TheWikimedia Movement is an international, sociocultural movement, whose vision is to bringfree knowledge to the whole world. This Wikimedia Movement Charter (“Charter”) lays out the values, principles, and policy basis for Wikimedia Movement structures, including the roles and responsibilities of existing and new entities, and of decision-making bodies in the shared vision of free knowledge. This Charter applies to everyone and everything officially associated with the Wikimedia Movement: all individual and institutional participants, movement entities,projects, and online and offline spaces.
By defining the Wikimedia Movement and its values, this Charter aims to make it easier for stakeholders to collaborate with each other in a manner which fosters the Wikimedia Movement vision. This will help:
This Charter may be amended if needed, according to theAmendment section.
The Wikimedia Movement is based on and embraces a factual, verifiable, open, and inclusive approach to knowledge-sharing. All decision-making throughout the Wikimedia Movement needs to be made on the basis of and reflect these shared principles and values.
These shared principles include the ones already present at the Wikimedia Movement’s origin — free and open licensing, self-organization and collaboration, and factual and verifiable information — and extend to those shared values that are necessary to develop for our future. These principles and values recognize sharing of knowledge as a deeply collaborative endeavor.
The Wikimedia Movement is a diverse movement, yet the movement embraces threefundamental principles. These fundamental principles are:
Free and open licensing
The Wikimedia Movement uses open licensing to share everything it produces, including, but not limited to, text, media, data, and software for further use, distribution, and improvement. Some external content shared under a variety of licenses are also made available for use under open licensing. The Wikimedia Movement is committed to deepening its vision by expanding the realms of free knowledge, by integrating new and evolving forms of knowledge, and by growing diversity of content.
Self-organization and collaboration
The Wikimedia Movement is based on distributed leadership. Starting with the base of volunteers, the Wikimedia Movement entrusts the vast majority of decisions and policy-making to individual and institutional members at the most immediate or the lowest possible level of participation. Online and offline communities across the world generally make decisions for themselves, through the principle ofsubsidiarity. The Wikimedia Movement invites creativity, assuming responsibility, and collaboration in solving problems and implementing the values of this Charter.
Factual and verifiable information
The Wikimedia Movement’s content aims to represent reality. Definitions of notability or neutrality might vary across different parts of the Wikimedia Movement, but the goal is to provide knowledge of high quality. The Wikimedia Movement cherishes sources, peer review and consensus. The Wikimedia Movement actively avoids all biases, knowledge gaps, and misinformation and disinformation.
In addition to the three fundamental principles, this Charter recognizesvalues that are central to good governance. These values are:
Autonomy
The Wikimedia Movement strives to operate independently, focused on and guided by its free knowledge vision, and unobstructed by bias or favoritism. The Wikimedia Movement refuses to allow commercial, political, other monetary, or promotional influences to compromise its vision in any manner whatsoever.
Equity
The Wikimedia Movement recognizes that many communities and their members face diverse challenges to knowledge equity. The Wikimedia Movement strives to empower these communities and their members to overcome historical, social, political, and other forms of knowledge inequality. The Wikimedia Movement takes active measures, such as allocatingresources, to promote and achieve equity in knowledge through decentralized governance and community empowerment.
Inclusivity
The Wikimedia projects are developed in many languages, reflecting many regions and cultures. All activities are based on mutual respect for the diversity of the participants of the Wikimedia Movement. This respect is enforced through measures to support safety and inclusion. The Wikimedia Movement provides a diverse common space, where everyone who shares in the vision and values of the Wikimedia Movement can participate and co-create. This inclusive space promotes accessibility through assistive technology for diverse special needs.
Safety
The Wikimedia Movement prioritizes the well-being, security, and privacy of its participants. The Wikimedia Movement seeks to ensure a safe environment that fosters diversity, inclusion, equity, and cooperation, which are necessary for participation in free knowledge in the online information ecosystem. It is a priority of the Wikimedia Movement to seek to ensure safety in both online and offline spaces. This priority is advanced by implementing and enforcing comprehensive codes of conduct, and investing resources necessary to support these activities.
