Grants talk:APG/Proposals/2012-2013 round2/Wikimedia Hong Kong/Proposal form

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Proposal summary for Wikimedia Hong Kong

Funds requested from the FDC: US$ 211,916.67 US$ 211,660.26

APG/Proposals/2012-2013 round2/Wikimedia Hong Kong/Proposal form

Accounting & Outreach Executive[edit]

I have full understanding that you want an emloyee to support the torgsanization with adm and financing tasks. But I do not udnerstand thta you plan a fulltime resource for this making it 33% of total staff. Havs you condered hiring someone 50% or even get someone thta only cost for the hour worked. Can you elobarat on your resoning for needing a fultime resource and why a halftime will not do? And if you only want this person to work 50% or less on adm and the rest on outresch, why you see it god to combine these activities into the same personas - this is usually two different type of compatences.Anders Wennersten (talk) 16:39, 6 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

While drafting this proposal, we had considered the option like part time or freelance for such bookkeeping role. However, we found out that people with relevant skills may not like to accept part time offers, as bookkeeping and accounting in HK is rather a professional job, and have to bear legal responsibility, so people with such skills tend to find roles with more security, that means full time post, and companies in HK tend to look for full time staff to look after the finances. We see the bookkeeping and accounting won't take up 100% working time, so we will also assign the staff with some help in the admin and outreach work. -- ※ JéRRy ~ 雨雨  ※  Was?  ※  10:24, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the explanation regarding a part-time vs. full-time staff person, Jerry. Has WMHK also considered outsourcing the accounting work that is needed to an accounting firm? This seems to have been a successful model for some small organizations. Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 23:54, 22 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
With the amount of work required by WMF/FDC, we do not think that half time stuff would willing to work for us.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:30, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comment from Itzike[edit]

WOW. Correct me if I mistake, but last year the chapter budget was about 20$K (based of the grants request). Now the plan is to jump to $211$K? and from zero employees to 3 FTE. Even the grant program is $38K$, annual budget of a small chapter! I really appreciate your ambition, and I'm sure Wikimania will give a strong push to your activities - but I think this budget is too excessive --Itzike (talk) 19:34, 7 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Clarifying questions from FDC Staff[edit]

Thank you very much for the time and effort you have put into this proposal. We have some initial questions about this proposal, listed below, and may follow up with some program-specific questions once these are answered. If we have not understood some aspect of your proposal correctly, please do use this as an opportunity to provide more clarity. Please respond inline or create a new section if necessary. Thank you for taking the time to respond to our questions. Best regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 05:59, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Growth rate: As we read the proposal and the accompanying figures, WM HK has proposed an organizational growth from an annual budget of US$ 532.69 to US$ 212,173, representing a monumental growth rate of 39,730% within one year. Such a rapid rate of growth is not consistent with the guidelines presented in the FDC Framework, which suggest a maximum increase to 120% of the total budget (or a 20% increase). Please explain why WM HK plans to grow so quickly, and how WM HK plans to manage this rapid growth.
    The reason of this rapid growth is from opportunities after Wikimania, need of transition from a start-up to professional organization and offload administrative tasks from overworked volunteers. Volunteer burnout and continuity is one of the issue within WM HK. We foresees growth opportunities in local after Wikimania, to cope with this additional works we propose to hire 3 full time staff. These FTE will support volunteers in various areas including administrative tasks, outreaching and financial. From our past experience, outreaching activities do require normal working hours, which something volunteers unable to accomplish. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:57, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Incomplete documents: WM HK did not submit an annual report nor financial report for 2012 with its proposal. When will these documents be ready for the FDC’s review?
    As stated in the proposal, the annual report will need the approval of the General assembly, and an independent auditor beyond the chapter is working on the financial report in order to present on the GA meeting on 16 Mar, so they will be available after this year's GA . -- ※ JéRRy ~ 雨雨  ※  Was?  ※  09:55, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Documents:The proposed budget and annual plan have not yet been approved by your General Assembly; what is the process for approving these documents, when will this approval take place, and where will it be documented? Please provide links if applicable.
    As stated in the proposal, the annual plan & budget will need the approval of the General assembly, so will be available on the chapters website, http://wikimedia.hk after this year's GA on 16 Mar. -- ※ JéRRy ~ 雨雨  ※  Was?  ※  09:55, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Community involvement: To what extent have members of Wikimedia Hong Kong and other community members engaged in the development of the proposal?
    Most of the active members (board members, Wikimania team, and outreach volunteers) have been involved with the FDC proposal since its beginning. Issues and ideas relating to FDC have been discussed at recent Hong Kong Wikimedia meetups. The general membership of WMHK has the final right to approve (or reject, for that matter) the annual plan and budget at the WMHK annual general assembly this month. Deryck C. 11:57, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. WCA fees: Are any funds allocated to pay WCA membership dues?
    No lump-sum contribution to WCA is expected. Deryck C. 12:08, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Clarifying questions about financial data[edit]

