Grants:Conference/Plan

Propose your conference

This page walks you through each step of the application process: from the work you need to do before submitting, to what happens once your proposal is in.

Step 0: Before you start

Check the Start page to confirm your event type and organizing team meet our eligibility requirements. We request all applicants, especially first-time Conference Fund applicants, to schedule a call with the Conference and Events Team before submitting an application. If this is your first time applying, or you've never managed a grant above USD 5,000, reach out to conferencegrants@wikimedia.org before taking any steps.

Step 1: Coordinate with your community on hosting

Once you have completed Step 0 and before you start preparing a proposal, make sure you have a consensus among your community on the conference, timing/dates and on the role your affiliate/organization would play as the host.

For regional conferences

Most regional communities have an established process for selecting who hosts their annual event. Check whether your region has one and follow it. Some examples:

The CEE community has a well-documented bidding process on Meta-Wiki
The ESEAP Hub manages host selection for the ESEAP Conference
Wiki Indaba hosts are selected by the Wiki Indaba Steering Committee (WISCOM)

If your region doesn't have a formal process, reach out to us early: we can help facilitate early coordination.

For thematic conferences

Check whether there's a relevant user group, hub, or coordinating body for your theme (e.g. the EduWiki Hub for education events, or the Global GLAM Call community for GLAM events). Align with them before submitting.

Note: We recommend against any community announcement of a conference and its location before a proposal has been approved and associated conversations around the locations have been completed.

Step 2: Schedule a pre-submission call with us

We ask all applicants to connect with us at conferencegrants@wikimedia.org before submitting, and for first-time applicants, this is required. This will be an opportunity to discuss your idea before you invest time in a full proposal and recommend this touch point at least two (2) months before the grant round concludes.

In the call, we can confirm whether your event is eligible and in scope, and flag any affiliate compliance or potential safety considerations early. We can also walk you through the steps of the process and help you understand what the review committee will be looking for.

For this call, you don't need a finished proposal. You can come with just a brief description of the event (type, location, expected dates, approximate size, and main goals and objectives), a rough sense of the budget you're thinking about, and any questions you have about the process.

It is a good idea to review reports from events that are similar to what you would like to organize, and from events your community has organized in the past. Below are some best practices and guidelines that other volunteers have learned from years of organizing events.

Remote events: remember that you can always consider applying for a virtual event grant instead of an in-person one. Please also read our new requirements, guidelines and tips for organizing remote events.

Step 3: Run a Community Engagement Survey

Every proposal must include the results of a community engagement survey. This is a required part of the application (not optional). Its purpose is to show that your event is grounded in real community need.

To run the survey:

Use the standard survey template provided on the Conference Fund page: make a copy, translate it if needed, and add questions relevant to your event.
Please avoid leading questions that presuppose a positive answer (like "Do you agree we should hold this event?"). Questions like that produce data that looks strong but doesn't actually tell you much. If you're unsure about your survey design, share the draft with us before you send it out.
Distribute it widely to your intended audience.

Run it before you finalize your proposal, so the results can actually shape your event design.

Aim for enough responses to support meaningful conclusions (not just a few answers).

Use the results of this data in your proposal to show how the feedback shaped the event. If the survey told you that your community wants more practical workshops and less lecture-style content, mention it in the proposal and show it in your program design.

Note: Proposals without survey results, or where participation is clearly too thin to be meaningful, won't proceed to full review. If you're not sure whether your results are strong enough, bring them to your pre-submission call.

Step 4: Determine whether you would like to use the Wikimedia Foundation Travel Team’s support for your event

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Travel Team can arrange flight bookings (via a third party agency) and accommodation for scholarship recipients and volunteer organizers. If you choose, we can manage flight bookings alone, but we cannot manage accommodation unless we are also managing flight bookings due to the dependencies between the two. If you plan to host the conference at the same hotel where guests will be sleeping, we can also include meeting space, A/V needs and catering on the same contract.

You must determine before your grant has been approved which items you’d like the Travel Team to manage as this will dictate what portion of the grant is disbursed to you (or your Fiscal Sponsor) and what portion remains with the Foundation. Before making a decision, please review our FAQs thoroughly so that you understand the scope of services we can offer and our policies. All scholarship recipients and volunteer organizers booked by the Foundation’s Travel Team must adhere to the Scholar Travel Policy.

We strongly encourage you to check with us at conferencegrants@wikimedia.org in advance if your conference is eligible for Travel Team support before submitting an application.

Step 5: Gather your Core Organizing Team (COT)

A conference is only as strong as the team behind it. Before you submit a proposal, you need a committed group of people with clearly defined roles. The size of your team will depend on the scale of your event. The roles below can be split into sub-teams, combined where capacity is limited, or expanded with additional roles as needed. What's important is that every area has someone responsible for it.

Core Team: These are the roles that we strongly recommend are in place before you submit.


