Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Creating free knowledge through educational, GLAM & capacity building projects & collaborations while enhancing diversity & social representation in He-WP & AR-WP/Final Report
Report Status: Accepted
Due date: 2024-01-30T00:00:00Z
Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Final
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General information[edit]
This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving Wikimedia Community Funds or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their final results.
- Name of Organization: Wikimedia Israel
- Title of Proposal: Creating free knowledge through educational, GLAM & capacity building projects & collaborations while enhancing diversity & social representation in He-WP & AR-WP
- Amount awarded: 401830 USD, 1430000 ILS
- Amount spent: 1813060 ILS
Part 1 Understanding your work[edit]
1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
The past year of 2023 was a very complicated year in the State of Israel. It started with the attempted self-coup, and its last quarter saw the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. With these events in the background, Wikimedia Israel faced complicated challenges, and managed, nonetheless, to meet its goals and even beyond. In 2023, a new ED was appointed and the leading action strategies were redefined. Among these strategies: Striving for excellence of our employees and their performance, setting priorities and allocating resources for article-yielding activities, putting an emphasis on partnership development, strengthening relations with the community and volunteers, and growth of local revenues. As a result of these strategies, a change has been made in the organizational structure. Various employees have been replaced to create a professional entrepreneurial quality team that works tirelessly for the chapter and movement’s mission. In the practical aspect of our activity, we invested new resources in the development of the instructional team, to turn our courses into the main training arena of new diverse Wikipedians with a long-term editing potential. Development of new partnerships, alongside the retention of long-standing ones, continue to be the growth engine of the chapter’s activity from both the content and economic aspects, and constitute a leverage for increasing awareness of the various Wikimedia projects. In 2023, we also reexamined our points of strength and devised ways to professionalize them. For example, improving instructional infrastructures, development of employees, and development and retention of volunteers, who are the firm base of success. We therefore invested time and budget resources in the development and fostering of these fields, and started to see the positive results by the end of the past year. For example, in the field of instructional development in the Arabic language, we developed and produced an online Arabic-speaking course for Wikipedia editing. This course was approved for uploading to the Campus IL website, and is now available there. In 2024, it will be uploaded also to international platforms. As for the Hebrew language, we currently develop, update, and redesign the entire sum of instructional material for the Hebrew programs. Concerning our volunteers, we held several in-person meet-ups, where we presented the volunteers’ activities and reinforced their sense of belonging to the chapter. Finally, it is important to mention our activity in the social networks, particularly that related to the 20th anniversary of the Hebrew-language Wikipedia. The proposed activities and strategies have been successfully implemented through a comprehensive branding and communication plan for Wikimedia Israel. This involved the revamp of our website, ongoing development of social network channels, newsletters, slide presentations, educational materials, advertisements, and invitations. Additionally, effective marketing and public-relation initiatives were executed, particularly emphasizing the 20-year milestone of the Hebrew-language Wikipedia, the expanded range of public courses, and Wikimedia Israel's relevance to the broader movement through platforms such as Diff. A crucial aspect of our strategy was fostering intersection with the Hebrew Wikipedia community. This was achieved through active participation in digital forums and the organization of in-person events, strengthening the bond between Wikimedia Israel and the community. Alongside all this work, as we approached the end of the final quarter of 2023, we started a strategic process that will help us to develop based on preplanning, and to define clear objectives to be met.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
The efficiency of our action strategies is measured in actual results that are listed below in the relevant section of this report. However, we would like to mention already in this section some work strategies that, much to our pride, produced successful results. With regard to our courses, we learned that cooperations with like-minded organizations that wish to promote a joint vision would lead to long-term success. For example, our cooperation with the media outlet Shakuf (“Transparent”) allowed us to open three editing courses, among them an advanced course for graduates of the basic courses. In the field of education, our cooperation with the Arabic-speaking educational system, and the building of mutual-trust relations with the pedagogical inspector (the highest rank in this system), proved to be efficient in understanding the system’s deep needs and providing the suitable tools, while creating ever increasing demands for the activity of Wikipedia editing. Another concept that accompanied us during the past year relates to the striving for innovation and relevance for our beneficiaries. For example, we opened an editing course for graduates of our past courses, which saw a large turnout and, in fact, met a demand that had accumulated over the years. Another example is the new course for people with autism, an innovative move in Israel and the entire movement, which is compatible with our goal to diversify our audiences and content. We also adhered to the idea that our volunteers were the heart of our chapter, and their number and sense of belonging and engagement would increase, if we strengthened this cornerstone. Out of this understanding, in 2023, we integrated our volunteers in all of the chapter’s programs, especially in the educational field, in schools, academia, and editing courses, as well as in marketing and community activities. Compared with the previous year, the number of volunteers grew more than 20%. Another important cornerstone is the development of the instructional team and tools. In our understanding, the development of this field is an essential part of the chapter’s blueprint, and a key of our professionalism and for the development of new projects. In the past year, we have made a first step in a comprehensive process, which will bear fruits in 2024, in which WMIL will improve its capabilities and performance in this field. . In the field of marketing, we initiated the following actions: Conducting in-depth research on past initiatives in the realm of branding, communication, and marketing, both within Wikimedia Israel and across the broader Wikimedia Foundation landscape; Diligent focus on understanding the challenges, perspectives, and aspirations of stakeholders across various domains, including the local Wikipedia community, board, staff, volunteers, and participants; Proactive and ongoing solicitation of feedback from diverse sources; Attention to performance metrics; .
