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Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Maintenance of OpenRefine and its Wikimedia-related extensions.

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statusAwaiting grantee reply
Maintenance of OpenRefine and its Wikimedia-related extensions.
Fluxx IDR-GS-2409-17123
start date2025-01-01
end date2025-12-31
budget (local currency)69758 USD
grant typeNonprofit organization with Wikimedia mission
funding regionNA
decision fiscal year2024-25
funding program roundRound 1
organization (if applicable)OpenRefine / Code for Science & Society

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant information

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Organization name or Wikimedia Username for individuals. (required)
OpenRefine / Code for Science & Society
Do you have any approved General Support Fund requests? (required)
No, it is my first time applying for a General Support Fund
You are applying as a(n). (required)
Nonprofit organization with Wikimedia mission
Are your group or organization legally registered in your country? (required)
Yes
Do you have a fiscal sponsor?
Yes
Fiscal organization name.
Code for Science and Society Inc
Please provide links to the following documents if they are available

These documentation can be provided in your local language(s), no translations required.

  • Organizational website
  • Detailed financial reporting and/or audits
  • Documentation of the governance structure, board list, governance processes
  • Documentation of the general assembly decision on your plan
- Organizational website: https://www.codeforsociety.org/

Main proposal

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1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page. (required)
Maintenance of OpenRefine and its Wikimedia-related extensions.
2. Do you want to apply for the multi-year base funding for 3 years? (required) (only for returning applicants)
N/A
2.1. Provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan? (required)

N/A


3. Proposed start date. (required)
2025-01-01
4. Proposed end date. (required)
2025-12-31
5. Does your organization or group have an Affiliate or Organizational Annual Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required)
Yes
OpenRefine community is governed by its [governance](https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/blob/master/GOVERNANCE.md) and [code of conduct](https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/tree/master?tab=coc-ov-file). OpenRefine’s annual activities are driven collaboratively by community request; our plans for 2024-2025 can be best viewed through our current active grants:
    • [Wikimedia Commons: OpenRefine/Train-the-trainer program 2023-24 grant (2023-2024)](https://openrefine.org/funding#2023-wikimedia-foundation)** focuses on building capacity for training Wikimedians, organizations, and partners of the Wikimedia movement to use OpenRefine’s Wikimedia functionalities.

For the year 2025 we have identified the following projects:

6. Does your affiliate, organization or group have a Strategic Plan that can help us understand your proposal? If yes, please provide it. (required)
Yes
https://forum.openrefine.org/uploads/short-url/4sGYdWVepcV8wgHmXsrgqUHt0xH.pdf
7. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
International (more than one country across continents or regions)
Code For Science and Society: (fiscal sponsor) USA

Martin Magdinier (Project Manager): Montreal, Canada New Developer: The location will be identified upon hiring. International with the group of [trainers](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OpenRefine/Training).

8. What are your programs, approaches, and strategies? What are the challenges that you are trying to address and how will your strategies support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
      1. About OpenRefine

OpenRefine is a powerful free, open-source tool for working with messy data: cleaning it; transforming it from one format into another; and extending it with web services and external data. The project was created in 2008 under Freebase Gridwork and then Google Refine. In 2013, it became OpenRefine while transitioning to a community-supported project. In 2019, OpenRefine joined the fiscal sponsor [Code for Science and Society](https://www.codeforsociety.org/), a US nonprofit. This status allowed the project to raise funds via grant applications and donations, as well as hire the appropriate staff required to sustain it as a free community resource.

OpenRefine also developed two integrations allowing users to perform bulk publications and editions to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons with minimal coding skills.

Since 2018, Wikidata items can be created and edited directly in OpenRefine. The user base grew from 500 in 2018 ([source](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/CS%26S/Structured_Data_on_Wikimedia_Commons_functionalities_in_OpenRefine)) to 1,297 unique users as of September 24, 2024. Today, OpenRefine has facilitated 28 million edits ([source](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:Tags)) through 65,608 batches ([source](https://editgroups.toolforge.org/tools/)) on Wikidata.

In 2022, OpenRefine received the Wikimedia Coolest Tool Award in the eggbeater category. Since then, OpenRefine allows Wikimedians to publish files along with their structured data on Wikimedia Commons. As of September 24, 2024, 365,998 files ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Uploaded_with_OpenRefine)) have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons via 5,299 batches from 177 distinct users ([source](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XNdRSOgVZeEfg8qqaNIDVgtgxWdpWncbW7ijA-wBx54/edit?gid=1403996188#gid=1403996188)). This represents a 59% user growth since October 2023 ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OpenRefine/Metrics/Uptake_of_Wikimedia_Commons_features_in_OpenRefine,_June_2024)).

