Grants:Programs/Hub Fund/The CEE Hub - Year 3/Final Report
Part 1: Project and impact
[edit]1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
To have a good overview of all our outputs/outcomes, please go to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a0QdzUFM6_mfQ-FL_wZ6L5bGQVb33L9W/edit?gid=2037306903#gid=203730690
Go to tab Metrics, column ‘Results’. This document provides a comprehensive summary of all our activities, outcomes, and reports related to all our efforts in 2025.
The key processes that contributed to achieving our outcomes included:
- Commitment and dedication of staff members.
- Regular support and constructive feedback from Steering Committee members responsible for specific topics (because SC members are leading CEE Hub’s Working Groups).
- The active participation and collaboration of volunteers working alongside CEE Hub staff. Our primary goal is to support the efforts of volunteers. If our assistance does not facilitate their ability to achieve more, we are not effectively fulfilling our fundamental responsibilities.
- Effective collaboration with the WMF and volunteers beyond the CEE region has enabled us to gain diverse perspectives and in some cases accomplish much more. Jessica’s support was essential in enhancing our understanding and measurement of the impact of our work, particularly regarding grants.
If I were to explain our primary challenges and focus areas to a newcomer, I would outline how the hub’s activities in 2025 were organized into several key domains:
- Administration (support related to grants and events)
- Programmes (support related to tools, campaigns, and the organization of the CEE meeting)
- Communication (facilitating better information flow within the region, newsletter, catch-up sessions)
- Microgrants (approving small grants within CEECA, up to 700 EUR)
- Youth Group Support
- Internal Governance and
-Intra-Educational Support
Our schedule has been very tight, and one of my main challenges was managing unforeseen circumstances beyond my control that impact our timeline and ability to complete tasks. For example, in our annual plan, the transfer of rapid grants management to the hub was not initially included, as this had not yet been confirmed by the Steering Committee (SC) at the time of grant submission. However, the decision was made in February/March 2025, necessitating additional time for discussions, planning, and drafting processes related to this new procedure.
Furthermore, although we have 10 SC members who are also Working Group leads—meaning our progress depends on their availability and cooperation—two SC members left the hub at the beginning of the year. Additionally, several other SC members experienced changes in circumstances that limited their availability, increasing the coordination challenges. Lastly, instead of a single planned recruitment process for our new communication specialist, we had to undertake two additional recruitment procedures. These were related to taking over the management of rapid grants and associated with new job openings, which added complexity to the workload.
We achieved the best results in areas where goals were clearly defined and where stakeholders were engaged and reliable, reducing the need for extensive coordination.
My recommendations and do's for future efforts are as follows:
- Plan ambitiously but anticipate potential setbacks; avoid overly tight schedules.
- Clearly define the minimum expected outcomes for each work area from the outset and be prepared to proceed without full cooperation if necessary. While collaborative efforts and consensus are ideal, there are situations where it may be necessary to proceed independently.
- Maintain transparent and clear communication with communities and volunteers, including setting boundaries when needed.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Our Meta page (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub) is regularly maintained, and, to the best of our knowledge, contains the majority of pertinent content.
All relevant reports regarding our activities and impact, as well as other related documents, are organized and available within this document (results column, metrics tab).
2.2. Additionally, if not already shared above, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Shared above
3. Did you collect feedback from your stakeholders (communities, decision-makers, advisors, staff) on how the activities implemented impacted them? If yes, please attach/provide information on the results (e.g., community surveys, stories, impact booklets/reports, interviews, etc). Did you collect other impact-specific data? (required)
We are collecting feedback from our stakeholders on a regular basis.
In collaboration with Jessica, and with her support, two focus groups were organized to gather feedback on our support services and their impact on grant and microgrant recipients. Additionally, input was collected regarding our campaign-related support, the CEEM bidding process, community building initiatives across three communities, and overall feedback on the CEE Hub’s activities and the Year 4 plan.
Grants support related feedback report: [2]
Micro grants support related feedback:
Campaign guidelines related feedback: [4]
Feedback and recommendations about CEEM bidding process:
Feedback and report related to our community capacity efforts: [6]
Also, as every year, during the CEEM we collect feedback from participants and this feedback is important as it shapes our decision making about next year’s yearly plan. The feedback was collected during one of the CEEM sessions:
During our 1:1 meetings with communities, we also collect feedback:
We also prepared a general survey about satisfaction with Hub’s services which was distributed in January 2026. The results of the survey will be analyzed in February 2026.
4. Future plans. Is there a plan to build on the key successes you had? If yes, please describe the plan and if no, please share the limitations to doing so. For instance, did the activities lead to any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future? (required)
Building on the success of microgrants, the Steering Committee, in cooperation with WMF, has decided that starting in spring 2026, the CEE hub will assume responsibility for managing rapid grants as well. Our objective is to better support grantees by assisting in the preparation of stronger grant applications and providing guidance during the implementation of their rapid projects. We are currently refining the new, hub-led rapid grant application process, and from March 2026 onwards, the CEE hub will serve as the primary contact point for rapid project grantees in the CEE region.
