Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Growing our community - one volunteer, campaign, program at the time/Final Report
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Part 1: Understanding your work
[edit]Per the recent update on the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy process, Wikimedia Affiliates that are General Support Fund grantees will fulfill their affiliate reporting requirements through their final or yearly grantee report.
If you are a Wikimedia Affiliate, you will use this form for your affiliate reporting and to address the affiliate health criteria. You do not need to submit a separate report to AffCom. Follow the guidance in the green boxes to report on how you met the corresponding affiliate health criteria.
If you are not a Wikimedia Affiliate, aligning your responses with the affiliate criteria is optional and not required.
1. Please share to what extent your programs, approaches, and strategies contributed to addressing the challenges you shared in your proposal. If they did not contribute as you believed they would, please share what obstacles you faced and what, if anything, you learned from them? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 1.) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 1.1 (Goal delivery). Describe how you actively delivered on mission goals, e.g. content creation.
Over the grant year, WMROMD made sustained efforts toward volunteer growth, inclusivity, skill-building, institutional collaboration, and increased online visibility. Our strategies included targeted workshops for specific demographics, campaigns led by librarians, pilot programs for seniors, and coordinated staff-supported initiatives. These approaches directly addressed the challenges outlined in our proposal. We achieved notable success through increased volunteer engagement, higher campaign participation, new partnerships, content production, and improved visibility on social media platforms.
Capacity Development
[edit](A1) Communication: Initially, we intended to collaborate with a communication specialist. Thanks to pilot support from the CEE Hub, WMROMD was able to hire two part-time staff members—one for educational outreach and one for communications. The addition of a communications specialist improved coordination, outreach strategies, and online presence. Our Facebook page grew from approximately 2,948 followers in mid-2024 to 4,689 by mid-2025. Thematic posts and local media coverage contributed to this growth.
Communication with partners also improved. We collaborated with municipal, county, and rural libraries across various regions, including Giurgiu, Brașov, Buzău, Onești, Prahova, Sălaj, Bârlad, Sibiu, Bucharest, Zalău, Vaslui, and Chișinău in Republic of Moldova, as well as institutions like Babeș-Bolyai University and Bucharest University. Support from the National Center of Romani Culture, The French Institute in Cluj, Seneca Anticafe, ApTI, and the National Museum of Romanian Literature further strengthened GLAM engagement and enhanced content quality in our campaigns.
(A2) Managing Volunteers, (A3) Monthly Online Meetings & Group Activities (A15): We continued our regular monthly online meetings with both the broader community and the librarians' group. These sessions served as forums for discussing Wikipedia principles and campaign organization. In February, we hosted RoConWiki (A15), our first in-person community-building meeting in Bucharest, bringing together WMROMD members and experienced Romanian language wiki-users from Romania, Moldova, Spain, Germany, and the UK. Discussions focused on community identity, mentorship strategies, and increasing participation on Romanian language Wikipedia through better interaction and campaign planning.
Campaigns and Content Development
[edit](A5) Wiki Loves Monuments Moldova & Bike Quest 2024: 2024 campaign broke records with 4,389 images uploaded—surpassing the 2023 record of 4,022. A total of 24 participants, including six newcomers, took part. At least 615 images were integrated into Wikipedia, and 215 monuments were illustrated for the first time. Cyclists also contributed over 500 images of Moldova’s monuments.
(A6) Open Access Week: This campaign demonstrated the community’s capacity to promote open knowledge. We created 23 new articles and improved 13. Supported by a microgrant, we organized public events in collaboration with ApTI and conducted Wikidata editing workshops. Babeș-Bolyai University’s Open Science Office hosted two editing sessions for stundets.
(A7) Wikipedia Writing Competitions (22nd & 23rd editions): Organized by a wikimedian with support from WMROMD, the competitions engaged 36 experienced contributors, resulting in 43 new articles and 22 images added to Wikimedia Commons.
(A9) 1Lib1Ref 2024 & Every Book Its Reader: The #1Lib1Ref campaign strengthened librarians’ skills in sourcing and neutrality. With 12 librarians organizing events, the campaign saw 94 editors make 3,375 edits across 2,032 pages. For the first time, interest emerged in organizing a summer edition in Romania and Moldova and the edition was a success. In the "Every Book Its Reader" campaign, we hosted a local event at Seneca Anticafe in Bucharest, and the campaign lead to 19 new pages dedicated to literature.