Grant Coordinator	Main point of contact for the grant proposal and the WMF grants team. Checks in regularly with the rest of the organizing team to keep plans on track. Tracks the budget, collects expense documentation, and manages the relationship with the fiscal sponsor (if applicable). Handles submission of application and reporting duties
Logistics Manager	Researches and coordinates venue, catering, and accommodation options, or is the main liaison with WMF Travel Team as applicable. Ensures internet connectivity at the venue meets event needs. Negotiates and manages contracts with venues and vendors. Coordinates on-site logistics on event days.
Conference Program	Runs the community engagement survey and call for proposals. Develops and manages the conference program. Collects documentation of session outcomes and action items.

Support Teams: These roles are essential for delivery and should be filled as early as possible, even if some are still being recruited at proposal stage.


Communication'	Keeps the event page on Meta-Wiki up to date. Coordinates the community engagement process. Manages communications channels (mailing list, social media, etc.) before, during, and after the even.
Scholarships committee	Manages the scholarship application and selection process. Submits the list of selected scholarship recipients to the WMF grants team for trust and safety review before notifying anyone.
Volunteer coordinator	Recruits and coordinates volunteers for event tasks (check-in, note-taking, session support, design, etc.).
'Trust & Safety	Serves as the central contact for any safety or conduct concerns before and during the event. Coordinates the event's Trust & Safety team and establishes clear reporting pathways and a rapid response protocol to ensure timely and confidential handling of incidents.

Step 6: Prepare your proposal

Proposals are submitted through Fluxx, the Foundation's grant management system, and are automatically published on Meta-Wiki once submitted. We strongly recommend drafting everything in a Google Doc first and copying it into Fluxx once it's ready. A Google Docs version of the application form can be found here.

We assess proposals based on several criteria. For tips on how to build a strong proposal, please visit this page.

Step 7: Build your budget

Every proposal requires a detailed budget using the standard budget template . Budget quality is one of the most common reasons proposals get sent back for revision, so it's worth getting this right!

We've put together a full guide to help you: How to budget for a conference, available on the Conference Fund Meta page. It walks through each cost category in detail. Below are the key things to keep in mind.

Core principles:

Use real local costs. Don't copy numbers from another event or region. Research actual prices for your venue, hotels, catering, and flights.
Be clear on who owns what.
The template includes a column to distinguish costs managed by your organizing team from those that would be managed by the WMF Travel Team (in case they are providing support for your conference).
Keep participant counts consistent. The same number should appear across your accommodation, catering, materials, and travel calculations.
Don't forget the small things: visa fees, local transportation, interpretation, A/V, and reliable internet are sometimes missed
We all love SWAGs and should ensure the same are adequately budgeted, we recommend keeping them between USD 15-20 per person
Include a contingency. Around 5% is standard, no more than 10%.

Common mistakes

Forgetting to multiply accommodation nightly rates by the number of nights per participant – check this carefully.
Using a single global airfare average instead of grouping participants by region
Missing travel agency fees (~USD 50 per ticket) if the WMF Travel Team will book flights
Including WMF staff and Board travel: this is booked and paid by the Foundation directly, not through your grant
Overspending on merchandise; around USD 20 per participant is a reasonable ceiling
Skipping taxes and service charges, as these can significantly increase final invoices
Getting the exchange rate direction wrong: if you've budgeted in local currency, always convert using the local currency to USD rate (not USD to local currency, which is the reverse and will give you incorrect totals). For the most accurate conversion, you can reach out to us at conferencegrantswikimedia.org, or use Oanda as a reliable reference. Make sure your budget clearly states the rate applied and the date it was pulled.

Step 8: Submit your proposal in Fluxx

We run two funding rounds per year: typically September/October (Round 1) and February/March (Round 2). Check the Conference Fund page for current round dates. Proposals must be submitted via Fluxx by the deadline. Once your proposal is ready:

Go to Wikimedia Foundation Grantee Portal (Fluxx) and log in.
- If you do not have an account, click Register Now and provide the requested information. You will receive confirmation of your registration within one working day.
Select the Apply for Conference and Event Fund button on the main page. Click Save and Continue or Save and Close to save the application.
Follow the instructions on the application form. You will need to give information about your event and upload some documents.
Click Submit to submit the application for review.
We accept applications in any language. We will support translation for applications and discussions as needed.
Applications will be published to Meta-Wiki automatically within two days. This is done for community review and feedback.

Step 9: Engage with the review process

Once submissions close, the review process runs for approximately seven to eight weeks. Proposals go through eligibility checks, staff review, and deliberation by the Conference Grants Committee. The full timeline is described here.

The main thing we need from you during this period: stay responsive. WMF staff will publish feedback on your proposal within the first three weeks. You'll have around one week to respond and submit a revised version in Fluxx.

After approval: A kick-off call is scheduled with the Conference and Events Team to align on timelines and next steps. Head to the Plan a conference tab for everything you need to deliver your event from there.

Submit report

If your Conference and Event Fund is approved, you will need to send a report. Send the report within 60 days after you complete the project.

Go to Wikimedia Foundation Grantee Portal (Fluxx) and log in.
Find the Reports section on the left sidebar. Select the Upcoming link and you will see all upcoming reports.
Select your project report and click Edit. Answer the questions in the form. When your report is complete, click Submit to send it for review.

You can write it in any preferred language.

Recommendation: You can prepare the report offline by making a copy of the report form, answer the questions and then copy the text to Fluxx.

Learn more about evaluation and reporting