3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?
To the innovations mentioned above, we would like to add the following projects: We completed the Wiki GLAM Dashboard project, from which more than 110 GLAM institutes around the world benefit. In the AR-speaking educational system, we developed a working model in which we guide the teachers on how to write Wikipedia articles during the training courses, while the teachers guide their students in parallel. That is, concentrated learning and implementation with the students at the same time. In addition, we created an online editing course in Arabic. This online course will be a stand-alone instructional tool for independent editors. We created friendly instructional films, written by people with expertise not only in Wikipedia, but also in instructional methods. This allows better understanding of the needs and expectations of people outside the existing editors’ community. The courses’ registration process was not efficient enough, and constituted a barrier before people interested in our activities. During the past year, we changed the process, and turned it into an automatic, fast, and friendly procedure. It is also more efficient and less time consuming for our staff members who handle the registration. With regard to marketing, we changed our modus operandi in the following manner: We implemented the Design Thinking methodology to creatively address communication and marketing challenges of Wikimedia Israel; We aligned branding efforts with Wikimedia Israel's overarching strategic plan for a cohesive and synergistic approach; We enhanced the connection between the Wikimedia Israel brand and the Wikipedia brand for unified representation; We strengthened the association between the Wikimedia Israel brand and the Wikimedia Foundation one to foster a collaborative identity; We humanized the Wikimedia Israel brand for a more relatable and approachable image; We maintained a high standard of rigor in both written and visual communication strategies.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
Generally speaking, we act in three parallel channels, through which we invite the target audiences to join our activities and events. Creating partnerships with other organizations and nonprofits that work constantly with our target audiences, e.g. retired people, people with autism, students etc. Through these partners, we distribute the information to the relevant audiences, hence we call them ‘marketing partners’. When we manage to create a deeper partnership, our partners also work with us throughout the whole process, to form a single body with a joint interest in the project’s success. This model of deeper partnership is more significant and efficient for both parties. By word of mouth - This simple common method proved efficient, as it requires minimal resources and yields maximal results. For example, in the Arabic-speaking educational system, and to some extent also in its Hebrew-speaking counterpart, this is the main method through which teachers and school principals are exposed to our activities. Our reputation in the educational system is high, therefore we meet the basic condition of this method. Another successful implementation of distributing information by word of mouth, is our request from course graduates, whose number currently reaches nearly 500, to tell their friends about our activities. Many of our new participants joined us through this ‘a friend brings a friend’ method. Marketing methods focusing on various media outlets available to the chapter, among them: newsletter for particular audiences, social networks - Facebook, Instagram, articles about the chapter in the Israeli press
5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. | Agree |
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
Here are some examples of proactive activities for enhancing representation of marginalized groups. A cooperation with Tel Aviv Youth University that focuses on writing articles about female researchers, thinkers, and artists. During its eight years of existence, this project yielded more than 600 articles. In projects with the academy, a large percentage of the written articles is about underrepresented communities, such as women, or Middle-Eastern communities. In our instructional materials, we mention women in our examples and maintain a gender-neutral language, despite the Hebrew-language tendency to use the male forms. By this, we wish to convey a message that all genders are welcomed on Wikipedia. We devote special efforts to recruit female volunteers. By integrating them in instructional activities, we convey a message that everyone is welcomed. We also promote an integration of volunteers on the autistic spectrum. The Arab community in Israel is underrepresented locally and world-wide. We dedicate efforts to increase its presence in our activities. About 90% of the teachers in our activities are women, and 77% of the written articles are related to the Palestinian culture of the Arab community in Israel. We also constantly promote writing articles about Arab women.
