Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014 round1/Wikimedia Serbia/Proposal form

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Wikimedia Serbia received a funds allocation in the amount of €80,000 in 2013-2014 Round 1. This funds allocation was recommended by the Funds Dissemination Committee on 15 November 2013 and approved by the WMF Board of Trustees on 31 December 2013.


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$.

  • In the forthcoming year, Wikimedia Serbia plans to expand its capacity with one more employee and to support 11 community projects, of which some are continuations of projects from previous years, whereas some are new. The focus of these projects will be on education, regional cooperation, GLAM and increasing quality and quantity of free content on Wikimedia projects. For this annual plan, the total amount requested is $121,029.75.


Contact information[edit]

Table 1

Organization information Legal name of organization Wikimedia Serbia
organization's fiscal year (mm/dd–mm/dd) 01/01-12/31
12 month timeframe* of funds currently requested (mm/dd/yy–mm/dd/yy) 01/01-12/31
Contact information (primary) Primary contact name Filip Maljković
Primary contact position in organization Vice president, acting president
Primary contact username Dungodung
Primary contact email filip@vikimedija.org
Contact information (secondary) Secondary contact name Mile Kiš
Secondary contact position in organization Secretary General
Secondary contact username MikyM
Secondary contact email milekis@vikimedija.org

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



Amount requested[edit]

Table 2

Currency requested: EUR

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): 1 EUR = 1.37 USD as of 09/30/2013

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 88,542.88 121,303.75
Amount proposed to the FDC for the coming year's annual plan 88,342.88 121,029.75
Amount to be raised from non-FDC sources 200 274
If applicable, amount of FDC funds allocated to organization last year N/A N/A
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:
  • N/A, since we didn't receive FDC grants last year.
  • However, in the past 11 months (period from November 1, 2012, when we received the Annual grant, to September 30, 2013) we received 4 grants in total, amounting to about 60,500 EUR. Compared to the requested amount, that's an increase of about 46%. The reason for this is an increase in the number of projects and overall activity, as well as hiring a new employee and giving a raise to our existing employee.

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.
  • According to the bylaws, WMRS is a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit organization, established for an unlimited period of time in order to work on developing free knowledge. The purpose of WMRS is to find the answer to the question of how knowledge may become totally free and accessible to all human beings. The goal is to promote and support the creation, development and reproduction of free content free of charge explicitly, and the idea of equal access to knowledge and education. WMRS pays special attention to the promotion and spreading of WMF projects.
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.
  • The General Assembly deals with all important issues at least once a year, but in the meantime, the Board is the leading structure, with a Secretariat as an executive body. The Secretariat currently consists of the General Secretary, who is serving as our employee. There are also expert boards, which are tasked with specific projects, and one regional board. However, they don’t have a governance role. The General Assembly approves the financial plan and between two assemblies financial decisions are made by the Board. Program execution is coordinated by the employee, and Board members participate in projects in the same capacity as other volunteers.
If applicable, how many members does your entity have, and how do you define membership (e.g., attendance at events, paying dues)?
  • There are about 20 volunteers of varying activity, with about 90 members. Anyone who signs the application form becomes a member, but they have to be confirmed as such at a General Assembly meeting.
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?
  • Volunteers do a lot of work, as the board is fully volunteer-based, but they are also actively involved in most projects run by Wikimedia Serbia. We don't have any hard figures, but our estimate is around 300 volunteers across projects.
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?
  • As most Wikimedia Serbia members are active participants in at least one Wikimedia project, as a guidance in our work we use not only experiences from broader community, but also feedback we get in direct communication with other contributors on projects. Likewise, in process of assembling this proposal, we invited the community to submit project proposals, some of which are included here. Between two General Assemblies, the board holds open meetings to directly gather input from community members, which is taken into account when developing strategies and in other decision making processes.

