General Assembly

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Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE) is a non-profit association with members, and thus requires a General Assembly (GA). The General Assembly is the highest organ of WMBE. It is organised at least once a year. The minutes of meeting (statute updates) and financial statements are officially submitted to the Belgian Government.

The general assembly is the owner of the association's assets, officially represented by the UBO. It approves the financial statements, and elects the board. Only Effective members have the right to vote. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to grant effective membership to associate members being associate member for at least 6 months.

Types of General Assembly

1. (yearly ordinary) general assembly, Q2
2. extraordinary general assembly: changes of statutes, or membership issues

Agenda of the General Assembly

• Present the activity report of the previous year
• Present the financial report
• The General assembly approves the financial report
• Discharge of the board
• Voting session for the new Board
• Budget and plans for the current year
• The General Assembly can ask questions

Statutory rules related to the Board

• A mandate as Board member is valid for 2 years
• The Chairman needs to be re-elected every year
• The number of Board members is limited between 3-6 (as per the 2015-12-05 Board meeting and Wikimeet in Antwerpen)
• Only effective members have voting rights for the General assembly
• Absent effective members can issue a proxy to another member (effective or associate)
• Effective members can become a Board member only after being candidate, and after election
• Associate members can become effective member by approval of the Board

Responsibilities

For your convenience, we include an overview of the responsibilities of the General Assembly:

Article 23 of the statutes:

The General Assembly is exclusively competent to:

1. amend the Articles of association; official version only in Dutch;
2. appoint and dismiss directors, and Board members;
3. appoint and dismiss auditors and determine their renumeration, in case a remuneration is granted;
4. approve the annual accounts, yearly budget and general ledger;
5. grant discharge to the directors and auditors;
6. any matter concerning the membership of the association, disciplinary matters concerning effective members and associate members, membership management, membership fee, vote upon Internal rules of procedure;
7. the voluntary dissolution of the association;
8. convert the association into a company with a social purpose;
9. all cases where it is required by the Articles of Association.

Previous General Assemblies

• 10 May 2024 — 11th General Assembly
• 29 April 2023 — 10th General Assembly
• 18 June 2022 — 9th General Assembly
• 26 June 2021 — 8th General Assembly
• 19 September 2020 Extraordinary General Assembly
• 29 August 2020 — 7th General Assembly
• 15 June 2019 — 6th General Assembly
• 14 April 2018 — 5th General Assembly
• 28 January 2017 — 4th General Assembly
• 06 July 2016 Extraordinary General Assembly
• 23 January 2016 — 2nd General Assembly
• 24 January 2015 — 1st General Assembly

See also

• Statutes
• General Assembly (list)
• Wikimedia Belgium general assembly (category on Commons)