I have been involved in Wikipedia and other WMF projects since May 2003, being the first admin on it.wiki. In June 2005 I was one of the founders of Wikimedia Italia and the first president (still in the role). I'm bureaucrat on it.wiki, it.news, it.source and it.wikt. I'm a (not very active) member of the Special Projects Committee, an OTRS admin and press contact for it.wiki.
I've some basic points and ideas:
WM projects must remain free and open
we have to share knowledge
WMF is a world wide organization
our communities are both precious and different
as a chapter member I see every day which are WMF problems: for instance, internal and external communication, clearness on which is the purpose of chapters, relationship with communities, donations and donors follow-up...
according to my experience, sharing free knowledge requires that you have something to share, and it's not so obvious: the world is full of unknown knowledge. A first step is to recognize this knowledge and making it accessible.
I'm convinced that WMF should invest in promoting and allowing further improvement of its own projects other than Wikipedia, especially in creating and growing these projects in disadvantaged areas, for instance Africa.
WMF has got an enormous potential, still used only in part. Until and unless WMF doesn't have a well defined structure, and an organization chart that includes the Board, the Communities and the Chapters, it will be difficult to handle.
Chapters are essential to the Foundation and they have to be properly used and strongly supported.
