Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Growing the wiki spirit in Türkiye, 2024/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.
One of the challenges our group addressed in 2025 was the limited collaboration and interaction among active Wikimedia contributors in Türkiye. Regular bi-weekly online meetups proved effective in helping a small group of contributors strengthen ties with one another and with the broader community. For contributors based in Istanbul, small in-person events—such as the 12th-birthday celebration of Wikidata held at our office—further fostered a sense of team spirit.
Several projects—including Documenting Edirne Mosques, Kırklareli Monuments, and Street Signs of Istanbul—grew out of the ideas and friendships nurtured during these gatherings. Regional and global events hosted in Istanbul, such as the CEE Meeting and the Wikimedia Hackathon, also served as valuable gathering points and sources of motivation for local contributors.
Another challenge was to grow the Wikimedia community by involving new contributors from diverse backgrounds. We planned to collaborate with two types of partners: educational institutions and NGOs. In our proposal we suggested expanding the education program by building stronger connections with university instructors where student wiki clubs had already formed. However, we found that students were often more interested in organizing events independently than in acting as a bridge between Wikimedians and their schools or instructors. A key takeaway was not to assume that students and instructors are closely connected or share the same priorities.
As in previous years, education-program activities therefore relied on proactive outreach by user-group member and staff, who coordinated directly with instructors and schools across the country. Thanks to these efforts, the program reached Şırnak University—near the Iraqi border—through the initiative of an active Wikimedian based in the region. Our overarching goal remains to expand Wikipedai Education program activities across Türkiye, not just in major cities. We learned the importance of personally connecting with active contributors in different regions and leveraging their networks and local knowledge to support this goal.
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)
Building on the success of member-led projects such as "Documenting Edirne Mosques" and "Kırklareli Monuments", we plan to place greater emphasis on supporting similar individual initiatives and involving more group members by organizing follow-up events. We will follow up on these activities by organizing small talks and targeted edit-a-thons so that the material collected in these individual projects can be effectively incorporated into diffeent Wikimedia projects.
We also intend to continue working with NGOs to increase the coverage of underrepresented topics (suc as museum accesibility). Our partners are highly motivated to share their knowledge—especially on Wikipedia—but sometimes become frustrated when they discover that not all of their material fits Wikipedia policies such as “No original research” and “What Wikipedia is Not.” To address this, we agreed with a partner to co-organize future activities where participants can both learn and contribute to the web platform created by the partner and to Wikimedia projects, applying the appropriate types of knowledge and phrasing for each platform.
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).
2024 Almanac: [1]
Annual Report: [2]
Biweekly meetings: [3]
Examples of edit-athons:
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)
Recently, Diff has become a popular platform for our community members to share the results of their activities and to reflect on the events they attend. Our user group encourages organizers to write blog posts for Diff, and we plan to continue this practice. We are also interested in sharing our experiences through bulletins such as the EduWiki Newsletter and the CEE Newsletter.
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.
Our main method of communicating with the community is through bi-weekly online meetings, which typically draw 10–16 participants. These meetings provide the primary channel for sharing feedback on our activities from both members and the wider editor community. The agenda usually includes evaluating completed events, proposing new events, and exploring potential partnerships. Detailed meeting notes are prepared and shared after each session so that members who cannot attend can review the discussion, offer suggestions, and share insights about the impacf of the activites at the Talk pages.. [10]
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 with disabilities, young people
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women
- 6.3 Support the retention of: none of the above
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)
We encouraged participation in the CEE Youth Camp and supported several active young contributors in attending the CEE Meeting. We received an unexpectedly high number of requests for reference letters to join the Youth Camp. This showed us that demonstrating how active involvement in Wikimedia projects and local events can open doors to international opportunities—and to deeper engagement in the global movement—is an effective way to increase youth participation.
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, Volunteers from our communities
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 1600 | 1800 | We add number of participants to events. We have pre-event survey and post-event survey for the events but it is not possible to conduct the survey in every event. Therefore we are not sure about how many editors involved in actitivies are new editors; if we don't have survey data, we assume the participant is new editor. |
| Number of all editors | 1250 | 1320 | |
| Number of new editors | 1200 | 1150 | |
| Number of retained editors | 100 | 80 | |
| Number of all organizers | 10 | ||
| Number of new organizers | 3 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 300 | 700 | 470 | 600 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 2200 | 1800 | ||
| Wikidata | 500 | 500 | 1300 | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filling the gender gap | Number of woman biographies edited in Art&Feminism, Wiki Gap and year round Women in Red edit-a-thons | 100 | ||
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).
no.
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)
Only a limited number of community members apply to or take part in regional and global Wikimedia events because they lack confidence in their language and public-speaking skills. We plan to offer training opportunities in these areas for those interested in participating in such events.
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).
Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey functions as an informal collective of Wikimedia contributors. Membership information and decisions are documented publicly at tr.wikimedia.org platform which is also used as a communication and decision-making tool.
Membership process of the group is explained here: [11] and members are listed here: [12]
Since 2019, the group has held biweekly meetings known as VikiSalı, serving as the main venue for discussions, evaluations, and collective decisions. These meetings are open to all members and also Wikimedia contributors. Invitations are distributed via a mailing list with more than 500 subscribers; typically, 10–12 members participate regularly, with others joining occasionally Detailed notes are published right after each session to ensure transparency and allow for additional input. The notes of all the meetings since 2019 are available here: [13]
Participants are reminded of and informed about the Univeresal Code of Conduct at Vikisalı meetings when they receive email invitations and during the meetings.
Decisions regarding delegate selection for international events (e.g., CEE Meeting, Wikimedia Summit) and planning matters such as the annual budget are again made during VikiSalı meetings and through open discussions and consultations ontr.wikimedia.org, ensuring an inclusive and transparent process, although community participation in the online discussions tends to be limited.
CEE Meeting delegate election pages here: [14]
Wikimedia Summit delegate selection pages can be found here: :[15]
Consultation for yearly plan: [16]
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 (TRY) | Amount spent (TRY) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 1596657 | 1750365 |
| Operational costs | 336986 | 723650 |
| Programmatic costs | 77790 | 136680 |
| Total General Support Fund | 2258029.7 | 2610695 |
| Other revenue | 70000 | 22700 |
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | N/A |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
2610695 TRY
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 723650 TRY
- Programmatic costs: 1750365 TRY
- Staff and contractor costs: 136680 TRY
17. Did you have any other revenue sources (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required): Yes
- 17.1. Provide the total amount received from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 70000 TRY
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 22700 TRY
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)
N/A
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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