Grants:Programs/Hub Fund/The CEE Hub - Year 4
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Applicant information
[edit]- Organization or group name. (required)
- Wikimedia CEE Hub
- Provide your main Wikimedia Username. (required)
- BKlen-CEEhub
- Have you contacted the Wikimedia Foundation Hub team before applying? (required)
- Yes
Is your group legally registered in your country? (required)
- No
- Do you have a fiscal sponsor?
- N/A
- Fiscal organization name.
- Stowarzyszenie Wikimedia Polska
Main proposal
[edit]- 1. State the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required)
- The CEE Hub - Year 4
- 2. Proposed start date. (required)
- 2026-01-01
- 3. Proposed end date. (required)
- 2026-12-31
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? Provide the region or country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal. (required)
- Mostly in the CEE region. Some activities covered by micro-grants will be implemented in Central Asia.
- 5. Does your group have a theory of change for your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (optional)
- Yes
- Slightly changed: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s5A0vYtf2NOTWaWAR7h9xWv9NN29shEt/edit?gid=1660130776#gid=1660130776
- 6. Why do you believe your group is best positioned to drive this hub initiative? (required)
Yes, this group has been implementing the CEE hub project with support of the CEE communities and the WMF for the past 3 years.
- 7. Do you have a strategic plan that can help us understand your proposal? If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share your piloting plan. If your proposal relates to research, share your research plan. (required)
- No
- 8. Describe the specific activities that will be carried out during this project. If your proposal is related to piloting a hub, describe the services you plan to offer and include how you are drawing on community consultation and needs assessments to define your activities. (required)
Adjusted: [1]
- 9. Did you involve communities during the drafting of this proposal? Share which specific communities you involved, the process you used to involve them, and how they will participate in this proposal. (required)
The CEE Hub was created to serve and support Wikimedians in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Its goal is to help groups, communities, and individuals who are involved in Wikimedia projects in this area. To see a list of these groups and communities, please visit this meta page. We stay in regular contact with most of them.
During the past three years of the project, we regularly connected with different groups, communities, and affiliates, and we plan to keep building these relationships. Our goal is to create trust so that we can offer help and support to Wikimedians from the CEE region who need it. We set up several ways to stay in touch, and we will keep using those channels.
- One-on-one communication with communities via emails,
- Organising mostly online meetings (sometimes in person),
- Organising monthly Open office hours,
- Communication via Facebook, LinkedIn and mailing lists (CEE regional list, CEE hub list, CEE Youth list),
- Communication with Wikimedians via Telegram groups (CEE regional group, CEEM group, CEE Spring group and CEE Youth group), and
- providing information useful for the CEE region via CEE Newsletter and quarterly CEE Hub’s updates.
The CEE Hub depends on working together with CEE communities to do its activities. At the same time, it's the communities and individual Wikimedians that get the most benefit, as they receive support from the Hub.The Hub couldn't exist without working together with CEE communities, because its success depends on teamwork. Whether it's about campaigns, tools, or projects, it's all about collaboration and creating things together with many Wikimedians involved. The CEE Hub team frequently stays in touch with more than 30 different communities across Central and Eastern Europe. We are here to help anyone who needs it and is open to receiving support.
Just like in previous years, after we finished the first draft of this grant proposal, we held a workshop during the CEE meeting in Thessaloniki in September 2024. The workshop was about the "CEE Hub Year 4 Plan" (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2025/Submissions/Feedback_on_the_CEE_Hub%27s_Year_4_plan). Its purpose was to explain our planned activities more clearly and to gather useful comments and ideas about the support people expect and need from the CEE Hub.
Additionally, staff members from the CEE Hub and members of the steering committee used the CEE meeting to have informal conversations with Wikimedia Foundation staff, especially about tools, and with Wikimedians from the region. We wanted to hear different opinions and feedback. We also shared our 2026 work plan during CEE hub’s open office hour held on November 6th 2025 (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub/Office_hours).
