Grants:PEG/WM BE/Budget 2015 H1

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statusFunded
WM BE/Budget 2015 H1
This is a 6 month grant application for the activities of the Wikimedia Belgium chapter. It includes the first steps in the goal of our association Engaging people in free knowledge by organising the General Assembly and the first Project Days.
targetWikimedia Belgium impacts wiki communities mainly in Dutch, French, German and English; and the communities of smaller Belgian dialects.
strategic priorityIncrease participation
start dateJanuary 15
start year2015
end dateJune 30
end year2015
budget (local currency)7,810 €
budget (USD)8878,25 USD
grant typeGroup
non-profit statusYes
creatorMADe
contact(s)• maarten@wikimedia.be• derek@wikimedia.be
created on09:41, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

Goal[edit]

Wikimedia Belgium was set up end of last year. It is based on this presentation given to the board, and was approved by the board on Dec 31, 2015. It is based on the SWOT analysis of our organisation performed with our members.

This is an application for the activities of the Wikimedia Belgium chapter in the coming six months (January-June). It includes

  • Part #1 - outreach efforts to our community (General Assembly, website);
  • Part #2 - the first steps in organising projects (Project Days, provisioning for the first small projects); and
  • Part #3 - capacity building of the board (regular board meetings, attendance at WM related conferences).

Plan[edit]

Activities[edit]

  • Organisation of meetings with our stakeholders: board meetings, General Assembly, FOSDEM booth.
  • Organisation of WM BE Project Days to foster new projects
    • Engage with our community and institutions during 4-hours Project Days, our proposed one-stop-shop to discuss with WM BE new projects, arrange (micro) grants and liaison with the Wikimedia Foundation, when appropriate.
    • Running 7 projects: directly by WM Belgium or with partners.
  • Set up of WM BE website, WM BE Grant System, tailored to visitors not familiar with the Mediawiki software.

Agenda[edit]

January
  • Jan 24: General Assembly
  • Jan 31 - Feb 1: FOSDEM
February
  • Feb 4: Project Days
June
  • June: Project Days

Impact[edit]

Target readership[edit]

Wikimedia Belgium impacts wiki communities mainly in Dutch, French, German and English; and the communities of smaller Belgian dialects.

More specifically, WM BE wants to reach out to the existing Wikimedia members and to existing open source organisations in Belgium ('Communication efforts'). We plan to strengthen this relation by setting up a Grant Program and initiating the first projects ('Setup grant program').

Fit with strategy[edit]

Measures of success[edit]

WM BE working on our communication with the media
ICAB Business and Technology Incubator in Brussels, the proposed location for our General Assembly
Outreach efforts to our community (Part #1)
  • Well organised General Assembly (January);
  • Finished website (by March);
  • Continuous communication to our members;
Setup grant program (Part #2)
  • Organisation two Project Days, attended by 50 people in total
  • 7 projects organised directly by WM Belgium or by partners.
Capacity building of the board (Part #3)
  • organisation of 6 board meetings;
  • presence of Wikimedia Belgium at FOSDEM;
  • presence of Wikimedia Belgium at open data /knowledge conferences;
  • Presence of all board members at a Wikimedia related event or meeting in Europe;

Resources and risks[edit]

Resources[edit]

The grant request is supported by the Wikimedia Belgium board.

And members

Risks[edit]

Early stage of our organisation
There is a lack of experience and procedures.
Lack of external funding
Will be addressed in future funding requests.
Difficulties finding volunteers
See our 'Communication efforts'
Difficulties finding a good venue
In 2014 we had difficulties finding good venues to hold meetings with the board and volunteers. We ended up organising several meetings at cafés. It was not easy to find a suitable location, close to public transport, in Brussels.
Spread out volunteers and board members
Our board members are geographically distributed all over Belgium. Activities happening in Brussels require somethings to arrange accomodation overnight for people coming from far.

Budget[edit]

Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines. Grantees are subject to line-item scrutiny of expenses. Changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Changes in the budget[edit]

During a telephone call with the WMF, the following changes were done in the grant request (original version):

  • the number board meetings was lowered to 2 for the first 6 months. Together with the Project Days (2x) and the General Assembly, this creates enough moments for the board to meet up.
  • As aknowledgement of the Wikimedia Foundation, the rent of this first General Assembly was paid by Transforma Bxl (savings of about 400€). There is no need to request budget for the General Assembly end of January.
  • The necessity of the Project Days was discussed with the Foundation. After consideration it was accepted as a way to build projects. The WMF requested us to keep two things in mind: it is the task of the local chapter to organise programmatic activities (eg. organising projects), not just to help third parties to organise it. Secondly, the local chapter should watch out as they have only a limited capacity to do projects. It should be avoid to "overpromise" things to third parties.
  • The cost of the Project Days was lowered due to a lower venue cost (400€ instead of 700€)
  • The provisioning for projects was increased. Originally the budget was made up of 6x 150€ + 1x 600€. This was increased to 6x 150€ + 1x 1500€.

Project budget table[edit]

Activity Total budget Comment
Capacity building of the board (Part #3)
3.1 Organisation regular Board Meetings (2x) € 400,00 Rent of the venue (100€ pm) with transport costs (100€ pm).
3.2 Attendance 2 persons to Wikimedia related conferences (Wikimedia Conference, Hackathon) € 1.040,00 Transport costs and accomodation.
3.3 Attendance at meetings of Dutch, French and German WM € 900,00 Transport and accomodation costs
3.4 Wikimedia presence at FOSDEM and similar conferences € 750,00 250€ budgetted for promotion (eg. flyers, brochures, banners, installation of booth), 250€ travel costs, 250€ accomodation)
outreach efforts to our community (Part #1)
1.1 Organisation General Assembly (1 time) € 0,00 The General Assembly was organised in collaboration with Transforma Bxl. As aknowledgement of the Wikimedia Foundation, the rent of this first event was paid by Transforma itself. Future events (like the Project Days) in this venue or similar venues will come at a cost of 400€. The drinks afterwards were paid on the startup grant budget.
1.2 Setup website € 1.070,00 Includes website design (800€), cloudhosted website (Drupalgardens, 150€), and cost mail server (120€)
1.3 Communication to our members (postal mail, telephone) € 150,00 Postal mail to our members (estimated at 100p at 1,5€ pp)
Setup grant program (Part #2)
2.1 Organisation 2 Project Days (Feb, June) € 1.100,00 Rent of the venue with coffee (2x 400€) and transport costs for attendees (2x 150€). Based on quote from Transforma bxl.
2.2 Provisioning projects (6x under 150€, 1x under 1500€) € 2.400,00 Excludes projects above 1500€, as these will be discussed directly with the WMF in the PEG system

Total cost of project[edit]

7,810 €

Total amount requested[edit]

Total amount requested from the Project and Event Grants Program.

7,810 €

Additional sources of revenue[edit]

Wikimedia Belgium has had contact with different (governmental) organisations and believes about 3240€ (1/3) of this budget can be sourced by funding outside of the regular PEG request. This includes lower rental fees for our venues (provided to partners), nonprofit fees for hosting, support by other chapters (attendance WM conferences outside of Belgium), and use of other WMF funding mechanisms (FOSDEM booth).

The current grant request focuses on the three aspects discussed in #Goal, above. Given the limited amount of time and the startup phase of our organisation, we do not focus on securing external sources of revenue. The board plans to add this in the coming funding requests (2015 H2).

Non-financial requirements[edit]

See a description of non financial assistance available. Please inform the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) of any requirements for non-financial assistance now.

Discussion[edit]

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