Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikiesfera:Combatiendo juntas la brecha de género en Wikipedia 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.
Our programs, approaches, and strategies in 2024 were instrumental in addressing the challenges outlined in our proposal. Specifically:
- Reducing the Gender Gap in Wikipedia: Through initiatives like editatonas, campaigns, and workshops, we successfully engaged more women into the community of contributors. These activities facilitated the creation and improvement of hundreds of articles about women, history, and gender-related topics, directly addressing systemic bias in knowledge representation. Additionally, the development of the Memory of Women Wikiproject allowed us to further expand and organize efforts to document women's contributions, particularly in the context of historical memory.
- Community Building and Empowerment: We fostered a supportive and feminist environment where participants felt confident contributing to Wikipedia, even without prior experience. This approach enhanced retention rates and encouraged sustained engagement, which we believe is critical for long-term impact.
- Scaling and Sustainability: By focusing on replicable methodologies, we supported new groups of editors in adopting our model in other regions, expanding the reach of our efforts beyond our immediate community. Additionally, the media exposure of our group has played a key role in generating interest among women from different areas of Spain. This visibility has encouraged new participants to engage with our initiatives, and in some cases, to organize activities with our support. Notably, this has led to the establishment of a new node in Vigo, further strengthening our network and impact.
However, we encountered some challenges:
- Balancing Resources: Despite our careful planning, we faced limitations in allocating sufficient resources for outreach and communication, which slightly hindered our ability to reach an even broader audience. Additionally, as our workload increased, the lack of adequate funding and the difficulty in securing new financial support put significant strain on our team. This imbalance has raised concerns about burnout, highlighting the need for sustainable funding to ensure the long-term viability of our efforts without overburdening those driving the project forward.
- Overcoming Technological Barriers: Some participants, especially newcomers, struggled with Wikipedia's editing interface. This required additional training time and adaptations to our curriculum. These difficulties also reflect a broader issue: the lack of a friendly relationship between women and technology. Many did not grow up seeing the computer as a tool for leisure but rather as something linked to work or studies. However, in the case of Wikipedia, enjoying the editing process is crucial, as it requires hours of dedication. That’s why we also strive to transform this relationship with computers—encouraging participants to see editing not as an obligation or sacrifice, but as an enjoyable and empowering experience.
Lessons Learned
[edit]- Collaborating with governmental and cultural institutions has been essential to our work. Partnerships with the Government of Aragón, the Ministerio de Cultura, and the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica have helped us reach new participants who had never engaged with Wikipedia before. These agreements also enhance our credibility, making us a more reliable partner for other institutions and giving participants greater confidence in joining our initiatives.
- Clear and simplified onboarding processes for new editors are essential to reduce entry barriers. To support newcomers, we use Growth tools designed to guide them through their first edits. Additionally, we have created video tutorials that simplify the initial steps, making it easier for new editors to understand the process. Moving forward, we plan to expand these beginner-friendly materials to further facilitate participation in future activities.
- Effective communication requires continuous investment to maximize impact. Without dedicated resources, outreach efforts can be inconsistent, limiting our ability to attract new participants and expand our community. Recognizing this, we plan to allocate more resources to communication in future initiatives, ensuring a stronger and more sustained presence. This includes improving our media strategy, enhancing social media engagement, and developing targeted content that effectively conveys our mission and invites broader participation.
Overall, while challenges arose, our strategies largely aligned with and supported our goals, and we have identified areas for improvement to strengthen our impact in the coming years.
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)
Yes, we have a clear plan to build on the key successes achieved in 2024, focusing on scaling, deepening impact, and addressing areas for improvement.
Building on Successes
[edit]- Increasing Partnerships: Collaborations with institutions like the Government of Aragon, Ministry of Culture, and Wikimedia chapters have shown the significant value of institutional support. Moving forward, we aim to formalize partnerships with additional organizations, particularly those focused on education and gender equity, and co-develop programs that integrate Wikipedia editing into educational curricula.
- Strengthening our Governance model: Our innovative and horizontal approach of governance, with our Consejo de Sabias (Council of the Wise Women, equivalent to a Board) is demonstrating to be successful in terms of accountability. Also, to guarantee a good environment in all our spaces, we plan to create our own Code of Coexistence, that will be added to our current Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.
