Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014 round1/Amical Wikimedia/Staff proposal assessment

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Amical Wikimedia received a funds allocation in the amount of €74,000 (or the equivalent of about US$100,000) in 2013-2014 Round 1. This funds allocation was recommended by the Funds Dissemination Committee on 15 November 2013 and approved by the WMF Board of Trustees on 31 December 2013.

Applicants should read this document to familiarise themselves with the assessment criteria; however, it should be edited only by FDC-related staff. The staff will use the document to set out their objective assessment of each funding request from eligible entities – specifically, to determine the extent to which plans align with the mission goals of the Wikimedia movement, and the extent to which the entity is well-placed to execute those plans effectively. The staff will base this report on proposals from entities and input from the community and other stakeholders (including, where required, deeper due-diligence on the entity's previous track record within the Wikimedia movement). The staff will provide completed reports to the FDC, which will then make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees on funding allocations. See a note from FDC staff explaining the process is more detail here: FDC portal/Note on staff proposal assessments 2013-14 Round 1.


Methodology behind the 2013-2014 Round 1 FDC staff assessments

The FDC staff assessments provide a snapshot of the staff review of Annual Plan Grant (FDC) proposals, and identify both strengths and concerns with the work proposed.

  • We did this through both portfolio analysis - looking across proposals and calibrating across different organizations - as well as assessing the context of each individual organization and its proposal. We did our best to be as nuanced as possible. For example, we understand that an organization that is beginning to formalize structures and bring on staff may have far fewer resources for learning and evaluation processes than an organization with a longer history and full-time staff. At the same time, a larger organization is also likely to have complex program structures and processes, that reflect in its use of metrics and measures.
  • We significantly increased the inputs to the staff assessment process from last year. They include:
    • The proposals themselves, with the attached documents (strategic plans, annual plans, detailed budgets etc)
    • Past and current reports (FDC quarterly progress reports, grant reports etc)
    • A portfolio view of financials across proposals: FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/Financial_overview.
    • Internal financial, evaluation and compliance inputs from the WMF Finance, Programs, Legal and Grantmaking teams.
  • We used a few key principles for the assessment, across all proposals. These are not new, and are detailed in the narrative and scoring sections of the assessment. They include:
    • Impact on Wikimedia projects and the global movement. We looked for the rationale behind the work organizations do, aligning them to the Wikimedia strategic priorities and goals. We looked particularly for direct and indirect impact of this work on Wikimedia projects; for example, growth in contributors and content donation. Most importantly, we looked at whether the funds requested were justified in the context of current and potential impact of the proposed work.
    • Organizational strategy, leadership and governance. We looked for evidence that an organization had a good understanding of its own context, and the needs, opportunities and challenges of the communities it seeks to serve or partner with. We looked for board, staff and volunteer leadership that is committed, effective and engaged with these communities and practising movement values of openness and transparency.
    • Rates of growth and financial management. In this round, only two returning applicants asked for funds within the recommended maximum growth rate in movement resources (annual plan grants/FDC allocations) of 20%, which is itself a significant rate in many contexts. In addition, many organizations are underspending on previous grant allocations and/or have extensive reserves, which makes overall growth rates even higher. We appreciated organizations that were not spending for spending’s sake, and being careful and prudent about resources; we hope this continues. However, significant underspends (particularly on programs) across a number of organizations flag the challenges of budgeting, planning and program design. It may be that the most effective and impactful programs do not always need significant resources. We specifically looked at the nature of long-time underspends in the context of organizations with a history of overbudgetting and underspending.
    • Program design, learning and evaluation. We recognize that the Wikimedia movement at large is still developing a more nuanced understanding of how we measure our impact, as volunteers and as organizations. We looked at each organization’s self-defined metrics and measures for success, both qualitative and quantitative. We searched for indicators that went beyond process (or outputs) and looked at intended outcomes and specific goals or targets. We recognized, however, that many organizations are in the process of establishing baselines for their work, and incorporating learning into program design and re-design. We appreciated organizations that were open about these challenges and were honest and reflective about their own capacities and systems.