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"?
  • Success depends on the context, but in general, success means making some kind of progress within at least one of Wikimedia’s missions, be it attracting new users or readers, facilitating content creation, bringing volunteers etc. Success can be measured both separately for each project and for the whole grant overall. Different projects require different methods for measuring success. Most of the times, however, success can be measured as quantifiable output of the project, either during the project, or after its completion. At times, data isn’t readily available or time needs to pass in order to assess a project, so in such cases measuring success might not be so straightforward.
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.
  • Educational projects — they have been conducted for years mainly by the Academy board members, but also by other WMRS volunteers; the projects have actively involved many educational institutions, with the effect of hundreds of articles on Serbian Wikipedia written by high school and university students. Academy Board Strategy and Plan, Annual plan reports for Q1, Q2 and Q3.
  • Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 — as this was our first contest of such nature and magnitude, we did exceptionally good, with 150 participants and almost 3800 uploaded photos, as well as good media coverage. wlm.rs
  • Wikimedia CEE conference — a conference organized almost entirely by Wikimedia Serbia members in 2012, it gathered representatives from Central and Eastern Europe for the first time in such high numbers.
  • Creative Commons localization — the process of localizing and launching the Creative Commons licenses in 2007 had a great impact on free culture and content in Serbia. creativecommons.org.rs
  • Community support — Wikimedia Serbia organized several regional conferences and over 200 live meetups, which have served as a support for local community and an opportunity for Wikipedians and Wikimedians to meet up and discuss their work on the projects.
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?
  • The capacity building project — it had a possibility to succeed, and there were several somewhat successful events, but after the organizer left, we were unable to continue, so the project didn’t meet its expectations in terms of the number of events. What we learnt was that project leaders should be encouraged to be more transparent regarding their work, so that someone else can take over if the project leader decides to leave.
  • The Media board — after creating the media board (4-5 people), we had high expectations from them, but since their coordinator left and also because of personal issues and lack of time, the team didn’t fulfill its mission and subsequently became defunct. The lesson we learnt was that even though there are many people tasked with doing something, the task might not be completed, because a team needs guidance and help with organization. Also, not very experienced volunteers should not be expected to do work on short notices, especially if they don’t have a lot of free time. Based on these experiences, we have started working on a new strategy to attract new volunteers for the Media board.
  • There were a few other plans or projects that simply didn’t happen, for various reasons, some of which are:
    • we didn’t have the manpower to carry it out
    • we didn’t have the means to carry it out
    • it included another organization that was unresponsive or slow
    • it depended on a person that became unavailable
    The lesson that we learned was that all these factors should be taken into consideration when creating a project, which we now regularly do.
What else has your entity learned or innovated upon that could benefit the broader Wikimedia movement?
  • Even though it’s sometimes hard to find even one person to lead a project, we have come to the conclusion that having only one person responsible for the project could lead to project failure, should the person decide to leave (because of burnout, lack of time, personal disagreements et al.). So, having a single point of failure could be avoided by having at least one more person acquainted with the project, just in case.
  • Support for community volunteers is very important when they want to work on a project. In such cases, it’s often necessary to give them help in terms of information, advice, physical workspace, snacks, time and effort devoted in helping them out with the project etc.
  • Cooperation with media and local cultural institutions is also very important, because by having good relations with them, a Wikimedia organization can get benefits (e.g. WMRS got a venue donation for meetings from Belgrade Youth Center and Hacklab) or attain a positive image in the media.
  • By having our own office space and employee, we have significantly increased our activities related to cooperations with other organizations. Additionally, office and an employee make us a more serious and accessible partner.

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.
  • We have a blog and several informative websites [1], covering a range of topics. We also inform our community through mailing lists and popular social networks, as well as through live meetups.
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)
  • N/A
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.


Educational Program[edit]