- Enhance Asynchronous Participation in our Activities: While our editatonas and weekly meetings continue to be successful and see growing participation, we aim to be more inclusive of community members who are unable to attend live events. In 2024, we have seen significant success in terms of both participation and content creation through asynchronous activities, and we want to build on this momentum by offering more flexible ways for people to get involved.
- Support the Consolidation of New Nodes: In 2024, a new group of female editors was formed in Galicia, and in 2025, we plan to establish another one in a different city in northern Spain. Our goal is to ensure these new nodes have all the necessary support and resources to strengthen their communities and operate independently. To achieve this, we will offer tailored training, provide access to our network of experienced editors, and facilitate ongoing communication to help them grow sustainably. This approach will empower the new groups to develop their own initiatives while remaining connected to the broader mission of Wikiesfera.
- Expanding Participation through New Campaigns: While editatonas remain our flagship initiative, last year we introduced a new format, Topic Campaigns, which was very well received by our community and successfully reactivated some editors. In 2025, we aim to solidify and expand on these campaigns by attracting even more Wikipedians to participate. To do this, we plan to publish banners on the Spanish Wikipedia and use tools that allow us to invite editors who have shown interest in specific topics. By building on the success of these campaigns, we hope to reach new audiences, provide fresh knowledge to our community, and further engage those who are already contributing to the platform.
- Continue Expanding in GLAM: This strategic focus has gained strength with the addition of an expert in the field to our team. Moving forward, we aim to further leverage our presence in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) by applying our feminist perspective to challenge and address systemic biases in cultural institutions.
- Consolidate the "Memory of Women" Wikiproject: This initiative was created in the last months of 2024 to compile and make more visible all the work our community do around this topic and to better collaborate among each other. In 2025, we plan to better structure it to make it more useful for our community and expand its scope to include more interdisciplinary collaborations with historians, archivists, and educators.
- Ride Media Exposure: Following our success with high-profile media this year (The Guardian, El País) we intend to create a communications plan that will allow us to increase and consolidate our media profile in a very strategic and intentional way.
New Priorities and Ideas
[edit]- Knowledge Mapping: Inspired by the gaps we've identified through our projects, we aim to develop a Knowledge Mapping Initiative within Wikiesfera. This would involve systematically identifying underrepresented topics and encouraging our community to address them collaboratively. For example, when it comes to women’s health, there are significant gaps in the representation of women’s health issues on Wikipedia, such as specific conditions, medical research, or healthcare access. Similarly, in the case of Spain’s historical memory, there is still a lack of coverage regarding the women who suffered during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime, including the stories of women victims of repression or those involved in resistance movements. Through this initiative, we would highlight these areas as priority topics and guide our community to focus their efforts on filling these gaps, ensuring a more comprehensive and inclusive representation of both women's health and historical memory.
- Enhancing Onboarding and Training:Based on the challenges faced by new editors in our community, we aim to create an online repository of beginner-friendly materials, including video tutorials and step-by-step guides. These resources will complement our workshops and make the editing process more approachable for newcomers.
- New Formats: During 2025 we would like to explore new formats for our activities to reach new audiences and provide new knowledge to our community. In addition to focusing on Wikipedia, we would like to diversify our efforts by exploring activities related to Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. For example, we could create campaigns to enhance the representation of women and gender-related topics in Wikidata, encouraging community contributions to structured data. Similarly, we want to engage our editors in enriching Commons by uploading images and media related to women’s history, health, and cultural heritage. By diversifying our focus across these platforms, we aim to attract new contributors, broaden the scope of our initiatives, and offer additional avenues for our community to engage with.
- New Website: Since its inception, Wikiesfera has experienced significant growth year after year, resulting in the accumulation of a large volume of information on a single website. However, as our scope and activities have expanded, it has become clear that our current website no longer fully reflects the breadth of our work. To address this, we plan to restructure the site to provide a clearer and more organized presentation of our activities. This restructuring will help visitors easily navigate our various initiatives and better understand our expertise in key strategic areas such as gender, GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums), and democratic memory. Additionally, we aim to create a more approachable platform for institutions interested in collaborating with us. Our goal is to facilitate easier access for potential partners, making it simpler for them to learn about our work and reach out to explore opportunities for joint projects. Through this improved website, we hope to increase engagement and expand our network of collaborators.