We invited everyone who is interested to join us in fine tuning our yearly plan since many of our activities are carried out together with communities in Central and Eastern Europe. That is also the reason why it’s important that the activities we undertake are those that are wanted and supported by Wikimedians from this region.
- 10. Are you in communication with other initiatives or groups that either support similar communities or offer similar services to the ones in your proposal? Provide information about any initiatives, affiliates, and/or hubs that have the potential to duplicate or overlap with your proposal. (required)
The CEE region includes communities that get regular yearly funding from the Wikimedia Foundation (like those in Czechia, Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia, and others) and those that don’t get any funding and don’t have staff members. The groups that receive funding have organized ways to support their community members, while the ones without staff face different challenges.
We want to support everyone in the region, but we know that groups who get grants from the Wikimedia Foundation need different kinds of help compared to those that don’t get funding. That’s why it is essential that the CEE hub communicates and works with both types of groups. Together, we figure out what kind of support CEE hub can offer to each group, based on what they need.
We are also connected with other hubs and regional groups. Along with Jessica from WMF, we organized a session at Wikimania again this year, where we talked about the current situation with other piloting hubs/regional initiatives. After Wikimania 2025, we started meeting regularly to share our experiences with ESAP. We also had one meeting with a staff member from the Language Diversity Hub.
- 11. Who is your primary audience(s)? List the communities, affiliates, and groups. (required)
Our primary audiences are CEE communities, affiliates, and individuals who want to work together, learn from each other, and support one another.
- 12. If your proposal relates to piloting a hub, share the governance structure you plan to establish. If this governance structure is not yet in place, share how you are making decisions in the interim. (optional)
During the past year, we focused on our governance, internal CEE Hub’s governance, and internal communication guidelines. Since March 2025, we have been operating based on these rules:
New: [3]
Compared to previous years, the Steering Committee (SC) has been working with a more transparent structure since spring 2025. Having a designated SC’s chair and vice-chair helps us to manage things better, stay transparent, and stay focused.
Although we hoped to establish a clear plan for SC elections by summer 2025, we haven't succeeded yet. This is mainly because we want to involve as many people and different opinions as possible in co-creating the process. We haven't given up on this goal, but the deadline has been moved. We now aim to have a clear SC election model, and hold the elections based on it, in 2026.
- 13. Describe your team. (required)
The project is carried out by the staff of CEE Hub, with guidance from their Steering Committee (SC) members, working together with WM Poland, who acts as the fiscal sponsor.
The role of the fiscal sponsor is to provide legal support, handle logistics, handle employment matters and manage the project's finances. All official agreements are signed by this sponsor (with contractors e.g. trainers, all Micro grant agreements). They also handle purchasing tickets and buying services or goods, based on instructions from the CEE Hub Regional Coordinator and working closely with them.
The CEE Hub staff are responsible for running and overseeing all activities, communicating with the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), organizing meetings with communities in Central and Eastern Europe, keeping a close eye on the budget, providing reports to WMF, and documenting how activities are being implemented. Current staff members are:
- Barbara Klen, Regional CEE Hub Regional Coordinator (salaried), 1 FTE
- Toni Ristovski, Grant Specialist (salaried), 0.7 FTE (starting from January 2026)
- Karolina Gruszczyk, Communication and Community Specialist (salaried), 1 FTE
- Programme Specialist (currently being recruited as replacement for Toni who is switching to Grant Specialist position), 0.8 FTE (starting from January 2026)
CEE Hub’s Steering Committee's role is monitoring the work of the CEE Hub staff and steering the overall direction of development of the CEE Hub. All SC members are volunteers.
