates and community
3–10 May: Voting
11–15 May: Vote-checking
15 May: Goal for announcement of results