Educational Program

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • Educational program of Wikimedia Serbia consists of several different projects, for which we will give key objectives.
    • EduWiki Conference: This is a conference with the goal of getting educational and scientific institutions acquainted with Wikimedia projects, creating two-way communication, introducing Wikimedia projects in the curriculum of Serbia’s educational institutions and informing state institutions about positive aspects of free knowledge, which is a foundation of Wikimedia projects.
    • EduWiki Learning Day: This is a one-day event which would happen after EduWiki Conference. The key objective is exchanging experiences between project managers (both local and guests from abroad) regarding leading and realization of educational programs in the global community and strengthening partnerships.
    • Wikipedia in Schools: WMRS has a long tradition of conducting lectures and workshops within projects for all types of educational institutions: elementary, high schools and university faculties. The goal is to use Wikimedia projects in educational purposes as a free platform that could be used in many ways. One of those ways is writing articles (seminal papers) on Wikipedia, which help increase quality and quantity of this project. Thanks to the lectures and workshops, new editors and users will be informed about the ways Wikimedia projects work.
    • Seminars and Trainings: This is a project that includes training teachers and professors to work on Wikipedia, so that they would be able to edit on their own and later train their pupils or students and use Wikipedia in their curriculum.
    • Professional Development: This is a project that deals with including seminars and training in the system of professional development of teaching staff through attending obligatory courses and seminars. In contrast to the “Seminars and Trainings” project, which isn't compulsory and is conducted as an extension to the cooperation with an educational institution on a specific Wikipedia article writing project, “Professional Development” is a project where teachers and professors from all over Serbia attend a seminar because they are required to attend several of such seminars throughout a year, with the goal of professional development.
  • Criteria for success:
    • EduWiki conference: The conference will be considered successful if at least 50 people from Serbia’s educational sector attend and participate in the program. Some effects of the conference might not be visible at first, but we do intend on creating new cooperations after the conference, so having two or more new partners in educational projects could also be considered a success.
    • Wikipedia in Schools: The expected output of this project depends on the number of institutions we will be working with, as well as their size. All in all, we plan on having at least 400 new articles by the end of the project.
    • Seminars and Trainings: Seminars are tied to the number of educational institutions which we will cooperate with in the project “Wikipedia in Schools”. We expect cooperation with teachers/professors from at least 5 educational institutions.
    • Professional Development: Organizing at least one seminar for teachers from all over Serbia, with at least 20 participants, will be considered successful.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • Educational projects have always had a role in popularization of Wikipedia and increasing participation in terms of editing. Cooperation with educational institutions through various projects increases Wikipedia’s visibility and enables even higher participation, and writing articles through educational projects increases the quantity and quality of Wikipedia articles. EduWiki Conference deals with increasing participation and reach.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • EduWiki Conference: This is a conference about educational projects of Wikimedia Serbia, intended for professors and teachers from Serbia, as well as representatives from scientific and educational institutions and governmental sector. Participation of several guests from abroad is also planned. The conference is planned for the end of March 2014. Having in mind the project’s nature, the conference will require a lot of logistical and organizational efforts, which will include creating the program, inviting guests from Serbia and abroad, booking accommodation and conference venue, preparing technical equipment, promoting the event etc.
  • EduWiki Learning day: This one day internal meeting and workshop will organizationally rely mostly on the EduWiki Conference, as they will most likely share the venue, and also some guests.
  • Wikipedia in Schools: Organization and holding lectures and workshops in elementary and high schools and faculties; this is a continuation of the last year’s projects Wiki Gymnasium, Wiki Schooler and Wiki Student.
  • Seminars and Trainings: Holding seminars and trainings for teachers and professors, at the similar time as the lectures and workshops in their respective institutions.
  • Professional Development: We plan to start the program of professional development at the Institute for Improving Education in partnership with the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. The project is primarily targeted for teaching employees, who are required to attend several courses each year. The difference between “Seminars and Training” and this project is that the former is primarily intended for a group of teachers centered around one school, whereas the latter is intended for individuals from all around Serbia.
  • Promotional material: Localization, publishing and distribution of promo material for educational projects (several brochures have been localized up to now)
  • Website: Maintaining the website devoted to the WMRS educational program, localization of texts and reporting about projects and activities.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • Since WMRS has great experience in organizing conferences and carrying out educational projects in schools and universities, most of the activities aren't new to us and we expect to successfully complete them.
  • Tracking the number of participants at the Conference and Learning day should be possible through an online registration system. By posting conference proceedings on Meta or similar sites, output could be tracked and archived, and possibly used for later occasions.
  • Wikipedia article writing project for schools and faculties has a long tradition in Serbia and the Serbian Wikipedia community has created a policy for such projects. As per policy, articles created through the project should be tagged with special templates, which puts the articles in designated categories, which helps get a clear picture about the success of the projects.
  • By keeping in touch with teachers and professors, we will be able to assess the success of the "train the trainer" projects.

Any additional details:

  • This is a project of great priority to Wikimedia Serbia


Wikicopter[edit]

Wikicopter

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • Wikimedia projects have large quantities of media files (photos and videos), but they are mostly of amateur or near amateur quality. Specifically, aerial photographs of Serbia are lacking or completely absent, since they typically require very expensive equipment. The objective of this program is to enable Wikimedians to make aerial photographs, since currently they’re not able to. The project would be conducted firstly on the territory of Belgrade, and later as a part of the Photo Safari project throughout Serbia.
  • We will make a free guide to build a quadricopter at a Wikimedia project.
  • We will build a Wikicopter which will be in the ownership of Wikimedia Serbia.
  • We will make at least four series of photographs with at least 400 photos in total using the Wikicopter.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • This project will draw attention to Wikimedia projects since a quadricopter is a very interesting and novel object. It will increase participation in Wikimedia projects by people who would want to operate the Wikicopter. It will bring a number of novel high-quality aerial images to Wikimedia projects the likes of which don't yet exist. People interested in aircraft models who are not interested in Wikimedia projects will become interested because of the Wikicopter.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • Wikimedia Serbia will engage its volunteers who have experience with electronics and scale modelling in order to purchase the most cost-effective parts and to assemble the Wikicopter
  • We will create the specification and purchase necessary parts
  • We will construct the Wikicopter and create a construction manual
  • Camera for taking aerial photos will be mounted on the Wikicopter
  • We will hold several photo-sessions with the Wikicopter
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • We will track the usage of documentation for assembly of Wikicopter. We will create appropriate categories for images created with Wikicopter. Through volunteer participation and reports on Wikimedia Serbia sites/blog, we will track the number of photos and areas where they were taken.