Part 2: Your main learning[edit]
8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
Our priorities in 2023 focused on these four fields: Partnerships - Creating partnerships requires us to allocate the right human resources and learn about the potential partner’s goals and commitment. We prefer a few quality partners, rather than to risk our resources by spreading them too widely. A major key for a partnership-based project is meeting the partner’s needs rather than placing a burden on its agenda. Diversity - The new Wikipedians we train, e.g. female graduates of our courses, integrate in the local WP community and make a significant impact there. We increase diversity by enhancing our activity in peripheral regions and marginalized groups, e.g. people with autism, and senior citizens. We train Israeli Arabs to contribute to the AR Wikipedia and connect to the worldwide Arabic-speaking community. Knowledge equity - Our good relations with the AR educational system allow us to expand our program of writing WP articles by teachers and students from the Israeli Arab community. By this we increase the diversity of the AR Wikipedia and contribute underrepresented contents about this community. It also increases awareness of the AR Wikipedia among Israeli Arabs. Sustainability - We focus on two impactful programs: editing courses and the AR educational program, both of which increase equity. To maintain our activity, we have to be creative about resource collection and increasing local revenues, while constantly investing in our staff and volunteers.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
In retrospect, we can point to several surprises, some of them positive and some less so. They all provoke interest and questions regarding future decisions. When we publish our courses ourselves rather than through a partner, the marketing process takes long and registration is very slow. We couldn’t come up with an idea on how to reconcile the gap between our marketing effort and the low turnout in practice. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of course graduates who registered for the follow-up courses.Apparently, there is a great need for advanced knowledge in Wikipedia editing. We launched a media campaign for the first special editing course for people with autism. We were surprised by the great fast response. The registration ended within 24 hours. The course has completed a quarter of its program, and despite thorough preparations and a cooperation between our professional guide and a therapeutic guide who specializes in autism, we still have to make adjustments on the fly. We also tried to launch a course for Israeli expatriates, but despite our expectations, interest was insignificant and we had to drop this idea. We were pleasantly surprised by the enormous success of our program at the AR educational system, and the Arabic pedagogical inspector’s wish to expand it significantly.
10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
We wish to keep investing in further development of instructional materials. Excellent materials set a high bar for teaching and enable further professionalization. In 2023, we began allocating resources for the development of instructional tools, e.g. better presentations, and clearer lesson plans, and we already see the results in our courses. Our volunteers’ sense of belonging is equally important. Compared with the previous year, volunteer hours increased 144% and the number of volunteers 20%. We see the volunteers as a strategic goal which we will keep promoting and developing. Up until now, we failed to recruit Arabic-speaking volunteers. We plan to invest further efforts to increase the range of opportunities to create a community. Over the years, we have made various attempts to find significant interfaces with academic institutes. Our successes were highly dependent on certain enthusiastic academics, but we couldn’t find a model that would lead us deep into the academic institutes. We plan to invest our best efforts to find the right track for fruitful work with academic partners. Since mid-2023, we chose to focus on editing courses as a leading field. We enlarged the team and expanded our audiences. We will maintain this trend during next year. We aim to leverage the successes and learnings to enhance the effectiveness of our outreach and engagement initiatives. This includes further strengthening partnerships within and outside the Wikimedia movement.
11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?
We would tell about an article-writing project in Hebrew focusing on Arabic-speaking award-winning female authors. The project took place during an editing course for female Palestinian students from East Jerusalem. Despite the language gaps, the students managed to produce quality products with the help of a determined instructor and team members who accompanied him. Stormy demonstrations in Jerusalem prevented the students from arriving at the final editing workshop, however, they signed a copyright waiver and allowed us to upload the articles to the Hebrew Wikipedia. By doing so they contributed to better representation of women and Arabic speakers in the Hebrew Wikipedia’s content. We would also tell about the pride that fills students and teachers once their articles are uploaded.
12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Part 3: Metrics[edit]
13a. Open and additional metrics data
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The percentage of articles written about women or gender-related topics, out of the total number of new articles | Increasing diversity is one of the organizing principles of our strategy, which we examine from different angles. Enriching Wikipedia with content about women and gender-related topics is one of the focal elements in implementing this goal. Accordingly, where possible and relevant, we encourage writing articles on this topic, and give it a priority.
This matrix provides us with a clear indication of the relative share that this content area constitutes out of the total articles created throughout the editing activities we carry out, and the extent of its development over time in the entirety of our work (= 10% of senior-citizen editing courses; 20% of AR education projects, and 30% of the HE ones).
|
25 | 13 | Gender-related articles are reported as a percentage only of the total education programs and courses offered in 2023, without accounting for products based on our graduates' activity. Furthermore, we do not have an automatic tool for counting according to topics, rather it is a manual and inefficient process. | We located the articles manually by reviewing the participants' products on the Wikimedia Foundation's program dashboard or in Google Docs |
| The geographical distribution of participants (center vs. periphery), based on the data about participants in editing courses and geographical location of educational institutes | The geographic dispersion matrix allows us to examine the goal of increasing diversity in terms of accessibility to the chapter's activities, the participation of audiences and partner institutes from different parts of the country, and the division between center and periphery.