(A10) WikiMărțișor: As part of the international Celebrate Women campaign, WikiMărțișor’s third edition yielded 3,050 contributions on 1,084 pages, with 65 new articles created. Among the 45 participants, librarians formed the majority, making this an ideal chronological follow-up to the #1Lib1Ref campaign.
(A11) CEE Spring 2025: This regional campaign that WMROMD organizes annually included in 2025 a cross-border online event with Wikimedia Ukraine. The edit-a-thon had 10 participants from Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. The campaign resulted in 522 contributions and 508 new pages.
Partner and Community Engagement
[edit](A13) Support for Minorities & Minority Languages: The International Roma Day campaign this year received valuable support from the National Center of Romani Culture – Romano Kher, which donated thematic books to support editing. Events were held at Seneca Anticafe in Bucharest, the County Library in Buzău, and online (organized by the Public Library in Șirna). Results of the campaign included seven new articles and improvements to 106 articles by 18 editors.
(A16) Education and Higher Education Programs: The part-time outreach staff enabled expanded collaboration with universities, including Babeș-Bolyai University and the University of Bucharest. Wikipedia editing was integrated into academic curricula, allowing students to earn practical work credit for their work. Additionally, a Wikipedia translation module created by Strainu supported students’ contributions.
Working with Seniors:
In 2024, we organized a Wikipedia editing workshop for seniors in Onești, in partnership with the local library. In 2025, the library reached out to us, expressing interest in hosting monthly workshops for seniors. WMROMD is actively supporting the Onești Library’s efforts and promoting their initiative.
Adjustments and New Approaches
[edit](A8) Wiki Loves Romania: Despite initial plans, we couldn’t find a coordinator for this campaign and decided not to pursue it. Instead, a new campaign for International Refugee Day 2025 was initiated by a new Wikimedian. Supported by WMROMD and the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the campaign promoted empathy-driven editing on refugee topics and had good results for a first edition campaign..
(A12) Week of the Volunteers: In 2024, we produced videos celebrating volunteer contributions. In 2025, lacking a multimedia creator and due to a smaller national campaign dedicated to volunteers, we focused on traditional social media posts. A new campaign, Francophone Month, was launched in partnership with the French Institute in Cluj-Napoca, engaging students and experienced editors.
(A14) Wikimedian in Residence: As we received no applications for this position, we redirected the funds to organize a five-day training at the ASTRA County Library in Sibiu. Librarians learned Wikipedia basics and showed interest in documenting local history.
What we achieved
[edit]The 2024–2025 grant year was intense and productive. WMROMD coordinated three grants simultaneously, hosted international events, and expanded university outreach. Key outcomes included: Increasing sustainability through hiring paid staff to ensure continuity; Investing in skills & leadership via targeted training programs for women, seniors and librarians; Providing for safety & inclusion by involving diverse groups— women, rural librarians, Roma, seniors, and refugee communities; Innovating in Free Knowledge by integrating Wikipedia into academic programs and building institutional partnerships; Evaluating, Iterating & Adapting by gathering feedback, adjusting staff roles, and refining outreach strategies
2. 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 do so. For instance, did the activities lead to any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future? (required)
The increase in activity enabled by additional staff contributions has strengthened WMROMD’s commitment to growing the team that supports Romanian-language wiki communities and to developing a long-term vision. For our 2025–2026 grant, we have budgeted for the equivalent of 1.5 staff positions and secured funding to begin work on a four-year strategic plan for WMROMD.
Thanks to the availability of dedicated human resources and some cost savings, we were able to launch our planned software development project ahead of schedule. So far, we have completed 2 of the 6 planned tools: improvements to BLP (Biographies of Living Persons) template management and updates to the Administrator's noticeboard reports. Development will continue in the coming months.
While our core priorities remain focused on volunteer engagement, inclusivity, and high-quality content, we are especially encouraged by the progress made in areas that have traditionally posed challenges—such as communication and outreach to universities. Building on this momentum, we also intend to apply to host the 2026 CEE Meeting, which would be a significant milestone and honor for our community.