Any additional details:


Competitions[edit]

Competitions

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • The primary objective of this program is to increase free knowledge by creating new or improving existing Wikipedia articles that would unlikely be created or improved otherwise, except through on-wiki competitions. Additionally, competitions are a good opportunity to motivate community members to edit articles. Through several competitions, we expect that
    • at least 300 new Wikipedia articles will be created
    • at least 150 old Wikipedia articles will be improved
    • at least 15 community members per competition will participate.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • This project would bring attention to Wikimedia projects since the awards offered are somewhat unorthodox for an Internet project. It would increase participation in Wikimedia projects since people who would not otherwise participate will be drawn to the participation by the awards, and we have empirically observed that competitions produce positive effects on Wikimedia projects. As quality of articles is included in their assessment the competition will improve the quality of articles. Wikipedia's reach will be increased both by the new articles and via reports of the competition.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • We will organize at least 3 competitions, of which 2 would be article writing competitions and one would be an article improving competition. Each competition includes the following activities:
    • selecting the competition topic
    • selecting the jury
    • selecting the competition timeframe
    • selecting and purchasing awards
    • promoting the competition
    • conducting the competition, jurying and announcing winners
    • shipping or directly giving the awards to the winners
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • The success will depend on the number of people who participate in the competition; the number and quality of articles created; and by the overall reception of the competition in the Wikipedia community. Every competition will have a coordination page, which will include a complete list of articles that have been created or improved and a list of participants, and will be used for tracking the progress and success of this project.

Any additional details:

  • As a project directly involved with increasing participation and quantity/quality of Wikipedia, this is a project of great value and priority to us.


Free Photo Content[edit]

Program title

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.

Free photo content projects include the following:

  • Photo Safari: As a part of the last year’s annual plan, we had a Wiki Expedition project, that was similar in aim to this one — volunteers would go to a part of Serbia, take as many photos as possible and hold an outreach event with a local institution. However, there were problems with that, seeing as it was very hard to find local cultural institutions that were willing to host us or help us, which might be due to the fact that parts of Serbia other than the capital are relatively underdeveloped. Also, if we did find institutions that were willing to cooperate with us, it would often be hard to find time frame suitable for both organizations. With Photo Safari, we’d like to continue with the project of documenting the parts of Serbia that are not well covered, without necessarily doing outreach. The main objective is again to collect photos of not very well covered parts of Serbia, e.g. natural heritage, everyday life, places of greater importance in Serbian villages and smaller towns. If possible, we would like to engage with the local community. The goal is to organize at least 4 photo Safaris, with about 400 quality photos on average uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the end of the project.
  • Wiki Loves Monuments: This project includes mass collecting of photos of cultural monuments of Serbia through a well-known contest; also, one of the objectives this year will be to hold an article writing and improving competition regarding Serbian monuments. Additionally, we expect to promote the project through holding several exhibitions of the winning photos. The volunteer participation highly depends on the promotion of such an event, attractiveness of the awards, but also the availability and remoteness of the monuments that need to be photographed. The goal is to have at least 3000 uploaded photos of Serbian cultural monuments, at least two photo-tours, at least one editathon about monuments and at least three exhibitions in Serbia.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • The main goal of these projects is to increase the visibility of Wikimedia Serbia, Wikimedia projects, especially Wikimedia Commons, and the Wikimedia movement as a whole. By getting thousands of new photos, articles about Serbian topics will be greatly improved. Also, the goal of the project is to give incentive to community members to work on the projects by way of giving awards and media attention.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • For every Photo Safari, it is necessary to:
    • choose a location or a smaller region in Serbia and create the journey plan
    • select volunteers who want to take part in the trip
    • go on a one or two day journey with at least two persons who would take photos, with the possibility of cooperating with the local community or cultural institutions
    • upload photos with metadata to Wikimedia Commons
  • Activities in Wiki Loves Monuments project include:
    • obtaining and updating the lists of monuments and their geographic locations
    • finding exhibition space
    • choosing and purchasing awards
    • writing press releases and promoting the event
    • selecting expert jury
    • supporting the community in their participation
    • organizing photo-tours
    • organizing editathons with the topic of monuments
    • organizing several exhibits in Serbia
    • announcing the winners and making an award giving ceremony
    • maintaining and updating wlm.rs website
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • Photo Safari: Through volunteer reports, we will have insight into the progress of the project, including the number of visited places per trip and in total. Each journey will have a category page on Wikimedia Commons, which will be used to track the number of uploaded photos.
  • Wiki Loves Monuments: Through existing tools, we will follow the number of uploaded photos per day and in total, number of non-photographed monuments, number of new and returning participants, number of new categories, number of disqualified photos etc. We will also measure the number of exhibits and institutions which will host them, the number of photos exhibited and the number of visitors. Additionally, we will track the quantity of printed and distributed promo material, the number of media appearances (including announcements about the competition and the results), as well as our activities on social networks. The success of photo-tours will be measured by the volunteer attendance.