Up until two and a half years ago, most of the chapter's activities took place in person only, and mostly in the center of the country and nearby areas. While educational activities (both in HE and AR) reached the periphery, the geographical accessibility for senior citizens from the periphery was marginal. This reality changed due to the Covid-19 epidemic and the integration of online methods into our toolbox. It also facilitated the expansion of the educational activities, by combining in-person and online methods, considering the possibilities and needs (the editing courses for senior citizens remain online). This matrix allows us to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the change we have made in this aspect, and how the geographical dispersion contributes to the increase in equal opportunities and knowledge equity with regard to the accessibility of Wikimedia projects in general (Hebrew Wikipedia, editing courses), and among minority ethnic groups in particular (the Arab society).
|
40 | 59 | A significant part of our activity in the Hebrew language education system takes place in the periphery and a very high percentage of the activity in the Arabic language also occurs in the periphery. It turns out that in Hebrew education: a total of 476 students, of which 157 are from the periphery (37%)
395 students participated in Arabic education, 100% from the periphery, and in the course program 16 participants from the periphery, out of 113 participants, whose place of residence is known to us. |
In the Hebrew language, the data was taken from the project's records, which include a record of the geographic location of the relevant school, and the number of participating students. This supplement is also relevant to educational projects in the Arabic language. In Arabic, the information is based on Google Docs, and in the courses, a manual count was made. |
| The number of articles dealing with the local Arab society in various fields (out of the total number of new articles in Arabic) | The fact that there is no vibrant ar-wp community within the Arab ethnic minority in Israel brings about a shortage of content and sources of information about this minority within ar-wp.
Thus, the activities we hold in our local Arabic-speaking education system, constitutes, in fact, the only source of information about this subject within ar-wp. As such, the impact, on the one hand, and the effectiveness and importance that this activity generates, on the other, is particularly high. Accordingly, we, along with our partners, e.g. the MOE Arabic-language division, pay particular attention to the inclusion of such content in the “Students Write Wikipedia in Arabic” project. This matrix provides us with a clear indication of the relative share this content area constitutes out of the total number of articles created through us on ar-wp, and of the progress we make in narrowing the knowledge gaps in ar-wp. Desired target: An average of 50% of the total articles written in ar-wp, ~ 150 articles |
150 | 203 | 203 articles out of 264, almost 77% of the articles written are related to the Arab society in Israel | The tools we used are Google Docs lists that are organized and updated in real-time. The main difficulty is in locating topics for articles concerning the Arab minority in Israel and locating sources of information. |
| The number of innovative processes implemented during the year within the total programs carried out by the chapter | Innovativeness has always been one of the characteristics of our chapter. For us, innovation provides an opportunity for growth, development and improvement of capabilities and skills. It is created on the basis of in-depth learning lessons that we continuously hold in the team, including feedback analysis, identification of needs, examination of options and formulation of solutions.
This innovative approach touches each of our organizing principles and strategic goals, as well as the projects derived from them. Over the years, the chapter stood out in its innovative work and created groundbreaking projects that contributed to our local work in particular, and to the Wikimedia movement in general. It is important for us to ensure continuity of this approach and attitude, and to measure ourselves against it. A project will be defined as innovative if it is characterized by one of the following features: Developing a new means to increase the sense of safety and security among new Wikipedia editors; improving and renovating training methods; promoting the inclusion of new or underrepresented content area on he-wp; reaching out to a new target audience; increasing visibility through the usage of a new medium. Desired target: Implementation of at least 3 new innovative processes during 2023 (that meet one of the criteria mentioned above) |
3 | 9 | This year we incorporated some significant innovations that meet the definition of innovation in this section. It is too short to describe them all, therefore, we chose to focus on only nine, including: 1. Editing course for a new target audience: autistics. 2. A writing course about the bible - a content area missing from Wikipedia. 3. Cooperation with a team of English teachers to write articles in Hebrew based on sources of information in English. 4. In the academy: a project to write articles on women writers from the Arabic-speaking world by female students from the Palestinian/Arab community in East Jerusalem. 5. In the field of Arabic - development of innovative teacher training. 6. In the field of training, we improved the training methods in the course program and created advanced training materials aimed at graduates of the program. Thanks to this, our ability to increase the sense of security among them, as new editors at Wikipedia, increased. 7. We developed a continuation course for graduates of our editing courses.
|
N/A |
| Year-round engagement growth across our social media platforms | In accordance with our strategic goal of increasing our visibility and reaching out to new and diverse audiences, while using our social media platforms as one of our leading marketing mechanisms, new narrative storytelling techniques were implemented this year, aimed at reinforcing engagement, focusing on telling our story from diverse angles, including, but not limited to, what we do, what motivates us, the people involved, volunteers and partners’ testimonials, call for action and more.
