Grants:PEG/WM PT/Start-up/Report

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Project Goal[edit]

Launch the Wikimedia Portugal local chapter

Description of actual activities[edit]

  • (2009-09-09) Submission of legal name availability request form
  • (2009-09-21) Legal Constitution of the Association
  • (2009-10-24) Organization of the first General Assembly
  • (2009-11-03) Second General Assembly (for official approval of first assembly's minutes)
  • (2009-11-12) Creation of bank account (using signed minutes of first General Assembly)
  • (2009-11-13) Registration in relevant financial department
  • (2009-12-03) Acquisition of office supplies (stamp and receipt book)
  • (2010-01-06) Presentation at the IST (of the Technical University of Lisbon)
  • (2010-04-03) Acquisition of a mobile phone
  • (2010-04-16) First Wikipedia Academy (plus the previous 2-3 months to organize)
  • (2010-04-16) Participation in Chapters Meeting in Berlin
  • (2010-05-01) Third General Assembly
  • (2010-07-09) Participation in Wikimania 2010
  • (2010-10-05) Editing rally to promote the article on the Proclamation of the Portuguese Republic for the event's centenary
  • (2010-09→12) Production of banners, appeals and translations (as well as general troubleshooting) for the WMF annual fundraising

What lessons were learned that could help others succeed in similar projects?[edit]

We especially learned a lot while organizing the Wikipedia Academy. In future similar events, we plan to apply some of the lessons we learned, namely:

  • Make the event on a weekend, so that people are not hindered from participation due to working schedules;
  • Set up appropriate conditions for remote participation, both by providing a real-time video stream, and by allowing alternative venues for the Q&A sessions (such as tweets, an IRC channel, an msn account, etc);
  • Involve more people in the organization, defining a team and distributing tasks early on the process;
  • Attempt to get more sponsors;
  • Develop better rules for participation, to prevent disruption of the presentation flow.

Things that went well include:

  • Partnership with a renowned organization (Porto University's Engineering Faculty -- FEUP);
  • Very good public reach by press releases, social networks (LinkedIn and facebook events, twitter, etc), mailing lists from relevant organizations the volunteers belonged to, and other means;
  • Great use of volunteer's different skills (design, web development, technical tasks, etc);
  • Good reach to like-minded organizations for providing speakers, guaranteeing both topic consistence and diversity.

What impact did the project have on WMF mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation?[edit]

We mostly improved reach and credibility of Wikimedia's projects, by making our organization known by means of several activities and appearances in media such as radio appearances, magazine articles, and by promoting the projects in events like the presentation at IST and Wikipedia Academy. The latter was quite a success, having drawn over a hundred registrations and over 90 actual participants (including speakers), and achieving substantial exposition in press, radio and television. In the IST presentation, information on Wikimedia projects, how to participate on them and related topics was the central theme. In the Academy, presented topics were diverse and appealed to a wide audience. Several new members joined our organization after the event.

Detail of expenditures[edit]

  • Note 1: Even though the grant was approved on July 2009, it wasn't transferred until February 2010. Therefore, some expenses are dated after the approval date, but before the transfer date.
  • Note 2: Conversions from euros to dollars made using rate of 2010-12-31 (1€ : $1.34)
Expenses made with our personal contributions, to be "refunded" by the grant
date description value
2009-09-21 Legal constitution of the association 195.00 € $261.30
2009-11-12 Creation of bank account (initial deposit required) 250.00 € $335.00
2009-12-03 Acquisition of office supplies (stamp and receipt book) 22.27 € $29.84
Expenses made after the grant's transfer
date description value
2010-04-16 First Wikipedia Academy
(Academia Wikipédia 2010)
Registry of Internet domain academia-wikipedia.org (2010-03-27) 11.36 € $15.22
Printing of 1000 cheatsheet leaflets 156.00 € $209.04
A2 posters 188.10 € $252.05
Vinyl banner for the lectern 94.15 € $126.16
Coffee-breaks 287.00 € $384.58
Transportation expenses for Clara Boavida, speaker at the event 63.70 € $85.36
Transportation expenses for Rita Farinha, speaker at the event 173.84 € $232.95
Dinner w/ Kul Wadhwa, Ademar Aguiar,
Manuel de Sousa, Béria Lima and André Barbosa
228.09 € $305.64
2010-04-03 Acquisition of a cellphone (+351 963 953 042) 24.90 € $33.37
2010-04-28 Pre-paid cellphone plan charging 15.00 € $20.10
2010-05-01 3rd General Assembly Transportation expenses for Waldir Pimenta, president
(San Sebastian, Spain ←→ Porto, Portugal)
121.75 € $163.15
Transportation expenses for Nuno Tavares and Susana Morais,
board members (Lisboa ←→ Porto)
90.30 € $121.00
2010-08-23 Pre-paid cellphone plan charging 25.00 € $33.50
2010-09-08 Refund of the transportation expenses of Gonçalo Themudo to Wikimania 2010
(Copenhagen←→Gdańsk, July 09-11)
248.37 € $332.82
2010-12-04 Pre-paid cellphone plan charging 50.00 € $67.00
2010-12-07 Bank account maintenance fee 10.50 € $14.07
Total 2255.33 € $3012.56

Amount underspent in US Dollars[edit]

Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.
Grant value: $6000.00  4342.70 €
Amount used: $3012.56  2255.33 €
Amount left: $2987.44  2087.37 €

Will you be requesting re-allocation of remaining grant funding?[edit]

A request for reallocation of remaining funds has been submitted by the grantee and approved by WMFon the discussion page of this grant report.

Yes. We have the following plans for 2011, and we believe the remaining amount from the grant will be enough to fund these activities.

  1. Commemoration of Wikipedia's 10th anniversary on 15 January (approximate expected cost: 1100€ / $1474)
    • [100 €] Hosting expenses for Benoît Evelin (WMFR), speaker in the event
    • [200 €] Transportation expenses for Waldir Pimenta (president of WMPT), André Barbosa (speaker), Manuel Anastácio (speaker), Béria Lima (coordinator) and Manuel de Sousa
    • [250 €] Cake for the after conference party
    • [450 €] Coffee-break for the after conference party
    • [100 €] Vinyl banner for the lectern
  2. Commemoration of Portuguese Wikipedia's 10th anniversary on 11 May
    • Planned activities are mostly related to a large on-wiki competition, with virtually no cost (except for potential prizes – to be determined)
  3. GLAM activities (some partnerships currently in conversation stage will be made live)
  4. Participation in the Europe-wide Wiki loves Monuments photo rally (in planning stage, no specific budget set yet)