From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
- Official (legal) address
- Place to meet
- A guaranteed place with the facilities we need (WiFi)
- Fewer logistical problems (storage)
- Equipment / books / ... storage
- Place for staff to work
- Looking serious
- Reputation
- Reliability
- Consistency
- Space for visitors / wikimedians / community
- Reputation - consistent point of contact
- Identity, visibility
- Networking (in case of sharing)
- Long committment (thinking long term)
- More focus than work from home
- Better coordination for staffs (>2)
- Easier to grow (gives a structure in terms of size)
- Volunteers get to focuse on more "fun" stuff
- Coordination hub -> helps structuring projects / the organisation
- Office location: which city?
- Overhead cost (time and money) - energy
- At least 1 employee (empty office)
- Some volunteers step down or lose motivation because of office and staff
- Former volunteer gets hired: they lose a passion and get a job -> frustration of other volunteers
- Less flexibility
- long term committment
- fixed location -> fosters one location over others
- Pressure to perform
- Higher expectations
- Difficult balance between staff (paid) and volunteer in assigmenent of responsibilities
- Board is becoming useless
- Offices space (physical)
- Location vs. cost (vs. nice) (+wifi)
- % costs vs. chapter budget
- Shared office to start
- Room to grow
- Location
- Cost
- Access to partners, institutions
- Access for communities
- Accessibility
- Cost
- You will need money
- Plan how much of your budget will be invested
- Time will be needed
- Fixed office hours
- Meeting room
- Outsource the boring stuff: brooming, etc.
- External consultant
- Applicants: do phone interviews first (saves time).
- "Why do you want to work for us"? - "I love Wikipedia" is not enough! What do they already know about the association?
- Salary: ask what tey expect. Saves time, maybe they want much more than you want to afford
- On the long run, have a mix of people with / without Wikimedia background
- A director / CEO can build up the association
- What kind of first employee do you want?
- Hire right, not fast
- Policies: lots of legal requirements -> advice
- Define positions, expectations, role
- Person depends on the job to do (not the other way round)
- Financials, account might be outsourced
- Define goals each year for the staff
- Sign contracts -> review contracts
- Provide perspective (motivation)
- Training
- Advantages (Laptop, phone, flexible hours... ) as incentive
- Realise you have become an employer -> responsibilities