There appear to be a few inconsistencies in the financial data reported here. Please provide some explanations below. Note that if you require any changes to the proposal form itself, you should request written approval here on the discussion page and then make the changes using strikethrough after they are approved. Please respond inline or create a new section if there is a great deal to explain. Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 05:59, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Table 9 vs. Table 2: Table 9 lists total revenues of US$ 211,916.67, while Table 2 lists revenues of US$ 211,916.67 from the FDC allocation and US$ 256.67 from membership dues, or a total of US$ 212,173.08. Please clarify total revenues expected.
  2. Table 7 and Table 8 vs. Table 1: This table specifies staff expenses of US$ 104,064.10 and the Program expenses listed in Table 8 are US$ 97,724, which yields a total of only US$ 201,788.46. Yet, WM HK’s budget listed in Table 1 is US$ 212,173.08.
  3. Table 8: The Program expenses in Table 8 do not add up. The total Program expenses listed here are US$ 91,314.10, while a total of US$ 97,724.36 is listed as the total in this table. Please clarify.
Hello, WMHK: When might we expect responses to these clarifying questions about the financial data in this proposal, which were posted 10 days ago? We're still looking forward to your responses so that we might better understand this proposal. Please do let us know if any of these questions are not clear. Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 18:34, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the correct version of Table 2, Table 8, and Table 9.

Table 2

Currency requested: HKD

Currency requested is defined as the currency in which you wish to receive funds (e.g., EUR, GBP, INR). Note that the FDC makes grants in local currency when possible.

Exchange rate used (currency requested to $US): 7.8 (28/Feb/2013)

Please use Oanda.com on March 1 2014 to determine the exchange rate. Please use five decimal points.
Currency requested US$
Total annual expenses of organization 1,654,9501,652,950 212,173.08211,916.67
Amount proposed to the FDC for the coming year's annual plan 1,652,9501,650,950 211,916.67211,660.26
Amount to be raised from non-FDC sources 2,000 256.41
If applicable, amount of FDC funds allocated to organization last year N/a N/a


Table 4

Revenue source Anticipated (in currency requested) Anticipated (In $US)


Membership Subscription 2,000 256.41
FDC Grant 1,652,9501,650,950 211,916.67211,660.26


Table 8a

Program / initiative In currency requested In $US
Community Support 541,250.00 69,391.03
Increase outreach 32,000.0082,000 4,102.5610,512.82
Administration & Professionalization 139,000.00 17,820.51
Total program expenses (should equal the sum of the rows) 762,250.00 97,724.36


Table 9: No change. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 12:56, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Simon Shek/石!
  1. Are you requesting to make these changes on the proposal form?
  2. Are you requesting to change the total amount of funds requested from the FDC?
Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:19, 22 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I'm requesting changes in these figues on the proposal page--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 04:25, 23 March 2013 (UTC).[reply]
Thanks - we'll consider your request and get back to you shortly! Are you also requesting to change the total amount of funds requested from the FDC? Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 15:33, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That's correct. Changing the total amount of funds requested to HK$1,650,950 (US$211,660.26).--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 15:44, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, Simon Shek/石. The above changes are approved. Please make the changes to the proposal using strikethrough just as you have shown here on the discussion page. Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 23:31, 25 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Questions about current and proposed staff[edit]