Looking ahead, we aim to deepen partnerships with educational and cultural institutions, strengthen local leadership within our community, and improve editor retention through structured onboarding and mentorship programs. These recent successes have also underscored the importance of formalizing internal processes, evaluating impact more systematically, and investing in long-term sustainability to support the continued growth of the Romanian language Wikimedia movement.
3. Please provide a link to reports that detail the activities that took place in the last year. This can include an annual report, Meta pages, and websites. If there are no links available, briefly describe the implemented activities and programs below or upload any files. (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 3.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.1 (Affiliate health & resilience), 4.1 (Internal engagement), 4.2 (Community connection), and 4.3 (Partnerships and collaboration):
- Describe your activities engaging new users, new members for your decision-making body(ies), and developing leaders and organizers (2.1).
- Describe your activities creating or hosting spaces to encourage greater collaboration and engagement among your members (4.1).
- Describe how you engage with the contributing community that you serve and/or support (4.2).
- Describe your partnerships with other affiliates or with non-Wikimedia entities (4.3).
- WMROMD MetaPage [1]
- Draft Report 2025 [2]
- report 2024 [3]
- Facebook WMROMD
- WMROMD Instagram [4]
- WMROMD Linkedin [5]
- Bibliofeed - newsletter about libraries in Romania published articles written by members of WMROMD:Bibliofeed #92, Bibliofeed #90, Bibliofeed #84, Bibliofeed #81, Bibliofeed #79, Bibliofeed #78, Bibliofeed #76, Bibliofeed #72
- CEE Newsletter:October 2024 , November 2024, February 2025, April 2025, June 2025
4. Are you interested in sharing what you achieved or learned this year with the wider community through different peer learning programs (e.g. Let's Connect program, Diff)? (optional)
5. Did you collect feedback from your community or target groups 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 with partner institutions, etc). Did you collect other impact-specific data? (required)
For affiliates, the response to Question 5. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criteria 4.1 (Internal Engagement), 4.2 (Community Connection), or 4.3 (Partnerships & collaboration), where applicable.
We have traditionally collected written feedback for major events and campaigns we organized. This practice continued with the 1Lib1Ref 2025 campaign, but we did not apply it consistently for smaller events. As a newly formed extended team, our primary focus was on planning and organizing activities rather than formal feedback collection. However, we actively engaged with partners in follow-up conversations to reflect on events and campaigns, which has proven valuable for planning future editions.
For example, feedback from the 1Lib1Ref campaign highlighted interest in organizing a summer edition and suggested launching the 2026 campaign as early as November 2025 to give libraries more time to prepare local events.
Additionally, our communications staff interviewed participants in several campaigns, and the insights from those discussions were featured in articles published in the CEE Newsletter.
6. During the fund period, did your efforts do any of the following? (required):
For affiliates, the response to Question 6. also partially addresses Affiliate Health Criterion 2.2 (Diversity balance).
- 6.1 Bring in participants from the following groups: women, people from lower socioeconomic status
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women, other
- 6.3 Support the retention of: Editors, Organizers, Partnerships
7. What, if any, effective tactics or approaches can you share that worked well when dealing with the programs under points 6.1-6.3 that you selected? (optional)
One of the most effective approaches for maintaining and bringing in new partners, particularly NGOs and GLAM institutions, has been consistency. It’s important to remain present, responsive, and follow through on commitments over time. A key lesson we’ve learned is the need to clearly and repeatedly explain what the Wikipedia community is, how it functions, and what collaborative work entails, even when working with organizations we've partnered with before. Staff turnover and internal changes are common in many institutions, so prior knowledge doesn’t always carry over. Same is true also for our team.
Planning ahead is also crucial. Aligning timelines with partners’ internal calendars such as their activity year, funding cycles, or public engagement periods makes collaboration smoother and more successful. Being mindful of their constraints and priorities helps build trust and ensures more sustainable, long-term relationships.