Any additional details:


Free content: GLAM and Digital Belgrade[edit]

Program title

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • GLAM: This project continues our work with GLAM institutions with the objectives being two-way cooperation, facilitating the release of photographs, texts and data under free licenses, and attempts to establish cooperation with institutions we haven’t previously worked with. At the end of this project we expect to:
    • have a Wikipedian in Residence in at least one GLAM institution
    • cooperate with GLAM institutions in obtaining photographs
  • Digital Belgrade: The objective of this project is a continuation in placing QRpedia’s QR codes to Belgrade monuments.
    • we will contact users of several memorial houses
    • we will write and improve articles and photos about objects and place QR codes on them
    • we will work on developing a mobile application for the needs of this project
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • The main strategic priorities of GLAM activities are increasing reach and participation and strengthening cooperation with local partners. By having a Wikipedian in Residence, we hope to increase the quality of many articles and quantity of photos available on Wikimedia projects.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • GLAM: We plan to contact as many GLAM institutions as possible and to present our projects and the possibility of cooperation to them. The goal of potential partnerships is to obtain free documents and photos by way of activities and workshops, but also to use QRpedias QR codes and get new content on Wikimedia projects (Wikisources, Wikipedia, Commons...)
  • Digital Belgrade: During 2012 and 2013, we held regular meetings with several partners regarding the idea of placing QR codes on cultural monuments. The plan was to set over 400 QR codes, 60 of which during 2013. For 2014, we plan on continuing the project, which includes continuing with the cooperation with institutions, contacting the users of certain memorial houses, writing articles, obtaining photos and placing physical QR codes.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • GLAM: Success of this programs will be measured by number of partnerships we establish with GLAM institutions, by number of photographs and/or texts, and whether we will get a Wikipedian in residence.
  • Digital Belgrade: The progress of this program will depend on a number of partnerships with users of monuments, number of partnerships with government institutions and whether we are successful in negotiating with the Faculty of Organizational Sciences about making a mobile application for this project. We will track the number of articles in Serbian language about monuments included in the project, the number of articles about monuments translated to other languages, the number of QR codes we place, the number of sponsors for this program outside Wikimedia, the duration of placed codes, the number of uses/scans, statistics of articles (new articles, improved/expanded articles, popularity of articles etc.)

Any additional details:


Wiktionary[edit]

Wiktionary

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • This is a continuation of the project of developing Wikipedia’s sister projects. Work on the project 1001 Arabic Words, that was started in 2013, includes writing Arabic-Serbian dictionary, articles about Arabic language and grammar, holding workshops and promoting the project. Our plan is to start some more similar projects related to Wiktionary, beside the one in Arabic, in partnership with the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade. Seeing as the volunteers who have participated in the 1001 Arabic Words project in 2013 expressed interest in actively taking part in other projects and activities of Wikimedia Serbia beside the Wiktionary project, we expect that other similar groups will show certain interest in internal going-ons in Wikimedia Serbia and its other projects. We expect to start new Wiktionary projects in at least two new languages, so the project should be considered successful if 1000 new words are completed for the Serbian Wiktionary. In total, we will hold at least 80 workshops/meetups in WMRS office as parts of this project.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • By supporting the development of smaller projects, we are encouraging innovation and improving the quality of those projects. By engaging students to actively participate in projects like this, we will increase awareness regarding Wikimedia and hopefully attract new volunteers for Wikimedia Serbia.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • After having already assembled a student group centered around the 1001 Arabic Words project, we feel confident that we could create more similar groups centered around some other languages. Having ties with several cultural and educational institutions in Serbia is also of great help. Once the groups are formed, they are expected to gather often in WMRS office in order to create content through teamwork, and WMRS employees will be there to facilitate that. A key activity of the project is reporting to the community about project results through blog and mailing lists.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • We will track the number of new and returning participants, the number of new languages, the number of new articles per project, the rate of new articles, the number of meetups/workshops. We will promote and present this project to Wikimedia community through our blog and mailing lists.