According to the preliminary findings of our [2024 user survey](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/announcing-the-2024-openrefine-user-survey/1700/2), 76% of OpenRefine users are part of at least one of the following communities: Research and Academic (38.3%), Librarians (33.3%), Wikimedians (27%), and GLAM institutions (29.9%). Additionally, 52% of OpenRefine users utilize the Wikidata reconciliation endpoint to match and enhance their dataset from Wikidata. The intersection of audiences between Wikimedia and OpenRefine provides a smooth transition for users to shift from being consumers of knowledge created by Wikimedians to contributors, all without changing their tools.

      1. Challenges
    • Challenge 1: Securing Wikimedia integration by hiring a new developer**. Antonin Delpeuch, OpenRefine's current developer, plans to leave the project in March 2025. We have already started a conversation with the community about finding a new developer to help maintain OpenRefine. Following conversations with the OpenRefine development team, it is critical that we onboard a new developer with experience with Wikimedia products to replace Antonin's knowledge ([source](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/grant-opportunity-wikimedia-community-fund/1728/12)). Our partnership in 2024 with Wikimedia Sverige (WMSE) to maintain the Commons extension ([source](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/introducing-wikimedia-sweden-to-the-community/1337)) was successful, resulting in WMSE gaining technical expertise in OpenRefine and the Commons extension codebase. While they may be able to help with the transition in 2025, we would prefer to have dedicated internal resources.
    • Challenge 3: Securing Funding to Sustain OpenRefine Core Team:** OpenRefine’s meritocratic model relies mostly on volunteers for its governance and development. While initial grants raised in 2019 were dedicated to specific feature development, we realized that the project urgently needed a team that could support the community and help it thrive. We know consistency and timely response in open source are critical to attracting and retaining contributors. We ensure that every question and request is addressed, potential contributors are directed to the right resources, and pathways to long-term contribution are maintained and grown.

Through different iterations, we identified two key roles to best support the community:

  • A part-time developer responsible for bug and security fixes, software releases, and onboarding new developers on the project.
  • A part-time project manager facilitating regular meetings within the OpenRefine community and with external partners, running outreach activities, and maintaining the communication channel.

The team can be funded with a total annual budget of USD 160,000 to USD 200,000 per year ([source](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/grant-opportunity-open-technology-fund/1451/5)). For 2025, the CZI EOSS-5 grant already covers USD 127,000. The Wikimedia General Support Fund will allow us to bridge the remainder of the year. If the grant is renewed in 2026, it will cover 35% to 43% of our budget needs.

      1. Strategies & Programs to address the challenges

The support will primarily be provided by a hired developer, with potential assistance from WMSE. The person will be responsible for the following as it gains experience and trust from the current OpenRefine committer group:

  • Bug fixes, security updates, and quality improvements of OpenRefine codebase for maintainability,
  • Support Wikimedia Commons and Wikibase (and Wikidata) improvements to OpenRefine based on current issues and requests from the community.
  • Release management for the Commons extension and OpenRefine.
  • Pull request reviews to OpenRefine and the Commons extension.
  • Mentor new contributors.
    • Program 2:** Trainers act as ambassadors, advocates, and educators for OpenRefine and the Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons projects. Our second program focuses on supporting the trainer community developed around Wikimedia Commons and nurturing community relationships to promote innovation and collaboration.

The project manager's tasks include:

  • Facilitating regular meetings within the OpenRefine community and with external partners, including:
    • Continuing partnership with WMSE and the Wikibase Stakeholder regarding the Commons and Wikibase support.
    • Cultivate community belonging by organizing monthly communication with trainers and advocates via calls, blogs, or forums to get their feedback on software or community improvements.
  • Conduct outreach activities such as our biyearly user survey or representing the project in events.
  • Maintain the project's communication channels (such as moderating the forum).
  • Assist with grant applications and reporting.
  • Liaise with Code for Science and Society, our fiscal sponsor.

We want to offer financial support covering travel expenses to present OpenRefine at Wikimedia-related conferences or organize online events such as webinars and trainer-led WikiLearn courses. In return, we ask for formal feedback through an online form to capture what participants learned at the conference and how we can improve OpenRefine. We want to establish a process to formally capture this information and share it with the developer and designer community.

Finally, OpenRefine participated in Outreachy and Google summer of code internship programs in 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Once the new developer is confident about the codebase, we may consider renewing our participation in those programs.

9. What categories are your main programs and related activities under? Please select all that apply. (required)
Category Yes/No
Education Yes
Culture, heritage or GLAM Yes
Gender and diversity No
Community support and engagement Yes
Participation in campaigns and contests No
Public policy advocacy No
Other No

Education

9.1.1. Select all your programs and activities for Education. (required)
Editing Wikipedia Training, Wikidata programs, Wikimedia Commons programs
Other programs and activities if any: N/A
9.1.2. Select all relevant audience groups for Education. (required)
Other groups
Other groups if any: GLAM professionals, existing volunteers willing to learn OpenRefine for contributing to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons.