Furthermore, after 2.5 years of CEE hub’s support, the CEE Youth Group has become a reliable peer support network where young Wikimedians can exchange knowledge, collaborate, and seek support. In 2025, the group established clear internal governance, and following the in-person meeting in Yerevan that took place in November 2026, they are now focusing on the objectives they have collaboratively defined:
In 2026 CEE hub will continue coordinating and supporting the group.
We also plan to continue providing campaign-related support this year, with a focus on addressing the gender gap through initiatives such as WikiWomen, Wiki Loves Food, and ongoing support for CEE Spring. We are confident that our involvement in CEE Spring will foster increased contributions and collaboration (as it was the case during the past 3 years too), as well as improve the efficiency of the international organizing team through our administrative support. Additionally, we aim to enhance our monitoring of campaign outcomes and metrics, including edits and participant engagement, particularly in the WikiWomen campaign. We also intend to gather direct feedback by organizing focus groups to better understand areas where support can be improved and to identify ways the CEE hub can further strengthen campaign support efforts.
Our ongoing priorities include emphasizing technical advancements and providing support to volunteers in adopting relevant tools that can enhance efficiency and streamline their work. This year, we will also place increased focus on measuring outcomes and assessing the impact of this support. To achieve this, we will proactively engage with users of the new Central Tools page, which will serve as a centralized platform for requesting and delivering regional tool support.
Our continued focus is also on facilitating and supporting access to information within the region. We are updating our approach by implementing regular bimonthly meetings to address 2 topics of regional interest, as well as increasing individual meetings with CEE communities to foster more direct engagement.
Part 2: Learnings
[edit]5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
We did not expect that the SC would have 5-7 active members (depending on the month) instead of 10. Additionally, some SC members changed working groups, and some topics were more complex than anticipated, e.g., deciding about rapid grants, moving forward with implementation, and determining internal governance i.e. election process for SC members. All of this required more staff attention and coordination efforts. As mentioned above, some topics were not included in the yearly plan (which was already full), and instead of one planned recruitment process, we had to organize three.
The lessons learned align with the above-mentioned do’s (recommendations).
- Plan ambitiously but anticipate potential setbacks; avoid overly tight schedules.
- Clearly define the minimum expected outcomes for each work area from the outset and be prepared to proceed without full cooperation if necessary. While collaborative efforts and consensus are ideal, there are situations where it may be necessary to proceed independently.
- Maintain transparent and clear communication with communities and volunteers, including setting boundaries when needed.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We regularly provide updates to CEE communities through both formal and informal channels. Our work and findings are shared during CEE meetings, various conferences and events, both virtual and in-person, during open office hours held monthly, and the monthly CEE hub status meetings, which are open to all interested Wikimedians from the region.
Also, on our Meta page, we share reports and information about our work and results.
Part 3: Metrics
[edit]7. Wikimedia Metrics. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results.
You can use any format you choose to showcase results but please include the metric name, description, target, and tools used, which you should already have defined in your application. Then, share the results of your project. Your results should show whether you have achieved your targets.
To have a good overview of all our outputs/outcomes, please go to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a0QdzUFM6_mfQ-FL_wZ6L5bGQVb33L9W/edit?gid=2037306903#gid=203730690 Go to tab Metrics, column ‘Results’. This document provides a comprehensive summary of all our results, outcomes and outputs in 2025.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]| Description | Planned / received budget for this category (EUR) | Amount spent (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 12766320 | 108413200 |
| Operational costs | 3224000 | 30828770 |
| Programmatic costs | 4791000 | 33418140 |
| Total | 218203.86 | 177461460 |
| Other revenue | ||
| Remaining funds | 40741 |
8. State the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
177461460 EUR
9. Provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 30828770 EUR
- Programmatic costs: 108413200 EUR
- Staff and contractor costs: 33418140 EUR
10. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required) : No
- 10.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): EUR
- 10.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): EUR
11. Provide a financial report document which will provide the details of funds received and spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
- Upload the financial report
- Provide the link to the financial report
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gAAdj13fQz17dB9pkQAYi8d8uKyyUuDCmc922VSJLJ8/edit?gid=0#gid=0
11.1. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
Although we spent 177,461.46 EUR of the budget, our budget also covers staff salaries for January and February 2026 (and that is the reason why it cannot be completely exhausted at this point). These salaries will be paid to employees by March 2026. Additionally, there is an unspent amount of 15,000 EUR, which was allocated for the Incubator programme. This money will be used during 2026, as agreed with the WMF. The remaining unspent 1 435,00 EUR are reserved for January 2026 travel (as we still do not have new CEE hub Y4 budget). All these details are also explained in the budget form linked above.
12. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding? (required):
13. Final confirmations (required)
- 13.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement? (required)
- 13.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement? (required)
- Yes
- 13.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement?
- Yes
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