Any additional details:


Supporting Regional Cooperation[edit]

Supporting Regional Cooperation

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • As one of the oldest chapters in the region, Wikimedia Serbia has started many initiatives for regional cooperation. We have previously organized several very successful regional conferences — the most recent was the CEE (Central and Eastern European) conference in 2012 — which resulted in the formation of communities and chapters in the region. By continuing with the regional cooperation, we hope to support development, strengthening and connectivity of communities in our region. Our goal is to participate and enable participation of representatives of the broader community in events, to help in organizing events either by giving advice or by active participation in the organizational process. We expect the CEE conference to be successfully organized, having at least 30 participants from about 15 countries and to result in visible inter-chapter cooperation. From Wikicamps program: we expect at least one Wikicamp to take place, with a minimum of 20 participants and two topics across two days.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • Communities in the region have similar history and face similar challenges in their everyday work on Wikimedia projects. Previous regional cooperation has shown that regional communities benefited from exchange of ideas, and has resulted in improving connectivity and strengthening communities. Strong community contributes more and better content, has more diverse members and can work more on promoting Wikimedia projects in public and attract more partners and programs. By continuing with active participation in regional cooperation, we expect it to gain improvement in quantity and quality of material on projects, increase in outreach and participation and through diversity in more and more innovative programs in local communities.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • CEE conference: financial, logistical and organizational support to the organizers and participation in the conference.
  • Wikicamps: co-organization together with chapters from neighboring countries, providing logistic support - helping with creating program, inviting guests from Serbia and abroad, providing technical support, promotion and marketing etc.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • For the CEE conference, we will track all activities related to organization (related mailing lists and websites), the number of participants and the number of participating countries, suggest and help in selection of topics for the conference.
  • For Wikicamps: we will take part in maintaining related mailing lists, we will keep community informed through lists, Wikimedia project talk pages and social media.

Any additional details:


Community Support[edit]

Community Support

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • The goals of this project are enabling communication across narrower and broader community of Wikipedia, other Wikimedia projects, as well as broader Wikimedia movement. Another goal is to inform the public about happenings in Wikimedia movement by writing and localizing blog posts and participating on social networks. Also, one of the goals is maintaining contact with the broader community in Serbia by visiting and enabling community members to participate in Wikimedia projects (e.g. participation in local and international conferences and meetings). We will get at least 50 blog post and several dozens of new articles on Wikimedia Serbia websites and a minimum of 100 posts on social networks. We will grant at least one scholarship for participation on Wikimania and one scholarship for participation in one topical conference. We will organize/take part in at least two meetups outside Belgrade.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • This project mainly addresses visibility and community outreach through posting on blog and websites, which we expect will result in an influx of new volunteers and partners. Travelling to places outside Belgrade mainly helps with strengthening and supporting the community in other parts of Serbia and enables us to reach out to people in remote areas to help them be more engaged in activities of Wikimedia Serbia.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • Community members will actively maintain and expand content on websites and Wikimedia Serbia blog. By organizing meetups outside Belgrade — something in which we have a long tradition — we will support local communities and enable internal communication. By giving scholarships for participation in certain events we will support interested community members to participate in local and international events, which will empower their work on projects and themselves as volunteers.
  • Enabling community members to participate in local (assemblies, conferences, editathons, local meetups, photo-tours etc.) and international events (topical and general conferences).
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • We will inform community via our mailing list, by writing and localizing texts on WMRS blog, we will maintain and update general and topical websites. We will be popularizing Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects by actively participating in social networks.