Please clarify a few points about your plan to hire new staff. Please respond inline or create a new section if necessary. Many thanks! Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 05:59, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Please clarify the term (dates) of employment of the current staffperson devoted to Wikimania 2013. Will this staffperson’s term end before the proposed funding period?
    Kris's contract is effective 15 Dec 2012 - 15 Aug 2013. The proposed FDC funding period is 1 Jul 2013 - 30 Jun 2014. Deryck C. 11:38, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Please provide some details on the management of the Wikimania staffperson. Who manages this staff person, and what systems has an all-volunteer organization like WM HK put in place to manage this person effectively?
    Kris reports directly to and is part of the Wikimania 2013 headquarters, a committee led by Yuyu and includes about 7 WMHK volunteers (including board members) and Kris. The headquarters meet in person at least once a week to discuss work progress. Deryck C. 11:47, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Please provide more details about your organization’s recruitment and hiring plans for the 3 planned fulltime staff members. What tasks will be completed in order to accomplish this goal by the end of 2013?
    By the end of 2013, the Board of WMHK will discuss and confirm job advertisement details for paid staff. The advertisements will be posted online. We'll actively hiring at least 2 paid staff (Executive Manager and Accounting & Outreach Executive.) --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 13:25, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Does WM HK have in place, or is the Board of WM HK drafting, policies and procedures around hiring and managing paid staff people?
    The Board of WM HK is drafting policies and procedures around hiring and managing paid staff people with referencing practices in similar organizations.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 13:25, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Can you please clarify the roles of the proposed staff to us?:
    • The Executive Manager will take over the “day to day business of the chapter”. What would this day-to-day business involve?
    Day-to-day business involves executing all programs in office hour, facilitating communication between volunteers and other partners, and providing administrative support to volunteers and other staff. In particular, the duty of reporting (to WMF, to other partner organisations, to the membership, PR, and blog posts) will be taken over by the executive manager.
    But the "day to day business" goes beyond the Executive Manager's scope of duty. Accounting is the next big component which requires staff work. Things like visiting school to promote Wikipedia simply could not accomplish by volunteers in a large scale because these activities have their specific working hour. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 17:05, 17 March 2013 (UTC), edited by Deryck C. 23:53, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • WM HK has planned for both an Accounting & Outreach Executive and an Outreach Executive. How will the outreach-related tasks of these staff be divided?
    Outreach Executive is the main staffer in terms of all outreach-related tasks. Accounting & Outreach Executive's outreach-related tasks involve seeking for potential alternative local funding and supporting the Outreach Executive in outreach activities.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 17:05, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimania 2013[edit]

WM HK is hosting Wikimania 2013 this summer and surely this creates both opportunities and challenges for the chapter. The FDC would value learning about some insights that WM HK has already gained from this work. Please respond inline or create a new section if necessary. Many thanks! Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 05:59, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Please assess WM HK’s progress with Wikimania 2013. What challenges have you overcome and what successes have you achieved so far? What lessons learned can you share with the rest of the movement?
    WMHK's progress with wm2013 is on track, this could not been done without a full-time staff. Experience from last year organizing team taught us to hire full time staff help us. Before having a regular paid staff for Wikimania, we ran into difficulties to meet our partners and potential sponsors in their office hour. All team members have their job during daytime and could not walk away from that. At the same time, our partners and sponsors would not willing to meet us outside of their working hour.
    Lack of regular local sponsors to the chapter is another difficulties the local team facing. Due to lack of manpower in the past, we had been seeking for local funding passively. It is shocking for event organizers that there is no central pool of sponsors within the WMF movement or chapter at all. The relationship between the Wikimedia movement and Wikimania sponsors are gone to waste years after years. This leads to every year the local team needs to start from stretch again and again. We do foresee difficulties to maintain local partners relationship in long term after wm2013 without paid staff, and will be very disappointed to lose any of that gained from wm2013. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:38, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. WM HK states that volunteer burnout is a concern for the entity. Since WM HK is working hard to execute Wikimania 2013, along with other hiring activities, how will WM HK work to prevent volunteer burnout?
    We have considered the risk of executing Wikimania 2013 and hiring activities together leading volunteer burnout. As mentioned above, with staff support, executing Wikimania is going smooth and on track. I also would like to point out that not all WM HK directors and volunteer are part of the organizing team. There is spare manpower in WM HK.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:39, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep ourself[edit]

I think we should keep the good service to the people in this money and by new facilities，but don`t forget to keep the neutral point of view.