Accountability
The Wikimedia Movement holds itself accountable through community leadership as represented within Wikimedia projects andWikimedia Movement Bodies. This accountability is implemented through transparent decision-making, dialogue, public notice, reporting of activities, and upholding aCare Responsibility.
Resilience
The Wikimedia Movement thrives through innovation and experimentation, and constantly renews its vision of what a free knowledge platform can be, while continuing to respect the values and principles of this Charter. The Wikimedia Movement pursues effective strategies and practices to fulfill its vision, and supports and drives these strategies and practices with meaningful metrics-based evidence where possible.
Individual contributors are the core of the Wikimedia Movement. Contributors have autonomy as individuals to contribute to the Wikimedia Movement’s vision and activities with their knowledge, expertise, time and energy, either online or offline. Individual contributors create and manage content; carry out administrative duties; participate on volunteer committees; organize events; and engage in other activities within the Wikimedia Movement.
Persons acting in their volunteer capacity do not receive salary for these efforts; however, volunteers may receive recognition or support in a variety of other forms. Voluntary participation is impacted by access to resources and other barriers.
Individual contributors and other volunteers commit to individual or collective activities in the Wikimedia Movement based on personal preferences, and should be empowered to participate whenever possible.
Wikimedia Movement communities are groups of people who contribute online and offline to build and advance the Wikimedia Movement vision. Such communities include individual participants, paid staff, and representatives from partner organizations that are aligned with the Wikimedia Movement vision. Wikimedia Movement communities include, but are not limited to, project communities, geographic communities, language communities, and technology/developer communities. The Wikimedia Movement is formed, developed and sustained by the collective and individual work and membership of its communities.
Wikimedia project communities have autonomy to establish policies for their individual projects, so long as such policies are in conformity with this Charter and the framework of global policies.[1] This autonomy allows individuals and communities to experiment and develop new social and technological approaches. These communities are expected to be open[2] about their governance, their processes and their activities, so that everyone in the Wikimedia Movement can work together as a global community in a fair and unbiased manner. Almost all decisions made on individual Wikimedia projects are made by volunteer contributors, either individually or as interested groups.[3]
Wikimedia Movement volunteers and communities form organizations to support and coordinate their activities. In this Charter, these organizations are referred to as Wikimedia Movement Bodies, which include Wikimedia Movement Organizations, the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Global Council. The Global Council and the Wikimedia Foundation are the highest governing bodies, both with their own specific purpose and responsibilities.
So that under-resourced and underrepresented contributors can participate meaningfully in Wikimedia projects and other Wikimedia Movement activities, Wikimedia communities and Movement Bodies should seek to reduce participation barriers. Wikimedia Movement Bodies have no editorial control over specific projects or content areas. All Wikimedia Movement Bodies have aCare Responsibility towards the Wikimedia communities with whom they work.
TheIndependent Dispute Resolution mechanism will be[5] created to resolve conflicts that existing Wikimedia Movement mechanisms are unable to resolve, or where involved parties are unable to handle such decisions for reasons beyond their control. In the absence of this mechanism, the Wikimedia Foundation, or its chosen delegate, will assume this responsibility.
Wikimedia Movement Organizations are organized groups that exist to create conditions for open and free knowledge to flourish in a given geographic or thematic context. Wikimedia Movement Organizations operate in line with the Wikimedia Movement’s vision, and include Wikimedia affiliates, hubs, and other groups that the Global Council[6] or its appointed committees have recognized formally.
There are four different types of Wikimedia Movement Organizations:
Wikimedia Movement Organizations are a key way in which Wikimedia Movement communities can organize within the Wikimedia Movement for delivery of activities and cooperative endeavors. Wikimedia Movement Organizations may employ professionals to support the mission of the organization, as well as the free knowledge vision. Most often, this support is provided by amplifying and supporting the work of volunteers.