Any additional details:


Creative Commons[edit]

Creative Commons

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • Creative Commons: Public in Serbia is not well acquainted with concepts of copyright or free culture licences. In the past, we had success in raising public awareness in that regard, which resulted in improvements in quality of Serbia-related multimedia content on Wikimedia projects. The goal of this project is to continue with popularization of free culture licenses in Serbia, by organizing lectures and promoting Creative Commons in Belgrade and Serbia. Wiki Loves Science is a continuation of the same project from 2012 and 2013, with the goal of promoting Open Standards and Open Access through lectures by experts and public debates. We expect this project to result in at least ten blog posts on creativecommons.org.rs and at least five events related to Creative Commons and Wiki Loves Science.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • By raising awareness about copyright, Open Standards and Open Access, this project will influence quality — as well as quantity — of Serbia related content on Wikimedia projects.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • Organizing several lectures and public debates about Creative Commons licences, Open Standards and Open Access, including Wiki Loves Science debates
  • Maintaining and updating creativecommons.org.rs website
  • Printing and distributing promotional materials
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • Wikimedia Serbia has been the public lead for Creative Commons Serbia since the project’s beginning in 2007. We have a community around Creative Commons which is experienced in this kind of activities.
  • By tracking activities on our CC website, we will have an insight into the progress and overall success of this project.
  • Reports about each event will include the number of participants and visitors and the topics covered during the events.

Any additional details:


World War I: 100 Years Later[edit]

World War I: 100 Years Later

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • World War I: 100 Years Later is a project of commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Its objective is to increase quantity and quality of content on Wikimedia projects related to World War I. The project will last through whole 2014. We expect to organize at least 3 editathons as parts of this project, with about 10 participants each, where at least 40 articles in total would be created or improved upon.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • Through editathons, this project will increase the number and quality of WWI articles. By being included in the anniversary of the beginning of WWI, we will increase visibility of Wikimedia projects and hopefully the number of editors. Through cooperation with other institutions, such as GLAM and government organizations, this project will increase the number of free photos on Wikimedia Commons.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • Taking into consideration that we have already organized several Editathons, we have necessary experience for further organizing of such events. In the previous period, we have established cooperation with GLAM and state institutions, which will help us create new partnerships as parts of this project. Since we expect that the 100 year anniversary of the beginning of WWI will have high visibility in Serbian media, we will use the momentum for promoting Wikimedia projects and doing outreach, by writing press releases and posting on social networks and our blog.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • From GLAM institutions we will obtain free photos and other content; they will be tagged appropriately, having their own categories on Wikimedia Commons
  • We will be promote the project through media and social networks, so they can be used to track the activities of the project
  • Each editathon with have its own Wikipedia page, with the list of participants and articles created during the event

Any additional details:


Microgrants[edit]

Microgrants

What are the objectives of this program? Please use SMART criteria to explain these goals.
  • Some of the projects we wanted to realize in the next year weren't large or detailed enough, or depended on some third parties in a way which could not warrant a timeline for their realization. Also, sometimes after an interaction with new people/organizations, there is a small window of opportunity to do a project that is smaller in scale which would only suffer from a starting delay. The goal of this program is to have financial means at hand if and when such an opportunity arises. We expect to have at least 3 projects that would fit the description, one in the first half of the year and two in second half, with at least 5 volunteers participating in their realization.
Which Wikimedia movement strategic priority (or priorities) does this program address and how?
  • We expect this kind of projects to mostly work towards increasing participation and reach by engaging people previously not active in Wikimedia community and supporting community members to try and run (with the help from more experienced community members) smaller programs that require less overhead to gain experience and better understanding of both broader Wikimedia movement and its goals.
What key activities and/or milestones are associated with this program?
  • We will work with volunteers whose projects weren't eligible for inclusion in this proposal because of time constrains or because they weren't developed enough to try and refine those projects well enough to run them; we will track third party activities that factor in execution of some projects so we can start running those projects as soon as possible. We will actively encourage our community to suggest smaller scale projects that can be started and executed on short notice and with little overhead.
How will your entity document, track, and measure successes and challenges of this program?
  • We will inform community through our blog and sites, by posting on Village pumps on Wikimedia projects and participating in social media. We will measure success of this program by number of people engaged by outreach, amount of feedback we get the from community, and the number of program successfully run.