An area of operations that could do with real support[edit]

Hi

I like the proposal. Hong Kong is one of those areas that needs as many people as possible to help keep neutral. With the handover and China's watching-what-happens policy, Hong Kong is the gateway to a more free China.

Chinese people will look for those freedoms we have an abundance of, and the vehicle to provide them with access to those freedoms is the internet. If we are to assist them in those goals the most obvious and overwhelming source of accurate unbiased information should be Wikipedia - neutral, factual and free.

This is an opportunity we will get only once and we must ensure we assist as much as we can. Chaosdruid (talk) 17:00, 9 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! (second)[edit]

I'm amazed this top heavy proposal made it to this stage. This chapter's past accomplishments - with 2000 members?? - are handing out leaflets, getting kids in one course to edit some articles, and holding a meeting. Its revenues are $200. Now you want to hire three full-time employees (plus money for their professionalization). Question: can you assure us that these employees will be brand new people hired out of a large pool of applicants, chosen impartially for the best general credentials, to take your organization and make something out of it? Or will they be the same people running it now, just with a salary and a plan to become professional? Wnt (talk) 16:01, 10 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Point of information: we have 40 current members who pay an annual subscription of HK$50 each, totalling HK$2000 (US$258). Not 2000 members.
In terms of hiring, both. The successful experiences of the bigger Wikimedia chapters (WMDE, WMUK etc.) tell us that the first few members of staff generally include both an expert in charity management usually hired from outside the Wikimedia movement, and a volunteer-turned staff to flag up the Wikimedian perspective and provide some continuity. Deryck C. 00:33, 15 March 2013 (UTC) edited 01:54, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Question of language in Hong Kong[edit]

I am from the Wikipedia India community and am currently teaching a course at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since I advise the Wiki India team on developing content in the Indian languages, I am especially alert to how the non-English wikipedias are perceived and used. When I asked them to check something on Wikipedia, my HK (and Mainland) students said they thought it was an unreliable source and had too many stubs. They were referring to the Putonghwa/Mandarin wikipedia. I wonder if the HK Wikipedia proposal can address the language issue in HK/China/Taiwan/Macau/Singapore. By virtue of its location HK Wikimedia can be a great resource for all Chinese speakers. In the current proposal, the language issue appears not to be visible at all, which is surprising in a city where the tensions between Cantonese, Putonghwa and English are all too visible.

Tniranjana (talk) 03:50, 11 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Vast majority of Chinese Wikipedia's articles are still lagging in reliable sources. This issues could not simply solve by this proposal. As always, this funding proposal's scope and staff should not inference the editorial independence of all Wikipedia or WIkimedia projects. In the other way, we do encourage Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects' readers correct errors on any page and expend stubs.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:38, 17 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Staff vs volunteers doing outreach[edit]

Hello. Many thanks for investing the time and energy to put together this proposal, particularly during what must be a very hectic time in the run-up to Wikimania. I like that you're focusing on outreach here. Please could you expand a little on how you view the balance between staff and volunteers doing outreach work functioning in practice? Will it be primarily done by staff, or by volunteers with staff support, or a mix of both? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 20:14, 12 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It'll be a mix of both.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:06, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Simon Shek/石. Thanks for the reply. Please could you elaborate on how you view that mix working in practice? How are you planning on deciding (and monitoring) what outreach work will be done by the staff, and what will be done by volunteers? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 21:46, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Events happen in office hours will be done by paid staff. Those events are not realistic done by volunteers because they have their daytime job. Whenever outreach events need experience from volunteers, staff will be under guidance of volunteers. If volunteers available, they'll join staff in outreach events.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 13:10, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Request for links to newly approved documents[edit]

Hello, WMHK: It is now 18 March UTC. Would you please post links to the missing documents newly approved at your General Assembly on 16 March, including:

  • Final versions of the annual plan and budget that cover the proposed funding period (the drafts linked from the main document are still marked as drafts)
  • Annual report (including a financial report) from the most recently completed fiscal year

Thank you, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:23, 18 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Annual plan/budget and annual report/financial report were approved by the Board, Council, and members of WM HK at annual general assembly on 16 March. Request change "Link to your entity's current fiscal year plan and budget" in section Reflection on past activities and innovations of the proposal, delete Draft:. A copy of annual report with financial report will be upload online within this week. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 13:52, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The change is approved, but please do not delete the old text. Rather, use strikethrough and add your new text above, below, or to the side of the old text. Thank you, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 22:13, 19 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Hong Kong 2011-12 Annual Report and Financial Report

