Message from the
Chair of the Board at Wikimedia UK
I am delighted to introduce Wikimedia UK’s Annual Report for the financial year ending 31st January 2023. Despite a challenging external environment, this has been another highly successful year for the charity in terms of its partnerships, fundraising, and - of utmost importance - its reach and impact. Thank you to the staff team, our partners and our dedicated volunteer community for all you do to ensure open knowledge for all.
As always, I have been very grateful to work with such a knowledgeable and committed Board of Trustees. I was delighted to welcome Adrian Beidas and Vivian Wineman to the Board as new trustees in July 2022, and to welcome back Sangeet Bhullar for a final term. Adrian and Vivian bring valuable finance and legal expertise respectively, while Sangeet’s work in information literacy is of great benefit to the organisation, given our focus on this area. I would also like to welcome our new Honorary Members: Josie Fraser, Melissa Highton, Magnus Manske and Nick Poole.
As a passionate advocate for the importance of arts and culture, I am delighted by Wikimedia UK’s strong and fruitful relationships in this sector, and the inspiring work that is taking place as organisations slowly recover from the Covid pandemic. Whilst the cost of living crisis presents a new challenge for both existing and potential partners, I continue to be impressed by the sheer diversity of the work that is taking place to remove barriers to access and engage the public with the UK’s incredible collections. Wikimedia UK’s involvement in the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Towards a National Collection programme, as well as our Connected Heritage project (funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund), demonstrates our agility and flexibility - working within large consortiums of national institutions, and also delivering bespoke support to small, community-based heritage organisations.
It is a credit to the people who are the mainstay of our organisation that our work in the higher education sector continues to be acknowledged as making a powerful impact in teaching and learning. Course leaders and students have fed back to us about the benefits of working with Wikimedia to support information literacy skills. At the University of Edinburgh, where there has been a Wikimedian in Residence since 2016, the extensive Wikimedia programme continues to provide benefits to staff and students while also enriching the content of Wikipedia, Wikidata and the other projects. As we move into 2023, I offer our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters for your continued work and encouragement of Wikimedia UK and the wider Wikimedia movement with your time, expertise and knowledge.
Monisha Shah, Chair of the Board of Trustees