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)?
  • Having already conducted several projects similar to the ones we plan for the next year, we are now rather prepared for carrying them out. Some projects have been designed upon the groundwork laid by other earlier projects. Also, having two employees decreases the risk of project failure in case a volunteer suddenly leaves in the middle of a project. We now also have technical capacities for the support for projects, such as material and work equipment, office space etc. We have a framework set for informing the community (mailing lists, blog, websites...), and the new employee is expected to give great support to individuals and teams in realization of their projects and programs.
What external opportunities enable your entity's plan (e.g., socio-political context, community participation, fundraising)?
  • Wikimedia Serbia has recently gained popularity among university students and other young adults who wish to work on wiki projects. Our office gives them the opportunity to gather, work together and create content. Also, in the previous year, we have taken part in numerous meetings with many government and non-government organizations, educational and GLAM institutions etc. Some of those have been fruitful, having produced projects and partnerships, but some still have the opportunity to develop into something more concrete. We have good cooperation with the media, which contributes to the creation of a better image and better understanding about the way Wikimedia projects work and the ways people could join in.
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)?
  • Independent fundraising has always been a daunting task for us, mostly because of poor socio-economic status of the majority of Serbia’s population. Also, volunteering is still somewhat uncommon in Serbia, also due to poor standards, so sometimes it can be rather difficult to find volunteers for specific tasks. Additionally, political changes can slow project realization and make establishing partnerships with some institutions harder. They can also result in a decreased media attention to Wikimedia.
How will you minimize these risks and threats?
  • By hiring another employee, the Project and Community Manager, who will be tasked with coordinating projects and helping volunteers with their work, we will try to make working on Wikimedia Serbia projects as attractive and pleasant as possible. Additionally, by signing an agreement with certain faculties, we will try to engage university students to actively participate in some of our projects, as a part of their obligatory internship program. On the other hand, we can’t influence certain things, such as political changes.

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:

  • 11/2012 to 10/2013

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) 60,468.51 82,841.86 61,093.07 83,697.51 61,093.07 83,697.51
Spending 60,468.51 82,841.86 36,211.31 49,609.49 54,000 73,980

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.
  • Some of the activities covered by the budget for this period last until November or December, so spending on them is expected near the end of the year. Also, most projects from last year's annual grant will require further expenditures during the month of October, since most of them will be in the finalization stage (e.g. buying competition prizes). Also, we made some savings on office renting fees and monthly bills, as well as on several projects that didn't require much expenditures on our part.

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 through grants beyond those in the Wikimedia movement? If your entity does receive funding from other donors, please list a contact person. Note that the donor's contact details can be sent directly to FDCsupport@wikimedia.org if you prefer not to publish it here.

Note that the FDC staff may contact these donors.

  • Apart from two rather small unsolicited unrestricted donations that were given to us by commercial entities, we haven't received any other funding in the recent years except from other Wikimedia entities.
What are your entity's plans for achieving long-term financial sustainability?
  • Achieving long-term stability for an organization such as ours in Serbia, at least in the current milieu, doesn't seem possible. Poor standards of living greatly influence Serbia's donation opportunities, so we are unlikely to receive great funds from donations alone. Similarly, not being a part of the EU, Serbia has a limited number of funds and grants that are available to its organizations. Our general plans include finding partners and potential donors which could help us financially with more significant amounts, and thus bring us one step closer to a 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)


FDC 88,342.88 121,029.75
Donations 100 137
Membership fees 100 137

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*
Secretary General 1 100%

*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:

  • The position of Secretary General is expected to be superseded by the position of Executive Director.


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
structuring and coordinating of projects and programs, leading volunteers

*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 12,780 17,508.6
Proposed increase for current staff expenses 2,100 2,877 16.4%
Proposed increase for new staff expenses 9,012 12,346.4 69.23%
Total staff expenses 23,892 32,732 85.63%

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

  • 35% on administration
  • 65% on programmatic work

Table 7 notes, if necessary:

  • The exact figures for staff salary depend on currency exchange rates for the day of sallary issuance; therefore, approximate figures are given



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
Wikimedia Serbia Education programs 10,880 14,905.6
Wikicopter 1,200 1,644
Competitions 1,500 2,055
Free Photo Content 4,500 6,165
Free Content: GLAM and Digital Belgrade 2,650 3,630.5
Wiktionary 800 1,096
Support Regional Cooperation 4,500 6,165
Community Support 2,000 2,740
Creative Commons 1,000 1,370
World War I: 100 Years Later 1,400 1,918
Microgrants 3,500 4,795
Total program expenses (should equal the sum of the rows) 33,930 46,484.1

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 24,257.2 33,232.4
Total revenues 88,542.88 121,303.75
Total spending 85,542.88 117,193.75
Net (revenues less expenses) 3,000 4,110
Operating reserves,* if applicable

Table 9 notes, if necessary:

  • The difference between expected revenues and spendings is the foreign currency reserve of 3,000 EUR, which we don't plan on spending unless we have to, in case of negative exchange rates or unexpected expenses.



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 yes

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.