Thank you! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 16:07, 21 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Questions from FDC Staff about programs for all entities[edit]

Thank you for your responses to the questions on your proposal! The FDC and FDC staff appreciate the time and effort you continue to put into the discussion. We have a few more questions that we are asking all Round 2 entities to respond to about proposed programs. Please answer them as they apply to your proposal, and do let us know if any of them are unclear. Thank you in advance for your response; we know that this proposal process is time-consuming and challenging, and we sincerely appreciate your work to help us all better understand your proposed plan. Best regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 16:07, 21 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  1. Microgrants programs:
    • What types of activities will the entity fund through its microgrants program
      I take this as a trick question. The whole idea of community grants is that we want the Wikimedia community in Hong Kong to tell us what activities they can come up with to further the Wikimedia mission. See wmuk:Microgrants to see how another chapter's doing it. Deryck C. 16:38, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • How will the entity make sure the funds are spent on those activities?
      Regular communication with the person in charge of the funded activity. Receipts of expenses are to be forwarded to WMHK staff as appropriate. Reporting will be required, but will not be done in a rigid format. Deryck C. 16:38, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • How are these activities related to the goal of the microgrants program?
      The types of activities funded are not fixed. Grant applications will be evaluated individually on their merits. Deryck C. 16:44, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • How will information about this program be visible to the community?
      Call for applications will be published on all the major WMHK announcement channels. Deryck C. 16:44, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • How does the entity plan to track the results of this program?
      Example metrics are: number of applications; number of successful applications; total amount of grant disbursed; total reach of funded activities. Deryck C. 16:44, 1 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    • Does the entity plan to make any international microgrants or grants (outside of its country)?
      No international grants have been planned. Deryck C. 01:34, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Partnerships: This proposal highlights building partnerships as an important part of your entity’s plan, and as a key task for proposed staff. Is there additional information you can share about why partnerships are prioritized in your entity's strategy and about your strategy for pursuing partnerships? What will make a strong partnership?
    Wikimedia Hong Kong is not an all-round organization, and we're not trying to be one. We need expertise, connection and experience from our partners. Education sector is a good example that we need good partnership with them to success in our project. Professionalism and dedications to our projects will be letting our partners to trust and return to us. Keeping connection with current partners and making new one are also important to ensure our organization's future.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 15:40, 26 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Setting targets: In general, how does the entity set and monitor target numbers (e.g. workshops held, participants trained, articles downloaded, etc) and how does the entity share those targets with its community? When these targets are not achieved, how do you learn from the experience? If applicable, please share an example here.
    To set target and define success, we ask ourselves these questions:
    1. Does our current volunteers able to handle the number of workshops/participants within our standard?
    2. Does the attendees have a better understanding in Wikimedia projects?
    3. Does the attendees have a better understanding in free knowledge movement?
    Measurement will be published to public. If these targets are not met, materials used will be reviewed and changed.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:09, 27 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Diversity: How does the entity define diversity?
    Ask ourselves two questions.
    1. How representative are we as a cross-section of the population of Hong Kong? The more representative, the more diverse.
    2. We're all part of Wikimedia Hong Kong. But other than supporting the Wikimedia mission, how different are we from each other? The more different, the more diverse. Deryck C. 01:34, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Continuity: With continual changes in board composition, how does your entity ensure goals are met and organizational focus is steady?
    The executive board and the council are elected in alternate years, so not everyone in the governance structure of the chapter gets replaced in one go. In addition, younger or newer regular volunteers are typically recruited as administrative assistants. This gives them an official capacity to serve and speak on behalf of WMHK and prepares them, if they so wish, to take executive board or council positions in future elections. Deryck C. 01:26, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Growth: How is your entity planning for financial sustainability and budget growth over the next several years?
    WMHK will continuous cautious in spending its funding. We will also seek for grants from local source and fund raising; and hence, diversify our funding source to ensure our financial sustainability in the future. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 17:05, 21 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  7. GLAM: How does your entity determine which GLAM projects are of interest to volunteers and the community? Is there a system or process in place for this?
    This sounds like a question for chapters who need to make such decisions because they have too many museums approaching them for ideas. We have plenty of volunteers who want to collaborate with GLAMs but no GLAMs who are willing to actually do anything with us yet. Deryck C. 01:22, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Questions from FDC Staff about programs for WM HK[edit]

