MCDC’s May Monthly Updates

Hi everyone,

We, the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC), are happy to share that the final text of the Wikimedia Movement Charter will be released for your reading on June 18 in different languages.   

Release of the final Wikimedia Movement Charter 

The final Wikimedia Movement Charter text will be shared with the Wikimedia Movement on June 18, 2024. It will be translated into 23 languages. Please note that this time, the Movement Charter final text is not up for community review; it is for everyone to read before they vote during the ratification period. 

The Charter Drafting Committee has put many of their volunteer hours into drafting the Charter; they dedicated weekends, evenings, and even some holidays to the collective work of delivering the Charter to our Movement. Some MCDC members left due to personal reasons, and some returned to participate as advisors and supporters. In 2023, we lost our dear friend and colleague Richard (Nosebagbear). 

Drafting a Charter for a global and multilingual movement such as ours, and with a committee as diverse as the MCDC, presented some serious challenges for the Drafting committee members, and trade-offs had to be made. In a process as complex and with a final outcome as impactful as that of the Wikimedia Movement Charter, it is nearly impossible to satisfy all stakeholders equally, and therefore the Drafting Committee worked with the aim of delivering a “good enough” document. Because for true Wikimedians a drafting process is never really completed. We should continually evaluate, iterate, and adapt.

Movement Charter “Launch Party”

We invite everyone to join our Movement Charter Launch Party on June 20 at 14.00-15.00 UTC. In this virtual call, we will celebrate the release of the final Movement Charter and learn about the content of the Charter. 

Ratification process 

The Wikimedia Movement Charter ratification vote on SecurePoll will start on June 25, 2024 at 00:01 UTC and conclude on July 9, 2024 at 23:59 UTC. You can read more about the voting process, eligibility criteria, and other details on Meta.

MCDC’s May convenings: 

2 May – MCDC regular meeting: The MCDC dedicated the first part of their meeting to discuss the feedback received from the BoT and ask clarifying questions to the Board liaisons. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to Charter content work. 
9 May – MCDC regular meeting: The MCDC worked on the content of the Charter. 
15 May – Meeting with the external pro bono law firm:  Some MCDC members met with the external legal advisors to discuss the scope of their review and agree on the next steps. 
16 May – MCDC’s regular meeting: The MCDC worked on the content of the Charter. They also discussed the work plan for May and June, copyediting, and updates from external legal advisors. 
19 May – Working session: The MCDC met on Sunday to work on the Charter text. 
21 May – Some MCDC members met with WMF Legal to align on the work before the final review of the Charter. 
30 May – MCDC regular meeting: The MCDC focused on reviewing and updating the supplementary documents that will be published with the charter, but is not included in the ratification vote.

We look forward to seeing you at the Launch Party!

Thank you.