Global Resource Distribution Committee/Grantmaking Strategy 2026/Strengthening Regional Funds Committees

Aim 4: Strengthening Regional Funds Committees

To  build strong and sustainable Regional Fund Committees, capable of making effective, accountable and transparent funding decisions while supporting the people who serve on them.

Objective 4.1: Ensure effective decision-making in line with movement priorities

Strengthen the capacity of Regional Fund Committees to make informed, well-supported funding decisions that reflect both global movement priorities and local context, with clear documentation and knowledge transfer across cycles. Key features:

• Draw on the skills, expertise and knowledge of Program Officers to support robust decision making, with staff having responsibility for the initial assessment of proposals against funding criteria and priorities, including recommendations for funding (noting that the final decision on grants will remain with RFC voting members).
• Strive for a healthy balance of Wikimedians and non-Wikimedians on every Committee, ideally including people with relevant professional expertise such as grantmaking, organisational development and the information ecosystem. The majority of members should be Wikimedians in good standing. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, members should come from the region the Committee serves, ensuring that decisions are grounded in regional knowledge and context.
• Ensure a high level of training and onboarding that equips all members with the skills and knowledge to make effective decisions in line with best practice in grantmaking and movement priorities.
• Establish better mechanisms for documentation of decisions and knowledge transfer, and improve access to relevant data in order to support informed decisions.

Objective 4.2: Strengthen the sustainability of Regional Fund Committees

The work of RFC members is demanding and continuous. Sustaining committees over time requires attention to recruitment, recognition, and protection against burnout. Key features:

• Promote the value of serving as an RFC member to strengthen recruitment, with stronger communication around why serving on a committee is a valuable experience.
• Continuing to offer optional stipends to all committee members
• Broaden the candidate pool by opening membership to external candidates (see objective 4.1) , bringing in additional professional expertise alongside Wikimedians.
• Prevent burnout through concrete workload measures, starting with standardising application length according to the funding pathway to reduce the review burden on members.

Objective 4.3: Improve transparency and clarity in decision-making

To make RFC processes - recruitment, decisions, and grant handling - transparent, consistent across regions, and accountable to the communities they serve. Key features:

• Standardize processes for recruiting RFC members with clear role descriptions, public selection criteria, and structured interviews to assess candidates' suitability.
• Publish decision making criteria - aligned with movement priorities established by the GRDC - so that applicants have a clear understanding of how proposals are assessed.
• Pilot an appeal mechanism through which grant applicants may request reconsideration of a funding decision by a different Regional Funding Committee. Appeals would only be considered under defined circumstances, with clear criteria and timelines for the review process.
• Implement office-hours model to strengthen communication between RFCs and applicants throughout the funding process.
• Make all grants requests and accompanying headline budgets public wherever appropriate, while respecting privacy and legal requirements.
• As described under Objective 1.2, the GRDC proposes the creation of a separate funding committee for thematic groups, with discreet criteria and funding available.