Wikipedia talk:Education Board/Initial Board Open Tasks

Re Hiring an ED

I think Hiring an ED by Mar 15 is premature. I think we really need to outline and resolve our high level operating model (How the new foundation actually works--org, process, products, communications, etc.) before we try and hire someone to actually execute the business of the foundation. We might want to consider appointing a volunteer ED willing to donate sufficient time to help us get our operating model defined, resourced and functioning initially before we actually hire someone. --Mike Cline (talk) 15:41, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Mike, I just made up that date, so we can change it. I suggest we discuss whether we should take on a temporary ED at our in person meeting. I have concerns about not paying someone, as we are asking someone to take this on full time.DStrassmann (talk) 16:35, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

As time passes it is looking increasingly likely that a March 15 start date isn't going to happen. However, I disagree that we need to resolve all of the issues you laid out - organization, process, products, etc. We're probably going to want the ED to be involved in designing many of those things. We obviously can't put everything on hold until we have an ED, but I wouldn't say we have to have everything settled when he/she starts on day 1. I suspect we will have some time to consider this during our meeting this weekend. Pjthepiano (talk) 04:07, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Some comments

The main four items on our list for the next four months are grant approval, affiliation, hiring an ED, and incorporating. I believe that the right sequence in theory is:

1. Incorporation 2. Affiliation (can't happen if we're not incorporated) 3. Grant approval (can't happen if we're not affiliatied) 4. Hire ED (unlikely to be easy if we have no money)

If this is right, then the incorporation money has to be spent prior to the grant. I have heard that the WMF is going to provide some funding directly for this, and Diana just reported that we have a pro bono law firm, so that may mean there's nothing to worry about here. It does mean that costs of incorporation won't be included in the grant.

The affiliation and grant applications don't need to wait for incorporation, though; the outcomes can be contingent on the right results. I.e. we submit both applications asap, and the affiliation is dependent on the completion of incorporation and the grant could be approved, but withheld until we are successful in the affiliation application. So those timelines can run in parallel.

If we get the grant approved by the end of March, which seems reasonable, we will have a budget that is only going to last us two months. The budget will run to the end of May, which is the end of phase II. Phase III starts June 1. If we can't get funding for any part of phase III, we can't hire an ED. Even if we find someone who would be willing and able to start April 1, they would only have two months of salary. Without some ability to draw additional funding from the WMF we will be relying on fundraising immediately, and I don't believe we will be able to hire the right person if they are walking into a situation like that. If I were that hire, walking into a job where I had to hire the fundraiser, I would want a minimum of six months of salary in the budget to give me some breathing room -- or else some demonstrably likely sources of grants: organizations who had already expressed an interest. In other words, if we can't get more funds in place, the board is going to have to do more fundraising before we can hire. -- Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 01:20, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Just fyi, we don't actually have to be incorporated to get the grant. As long as 2 board members are willing to create a joint bank account, we can apply for a "group grant", with the information about our incorporation into a 501c3. JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 21:54, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

But we do need affiliation in order to get the grant money, don't we? And we can't complete the affiliation process till we're incorporated? Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:36, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Nope; we don't have to be affiliated to receive a grant from the GAC. I'm not saying they'll definitely approve our budget or anything, but people apply for grants all the time without any intent to incorporate or become a thorg. JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 18:28, 6 February 2013 (UTC)