Through this matrix, we seek to learn about the effectiveness of this strategy, the engagement it creates throughout the year, and to further analyze the data gathered in a more practical way, such as, identifying the types of content that generate more engagement, the appropriate posting timing, what works better and what less, continued projects vs. newly created ones, and more. Desired target: Year-round engagement growth of 30% |
30 | 50 | The renewal of Wikimedia Israel's communications and marketing team in the second half of 2023 represented an important course correction and generated immediate and notable impacts on our social media platforms.
It is worth noting that Wikimedia Israel's Instagram profile was opened in the last few weeks of 2022, which generated the huge increase in Instagram's reach when comparing the performance of 2023 and 2022 as a whole. In any case, the comparison between the first and second semester of 2023 shows that the credit for the majority of publications and new followers must be attributed to the new management of the department. On the other hand, the low reach and engagement on Instagram makes it clear that the current strategy of mirroring Facebook posts must be revised and that Instagram calls for a very different approach |
Meta Business Suite |
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | New graduates of the 2023 editing courses that will continue to edit for at least 3 months after completing their course.
The online editing course trains he-wp editors, hoping that its graduates will persist in their editing activity, thereby will contribute to the expansion of the editors' community and increase its diversity, while creating encyclopedic content on a continuous basis. Accordingly, the success of the course should be measured, in our view, and to a large extent, through the question: How many of its graduates continue editing following graduation? In order to answer this question, we examine whether at least one edit was made on he-wp or another Wikimedia project by each of the graduates, within the time period between the end of the course and three months later. Our understanding (based on our accumulated experience) is that graduates that did not edit even once during the aforementioned period of time, were not likely to persist in editing, whereas there is high probability that those who edited on their own and without our support during this time period, will probably continue to edit. The desired target set for 25 graduates was determined based on our planning for 2023, during which approximately 70 men and women are expected to participate in the editing course. This means that we aim for a persistence ratio of at least 35% of the participants during the time period in question. Our experience shows that though the target is quite ambitious, it is nonetheless realistic in the context of the high-quality target audiences that the online editing course addresses. |
25 | 45 | 45 out of 110 course graduates (41%), continued to edit on Wikipedia for three months to host the end of the course in which they participated. | The data was collected using the dashboard in conjunction with Excel documents. There is persistent difficulty extracting data from the dashboard after processing it. We hope that in the future, a tool with an automatic interface will be available to extract data in a convenient and efficient manner |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | X | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | Institutes/organizations that demonstrate continued collaboration and contribute to the implementation of our strategies and goals, constitute force multipliers of our activity and provide added value to the implementation of the shared projects
These partnerships include 66 entities, including governmental departments, with focus on the Ministry of Education (in both he-wp and ar-wp educational projects), public institutes, such as Yad Vashem (HE-education), the National Library (their partnership relates to a series of Wikimedia projects: he-wp and ar-wp educational projects, GLAM, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata), GLAM institutes (mostly Wikimedia Commons), educational institutes (HE- and AR-speaking schools), universities and colleges (4 Institutes / 7 departments), the Israel Film Archive (Wikidata and Wikipedia), thematic non-profit organizations that support and promote our activity within a specified focal area (such as gifted youth program at Tel Aviv University, 929 - global jewish conversation about the Hebrew Bible, PikiIWiki), significant marketing partners = 4 (i.e. that distribute our marketing materials to their mailing lists) and recruitment partners = 1-2 (i.e. that recruit by themselves from their own target audience participants to join our editing courses). |
66 | 66 | Overall, the year 2023 resulted in significant growth in significant indicators relating to the activities of the association. This included not only the number of partnerships but also the deepening and expansion of existing partnerships. Among them was the collaboration with the Transparent Media body, with which we held one editorial cycle in 2022 and two editorial cycles in 2023. In addition, we had a continuation plan for the course and graduate course to be implemented in 2024. We have gone through a similar process with other organizations. We have also established connections with new partners, for example, the Israel Association of Community Centers about the Autistic Course, 929 about the editing course to expand bible knowledge on Wikipedia, the municipalities of Zichron Ya'akov and Kfar Saba and many more. | The information is based on records that the team maintains throughout the year in various tools (google sheets, google docs and "project pages" within the Hebrew Wikipedia) |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | Editing-course feedback survey (conducted among participants at the end of each cycle): An average overall final score of 4 out of 5 among participants
At the end of each editing course cycle, we send anonymous and comprehensive feedback questionnaires to all participants, which refer to the various aspects of the course. Among other things, the questionnaires include several questions about the participants' general level of satisfaction and their level of motivation to continue editing on Wikipedia. The answers are of particular significance for us. High satisfaction and great motivation to continue editing are, in our view, an indication that the methodology with which the course was organized, and its application in practice, meet the needs of the target audience on the one hand, and encourage them to continue contributing content to he-wp on the other. |
4 | 4 | In the result line we wrote 4 because there was no other option but in fact the satisfaction index among the participants of our courses stands at 4.48 | The information is collected through an anonymous feedback form on Google Forms.