Culture, heritage or GLAM

9.2. Select all your programs and activities for Culture, heritage or GLAM. (required)
Supporting institutions to open up their collections, data, metadata, and research, Supporting GLAM professionals to incorporate use of Wikimedia in their work, through documentation, training, or Wikimedian in Residence programs
Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Community support and engagement

9.4. Select all your programs and activities for Community support and engagement.
Organizing meetups, conferences, and community events, Supporting community members' participation in events and conferences, Offering microgrants and other financial support to community members
Other programs and activities if any: N/A
10. Please include a link to or upload a timeline (operational calendar) for your programs and activities. (required)
    • Program 1: Developer timeline**
  • October to December 2024 Recruitment of the developer
  • January 2025: The new developer starts his position.
  • From January to March 2025: onboarding of the new developer while Antonin Delpeuch is still active on the project. The onboarding is done via the EOSS-5 grant budget.
  • From May to July 2025, as the developer starts contributing to Wikimedia-related projects, we will use part of the GSF grant to fund the position.
  • June 2025: Decision to participate in Outreachy Winter cohort. Since the contribution period for internship candidates is August 2025, we need to ensure the developer is confident in handling the surge of new contributors.
  • Starting November 2025, the developer will be fully funded via the Wikimedia GSF.


    • Program 2: Project Manager timeline**
  • December 2024 (once the grant is announced):
    • Creation of a form for trainers to provide feedback following their training.
    • Start establishing communication channels with individual trainers and Wikimedia affiliates who participated in the Wikimedia Commons train-the-trainer program.
  • Starting January 2025:
    • Organize monthly events with Commons and Wikidata trainers. We will confirm the format between community calls, webinars, newsletters, and forum posts.
    • Develop a conference stipend program to help trainers attend relevant events or organize training sessions.
  • March 2025: Open the call for applications for the stipend program.
  • From February to December 2025, the project manager will perform the following recurring activities
    • Organize monthly events with the trainer community
    • Administrate the stipend program
    • Participate in monthly Wikibase Stakeholder group meetings.
11. Describe your team. (required)
    • The Advisory Committee** runs the administrative aspect of the project on a day-to-day basis with the support of Code for Science and Society (CS&S). Its members are bound by the fiscal sponsorship agreement with Code for Science and Society. They meet once per month with Code for Science and Society. The current list of Advisory Committee members includes:
  • Jan Ainali: volunteer, User:Ainali
  • Julie Faure-Lacroix: volunteer
  • Esther Jackson: volunteer, User:Emjackson42
  • Antonin Delpeuch: part-time contractor paid by the project, User:Pintoch


Martin Magdinier (User:Magdmartin) is **OpenRefine's Project Manager.**


    • OpenRefine contributors** make regular contributions (code, design, translation, user support, technical writing) to OpenRefine. In the last 12 months, we had 37 active contributors on our main GitHub repository. During that period, 241 issues were created and 185 closed via 216 Pull Requests ([source](https://openrefine.org/usage#forum-statistics)). On our forum, we saw 272 new users sign up, 360 topics created, and over 1,900 messages posted. Antonin and Martin are the only contributors paid by the project.


Since Antonin Delpeuch will retire from the project in March 2025, the contract developer position will be vacant. We have already started the process of filling the role.

12. Will you be working with any internal (Wikimedia) or external partners? Describe the characteristics of these partnerships and bring a few examples of the most significant partnerships. (required)

Through 2024, we developed a strong relationship with **[Wikimedia Sverige](https://wikimedia.se/) (WMSE)** via the [OpenRefine-Wikimedia Commons training and sustainability grant](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OpenRefine/Projects), where OpenRefine regranted part of the fund for WMSE to maintain the Commons Extension. As of September 2024, WMSE has already released a [new version of the Commons extension](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/new-version-of-commonsextension-0-1-2/1620) and publicly shared their [roadmap for future improvements](https://forum.openrefine.org/t/prioritisation-of-wikimedia-sveriges-development-work/1803).


OpenRefine developer and project manager participate in the **[Wikibase Stakeholder Group](https://wbstakeholder.group/about)**. OpenRefine participation focuses on improving wikibase (and wikidata) reconciliation services and publication flow from OpenRefine to Wikibase (and wikidata). Those meetings also provide an opportunity to create working relationships with other participants, including Wikimedia Deutschland. Thanks to the Wikibase Stakeholder Group, OpenRefine received two grants from [NFDI4Culture](https://nfdi4culture.de/) in [2022](https://openrefine.org/funding#2022-nfdi) and [2023](https://openrefine.org/funding#2023-nfdi) to improve its reconciliation services.

13. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select all that apply. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Improve User Experience, Innovate in Free Knowledge

Metrics

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Wikimedia Metrics

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14. Please select and fill out Wikimedia Metrics for your proposal. (recommended)
14.1. Number of participants, editors, and organizers.

All metrics provided are optional, please fill them out if they are aligned with your programs and activities.

Participants, editors, and organizers
Metrics name Target Description
Number of all participants N/A N/A
Number of all editors 1900 We are extrapolating the number of contributors based on the month-to-month growth over [the last 12 months](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XNdRSOgVZeEfg8qqaNIDVgtgxWdpWncbW7ijA-wBx54/edit?gid=1451525307#gid=1451525307).

Number of all editors: Existing and new editors involved in activities funded by the grant

  • 300 editors using OpenRefine to upload to Wikimedia Commons
  • 1,600 editors using OpenRefine to upload to Wikidata (Excluding Quickstatement generation)


Number of new editors: Newly registered editors brought in by activities funded by the grant

  • Adding 120 new editors using OpenRefine to upload to Commons
  • Adding 330 new editors using OpenRefine to upload to Wikidata


Number of retained editors: Editors that continued to edit at least a month after the activities (assuming 33% retention)

  • 40 for Commons
  • 110 for Wikidata
Number of new editors 450
Number of retained editors 150
Number of all organizers 11 We count the current 11 certified Wikimedia Commons trainers. While we hope to engage with more trainers, we do not plan to officially certify new trainers.
Number of new organizers N/A
14.2. Number of new content contributions to Wikimedia projects. (recommended)
Contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project Created Edited or improved
Wikipedia
Wikimedia Commons 340800
Wikidata 10150000
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions / Abstract Wikipedia
Description for Wikimedia projects contributions metrics. (optional)

Those are estimated numbers of edits made using the Commons and Wikidata integrations. They are extrapolated based on the average batch size and contributors' growth rate. We cannot differentiate item edition or creation in our current set of metrics.

Other Metrics

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15. Do you have other quantitative and qualitative targets for your project (other metrics)? (required)
Yes
Other Metrics Description Target
Number of releases At least two minor releases per year for OpenRefine and OpenRefine Commons Extensions 2
Bug fixed At least five bugs or feature requests reported by the Wikimedia community are addressed per year in both products combined. 5
Feedback received Receive ten training feedback per year following training 10
Conference stipends Fund 7 stipends per year for trainers to attend events. 7
Community Events Organize monthly events with Commons and Wikidata trainers organize monthly events with the trainer community focusing on the biomedical community. We will confirm the format between a community call, webinar, newsletter, or forum posts 12

Budget

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16. Will you have any other revenue sources when implementing this proposal (e.g. other funding, membership contributions, donations)? (required)
Yes
16.1. List other revenue sources. (required)

[CZI EOSS-Diversity](https://openrefine.org/funding#2021-eoss-diversity) grant ending December 2024 [CZI EOSS-5](https://openrefine.org/funding#2022-eoss-5) grant ending October 2025 Individual Donation

16.2. Approximately how much revenue will you have from other sources in your local currency? (required)
128000
17. Your local currency. (required)
USD
18. What is the total requested amount in your local currency? (required)
69758 USD
Multi-year funding request summary
Year Amount (local currency)
Year 1 N/A USD
Year 2 N/A USD
Year 3 N/A USD
19. Does this proposal include compensation for staff or contractors? (required)
Yes
19.1. How many paid staff members do you plan to have? (required)

Include the number of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include them separately and mention their terms.

0.5 FTE part-time project manager. We plan to transition the cost of the developer from the EOSS-5 to the General Support Fund over the course of the year (see note [5] in the budget)

0.1 FTE part-time developer (4h/week) 1 contractor developer to be identified, terms to be determined.

19.2. How many FTEs (full-time equivalents) in total? (required)

Include the total FTE of staff and contractors during the proposal period. If you have short-term contractors or staff, please include their FTEs with the terms separately.

0.6 FTE

Contractors' participation and their terms are to be determined.

19.3. Describe any staff or contractor changes compared to the current year / ongoing General Support Fund if any. (required only for returning grantees)
N/A
20. Please provide an overview of your overall budget categories in your local currency. The budget breakdown should include only the amount requested with this General Support Fund (required).
Budget category Amount in local currency
Staff and contractor costs 55802 USD
Operational costs 13956 USD
Programmatic costs 69758 USD
21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_xb0SaZrMV4h-oK-sMox9JzWKP0XniYzcOAiNCssY1k/edit?gid=0#gid=0


Additional information

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22. In this optional space you can add any other additional information about your proposal or organization that you think can help us when reviewing your proposal. (optional)




By submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Feedback

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