Lessons Learned and Shared
[edit]- The Strength of our Community of Women: At Wikiesfera, creating a supportive, inclusive, and feminist environment is central to retaining new contributors. However, we believe that beyond being a tool for content production, our encounters are meant to be fun and engaging. We prioritize joy as a revolutionary act in our activities, and we know that when people have a good time, they are more likely to stay involved and feel part of the community. Joy is not only essential for building a strong, sustainable community, but it also makes the space more welcoming to newcomers. Peer support and mentorship are crucial in ensuring long-term engagement, but it's the shared experience of having fun together that fosters deeper connections and encourages a more open, collaborative atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable contributing.
- Iterative Learning: Flexibility in programming—adapting workshops and materials in real-time—enhances effectiveness. Being responsive to participant needs should remain a cornerstone of our approach. We also recognize that iterative learning goes beyond just adjusting content—it’s about continuously gathering feedback from participants and using it to improve our processes and tools. By creating a feedback loop where participants feel heard and valued, we can refine our methods and ensure that each activity becomes more effective and tailored to the evolving needs of our community. This responsiveness not only enhances learning but also fosters a sense of ownership and investment among participants, strengthening their connection to the work we do. At the end of every year we do a survey to take the temperature of our community and find out areas of improvement.
- Institutional Support: Partnerships amplify impact. Engaging institutions as collaborators ensures alignment of goals and sustainable support. We also recognize the importance of building long-term relationships with these institutions, where both parties can actively contribute to and learn from each other’s expertise. This collaborative approach fosters a shared sense of responsibility, making the support more meaningful and effective. Additionally, such partnerships help create a network of allies who are invested in the success of our initiatives, ensuring that our work is better supported and integrated into larger, broader systems of change. By aligning with institutions that share our values, we also enhance our credibility and expand our reach, creating a more robust foundation for our work.
- Balancing In-person and Virtual Engagement: After the pandemic, in-person editatonas and activities have become the preferred choice for our community, offering a sense of connection and engagement that is harder to replicate virtually. However, recognizing that we have a significant number of community members spread across different parts of Spain, it’s essential to maintain and enhance our virtual presence. To make virtual activities more appealing, we need to innovate and create formats that are interactive, dynamic, and inclusive. This could include virtual meetups with more engaging content, better facilitation tools, and even hybrid events that combine the best of both in-person and online experiences. By offering flexibility in how people can participate, we ensure that our community remains connected, no matter their location, and continue to foster a sense of belonging for all members. We want to continue to be pioneers using the Growth Team tools and be able to use the WikiLearn platform as trainers.
- Benefits and Challenges of a Distributed Team: By distributing the equivalent of one full-time position (FTE) across four different team members, we have been able to achieve a greater level of success. The combination of our diverse expertise and backgrounds has brought added value to the project, allowing us to tackle challenges from various angles. However, this approach has not been without its challenges. Coordinating across a smaller budget has meant that we had to find more efficient ways of working together, such as incorporating tools like Slack, Notion, WhatsApp, Google Drive or Zoom and seeing which ones work better for us. More importantly, the division of resources has led to a risk of burnout for team members, as the limited budget hasn’t been able to cover the full number of hours we each individually invest in the work. This situation has not only created a sense of uncertainty and precariousness within the team and has also hindered our ability to grow and scale our efforts as effectively as we would like.
- Communication Channels: With more than 800 subscribers in 2024 and an opening rate around 45% (which is above average), our newsletter has consolidated as the most efficient tool to communicate with our community. It allows our members to be informed and engaged with our initiatives. On the other hand, we have identified that our impact on social networks has reduced, largely due to changes in algorithms and our lack of budget to professionalize our presence. This has made it more challenging to reach new audiences and maintain consistent engagement. Moving forward, we aim to explore cost-effective strategies to reinvigorate our social media presence, while continuing to leverage the success of our newsletter. Finally, we have switched to MailChimp this year which has improved how we manage our database and has allowed us to track better metrics more easily.
While resource limitations (economic and human) remain a challenge, we are optimistic about building on these successes. With strategic planning and focus investment, we are confident that our initiatives will continue to grow in impact and reach in a sustainable way for years to come.
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).