We have some questions about WMHK’s programs. Please answer them here and let us know if any of the questions are unclear. Thank you in advance for your responses. Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 16:07, 21 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Community support programs[edit]

Please update the following by providing estimates for each activity so that we may better understand the potential impact of this program:

  1. Supporting meetups (number of meetups)
    12 regular meetups per year. (But this doesn't have anything to do with the budget.) Deryck C. 01:14, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Community grants (number of grants, amount of grants)
    Total HK$300,000; number of projects not set in stone (see budget draft). Deryck C. 01:14, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Scholarships to Wikimania and WMCon (number of scholarships, amount of scholarships)
    10 full scholarships to Wikimania; 2 to WMCon (see budget draft). Deryck C. 01:14, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Participation in international initiatives (number of participants, number of initiatives)
    Wiki Loves Monuments (lots of staff time, one or two highly involved volunteers, and say 100 casual volunteers), Wikimedia Chapters Association (travel scholarship for 1 representative included in the "scholarships" item above; staff and some board members will also be involved), Wikimedia Asia (some staff time) Deryck C. 01:46, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Annual conference (number of participants)
    Too early to say. We are hosting Wikimania this year so there's no regular annual conference (indeed, not just WMHK annual conference, but also Chinese Wikimedia Conference and the proposed Wikimedia Asia Conference are all suspended in 2013 to make way for Wikimania Hong Kong). The next annual conference is planned for summer 2014. Deryck C. 01:50, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Outreach programs[edit]

We have a few questions about the activities, milestones, and measures for Outreach programs:

  1. How many talks in Secondary Schools do you expect to deliver?
  2. How many workshops for secondary and primary school teachers do you expect to deliver?
    1, 2: Human resource is the major limiting factor for number of secondary schools talks and workshops to be delivered. All manpower of the Chapter is coming from volunteers. School period is during working time (0800-1600), our volunteers do have their fulltime daytime job during school period. In this finicaiall unstable status, no number is set in stone. We'll continue passively in our outreaching program. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:24, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  3. How do you plan to expand the education programme in universities? For example, do you expect to include more teachers, more students, more institutions? How many?
    As we stated in our Annual Plan, we are exploring possibility to collaborate with a college in Chinese University of Hong Kong in the academic year 2013/14. From our experience we do see the need of staffing support in such program. With no support, we do not expect including more teacher/student/....; and these program does not scale well with just volunteers. Quality over quantity. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:24, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  4. How will you know if you have achieved “a group of teachers who understand Wikipedia well and are willing to advocate it”? For example, will you be conducting surveys or following up with the teachers after a certain amount of time?
    Through our partner WebOrganic, we'll join their workshop for teachers and students to teach them about Wikimedia projects. We'll conduct surveys and follow up with the teachers after the program.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:24, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Question about Wikimedia Hong Kong's strategy[edit]

The FDC is particularly interested in learning about how entities are making strategic decisions around resource allocation, and we appreciate the opportunity presented to Wikimedia Hong Kong by Wikimania. We would like to know more about how Wikimedia Hong Kong is strategizing post-Wikimania. This is a hypothetical question: if Wikimedia Hong Kong were able to hire only one staff person, what would this staff person's activities be focused on? Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:01, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Hong Kong is strategizing as follow:
  1. Community support: we want to increase participation and public visibility post-Wikimania by hosting monthly workshops and meetups, school talk tour, along with staff if hired. Through these activities we hope that general public and students will have a better understanding in Wikimedia projects and free knowledge movement in general. Most of outreaching tasks cannot be done by volunteers during working hour. Hence, extra manpower and resource are needed to execute.
  2. Stabilized organization infrastructure: reports, book keeping, and other administrative tasks are very time-consuming tasks for volunteers. We hope that volunteers can spend their time in promoting the use and content creation of Wikimedia projects to public instead of these administrative tasks.
  3. Future development: we want our organization to be sustainable. Almost all of our volunteers in our organization started from editing Wikipedia (or other Wikimedia projects) during our middle school years to joining our organization. We want to capture that by hosting primary/middle school tour to promote Wikimedia project and free knowledge movement to students. Youth involvement in our organization is very important and this ensure our organization will have a sustainable pool of volunteers. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 18:27, 25 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Question about cash balance[edit]