Note: We shared our nearly final draft assessments with all FDC applicants a day ahead of publishing them, so that organizations had some lead time for sharing these with their Board and staff. We then took all responses into consideration where possible, making factual changes and clarifying our statements where necessary. We encouraged organizations to note all substantive comments and concerns on the Discussion pages of these assessments.

Proposal overview

Name of eligible entity Amical Wikimedia
Summary staff assessment [substantial concerns: none/some/many] Some concerns
Total amount proposed to the FDC for the upcoming year annual plan in currency requested 99,650 EUR
Estimate of total amount proposed to the FDC for the upcoming year annual plan in US dollars 134,608 USD
Exchange rate used to calculate estimate in US dollars and date accessed (mm/dd/yy) 1.35081 US dollars to 1.00000 Euro (calculated 1 October 2013)
Date of proposal submission 1 October 2013
Adherence to proposal process [yes/no] Yes
Adherence to legal, regulatory, and policy regulations [yes/no] Yes
Adherence to US anti-terrorism laws [yes/no] Yes


Financial summary

A detailed summary of the financial information from all proposals is here: financial overview document. Movement resources are defined as what the entity received through FDC allocations or grants or what the entity retained via payment processing in the prior funding cycle.

Projected 2013 Proposed 2014 Proposed change (as a +/− %)
Movement resources* 19,179 EUR 99,650 EUR 420%
Overall budget 60,000 EUR 111,650 EUR 86%
Number of staff 1 1 0

Annual plan

Overview of staff assessment

Strengths

What are the top strengths of the plan?

  • Community-driven and community-focused
  • Good programmatic track record; prioritizes program work over institutionalization
  • Plan has clear focus on content and outcomes on the Wikimedia projects, and builds on past successes

Concerns

What are the top concerns with the plan?

  • Proposed growth is too rapid in the context of underspending
  • Plan too ambitious, and WMCAT may not have capacity to execute it

Strategic alignment

To what extent does the plan address the strategic goals and priorities of the movement?

  • Programs are strongly aligned with the strategic priorities, including Quality, Reach and Participation. The rationale for this alignment is clear, especially for an entity of this size.
  • WMCAT has developed a detailed strategic plan in consultation with its community, which is impressive for an organization of its size.

Context of the entity and community

To what extent does the context of the entity (e.g., community participation, fundraising context, sociopolitical environment) enable or inhibit the entity's potential for impact? To what extent does the entity's experience enable or inhibit the entity's potential for impact?

  • WMCAT has potential to impact Catalan language Wikimedia projects, which are unusually active with respect to the size of this language community, and is also positioned to influence Spanish language projects.
  • WMCAT works with an active and engaged community and has a dedicated board and an effective staff in place.
  • WMCAT has an excellent track record of compliance with past grants and shares learning openly with the movement. See, GLAM & Outreach grant and FCF grant.
  • WMCAT has been successful in leveraging its partnerships, gaining both financial and in-kind support, and shares an office with one of its partners (Fundació PuntCAT).
  • WMCAT is the first Wikimedia Thematic Organization to participate in the FDC process and may have innovative models to share with other entities.

Feasibility and risks for the annual plan

How feasible is the annual plan? Specifically:

  • To what extent are the budget, staffing, availability of volunteers, and other resources realistic for achieving the anticipated outcomes?
  • Are the timelines realistic for the proposed initiatives and associated activities?
  • Are there acknowledged and/or unacknowledged risks in the proposal?


Feasibility

  • WMCAT is building on past successes, such as its work in GLAM and partnerships with universities.
  • WMCAT pursues unique programs such as WikiArs and the Spoken Wikipedia project.
  • WMCAT has chosen to have its first hired staff member focus exclusively on programs, with the bulk of administration handled by the Board. This unusual decision underscores WMCAT’s programmatic focus and commitment.
  • One of WMCAT’s other donors has noted that it is very proud of its collaboration with WMCAT, which has been a win-win in its view, and aim to scale that work. The donor noted that WMCAT is committed, engaged and professional, as well as effective and frugal.
  • The Improvement of the projects’ content program makes up a significant percentage of this request at 39,500 EUR (or roughly US$ 53,400), revealing a strong emphasis on program work. See, expenses by program for more details.