Guided byMovement Values,Principles of Decision-Making, and standards established by the Global Council, the body of a Wikimedia Movement Organization can decide its composition and governance according to the context and needs within which it operates. The decision-maker in a Wikimedia Movement Organization is an organization’s board or a similar body and is accountable to the group that such board or similar body represents—for example, its membership body.
The responsibilities of Wikimedia Movement Organizations include:
For numerous reasons, including the resource allocation within the Wikimedia Movement, Wikimedia Movement Organizations should make their work and activities transparent by providing publicly accessible reporting.
Wikimedia Movement Organizations may choose to develop their financial sustainability through additionalrevenue generation, thereby increasing the overall capacity of the Wikimedia Movement. When necessary, such efforts for revenue generation must be coordinated with other Wikimedia Movement Bodies, including the Wikimedia Foundation and the Global Council.
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is the nonprofit organization that serves as the main steward and support of theWikimedia Movement’sfree knowledge platforms and technology. Themission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, as well as to disseminate it effectively and globally.
The Wikimedia Foundation should align its work with the strategic direction and global strategy of the Global Council. Following theMovement Values andPrinciples of Decision-Making, and the WMF’s mission, the Wikimedia Foundation is expected to contribute to distributed leadership and responsibilities across the Wikimedia Movement. For the same reasons, the Wikimedia Foundation is also expected to work towards equitable distribution of resources, such as those established by the Global Council in consultation with stakeholders.
Guided byMovement Values andPrinciples of Decision-Making, the Wikimedia Foundation can decide its composition and governance in accordance with this Charter, and the context and needs within which it operates. The Wikimedia Foundation works closely with the Global Council, especially on matters that have global or movement-wide impact on the Wikimedia Movement.
The Wikimedia Foundation’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
The Global Council[8] is a collaborative and representative decision-making body that brings together diverse viewpoints to advance the vision of the Wikimedia Movement. The Global Council operates alongside the Wikimedia Foundation and other Wikimedia Movement Organizations to foster an inclusive and effective environment for the Wikimedia Movement as a whole and for all stakeholders involved.
The Global Council serves as a forum where different Wikimedia Movement perspectives converge, thereby playing a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of the Wikimedia Movement. The Global Council seeks to ensure the continued relevance and impact of the Wikimedia Movement in an ever-changing world through its functions of strategic planning, support of Wikimedia Movement Organizations, resource distribution, and technology advancement.
Decisions are better informed and reflect the needs and priorities of the global community when a wide range of voices and experiences from across the Wikimedia Movement represent and participate in the highest levels of decision-making. By electing and selecting a majority of the Global Council’s members from the Wikimedia Movement’s volunteer base, the Global Council fosters a stronger sense of ownership and trust, while working towards the Wikimedia Movement’s vision of free knowledge. To support inclusion and representation of diverse perspectives, the membership of the Global Council should not be dominated by any particular demographic, including, but not limited to, any linguistic, geographical, or project-based demographic.
Guided byMovement Values andPrinciples of Decision-Making, the body of the Global Council can decide its composition and governance in accordance to the context and needs within which the Global Council operates. The Global Council also decides on the details of its own procedures. These procedures include, but are not limited to: the Global Council structure, membership, decision-making processes, responsibilities and accountability, and mechanisms for the inclusion of new and less-heard voices.
The Global Council focuses on four functions and areas of decision-making that have a direct impact on the Wikimedia Movement community and stakeholders. The Global Council has decision-making authority over all of its functions established by this Charter. The members of the Global Council are held accountable for the decisions and actions of the Global Council through the election and selection process.
The Global Council elects a Global Council Board, which is in charge of coordinating[9] and representing the Global Council as mandated by this Charter and the Global Council’s decisions. The Global Council Board approves the establishment and activities of the Global Council committees and their membership. These Global Council committees determine their own composition and ways of operating, and can appoint additional members who are not members of the Global Council to contribute to their work. The Global Council has at least four committees, individually responsible for each of the four functions outlined in this Charter.