The difficulty with this measure is that not all participants fill out the feedback, so we don't have a 100% complete picture of this index. |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | X | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | No. of new followers of social media posts and newsletter related to the work developed within the framework of this proposal = new social-media followers, and new mailing-list subscribers
We believe there is a direct and important linkage between the degree and quality of the chapter's exposure, and the potential of strengthening its resilience and growth over time, including the diversification of its fundraising sources. The more we increase awareness of the Wikimedia vision, of our work, and of he-wp, the more opportunities we can find for collaborations, resource development, and the expansion of our work. Our digital assets constitute a significant growth engine that allows exposure expansion. In accordance with our marketing approach that was invigorated this year, we continuously monitor the number of followers, namely the growth data. Unlike the engagement data (an important aspect in its own right, which we also follow), the number of new followers is an indication of an action taken by the interested person themselves, namely, the follower chose us as a target of their interest. The quantitative target has an important qualitative aspect too. Not only do we follow the trends and their level, but also analyze the reason behind them, e.g., whether it is a specific type of content that generates a movement of followers, whether it has to do with posting timing or circumstances, whether there are certain activities behind it, and whether it is possible to identify to which target audiences these new followers belong. Such information enables us to draw conclusions regarding the focus of our marketing activity and to optimize it continuously. Desired target: 1200 new social media followers and 300 new mailing-list subscribers = 1500 in total |
1500 | 290 | The goal of 1500 new followers for 2023 was formulated during a period of transition in which the association's EDs and marketing managers changed. In one year, such a goal would not be applicable to the association's activities. | Meta Business Suite
Newsletter lists |
| Number of activities developed | X | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of volunteer hours | No. of person-hours of volunteers in our various projects: educational, senior-citizens editing course, and events.
The chapter's volunteers are, in our view, valuable partners who significantly contribute their wealth of skills, knowledge, experience, expertise and time to our work, thereby allowing us to expand and deepen the implementation of the Wikimedia vision we share. The volunteers are active in a number of our projects and activities, and in each, contribute their unique capabilities that are relevant to the project. In editing courses, for example, where they partner with us in leading the training and serve as consultants and mentors of the participants, they represent dual expertise: editing Wikipedia and training newcomers. They are highly motivated to train new editors and continue to provide support also after the course, to facilitate their integration into the editors’ community. Accordingly, their time investment, which we consider a valuable resource, is massive. We monitor it constantly and encourage the increase of its scope, if and where possible. The target we set (400 hours out of the total target defined below) is based on an informed assessment that we carried out in light of the data collected in previous years. In the education system, their contribution is mainly focused on attending the school editing workshops and supporting the activity of the coordinator who leads them. They also check the article drafts in both school and academy projects. In the field of events and marketing, the volunteers help organize events, either behind the scenes or during the gathering itself (whether online or offline), in delivering lectures to selected audiences, and otherwise. Our volunteers also support GLAM activities, mainly through helping and guiding institutes that contact us to upload media files to Wikimedia Commons, and otherwise. |
800 | 1775 | For 2023, the association has defined its strategic goal as developing, retaining, and empowering volunteers. As a result, resources were invested in recruiting new volunteers, deepening relationships with new volunteers, and honoring the association's volunteers by holding unique events and awarding certificates of appreciation to volunteers who have made a significant contribution to the association. It is without a doubt that the perception of volunteers as a central milestone in the association increased the number of volunteer hours and even the number of volunteers. The association grew by 20% this year, from 38 to 46 volunteers, and we have begun recruiting new members in order to meet the increasing activity of the association. | Excel lists |
13b. Additional core metrics data.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | The total number of participants in all activities: 1608 (returning + new participants) Of these: 550 new middle- & high-school students of the HE education system, 300 new students of the AR education system, and about additional 50 returning ones, 100 senior citizens who took part in the editing course, of which 70% new and 30% returning. In addition, about 300 participants in the Wiki Talk series of lectures, of which at least 50% (=150) returning, 150 participants in both WP anniversary events - of which 75% returning (~110), and additional 150 participants (estimated) in various events related to the he-wp’s 20th anniversary, of which at least 50% (=75) returning 8 youths from the "Youth Editing Club" - all returning.