Risks

  • WMCAT is proposing rapid growth in budget and, at the same time, a plan with many activities.
  • There are risks of volunteer and staff burnout associated with executing such an extensive plan, as well as managing and reporting on significant movement resources.

Summary of expert opinions and/or community commentary

Summary of the opinions of subject-matter experts on the plan

None requested

Summary of community commentary on the plan

  • For detailed comments from the community, the FDC and FDC staff, as well as responses from the organizations themselves, please visit the proposal form discussion page. The summary offers a brief overview of the questions or comments from community members, and is not an endorsement of the views expressed on the proposal form discussion page.
  • One community member noted concerns about a potential political bias in a Catalan-focused project.

Scores, comments and feedback

Scores provide only a preliminary assessment for consideration by the FDC. The rubric for scoring is below.

Dimensions Criteria Score (1–5) Comments and feedback
Potential for impact against strategic priorities (A) The plan addresses the Wikimedia movement strategic priorities of the Wikimedia movement (infrastructure, participation, quality, reach, and innovation) 4.00 Programs in this plan address strategic priorities, including Quality, Reach and Participation. The rationale for this alignment is clear in this organization's context.
(B) TThe initiatives in the plan have the potential to lead to movement strategic priorities, if executed well 3.00 Potential impact on Catalan and Spanish projects and active community; programs in the proposal are well-aligned with the global targets.
(C) The initiatives in the plan have the potential to lead to significant impact, given context and amount of funds proposed 3.00 Initiatives could have impact in the local community and the broader movement, but the rate of growth is too high.
Ability to execute (D) The entity has the resources, skills, and capacity (staff, volunteer, non-staff) for the plan to succeed 4.00 Amical benefits from relevant staff and volunteer capacity, including strong commitment from the community, local partners, board and staff.
(E) The entity has a record of success in similar initiatives 4.00 WMCAT has conducted similar initatives in the past and has been successful (particularly in its GLAM work).
(F) The entity's leadership is effective, committed, and relatively stable 4.00 Current and past leaders are committed to the entity and have demonstrated the ability to develop a strategic plan.
Efficient use of funds (G) The funding requested is reasonable given the proposed initiatives 2.50 While the budget is generally consistent with the initiatives and focused on programs, the rate of growth and scope may be too ambitious.
(H) The entity has a record of using funds efficiently and staying on budget 4.00 The organization has a good record of budgetary management for past grants, with some underspending.
Quality of proposed measures of success (I) Clear indicators of success are outlined in the plan 3.50 Timebound measures of success that can be used as a baseline for next year; the clarity of these indicators is appropriate for this entity's context.
(J) A plan is in place to track the proposed metrics 3.00 Amical provides a list of indicators to be tracked.
(K) The entity has a feasible plan in place to track the proposed metrics 3.00 Some capacity in place to track and monitor metrics, but it is not yet clear if Amical has the relevant skills.
Potential to add knowledge and/or other benefits to the movement (L) The initiatives in the plan, if successful, could be helpful and/or productively adapted elsewhere in the movement 4.00 Amical is the frst ThOrg to participate in the FDC process, and is pursuing several innovative programs like WikiArs and approaches (community driven strategic plan).
(M) The entity is ready to share with the movement the lessons learned from the initiatives 4.00 Amical is active within the movement and reports regularly