Strategic Planning
The Global Council is responsible for developing long-term strategic[10] direction for the Wikimedia Movement. The strategic direction will serve as a foundation for decisions made by the Global Council and as guidance for the prioritization of the initiatives to achieve strategic goals. All Wikimedia Movement Bodies are expected to support the strategic direction established by the Global Council and incorporate it into their programs and activities. Based on such strategic direction, the Global Council also develops recommended annual global strategic priorities for the Wikimedia Movement. The Global Council develops the strategic direction in consultation with all stakeholders inside and outside the Wikimedia Movement.
Support of Wikimedia Movement Organizations
The Global Council establishes standards for the functioning of Wikimedia affiliates[11] and Wikimedia hubs. To achieve this, the Global Council and its committee establish and oversee processes for recognition/derecognition of these affiliates and hubs;[12] seek to ensure that Wikimedia Movement Organizations are in compliance with organizational standards; facilitate conflict resolution to maintain collaborative and respectful relationships within the Wikimedia Movement; and simplify access toresources (financial, human, knowledge, and others) for more equitable support and empowerment of Wikimedia Movement communities.
Resource Distribution
The Global Council establishes and periodically reviews the standards and guidelines for the equitable distribution of the funds[13] in the Wikimedia Movement in alignment with the strategic direction. These standards and guidelines shall comply with thePrinciples of Decision-Making. Furthermore, the Global Council and its committees determine the grant distribution to the Wikimedia Movement communities and Wikimedia Movement Organizations; determine movement-wide goals and metrics in conformity with the priorities set out in the strategic direction; determine the regional, thematic, and other funding allocations; and review global programmatic outcomes.[14]
Technology Advancement
The Global Council coordinates across different Wikimedia Movement technology-focused stakeholders,[15] and provides advice and guidance on technological advancement. The Global Council assists and advises the Wikimedia Foundation in prioritizing technological changes,[16] including the opening or closing of Wikimedia language projects, and helps the wider Wikimedia Movement understand the technological priorities as set forth in the strategic direction. The Global Council will exercise these functions in collaboration with Wikimedia Movement Bodies and online technical contributors.[17][18]
The first Global Council will have twenty-five members. Of which, twelve members will be elected by the Wikimedia community at large; eight members will be selected through Wikimedia affiliates; one by the Wikimedia Foundation; and the remaining four members will be directly appointed by the Global Council, for the purpose of increasing expertise and diversity within its membership.
The Global Council selects twenty-percent (20%) of its members to serve on the Global Council Board.
With the experiences gained through its initial set-up and processes, the Global Council will review internal workings and mechanisms in order to innovate, adapt, and grow as a Wikimedia Movement Body. At least once every 3 years:
This Charter is designed to endure for many years. Because of this, except as provided below, amendments to this Charter are to be made only in extraordinary circumstances.
| Amendment Category | Process | Change Approval Body | Notes |
| 1 | 55% support for proposed change | Global Council Board | |
| 2 | 55% support for proposed change | Global Council | Community consultation recommended |
| 3 | Movement-wide vote, 55% support for change | Wikimedia Movement | Voting mechanism to follow the ratification process as closely as possible, including support vote from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees |
| 4 | Proposals must meetcriteria to move on to voting. Movement-wide vote, 55% support for change | Wikimedia Movement | Voting mechanism to follow the ratification process as closely as possible, including support vote from Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees |
The Global Council Board may propose amendments in Categories 1, 2, and 3. The Global Council may propose amendments in Categories 2 and 3. Category 4 amendments are proposed by members of the Wikimedia Movement. Category 4 amendments mustmeet certain criteria, including public support in order to trigger the amendment voting process. The Global Council is responsible for designing the process in consultation with the Wikimedia community.
The Global Council must appoint an independent committee to manage voting on Categories 3 and 4 amendments. The Global Council may define voting eligibility criteria for affiliates and individual voters, or may delegate this responsibility to the independent committee.
The Charter is ratified and comes into effect after a vote that has the following result:
Translations of this Charter may be provided in other languages. In the event of doubt or conflict between any translation and the original English language version, the English language shall prevail.