The current 2025/2026 Steering Committee members were presented at the Wikimedia CEE Meeting in September in Greece. The Steering Committee currently consists of the following ten members:
- Toni Sant - Chair (Wikimedia Community User Group Malta)
- Başak Tosun - Vice-chair (Türkiye)
- Klára Joklová (Wikimedia Czech Republic)
- Strainu (Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group)
- Iglika Ivanova (Bulgaria)
- Gorana Gomirac (Wikimedia Serbia)
- Shahen Araboghlian (Armenia)
- Vera Pelhan (Wikipedians of Slovenia User Group)
- Armen Mirzoyan (Armenia)
- Mārtiņš Bruņenieks (Wikimedians of Latvia User Group)
To support the Steering Committee and staff, the CEE Hub has two advisors (volunteers):
- Delphine Ménard
- Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska
The advisors do not take part in voting, they advise and recommend solutions to Hub related issues/topics. They take part in regular status monthly meetings.
For more information about this topic, user names and former SC members please go to: [4]
- 14. Upload a timeline of activities or provide a link to it. Timeline (operational calendar) is for your programs and activities. (required)
- Adjusted: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1whfMaR6j7RtbXNklSkuGXXEbzvI_cBQa/edit?gid=1428104384#gid=1428104384
- 15. How do you intend to keep communities updated on the progress and outcomes of the project? Share your communication plans. (required)
Our communication activities include:
- Monthly status meetings of the CEE Hub Group, which includes CEE Hub staff, the Steering Committee, and Wikimedians from CEE communities who are interested in our activities.
- Regular updates about the hub’s activities via social media, our Meta page (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub/News), mailing lists, and the CEE Newsletter.
- Organizing 1:1 meetings with communities to both inform and engage them in the project implementation and to learn more about their activities, issues, and needs.
- Organizing regular monthly open office hours (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub/Office_hours).
- At Wikimania 2026, we will both present our work and gather input, with a special focus on other hubs/regional initiatives that will be present (if our budget allows this trip).
- During the CEE meeting, which will take place in fall 2026 in Romania, we will further discuss our progress, Year 5 plan, and future steps with representatives of CEE communities.
- 16. If your activities include community discussions, what is your plan for ensuring that the conversations are productive, inclusive, and safe? Provide a link to a Friendly Space Policy or UCoC that will be implemented to support these discussions. (optional)
- The Wikimedia Foundation’s friendly space policy will be applied.
- The WMF’s Universal Code of Conduct will be applied.
- 17. Are there any other details you would like to share? Consider providing rationale, research or community discussion outputs, and any other similar information that will give more context on your proposed project. You can also upload any additional documents in the section below. (optional)
NA
Metrics
[edit]- 18. Share quantitative and/or qualitative metrics that you plan to measure in order to showcase the impact of your activities. (required)
Budget
[edit]- 19. Your local currency. (required)
- EUR
- 20. What is the requested amount in your local currency? (required)
- 216986.78 EUR
- Requested amount in USD
- 276975.32 USD [note 1]
- ↑ a b The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.
- 21. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required)
- Yes
- 21.1. How many paid staff members and contractors do you plan to cover through the Hub Fund? (required)
Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period as well as their work status (full-time/part-time, indefinite/fixed). If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms (period of work).
- 3 FTE through this budget
0.5 FTE is covered by annex to Y3 (Rapid grants) In total, there will be 4 staff members, 3.5 FTE
- 22. Provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. (required)
| Budget category | Amount in local currency |
|---|---|
| Staff and contractor costs | 131974.08 EUR |
| Operational costs | 38380 EUR |
| Programmatic costs | 36300 EUR |
- 23. Upload your detailed budget or provide a link to it. (required)
The transfer should be in Euros (EUR).
Bank account nr: 21 1600 1462 1864 2681 7000 0016 IBAN PL21 1600 1462 1864 2681 7000 0016 SWIFT/BIC PPABPLPK
Thank you!
By submitting your proposal and funding request you agree with the Application Privacy Statement and Universal Code of Conduct
We/I have read and agree:
- Yes
Feedback
[edit]- Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.