8. If you developed partnerships, which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors (optional):
Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach, Volunteers from our communities
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 400 | 654 | https://hashtags.wmcloud.org/ |
| Number of all editors | 300 | 281 | One piece of feedback we received from new editors is that participating in ongoing thematic campaigns helps keep them engaged. For this reason, we aim to always have at least one active campaign running at any given time. |
| Number of new editors | 150 | 211 | |
| Number of retained editors | 30 | 15 | |
| Number of all organizers | 30 | 33 | |
| Number of new organizers | 5 | 13 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 100 | 3000 | 792 | 4101 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 8000 | 100 | 4423 | |
| Wikidata | ||||
| Wiktionary | ||||
| Wikisource | ||||
| Wikimedia Incubator | ||||
| Translatewiki | ||||
| MediaWiki | ||||
| Wikiquote | ||||
| Wikivoyage | ||||
| Wikibooks | ||||
| Wikiversity | ||||
| Wikinews | ||||
| Wikispecies | ||||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
11. Did you set other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required): No
11.1. Other Metrics.
In your application, you outlined some other open metrics that you would like to measure. Please fill out the achieved results for each of the open metrics you defined.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Part 3: Skill Development / Capacity Building
[edit]12. Reflecting on your programmatic (external) and organizational (internal) work, did your grant support you to undergo any skill development that made a difference to your success? If yes, what skill was developed, and how did it lead to success? (e.g. received coaching on public speaking, attended training on nonviolent communication, hosted professional development conversations on leadership, learned and used a new tool for project management, etc.)? Can you share any materials? (required)
For affiliates, use this space (Question 12.) to address Affiliate Health Criteria 2.2 (Diversity balance) and 3.1 (Diverse, Skilled, and Accountable Leadership):
- Describe actions taken to prioritize gender balance in affiliate leadership, as well as any areas of diversity relevant to your affiliate's context (2.2).
- Describe the management, financial, or other leadership skills of your affiliate leaders. If you have a succession plan, please include it here (3.1).
- Describe any training or skill development (as outlined in the question above) (3.1).
- Incorporate into the annual report a disclosure of conflict of interests (if any) from the leadership (3.1).
To promote gender balance within the affiliate and the broader Wikimedia community, we continued to support and organize initiatives that highlight underrepresented voices. The Wikimărțișor campaign, held annually around March 1st, focuses on creating and improving Wikipedia content about women from Romania and Moldova across various fields. This campaign in its third year of implementation continues to encourage the participation of women editors, both new and experienced.
Additionally, the International Roma Day editing campaign (organized around April 8) contributes to diversity efforts by addressing intersectional representation – including women of Roma ethnicity – and engages contributors to think more about marginalized communities.
Our leadership team reflects a growing commitment to diversity, with women taking on visible roles in organizing events and leading projects. We are actively working to ensure gender balance in decision-making processes and public representation.
In terms of skills and management, WMROMD's leadership comprises individuals with backgrounds in academics, technology, project coordination, community engagement, and nonprofit management. This diversity in competencies supports diverse approaches in outreach and partnership. It does however require some team work for effective planning, reporting, and event facilitation. Although we do not currently have a formal development plan, we share a commitment to capacity building and inclusivity.
Regarding training and skill development, several members participated in regional or global Wikimedia events, such as the CEE Meeting 2024 and Wikimania 2024, Wikimedia Europe where they attended workshops on community health, leadership, and inclusive practices. We also promote peer learning through internal mentorship and knowledge-sharing in management work but also during campaign preparations and community calls.
Presentations gave by WMROMD members: Wikimedian in Residence - a new definition of the librarian, Thank you for the flowers but I would like a Wikimartisor, Auto-revert tools: what we learned from their usage in CEE
13. What is one capacity/skill area that you would like to focus on for the next year? And how do you plan to achieve this capacity? (required)
As our team expands, our programs diversify, and community activity increases, we recognize the growing need to develop and support new leaders who can take ownership of projects, mentor others, and contribute to strategic planning. Building a more distributed leadership model is essential to preventing burnout, fostering innovation, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of our work.
To support this, we plan to:
- Integrate internal training and knowledge-sharing sessions into our regular meetings. These will include lessons learned from past campaigns, as well as practical workshops on project coordination, facilitation, and communication. Our online courses have been a valuable resource, and we plan to continue refining them. For example, this year volunteers showed strong interest in the modules focused on the translation tool.
