2026-04-18 General Assembly
| DRAFT |
Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE) invites all effective members to the General Assembly.
Only effective members can vote. If you can't be present, you can give a proxy to another member. One single proxy allowed per member. There is only a physical gathering, no video conference. Associate members can become effective member, after 6 months being associate member, upon request, and after approval by the Board.
Venue
[edit]| Saturday 18 April 2026 from 14:00-18:00
Transport & Mobility Leuven, Diestsesteenweg 71, 3010 Leuven |
Introduction
[edit]Opening of the session
Meeting administration
[edit]Presence
[edit]General meeting attendees:
Voting members
[edit]
Becoming an effective member
[edit]The Board confirms the following effective members:
Proxy declarations
[edit]Non-voting participants
[edit]- Caren Vervaeke
| Counting | Result |
|---|---|
| Count of presence | |
| Count of proxies | |
| Associate member | |
| Observer | |
| Total represented | |
| Ordinary majority |
Introduction round
[edit]Everyone introduced themselves briefly.
Activities in 2025
[edit]Geert shows the 2025 activity overview, including the Public Domainday, Wiki Loves photo contests, Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund, Industriemuseum, Meemoo (Project Visual name authority).
- public domain day
- annual photo contests Wiki Loves
- a number of writing sessions with different organizations
- collaboration with educational institutions and heritage institutions
- Dominique participated at the General Assembly of Wikimedia Europe in Prague, and the Hackathon in Istanbul.
- Board planning days: Every year in September, location: by the sea, hours: 2 days (including overnight stay).
- A Freelancer completed her first year as a communications and project manager.
- 4 photo contests:
- Wiki Loves Heritage
- Wiki Loves Monuments
- Wiki Loves Monuments Luxembourg
- Wiki Loves Denderland
- Planned photo contests 2026 (in the sommer months):
- Wiki Loves Heritage
- Wiki Loves Monuments Belgium and Luxembourg
- Wiki Loves Denderland
- Collaboration with museums and archives; WMBE works closely with strategic partners to promote the use of Wikipedia/Wikimedia.
- Industry Museum Ghent
- Projects of the Friends of Wikimedia fund:
- Wiki Loves Denderland
- Huis van Alijn
- meemoo
- Heritage institutions & Archives
- Visual Name Authority (meemoo)
- Wikipedia in Education:
- Antoine has led sessions for teachers on how to use Wikipedia in education.
- Erasmushogeschool Brussel - Journalism course, History subject - for 7 years now there is a session for the students who have to write a Wikipedia article.
- Partnerships:
- Friends of Wikimedia Fund
- WikiFranca
- Wikimedia Europe
- Press about Wikipedia and Wikimedia:
- Wikipedia was interviewed by Radio 1 "Zijn er nog vragen?" by Kobe Ilsen
- Standaard Solidariteitsprijs: The design must be delivered before the end of June; 1 pager
- Communication:
- Publication of Vrije kennis ontsluiten met Wikimedia (book and PDF; second edition D/2025/13702/0001)
- The CC BY-NC-SA is not the best solution. But it was required for the first edition (part of a project of de Vlaamse Gemeenschap). For the next edition CC BY-SA should be used (needs approval from Hilke Arijs and Geert Van Pamel). The design of the book is owned by the printer. The CC BY-NC-SA licence is not a problem as such, because all the images are public domain, or being created by Hilke. An attachment will be published with the list of images, and their credits. WMBE must be a role model to correctly apply copyright rules.
- New website wikipedia.be. Since January 2025, the domain name is owned by Wikimedia Belgium. It was originally paid for by Wikimedia Netherlands. The website has been modified for automatic browser language detection.
- Note: we started in February 2025 with Bluesky instead of Twitter/X.
- Publication of Vrije kennis ontsluiten met Wikimedia (book and PDF; second edition D/2025/13702/0001)
Approval of the Annual Accounts 2025
[edit]Full review of the financial report.
- Annual Accounts 2025 (legal statements)
- Financial report 2025 (WMF grants)
Annual accounts Wikimedia Belgium 2025
[edit]Composition of committee
[edit]The committee consisted of Frans Grijzenhout and Nyo.
Opinion of the committee
[edit]Checks and balances
[edit]General suggestions
[edit]Control of the WMF grant
[edit]Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund
[edit]- Donations of 20.014,20 € were received in 2025. The total amount available as of 1 January 2026 is 41.656,82 €.
- In 2026, we started 3 projects. In 2026, already 1 project will start. Read more here.
For information:
- The FVV Committee thanks for donations to the Friends of Wikimedia Belgium Fund.
- Doing a gift is made easy with the QR-code.
- The Belgian government is requiring people to provide their national number (consequence: international donations are not possible any more).
- Renewal of the contract with the King Baudouin Foundation till 2028.
Audit report of Nyo
[edit]Declaration
[edit]Work performed
[edit]Approval of financial statements
[edit]Discharge of the board
[edit]Approval of the budget 2026
[edit]Geert presents an overview of the budget and the activities in the first half year of 2026 and adds an outlook for the second half of 2026. We received a WMF grant of 59.010 € for 2026.
We have a freelancer for 1 day per week for communication (e-mail, internal and external websites, social media), project management, and partner relationships.
Board elections
[edit]Association rules
[edit]Geert explains the procedure and the nominations.
- A mandate as Board member is valid for 2 years
- The Chair needs to be re-elected every year
- The number of Board members is between 3-6; Board decision 2015-12-05 approved at the 2016-01-23 General Assembly
- Effective members can become a Board member after being candidate board member, and after election by the GA
Candidates
[edit]Can continue their 2nd year Board member without re-election:
Up for re-election:
Voting by the General Assembly
[edit]| Statement | Yes | No | Abstain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approval of the Annual accounts 2025 | |||
| Agree to Discharge the board 2025 | |||
| Approval of the Budget 2026 | |||
| Approval of Board member Dominique Labar | |||
| Approval of Board member Geert Van Pamel | |||
| Approval of Board member Griet De Ceuster | |||
| Approval of Board member Inge Van der Stighelen |
Note: board members can't vote for themselves, as this is considered being a conflict of interest.
We will continue to appeal to women, appeal to other backgrounds, and engage younger generations. To do: brainstorm ideas to make this happen.
Other subjects
[edit]Communication
[edit]- Every Tuesday evening from 19:00-21:00, an informal virtual meeting and helpdesk
GLAM
[edit]This summer, we will organise several photo competitions: Wiki Loves Heritage, Wiki Loves Monuments.
Expense claims
[edit]Participants of the general meeting may submit an expense claim.