How many board members are there, how many are elected?
There are a total of 5 positions on the board, each of which is an elected position.
How long is a term?
Each elected member will serve for one year, though there are no term limits so individuals can continue to run as many times as they like.
Please note, this is not like the Moderators, where people can abdicate at will. This is a “job” the nominee is intending to fulfill for the entire one year term.
What does the job consist of, how much work is involved?
The primary job of the board of trustees is making sure the Foundation and its projects are solvent, and heading in the right direction. The board will appoint several key roles that will manage the day-to-day activities of the wiki, and hear several reports over the year about how things are going and offer suggestions or guidance.
The bylaws state that there will be at least one full board meeting every quarter where the operations manager will present the current state of the Foundation and its projects, as well as the fiscal status of the corporation as a whole. Some decisions of the board may be required at these meetings on how to procede, additional projects, issues with finances or personnel appointments. Additional meetings can be called by any board member or corporate officer to address specific or emergency issues. Meetings will be held online, using either chat or VOIP services such as Skype.
The board is ultimately charged with ensuring the fiscal solvency of the Foundation so may be called upon to aid in fund raising efforts, such as planning donation drives or seeking external sources of funding or grants.
And finally, the board is in charge of setting up the election protocols and ensuring smooth operations for the election of the next year’s board members.
What qualifications or skills should I have if I want to be on the Board?
The only set qualifications are listed in the voting protocol, basically being 18 years of age, and a minimum number of edits and time on the site. In a more general way though you should care about RationalWiki and care about the internal operations of the site, and be willing and motivated to slog through grizzly details of financial records, and technical issues to find solutions to future problems that might threaten or enhance the survival of the project.
You should also have the free time to devote to the minimum of 4 quarterly meetings a year, though there may be additional time sinks needed depending on what the board decides to do and get involved in.
Familiarity with parliamentary procedure, accounting, or any other such issues, while likely helpful, should not be seen as a prerequisite for serving on the board. If you want to do it, want to be involved, care about RationalWiki and the direction it should take in the future than that is exactly what we need.
How is privacy going to be handled?
Anyone who is elected and agrees to serve on the board of trustees for the Foundation must turn over their full name and contact information to the Foundation. That information will be shared with other board members, and corporate officers, and used for internal documentation. Some legal papers that are filed with the US federal and various state governments also require using real names of the board members. Therefore, individuals with a strong desire for anonymity should not offer to serve.