- Encourage participation in international Wikimedia events such as the CEE Meeting, Wikimania, and Learning Clinics. These opportunities help emerging leaders gain confidence, connect with peers, and bring new ideas back to our community. Our plan to apply to host the CEE Meeting in Cluj aligns with this goal.
- Pilot mentorship structures by pairing experienced organizers with new contributors during campaigns—such as we did for the 1Lib1Ref campaign—to create more opportunities for learning and leadership development.
This leadership focus supports our broader vision of building a resilient and inclusive affiliate where responsibility is shared, leadership is nurtured, and new energy continues to grow.
14. If you have additional information or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. Use the space below to upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your report.
For affiliates, also use this section (Question 14) to fulfill the Affiliate Health Criteria requirements.
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for affiliate governance, including affiliate leadership and membership with a breakdown of the demographics; how elections are conducted; how conflicts of interest are declared; and how decisions are made and communicated (2.2, 2.3, 3.1).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for activities incorporating, promoting awareness about, or enforcing the Universal Code of Conduct in your affiliate's activities (3.3).
- Describe and link to any public-facing documentation for internal membership engagement, such as notes from your regular meetings and how you communicate to or involve your membership (4.1).
Governance and Decision-Making (2.2, 2.3, 3.1)
WMROMD is a small user group operating with an informal governance model based on collaboration and transparency.
- Leadership and Membership: Roles are assigned based on initiative, availability, and past involvement. We do not conduct formal elections at this stage. Active members and contributors are listed here: WMROMD on Meta
- Decision-Making: Decisions are made collaboratively through online meetings and email discussions.
- Conflict of Interest: While no formal COI policy exists, contributors are expected to disclose relevant institutional ties.
Universal Code of Conduct (3.3)
We promote awareness of the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) in all major campaigns and meetings . Participants are informed during event introductions. We refer to the UCoC when resolving any issues and encourage respectful, inclusive behavior.
Membership Engagement and Communication (4.1)
WMROMD communicates with members through multiple platforms:
- Official communication: Email and a shared group inbox for transparency - wikiromd@gmail.com
- Internal coordination: Facebook and WhatsApp chats (staff and management and members)
- Public updates: Romanian Wikipedia Village Pump (e.g. Community meeting archive),Facebook page, andLinkedIn (e.g., hiring)
- Documentation and reports: WMROMD on Meta
We host monthly community meetings, open to all volunteers and contributors, where we, among other topics, present project updates and grant reports. Meeting slides presentations are made public: on Wikipedia:Întâlniri/Online page.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]For affiliates, also use this section (Part 4: Financial reporting) to address Affiliate Health Criterion 3.2 (Financial & Legal Compliance).
| Description | Planned / received budget for this category (RON) | Amount spent (RON) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 60700 | 56781.43 |
| Operational costs | 10650 | 8069.09 |
| Programmatic costs | 29900 | 36399.42 |
| Total General Support Fund | 101250 | 101249.94 |
| Other revenue | ||
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | N/A |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
101249.94 RON
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 8069.09 RON
- Programmatic costs: 56781.43 RON
- Staff and contractor costs: 36399.42 RON
17. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): No
- 17.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): RON
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): RON
18. Provide a financial report document which will provide the details of funds received and spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
18.2. 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)
We had several activities where we were able to reuse the allocated budget or generate savings. For example:(A8) Wiki Loves Romania was not organized;(A12) Week of the Volunteers was revised and required no budget;(A15) Romanian Wikipedia Celebration resulted in hosting cost savings;(A16) Education and Higher Education Programs were partially funded through CEE support.
These savings were reallocated to cover other priorities, such as higher-than-expected award costs for new campaigns, travel expenses for participation in CEE meetings (Invoice 4.771), and the early start of software development activities that we will continue in grant 2025-2026 (Invoice 4.774)
19. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding?: No
20. Final confirmations (required)
- 20.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement? You must be in compliance 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 Wikimedia Foundation mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
- Yes
- 20.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
- Yes
- 20.3. 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? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
- Yes
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