Grants:APG/Proposal form v3

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This page and discussion page is maintained for archival purposes. For the current version of the form see Grants:APG/Proposal form


For some guidelines, please see this example proposal form.
If you need to review the edit instructions you will find them at the editintro.

All eligible entities will need to complete this form to request funds from the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC). The completed document must be published in English on Meta by the deadline for each round (23:59 UTC 1 October for Round 1, and 23:59 UTC 1 April for Round 2). No changes can be made to the documents after these deadlines pass, and documents will automatically be considered 'submitted' after the deadline closes.

The purpose of this document is to provide the FDC with an overview of your annual plan, the alignment of the plan to the Wikimedia movement’s strategic goals, and the potential impact and effectiveness of the plan. This proposal should complement any annual planning documents you may have: please complete all fields as mandatory and add links to supporting documents where relevant. If any documents are submitted in a draft form (e.g. an annual plan that has not yet been approved by the General Assembly), please link to the final version when it has been approved, even if after the deadline.

Please review key FDC documents, including the FDC Framework, Guidance for the FDC from the Board, and the FDC's 2012-2013 funding recommendations: Round 1 and Round 2. These documents include critical information for applicants.

Each section of the proposal provides guidance on the amount of detail expected in response to each question or field. If you have any questions about the form, please contact the FDC support team.

A few terms used in the form:


Basic information[edit]

Overview of grant request[edit]

In order to support community review, in no more than one paragraph, please provide a brief description of your entity's forthcoming annual plan, with focus areas and key objectives. Please also include the total amount requested in US$.


Contact information[edit]

Table 1

Organization information Legal name of organization 1
organization's fiscal year (mm/dd–mm/dd) 2
12 month timeframe* of funds currently requested (mm/dd/yy–mm/dd/yy) 3
Contact information (primary) Primary contact name 4
Primary contact position in organization 5
Primary contact username 6
Primary contact email 7
Contact information (secondary) Secondary contact name 8
Secondary contact position in organization 9
Secondary contact username 10
Secondary contact email 11

*Timeframe should ideally be for a 12 month period that begins after the FDC decision.


Amount requested[edit]

Table 2

Currency requested: 1

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): 2

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 3 4
Amount proposed to the FDC for the coming year's annual plan 5 6
Amount to be raised from non-FDC sources 7 8
If applicable, amount of FDC funds allocated to organization last year 9 10
Based on the funding amount you are requesting, what is your entity's proposed rate of growth in budget since last year? Please explain your entity's rationale if your proposed budget will increase this year:

Note the FDC Framework funding guidelines on the rate of growth of year-over-year FDC allocations. These guidelines relate not to an entity's overall budget, but rather to movement resources (that is, what the entity received through FDC allocations or grants or what the entity retained via payment processing in the prior funding cycle).



Background, history, and mission[edit]

This section provides the FDC an overview of your entity's background and history. Please respond to each question below with 1-2 sentences to a maximum of a paragraph.

When was your entity established?
What is the mission of your entity, and how does it support the strategic priorities of the Wikimedia movement (infrastructure, participation, quality, reach, and innovation)? We note that Wikimedia movement priorities will be interpreted and addressed differently in each context.
What is your current leadership structure (e.g., executive staff structure, board / governance structure)? Please explain how budgets are managed and programs are executed between board and staff.
If applicable, how many members does your entity have, and how do you define membership (e.g., attendance at events, paying dues)?
What is the role of volunteers in your entity (e.g., help develop entity plans, participate in programs, edit Wikipedia)? Approximately how many volunteers does your entity serve?
How do you know what the members of the community / communities you serve (including chapter members and broader online volunteers) need and want? How does this influence your strategic planning and decision-making?

Reflection on past activities and innovations[edit]

This section provides the FDC with information about your entity's past programs, activities and strategies. Please answer the questions below with your reflections on the past fiscal year. Responses to each question should be one or two paragraphs.

How does your entity define and measure "success"?
Please give at least three examples of successful programs or activities that your entity has completed, and explain why they were successful. If available, provide links to information.
What are the plans/strategies that did not work for your entity in the past? What did your entity learn from those experiences? What changes were made after learning from these experiences?
What else has your entity learned or innovated upon that could benefit the broader Wikimedia movement?

Please link to the following to provide supplemental information to the FDC:

How does your entity share its work with your community and with the wider Wikimedia movement?

For instance, publishing case studies on Meta, blog posts, newsletters, speeches at conferences, etc.

Link to most recently completed fiscal year annual plan
Link to most recently completed fiscal year annual report and financial report
Link to most recently completed fiscal year grant report (if your entity has received funds from the FDC)
Link to your entity's strategic plan if you have one
Link to your organogram or organizational chart if one exists
Link to your entity's current fiscal year plan and budget



Key programs / initiatives and objectives of the upcoming year's annual plan[edit]

These tables are intended to provide an overview of your entity's upcoming year annual plan and its alignment with the movement's strategic priorities; please provide short phrases or 1-3 bullet points for each program below. You can also link to any other documents that you think might be helpful as context.

Please ensure that your proposed programs are SMART; that is, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

If you feel you have a program that fulfills a strategic goal that is not immediately identified with a movement strategic priority ('readership' rather than 'editorship', for instance), please add that in the table and offer us your rationale.

Finally, please also note which programs are the entity's priorities.


Program 1[edit]

Program title

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?

