Wikimedia Hungary

Wikimedia Hungary (Wikimédia Magyarország Egyesület) is the official Hungarian chapter of the Wikimedia movement. It is a public-benefit non-profit association whose stated purpose is to support the collection, organisation and dissemination of human knowledge and to ensure the widest possible access to that knowledge. It supports the creation, operation and distribution of freely editable and freely reusable knowledge collections, and the training of those who wish to contribute to them. The association is one of the worldwide official local chapters of the Wikimedia Foundation. Its activity is primarily aimed at helping Wikipedia and its sister projects, but it is independent of them: it does not participate in the creation of their content and does not exercise supervision over them. The organisation was founded in autumn 2008. After preparatory meetings in summer 2008, its founding general assembly was held on 27 September 2008 with 20 founding members. A repeated founding assembly took place on 19 October 2008 because of a court-required amendment to the statutes. On 3 November 2008 the Wikimedia Foundation accepted the Hungarian chapter as its 20th chapter (together with the Norwegian chapter), and on the same day the Budapest Metropolitan Court registered the association under number 13156 and qualified it as a public-benefit organisation. The registration became final on 24 November 2008, and the association received official notification on 27 November 2008, from which date it could operate. In sum, Wikimedia Hungary travelled from start to finish in only two months, from 27 September to 27 November 2008, in the year that also marked the fifth anniversary of the Hungarian Wikipedia's launch in 2003. The association's membership consists essentially of editors of Wikimedia projects, although it is open to others as well. Membership can be applied for on the association's website by completing an electronic application form. The membership fee has been 1,000 HUF per year since 2018, with the first fee paid upon joining. Anyone may offer a donation to the association at any time, and it is also possible to offer 1% of personal income tax to the association (tax number: 18264973-1-43). The association does not take part in the work of the Wikimedia projects, in the creation of content (articles), or in shaping the rules of the individual projects (Wikipedia, Wikibooks, etc.); its main goal and activity is, however – directly or indirectly – to help and support the development of these projects and the work of those contributing to them. Wikimedia Hungary runs programmes and grants. Anyone may apply for association support; it is not even strictly necessary to be a regular Wikipedia editor. The only real criterion is that the project must primarily aim to expand or improve the content of the Hungarian-language Wikipedia, or, in the case of another-language Wikipedia (e.g. English, German, Spanish), to expand or improve Hungarian-related content there. The association offers programme cost reimbursement grants for editors seeking financial and/or other (e.g. equipment) support to realise a Wikipedia-related project idea, and travel grants for travel to domestic and foreign meetings and association programmes. The most common programme types it supports include article-writing contests, maintenance contests, article-writing marathons (editathons), QRpedia projects, photo contests such as Wiki Loves Monuments or photo tours, and equipment server use (running bots, database queries, data mining, etc.). It has cooperated with the KSH Library, among others. Participants in programmes supported by the association may receive various gifts, which can vary from programme to programme, including Wikipedia-themed merchandise.

Wikimedia Hungary (Wikimédia Magyarország Egyesület, WMM) was founded in autumn 2008. The decision to create the association was made during several meetings and discussions in summer 2008, and preparations for its founding began. On 27 September 2008 the association held its founding general assembly, attended by 20 founding members. On 19 October 2008 a repeated founding general assembly took place because of a court-required amendment to the statutes. On 3 November 2008 the Wikimedia Foundation accepted the Hungarian chapter as its 20th chapter (together with the Norwegian chapter). Also on 3 November 2008, the Budapest Metropolitan Court registered the association in its records under number 13156 and qualified it as a public-benefit organisation. On 24 November 2008 the court's registration order became final. On 27 November 2008 the association received the official notification of the final registration, meaning that from that day it could operate. In summary, Wikimedia Hungary travelled from start to finish in only two months, from 27 September to 27 November 2008, in the year that also marked the fifth anniversary of the Hungarian Wikipedia's launch in 2003. Since its founding, the association has operated as a non-profit, public-benefit organisation. Its membership consists essentially of editors of Wikimedia projects, although it is open to others as well. Membership can be applied for on the association's website by completing an electronic application form. The membership fee has been 1,000 HUF per year since 2018, with the first fee paid upon joining. Anyone may offer a donation to the association at any time, and it is also possible to offer 1% of personal income tax to the association (tax number: 18264973-1-43). The association does not take part in the work of the Wikimedia projects, in the creation of content (articles), or in shaping the rules of the individual projects (Wikipedia, Wikibooks, etc.); its main goal and activity is, however – directly or indirectly – to help and support the development of these projects and the work of those contributing to them. The association runs programmes and grants. Anyone may apply for association support; it is not even strictly necessary to be a regular Wikipedia editor. The only real criterion is that the project must primarily aim to expand or improve the content of the Hungarian-language Wikipedia, or, in the case of another-language Wikipedia (e.g. English, German, Spanish), to expand or improve Hungarian-related content there. The association offers programme cost reimbursement grants for editors seeking financial and/or other (e.g. equipment) support to realise a Wikipedia-related project idea, and travel grants for travel to domestic and foreign meetings and association programmes. The most common programme types it supports include article-writing contests, maintenance contests, article-writing marathons (editathons), QRpedia projects, photo contests such as Wiki Loves Monuments or photo tours, and equipment server use (running bots, database queries, data mining, etc.). It has cooperated with the KSH Library, among others. Participants in programmes supported by the association may receive various gifts, which can vary from programme to programme, including Wikipedia-themed merchandise. From December 2020 the board (Elnökség) consists of Péter Gervai (Grin) as president, Bence Damokos (Bdamokos) as managing vice-president, Balázs Viczián (Vince) as financial vice-president, and board members Anna Sárközy (nyiffi) and Tímea Baksa (Xia). The staff includes Réka Vanek. The association can be contacted at elnokseg@wikimedia.hu, and further contact details are on its website under the contact menu. It is present on Facebook and Twitter.

• Preparatory meetings and discussions for founding the association take place in summer.

• Founding general assembly held with 20 founding members.

• Repeated founding general assembly due to court-required amendment to the statutes.

• Wikimedia Foundation accepts the Hungarian chapter as its 20th chapter (together with the Norwegian chapter).

• Budapest Metropolitan Court registers the association under number 13156 and qualifies it as a public-benefit organisation.

• Court registration order becomes final.

• Association receives official notification of final registration and can begin operating.

• Membership fee set at 1,000 HUF per year.

• New board takes office with Péter Gervai as president.

Non-profit Wikimedia chapter supporting free knowledge and Hungarian-language Wikimedia projects.

1. 1Wikimédia Magyarországwikimedia.hu
2. 2Wikimedia Hungarywikidata.org
3. 3Wikipédia:Wikimédia Magyarországhu.wikipedia.org