In 2024, Wikiesfera focused on reducing the gender gap on Wikipedia through various activities, including 23 editatonas with 316 participants (95% women, 147 new users) and 11 campaigns with 214 participants (88% women). These initiatives led to 1,204 articles (206 created, 998 translations).
Wikiesfera also structured its activities into four key areas: Gender, Culture, Memory, and Knowledge Equity, to amplify the visibility of marginalized groups. The creation of the "Women’s Memory" Wikiproject in October 2024 further reinforced this commitment.
To develop leadership within the community, the group organized weekly in-person meetings (37 sessions with 255 attendees) and bi-monthly virtual meetings (19 sessions with 126 attendees). These spaces provided continuous learning and mentoring opportunities for new editors.
Wikiesfera created and hosted safe spaces for women and underrepresented groups to edit Wikipedia collaboratively. The group worked closely with experts and institutions, organizing events in 9 cities and inviting 13 specialists to contribute to its edit-a-thons.
To encourage greater participation, Wikiesfera launched asynchronous online campaigns to engage experienced editors and expand its reach within the Spanish-speaking Wikimedia community. This experiment resulted in increased collaboration, with 893 articles published across various themes, including women in STEM, journalism, LGBTQ+ representation, and global feminist history.
Wikiesfera strengthened alliances within the Wikimedia movement by collaborating with 11 Wikimedia affiliates and projects, including Wikimedia Portugal, Wikimedia LGBT+, Viquidones UPF, and Art+Feminism. The group participated in major Wikimedia events, such as Wikimania 2024 (where they presented the Wikiproject Circus) and WikiWomen Summit (where Patricia Horrillo was a keynote speaker).
Wikiesfera expanded its institutional collaborations, partnering with 49 organizations, including two Spanish ministries. Notably, the group signed agreements with:
- The Ministry of Culture, to create Wikipedia content about women researchers in State Archives.
- Medialab Matadero to organize editatonas in their public cultural space.
Additionally, Wikiesfera worked with various universities, cultural institutions, and media organizations, increasing its public visibility with 52 media appearances in outlets like The Guardian and El País.
The group’s achievements were recognized with a Lovie Special Achievement Award, highlighting its exceptional impact on digital knowledge representation in Europe.
Links
[edit]- [1] (covers from September 2023 to July 2024)
- [2] (includes all 2024 activities)
- [3]
- [4]
- 2024 Activity and Financial reports (reports presented at the General Assembly and approved by the Consejo de Sabias on January 27 2025)
- 2024 Community Survey results and analysis
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)
Yes, we are very interested in sharing our achievements and learnings from 2024 with the wider community through peer learning programs like Let’s Connect and Diff.
Our work on projects such as the Memory of Women and collaborations with governmental and cultural institutions has generated valuable insights on fostering inclusivity, addressing systemic bias, and engaging underrepresented groups in the Wikimedia movement. We believe these experiences could be beneficial for other affiliates and communities looking to implement similar initiatives.
We are particularly interested in:
- Continue to participate in Let’s Connect sessions to share our feminist methodology and learn from others’ approaches to community building.
- Continue to publish articles on Diff to document our processes, challenges, and outcomes, offering actionable takeaways for the broader movement.
- Keep presenting our achievements and share our experiences in any community events we are able to attend.
We see these platforms as vital for fostering global collaboration and amplifying shared impact.
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.
Each year, we send our community a comprehensive survey which measures community health, and where they can propose topics and ideas for future activities. We use the results of this survey to improve.
What follows is a summary of key results and a link to the analysis (in Spanish):
Overall Participation and Experience
- Total responses: 37 (up from 27 in 2023)
- Participation rate: 94.6% attended at least one editatona, campaign, or session.
- General experience rating:'4.94/5'.
- Event organization:'4.94/5'.
- Training quality:'4.72/5'.
- Expert speakers:'4.87/5'.
- Newsletter:'4.51/5'.
- Overall satisfaction with Wikiesfera in 2024:'4.78/5'.
Key Insights by Category
> Editatonas
- Highly rated for organization and structure.
- Participants appreciated the passion and effort behind them.
- Some requested more flexible scheduling to accommodate different time zones and responsibilities.
> Campaigns
- Recognized as impactful in raising awareness and encouraging participation.
- Asynchronous activities were especially valued for allowing flexible engagement.
> Life work balance & Accessibility
- Some respondents found it difficult to attend due to work or family responsibilities.