Any additional details:


Additional context for the upcoming year's annual plan / SWOT[edit]

Please provide 1-2 paragraphs for each response below. SWOT stands for your organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

What organizational strengths enable your entity's plan (e.g., leadership, education program expertise, experience with outreach, governance structure, community participation, fundraising)?
What external opportunities enable your entity's plan (e.g., socio-political context, community participation, fundraising)?
What are key risks or threats that would prevent you from achieving your plan (e.g., leadership turnover, governance challenges, lawsuits, fundraising, community participation, socio-political context)?
How will you minimize these risks and threats?

Financials: year-to-date progress[edit]

This section provides the FDC information about how your entity is progressing against the current fiscal year's planned budget (revenues and costs).

Please provide the relevant information below. "Year-to-date" refers to the period between the start of your entity's current fiscal year and the date of submission of the proposal. Actual year-to-date financials should be provided as close to the proposal submission date as possible.

Identify the year-to-date for which you are reporting, month/year to month/year:

Table 3

Current fiscal year planned budget Year-to-date actuals Projected final amount
In currency requested In $US In currency requested In $US In currency requested In $US
Revenues (from all sources) 1 2 3 4 6 7
Spending 9 10 11 12 14 15

Table 3 details, if necessary:


Based on the variance percentages above, please describe how your entity is progressing against revenue and spending targets. If your projected final amount shows your entity to be significantly under or over target on either revenue or spending, please provide a detailed explanation.

Financials: upcoming year's annual plan[edit]

Please note that the FDC staff is currently exploring alternatives to wikitables for financial information. This issue will be addressed by the time the proposal creation tool is launched on September 1, 2013. Provide your financial overview for the upcoming year in the format below.

Please link to your detailed budget in a publicly available spreadsheet file (translation into English highly recommended) in addition to completing the tables below. Detailed budget link:

Financial sustainability[edit]

What other donors support your work beyond those in the Wikimedia movement? If your entity does receive funding from other donors, please list a contact person.

Note that the FDC staff may contact these donors.

What are your entity's plans for achieving long-term financial sustainability?

Revenues[edit]

Please list anticipated revenues, by source (e.g., FDC, Wikimedia grants programs, grants from institutional donors, public funding, membership fees, local donations, event fees)

Table 4

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


1 2 3

Table 4 notes, if necessary:


Current entity staff and long-term contractors[edit]

Role/functions might include program administration, finance, fundraising. Please include both part-time and full-time staff and long-term contractors.

Table 5

Role / Function Number of staff Percentage of staff time*
1 2 3

*Please include estimates of the percentage allocation of staff members. For example, for full-time staff, you would put 100% in this column. For half time staff, you would put 50% in this column.

Table 5 notes, if necessary:


Proposed new staff and and long-term contractors for upcoming year's annual plan[edit]

Role / functions might include program administration, finance, fundraising. Please include both part-time and full-time staff and long-term contractors.

Table 6

Department (e.g. Programs, Communications) Number of current staff Percentage of current staff time* Number of upcoming staff Percentage of upcoming staff time* Rationale for hiring new staff
5

*Please include estimates of the percentage allocation of staff members and long-term contractors. For example, for full-time staff, you would put 100% in this column. For half-time staff, you would put 50% in this column.

Table 6 notes, if necessary:


Summary of staff and long-term contractor expenses[edit]

Table 7

In currency requested In $US Percent increase
Current staff expenses 1 2
Proposed increase for current staff expenses 3 4 5
Proposed increase for new staff expenses 6 7 8
Total staff expenses 9 10 11

Please estimate the percentage of overall staff time spent on programmatic work, as opposed to administration:

Table 7 notes, if necessary:



Expenses by program / initiative[edit]

Expenses are costs associated with any programs, initiatives, or projects your entity manages (e.g., event costs, materials, transportation). Please exclude any staff costs that are included above. “Programs / initiatives” might include education programs, outreach programs, microgranting initiatives, etc. Please include any administration costs (e.g., office space rental, utilities) affiliated with each program along with any overall administration costs that are not affiliated with any particular program (e.g., Administration should be considered a "Program" under the first column.)

Table 8a

Program / initiative In currency requested In $US
1 2 3
Total program expenses (should equal the sum of the rows) 4 5

Table 8 notes, if necessary:


Summary of total revenues and expenses[edit]

Table 9

In currency requested In $US
Total cash balance as of proposal submission 1 2
Total revenues 3 4
Total spending 5 6
Net (revenues less expenses) 7 8
Operating reserves,* if applicable

Table 9 notes, if necessary:


Verification that this proposal requests no funds from the Wikimedia Foundation for political or legislative activities[edit]

Enter "yes" or "no" for the verification below.

The term “political or legislative activities” includes any activities relating to political campaigns or candidates (including the contribution of funds and the publication of position statements relating to political campaigns or candidates); voter registration activities; meetings with or submissions and petitions to government executives, ministers, officers or agencies on political or policy issues; and any other activities seeking government intervention or policy implementation (like “lobbying”), whether directed toward the government or the community or public at large. Grants for such activities (when permitted under U.S. law and IRS regulations) should be sought from the Wikimedia Grants Program.
I verify that this proposal requests no funds from the Wikimedia Foundation for political or legislative activities

Once complete, please sign below with the usual four tildes. No changes can be made to the documents after the deadlines for completion passes, and documents will automatically be considered 'submitted' after the deadline closes.