New participants: 1185 Returning participants: 423
|
1608 | 1753 | The growth in the number of participants in our activities can be attributed to two factors. The number of activities increased, allowing a greater presence of participants and an increased degree of involvement of the Wikipedia community in Wikimedia activities. In addition, there was an increase in participation in the Arabic program, the course program, the excellence program for youth and academia (which were not included in the original count of the index). There has been a decrease from 550 to 474 participants in the Hebrew language-speaking education system. | The data was collected by the team members in different ways:
Tables, questionnaires, lists organized in Google Docs, Google Forms, and attendance lists at events |
| Number of editors | The total number of new editors in all activities: 900. The data consists of middle-and high-school students (500 in HE, 300 in AR, all new), Wikidata editors (10), New senior citizens, both men and women, that take part in the editing courses (70), new editors that take part in editing events or contests (20). | 900 | 758 | We believe that there is a discrepancy between the target and the final result due to the fact that both Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking students worked in pairs and sometimes even trios, making fewer usernames open than what is described in the index. | The data was collected by the team members in different ways: Lists organized in Google Docs, Dashboard, and Google Forms. |
| Number of organizers | The total number of organizers in all activities: 146, consisting of 38 organizers of the Hebrew education-system project, of which 11 will be new (teachers, school coordinators, librarians, Yad Vashem coordinators, gifted-youth program leaders at Tel Aviv University) / 20 education and training volunteers that are involved in a variety of the chapter’s programs - including HE education (8), the academy (2), senior-citizen editing courses (10), of which 3 new or returning after an idle period as volunteers. Some of the volunteers are active in more than one program. /1 senior-citizen training facilitator / 6 volunteers of marketing activities and events (2 new) / 1 technical developer (Dashboard) / 50 organizers of the AR education-system project, of which 25 new (senior officials of the Ministry of Education, pedagogical instructors, teachers, Arabic-language coordinators at the National Library) / 18 academic staff members at various levels / 5 representatives of GLAM institutes and cultural organizations (2 new), 7 team members (2 new).
Expected outcome:New participant: 55
Returning participant: 91
|
146 | 257 | The results of this index are also higher than expected and reflect the general increase in activity in a significant number of fields. In conjunction with the increase in activity, the number of organizers involved also increased | The data was collected by the team members in different ways: Lists organized in Google Docs, Dashboard, and Google Forms. |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Hebrew Wikipedia:
The total number of all added and improved articles on he-wp: 920. Of these - 250 new and 120 improved in HE educational projects / 400 new articles and 75 improved ones by participants of the editing courses / 75 improved articles in writing competitions. ,**Number of articles resulting from our activity within the academy will be updated once the new Academic coordinator, currently under recruiting process, will take office. Expected outcome: New articles: 650 Improved articles: 270 |
920 | 17515 | Perhaps you are thinking there must be an error here, but we are delighted to inform you that the given number is accurate. Several times, we checked ourselves to ensure that there were no errors. Hebrew Wikipedia has 12,102 minor edits, 2906 significant expansions, and 2537 new articles. Several collaborations were undertaken with the community, the National Library, and Art Feminism. In addition, intensive work in the Hebrew language and by graduates of editing courses. | The information is collected in the following ways:
The Wikimedia Foundation's program dashboard Manual counting Google Forms Collecting data from the "project pages" in the Hebrew Wikipedia documenting our activity |
| Wikipedia | Arabic Wikipedia:
Articles written on the AR Wikipedia as part of our formal education activities in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and as part of activities taking place in partnership with the National Library Expected outcome: 250 articles of which 125 new and 125 improved. |
250 | 264 | In the Arabic education program, we have developed a working method where teachers undergo further training while at the same time teaching children and writing articles. The method was found to be very effective and enjoyable for all participants and resulted in 128 expansions of existing articles as well as 136 new articles | The information was collected through an organized and updated list in Google Docs |
| Wikimedia Commons | 20,000 new media files uploaded by GLAM partner institutes, additional 250 files uploaded in the context of editing events or contests by both new and returning editors | 20250 | 97535 | This impressive number of files on Wikicommons has been created by the institutions that collaborate with us, such as the National Library and IDF spokesperson. In addition, it includes the products that result from our "Thousand Words" tours, which we organize for the Wikipedia community and educational programs. We have also embarked on a special documentary project documenting the settlements where the massacre occurred on October 7, 2023 | To collect the data, the Wiki dashboard and the venture shelves were used |
| Wikidata | Items created or improved as a result of our cooperation with the National Library and the Israel Film Archive | 10000 | 60000 | This year, the National Library also invested in Wikidata and achieved great success. However, the National Film Archive did not actively participate in the field of Wikidata due to a shortage of skilled personnel. | Open Refine and Quick Statement are the tools used to update the data. To streamline Wikidata work, if you could simplify the entire query process so that it is not only accessible to programmers, it would be very useful for others interested in Wikidata. In addition, the National Library in Israel knows a tool developed for the National Library in Germany: GND Revieal. It would be beneficial if a similar tool could be developed for the National Library of Israel. |
| N/A | X | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?