- Suggested improvements include offering events in the morning or expanding time slots.
> Newsletter
- Well received but rated slightly lower than other aspects.
- Suggestions include maintaining clear, relevant, and engaging content.
Highlighted Suggestions
- More flexible event scheduling, including morning and evening sessions.
- Keep asynchronous campaigns to ensure broader participation.
- Ensure the newsletter remains engaging and useful.
- Address accessibility concerns by considering participants with caregiving responsibilities.
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, LGBTQ+ groups, speakers of minority languages
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women, LGBTQ+ groups, underrepresented geographical regions (ESEAP, LATAM, SSA, MENA, SA)
- 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)
- Avoiding Competition. We know that lack of time is a frequent burden for our community (mainly women), so we make sure to not add additional burdens to their daily life by asking them to fulfill any specific goals. Each contribution is welcome, and it does not matter if it is just a minor change or the creation of a new article.
- Creating Safe and Healthy Collaborative Spaces. We ensure that all our activities are safe for our community, so they are ruled by the Universal Code of Conduct, the Friendly Space Policies and we intend to develop a Code of Coexistance. Also, we promote some informal spaces for socialization, like dinners.
- Building a Feminist Community. We frame Wikipedia editing as not only a technical skill but a tool for social justice. This helps participants see their contributions as part of a broader movement to reshape the representation of women and marginalized groups in knowledge spaces.
- Increase our Community's Participation in the Wikimedia Movement. We offered 4 scholarships to attend Wikimania 2024. We use our newsletter and social networks to inform our community about Wikimedia events and the scholarships opportunities. We also support our community in the application process, providing orientation on how to fill the forms.
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):
Other
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 400 | 925 | This figure includes participants in our in-person and virtual sessions, editatonas, campaigns and event experts. It does not include attendants to presentations or workshops (like our Wikimania or Let’s Connect sessions).
> To get metrics we use Eventmetrics and PE Dashboard [5] > On top of that, we use spreadsheets to manually track the main metrics of contributions and participants in our activities, since none of the tools are 100% reliable nor offer the metrics we want to track. In 2024 we ran thematic campaigns, a new type of editing activity that was very well received by our community. Monthly, in these campaigns, we define a topic (in line with our strategy and framework of activity) and curate a worklist of articles that participants have 2-3 weeks to translate. Thanks to this new model, we increased the participation and engagement of our community, especially among those who usually do not have the opportunity to attend our live activities (in-person or virtual). Also, thanks to the grant received, we were able to get involved in some international campaigns, whose participants were NOT added to our total amount, but we would like to mention here: > ¡Alto! Mujeres haciendo historia [6]: 404 participants > Orgullo LGBT [7]: 225 participants |
| Number of all editors | 110 | 530 | This is an estimate, given that we do not have the resources to track users either manually or automatically for up to a month after they first started editing. |
| Number of new editors | 40 | 150 | |
| Number of retained editors | 20 | 30 | |
| Number of all organizers | 6 | 6 | We got a new organizer in Madrid and another one in Galicia. |
| Number of new organizers | 1 | 2 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 500 | 1000 | 1300 | 3300 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 100 | 30 | 1000 | |
| Wikidata | 50 | 100 | 660 | 5400 |
| 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): Yes
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.
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).
Our affiliate leadership is all-women, with several LGBT people. They combine decades of experience with both small and global NGOs. We have begun discussions about succession planning in order to be prepared for the future, and currently are in the process of systematizing documentation so we can preserve institutional memory if needed.
We did not have enough budget to consider undergoing any skill development in our core team, but it is something in our radar. We would like to be able to invest in this in the future, especially in regards to CRM and how to track constituents, donors, fundraising, participant demographics, communication with individuals, etc. We currently use manual spreadsheets for our data collection and analysis, but we would like to systematize, automate and scale that as much as possible.
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)
Next year we want to reinforce our upwards trend with the media by focusing on communication. We intend to develop a communications strategy for our organization, so we can tackle the increasing media attention and be able to guide it and push forward our messaging in a coordinated manner. In order to do this we will review our existing media channels and contacts, create targeted media packages, and unify messaging, anticipating as many situations as possible where our voice could be important and needed. We aim to increase our reach and influence.
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).