We have another question about your finances: you report a cash balance of US$ 5,861.15. Would you describe the sources of this balance? Thank you! Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:18, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Basically what is left of the WMF grants we've received in FY 2010-11. In the last two years WMHK was unfortunately operating with a deficit budget: the annual audit fee alone exceeds the donations and membership fees which WMHK receives. Deryck C. 01:03, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
This excludes a development fund of HK$860, which is explicitly set aside from the operating budget of the chapter. Deryck C. 01:17, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the explanation, Deryck. Let's continue our discussion on this use of funds on the discussion page of the Education Toolkits grant report. Sincerely, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 15:26, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Clarity around governance[edit]

It is interesting that Wikimedia Hong Kong has both a Council and a Board. Please provide some clarity and background about Wikimedia Hong Kong's governance structure, particularly the roles of the Council and the Board. Is this a typical structure for nonprofit organizations in Hong Kong? Have you found this governance structure effective, or do you have learnings to share with the movement about this type of structure? Will this structure change with the hiring of staff? Thank you, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:29, 23 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

From the Constitution overview of Wikimedia Hong Kong (WMHK), WMHK consists the Members Assembly, the Council and the Directory (aka Board). Composition and authority of the Council and the Directory are outlined in the Chapter IV of Articles of Association of WMHK. The Council of Wikimedia Hong Kong is the highest supervisory body in the Company. It represents the community, and reviews and drafts amendments to the Memorandum and Articles of Association. It is responsible to the Members Assembly directly. The Directory of Wikimedia Hong Kong is the highest nonadministrative body in the Company. It handles the daily administration of the Company and is responsible to the Members Assembly and the Council. This is a typical structure for nonprofit organization in Hong Kong. This structure will not change with the hiring of staff.--Simon Shek/石 (talk) 16:40, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

About challenges of transforming from volunteer driven to a professional organization[edit]

Hi WMHK,congratulations to you for putting forward this proposal. In your proposal, your have planned to have 3 full time employee & from the discussion on talk page it revealed to me that you plan to have at least 2 FTE. From the earlier experiences, we know that quite a few chapters had different types of problems with the employment of their first FTEs and they had to come up with different strategies to deal with the situations. As you are already heavily involved with organizing the Wikimania 2013, do you think that you have enough room to plan & design for recruitment policies, job descriptions, structuring & other related strategies for that many FTEs? What are your plans to tackle bureaucratic overloads that comes up with professionalization of an volunteer driven organization? What contingency plannings do you have if your recruitment strategies and results of recruitment do not go as planned? What are the key risk factors that you see as evident with the transformation of your organization into a professional one? -- Ali Haidar Khan (Tonmoy) (talk) 16:15, 27 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As we mentioned in our proposal, we will at least hire first FTE by the end of this year to cope with additional administrative requirement from various parties including WMF and FDC. The second FTE preferably should have accounting skill to help us tackle our finance-related tasks; he will assist us on our financial report, which is, again, a requirement set by WMF/FDC. These two FTE are set to help us compliance WMF good governance policy and FDC requirements. The third FTE is a dedicated staff for outreaching activities. The key risk factor if we unable to hire first 2 FTE will be cause us delay in our annual report and finance report, which then WMF and FDC will be blamed us on failure to compliance good governance. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:27, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Outreach Executive[edit]

Hi WMHK,Nice to see such a bold proposal put forward.I had a doubt about the Outreach Executive post.Is there a real need for this post to have a full time person employed, Cant there be a part time post created for the Outreach Executive post or maybe, have you considered Merging Accounting & Outreach Executive post & the Outreach Executive post.Yohannvt (talk) 04:41, 30 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We do have our daytime job. Most of the outreaching event happens in working hours. --Simon Shek/石 (talk) 14:15, 31 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am a Chinese Wikipedia user. Hong Kong is the most flourishing city in Asia. As the largest free harbour and a economic and commercial center. It is necessaryto pay more attention in Hong Kong program. I am looking forward to see the investion in Hong Kong. Thank you.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Phantom1993 (talk • contribs) .

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