No
15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.
The collection of information on certain indicators was challenging. Details of the difficulties are described only in the sections of these specific measures
16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships[edit]
17. Organizational Capacity
| A. Financial capacity and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| B. Conflict management or transformation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| D. Partnership building | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| E. Strategic planning | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| F. Program design, implementation, and management | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| J. Governance | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| K. Communications, marketing, and social media | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| M. On-wiki technical skills | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| N. Accessing and using data | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| O. Evaluating and learning from our work | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Formal training provided from outside the Wikimedia Movement, Peer to peer learning with other community members in community/ies of practice* (structured and continuous learning and sharing spaces), Using capacity building/training resources online from sources WITHIN the Wikimedia Movement
17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of training that fits contextual needs and interests, Barriers to access training because of language
18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?
N/A
19. Partnerships over the funding period.
| A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) | Strongly agree |
| B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Permanent staff outreach, Partners proactive interest, Volunteers from our communities
19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Lack of interest from partners, Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
Creating and retaining partnerships is like a dance of two. Before we seek new partners, we define our expectations from the partnership. Then we try to understand the potential partner’s needs and whether we can meet them. We also examine how close the partner’s values and objectives are to our own. The next step usually involves appeals to people who know our organization and activities, to make them a first connecting link to new partnerships, but there are other courses of action. Participation in conferences or an Internet search can also be the first step of creating partnerships. Having found a potential partner, it is important to build the partnership on open communication, sincerity, and mutual trust, while taking into account the possible difficulties.
Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration[edit]
21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?
The sense of belonging to a movement whose ideas are greater than each and every one of us is inspiring and motivating, and constitutes the basis of understanding who we are and what we do. We begin our editing courses for the general public with an introduction of WMF and the free-content movement, to establish the understanding that we are part of a big movement with a vision of free content for all. For Wikimedia Israel, belonging to the larger movement means actively contributing content and expertise, promoting diversity within its community, and fostering deeper connections through collaboration, cultural exchange, and mutual respect. We are also obligated to contribute local knowledge to WMF and promote cooperation by developing tools that can serve other chapters, participating in international deliberations etc. The financial support offered by WMF provides a sense of security that helps us perform our role in the general vision.
22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Somewhat increased
23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
As we attended more meetings and conferences, the greater our sense of shared values and a common vision became.
24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Somewhat increased
25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
To contribute to the foundation and the movement by sharing the knowledge and skills we have gained, we are investing in professional writing and creating new training materials that we intend to distribute through appropriate channels.
26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.
Other movements that influence our motivation are - Social equity movements that focus on gender equity, and closing geographical and ethnic gaps. We work with feminist academics, and activists for better representation of Arabs. Our intra-organizational motivation relates to the feminist movement. We work to send a message of gender inclusiveness through our instructional materials and by encouraging gender-diverse teams of volunteers. Equal-rights movements: We cooperated with the Association of Community Centers to open our course for people with autism, to bring their voice and diversify the WP contents and community. Also, Shakuf (“Transparent”) media outlet, whose members joined a special follow-up course, deals with promotion of democracy and fighting corruption.
Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration[edit]
We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.
27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?
Partially
27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?
We were pleased to share information about Wiki GLAM Dashboard at various conferences related to Glam and invited institutions from all over the world to use the tool. However, in terms of education and training, we feel that we have a lot to offer, but have not yet found the right opportunity to do so
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
We do this rarely (less than twice a year)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
In addition to ED's meetings once a month, we also share information at conferences and through the Diff.
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance[edit]
30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
1813060
31. Local currency type
ILS
32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
- Here is the link to the financial report:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B8jnPPPpAydFJwwYP5dmPb5bN4o0XrQguYDDmE3Ka-8/edit?usp=sharing Here is the link to the In-kind donation report: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sy1Ywd2vX2JhvgCMTr4hf9HC-uW5YMYvKm2Knhe92kk/edit?usp=sharing
33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
The entire grant budget was utilized and additional income was used to cover expenses for 2023, as shown in the attached budget. Our actual expenditure was NIS 1,798,282, compared to the planned amount of NIS 2,135,957. The reasons for this are as follows:
- 1. In January 2023, the ED changed
- 2. Filling an academic position in the second half of 2023
- 3. The termination of the marketing person's position and the recruitment of a new employee.
.
34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
37. 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? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.