In regards to governance, we continue to focus on the well-being of our existing community. Our policies and decision-making structures are designed to be women-supportive and women-friendly. In addition to our friendly space policy and promoting the Universal Code of Conduct, we intent to create a policy for our regular in-person gatherings so we may have the tools to deal with any friction or conflict that may arise. Our Consejo de Sabias (Wise Women Council) continues to review, propose and guide the organization. Twice per year, it receives the financial and activities reports, and considers them for approval. Once per year, the core team spends several days drafting the strategy for the upcoming year, and presents it first to the Consejo de Sabias and later at the general assembly, where it is reviewed and considered for approval. The Consejo de Sabias is comprised of a dozen established women editors in good standing, who lend their time and energy to guiding the growth of the organization. Minutes are taken at each meeting, recording all proposals and decisions made and approved, and are available internally.
In regards to the funding, the quantity received was lower than requested, which has limited our ability to develop and coordinate the team effectively. For instance, we were unable to cover the costs of essential tools such as Notion and Slack subscriptions or even secure a physical space for occasional meetings. Additionally, the entire team has contributed a significant number of unpaid volunteer hours, meaning their efforts have not been fully compensated. Therefore, while the 2024 metrics have been achieved thanks to the WMF grant, they are also the result of voluntary work. This level of unpaid involvement increases the risk of burnout and poses a threat to the project's medium- and long-term sustainability. In 2025, we aim to address this issue by ensuring a better balance to avoid overburdening the team and mitigating burnout risks.
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 (EUR) | Amount spent (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel costs | 58000 | 58080 |
| Operational costs | 5000 | 6918 |
| Programmatic costs | 7000 | 2908 |
| Total General Support Fund | 70000 | 67921.58 |
| Other revenue | 2212 | 2212 |
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | 2093 |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
67921.58 EUR
16. Please provide an overview of the amount spent from this fund in the following budget categories in your local currency. (required)
- Operational costs: 6918 EUR
- Programmatic costs: 58080 EUR
- Staff and contractor costs: 2908 EUR
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): 2212 EUR
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 2212 EUR
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)
Since Wikiesfera was granted almost 25% less than requested in the grant application, we needed to reconfigure our budget, sacrificing some items and reducing others while we define a realistic scenario in our annual plan according to our financial situation.
In our initial proposal, we projected to receive 3,000€ from Medialab-Matadero to develop activities aligned with our scope. However, no agreement was reached until December 2024.
- Meeting room for weekly meetings: we were able to negotiate a better rate for 2024 than initially estimated.
- Administrative cost: we were able to negotiate a better rate for 2024 than initially estimated.
- Team: 1FTE
- Taxes: 21% VAT
But this required to cut or dramatically reduce other items:
- Communications. Our initial plan was to externalize part of the communications efforts, but due the budget cut, we needed to assume this task internally.
- Activity Gifts. We wanted to give a book to each participant in our activities. Due to our reduced budget, we were only able to do it in a couple of activities.
- Paying Experts. We usually invite women experts in the topic of the activity to give context. We negotiated with the collaboration institutions for them to pay them directly.
- Travels and Logistics. Some of our activities were developed in places other than Madrid. We managed to negotiate with the collaborating institutions for them to cover the cost of train tickets or hotels when needed.
- Attendance at Community Events.
We also managed to obtain new income, such as:
- To update our website, we used funds provided by the Spanish government (2,000€), as we projected in our proposal.
- We also applied to the micro-funding promoted by Art+Feminism (250$) to partially cover the cost of the books we offered as a gift to the participants in our Women’s Artworks editatona.
- During 2024, we worked to establish new alliances with potential funders. Thanks to that, we have signed a minor agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge to develop a project related to Gender and Climate Change in 2025. We will include this project in our 2025 financial report.
19. Do you have any unspent funds from this funding?: Yes
- 19.1. Please list the amount of unspent funds in your local currency. (required)
- 2093
- 19.2. Explain why you did not use the amount. (required)
- The underspent amount in 2024 was 2.093,40€, equivalent to less than 3% of the budget. This amount was set aside to cover unforeseen expenses, such as taxes or bank charges. We will allocate this amount to our 2025 budget.
- 19.3. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
- A. Propose to use the underspent funds within this Fund period with PO approval
- 19.4. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
- This amount will be set aside to cover unforeseen expenses, such as taxes or bank charges.
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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