Scoring rubric

Dimensions Evaluation criteria 1 = Weak or no alignment with criterion 3 = Moderate alignment with criterion 5 = Strong alignment with criterion
Potential for impact against strategic priorities (A) The plan addresses the Wikimedia movement strategic priorities The plan will not directly address any strategic priorities The plan will partially address strategic priorities or other goals that are closely related to the strategic priorities The plan will directly address several strategic priorities
(B) The initiatives have the potential to lead to the strategic priorities, if executed well The initiatives have no clear connection to strategic priorities Some or all of the initiatives have an unclear relationship to strategic priorities The initiatives have been shown (by the entity or the movement) to lead to strategic priorities
(C) The initiatives have the potential to lead to significant impact, given context and amount of funds proposed The initiatives will have marginal impact in the local community and the broader Wikimedia community, given context and amount of funds proposed The initiatives proposed may have a significant impact in the local community, given context and amount of funds proposed The initiatives could have significant impact at scale, both in the entity's local community and in the broader movement, given context and amount of funds proposed
Ability to execute (D) The entity has the resources, skills, and capacity (staff, volunteer, non-staff) for the plan to succeed The entity has neither the number nor the amount of resources, skills, and capacity needed for success. The entity has some relevant staff and volunteer capacity, but may be under-resourced for some initiatives The entity is well-resourced with the relevant skills and capacity for success
(E) The entity has a record of success in similar initiatives The entity has had trouble succeeding in similar initiatives The entity has not engaged in similar initiatives in the past The entity has conducted similar initiatives in the past and has been successful in achieving desired results
(F) The entity's leadership is effective, committed, and relatively stable Leadership has been unstable (e.g., changing on an annual basis) Current leadership is committed to the entity; some concerns exist around stability or effectiveness of leadership Current and past leaders have demonstrated the ability to develop and execute on strategic plans; leadership team has been stable and transitions have been smooth
Efficient use of funds (G) The funding requested is reasonable given the proposed initiatives Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the plan contains significant over- or under-budgeting, and/or has not thoroughly accounted for costs Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the budget is generally consistent with the initiatives; some initiatives are likely to be over- or under-budgeted Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the budget is reasonable, and rigorous cost projections have been presented
(H) The entity has a record of using funds efficiently and staying on budget The entity has a poor record of budgetary management: e.g., consistently and significantly below budget (such as 50% underspending), and drawing on organizational reserves due to overspending The entity has a middling record of budgetary management; e.g., generally on-budget for its biggest initiatives and cost items, properly recording any over- and under-spending, and with plans in place for improvements The entity has consistently strong record of financial management; e.g., consistently staying on or below budget (within ~5% of budget), and putting surplus funds towards the entity's and/or movement's goals
Quality of proposed measures of success (I) Clear indicators of success are outlined in the plan Initiatives have no associated indicators of success, or the proposed indicators are unrealistic and/or unmeasurable Each initiative has indicators of success, but at least some indicators are unrealistic or are not clearly connected to the initiative Each initiative has a realistic and carefully framed set of indicators of success associated with them, which are rigorous and time-bound
(J) A system is in place to track the proposed metrics The plan does not include methodology or timing for tracking and collecting metrics to measure progress against proposed indicators of success A proposal to track progress against indicators exists, but has flawed methodology or unrealistic timelines and initiatives The plan includes timing and tracking of proposed metrics, and additional initiatives (e.g., surveys, research) to track indicators
(K) The entity has a feasible system to track the proposed metrics No systems are in place to track metrics, or staff or volunteer capacity to manage metrics tracking There is some overall capacity (e.g., staff, volunteers) to track and monitor metrics, but the entity does not clearly have the relevant skills to do this High-quality systems, and the necessary skills and capacity to manage these systems, are in place
Potential to add knowledge and/or other benefits to the movement (L) The initiatives, if successful, could be helpful and/or productively adaptedelsewhere in the movement The initiatives would not be relevant to other movement groups Some initiatives may be relevant to other movement groups Many initiatives proposed are new or have seldom been tried elsewhere in the movement; if successful, other movement entities would benefit from doing similar initiatives
(M) The entity is ready to share with the movement the lessons learned from the initiatives The entity is isolated from other movement groups and rarely shares information; the entity's leaders and members seldom participate in movement-wide functions The entity is somewhat active within the movement, and is developing more relationships with other movement entities with which it could share lessons learned The entity has regular communication with other movement entities, is a regular participant in Wikimedia events, and has a track record of sharing with others

This form was created by: KLove (WMF) (talk)


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