Participation:Support/Organization
This page describes the organizational and technical details of the Wikimedia Participation Support program.
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[edit] Participating Bodies and Contributions to the Pool
All interested chapters are welcome to contribute funds to the Participation Support pool. Any amount is welcome; chapters contributing $5000 or more per year are represented in the Participation Support Committee.
So far, the pool is funded by:
- Wikimedia Foundation ($25K annually)
- Wikimedia Deutschland (annual contribution 10,000 €)
If the pool would be exhausted too soon in the fiscal year, the funding bodies may consider allocating additional funds, based on a review of the impact of the participation support previously awarded.
[edit] Technical/Financial Setup
[edit] Decision-making
A Participation Support Committee (PSC) has been set up, comprised of one delegate from each group contributing to the Participation Support pool. The PSC meets once a week (via IRC or equivalent channels), to evaluate, discuss, and approve/reject open requests. Verifying that usernames mentioned in the request actually belong to the person making the request should probably be part of the process. The PSC exercises its judgment on a case by case basis, but will usually consider the applicant's contributions (on the projects), background/qualifications relevant to the event, record of effective sharing and capacity building, etc.
In addition to full funding of the participation as requested, the committee may decide to only fund part of the request, and ask the applicant to co-pay part of the sum. The applicant can, of course, decline and withdraw the support request.
Where chapters exist, they would be consulted about participation support related to their geography (whether by location of venue or of applicant), and given a chance to fund the participation themselves (from their own budget), or to support the request for funding from the Participation Support pool (whether or not they are funding part of the program). If they object to funding the request, unless there's reason to suspect conflict of interest or dysfunction, the request would not be funded. If no timely response is obtainable (we should try to decide on requests after no more than 10 days), the PSC would go ahead and decide as usual.
Minutes of past committee meetings are here.
[edit] Disbursement and accounting
In the interest of saving currency conversion and other fees on the one hand, and of sharing the accounting overhead on the other hand, it is proposed that, following approval, the WMF disburse all participation support in currencies other than the Euro (including USD) and Wikimedia Deutschland disburse all participation support in Euros.
It is preferred that the applicant pay the expenses and be reimbursed after the conclusion of the event/travel, in order to ensure that the disbursement is accurate and final. If the applicant requests disbursement in advance of the event, disbursement will occur when the application is approved and the applicant accepts the support and agrees to submit to reporting requirements, including the submission of a report with receipts no later than 2 weeks after the conclusion of the event.
Once (or twice?) a year, there will be a joint reckoning, considering actual disbursement performed by each of the two disbursers versus their respective commitments to the Participation Support pool, and appropriate payments will be made to settle the balance.
WMF will document all participation support in currencies other than Euros, and WMDE will document all support in Euros.
