Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Community Ireland Annual Grant 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.
The first risk identified on the application for this grant period was knowledge loss. To address this, we initiated a comprehensive review and reorganisation of our archives to facilitate the implementation of a shared document repository. This allows for documentation to be accessible by staff and volunteers. The repository is located in Google Drive, with sensitive documents only accessible to certain group members. The reorganisation allowed us to identify gaps in information and prompted action to fill them.
An ongoing risk for the group since its inception is our small volunteer base. As we have pointed out in previous grant applications, due to Ireland's small geographic context, remote location, and average household income in the region, the pool of engaged Wikimedia contributors is relatively small, even for a small country. We have attempted to address this through targeted outreach, especially in untapped areas such as the Irish language. During this grant period, we have seen an increase in allies among secondary schools, third-level institutes, and GLAMs, which has been focused by our work with the Wiki Women project. The hosting of the Celtic Knot Language conference in late 2024 has brought partners to our attention and has directly led to 3 new projects and several other standalone events. Though we have seen growth in our ally base, the growth of our volunteer user base has remained stagnant. We are taking steps to address that during the next granting period. The MLIS internship programme that we have established in conjunction with UCD is also a way to increase student involvement.
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)
Now that the new document repository is in place, our focus is now on continuing to document our activities and creating templates for future use. This will make reporting a less onerous task and allow us more time to implement our program.
We will continue to collaborate with our current allies and to foster new relationships. Our plan is to implement a new volunteer outreach plan by the end of the next grant year.
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).
Our outreach during the past grant year has focused mainly on two groups: educational and Irish language contributors. Due to the size and composition of the island of Ireland, recruiting volunteer contributors has always been a challenge. Our focus on educational groups allows us to grow our education outreach and recruit users through these organisations. We held seven events with educational groups with a total of 120 participants, 108 of these participants were new to Wikimedia. We also hosted the Celtic Knot Conference in 2024 with 137 attendees. From these events, we assisted participants in organising several other programs, including an exchange with Wikimedia Italy in April 2025, our Rising Voices outreach in July 2025 and the Wiki Muir Project which will take place during the 2025-26 granting period.
Outreach into the Irish language community resulted in an Irish Language Wiki Camp held in June 2024. We had seven secondary students participate in the 2-week camp. They learned about Wikimedia, how to edit Wikipedia/Vicipeid and upload images to Commons. The camp combined digital skills with creative, language-based activities to support fluency, confidence, and collaboration through Irish. Participants researched topics of interest, created and published articles on Vicipéid, and took part in group games and photo walks.
Each month, we host an online Meitheal or community editing event in English and Irish to improve content related to a different theme. Then at our Community meetings, we can celebrate how much we accomplished together, share any challenges or new snippets of knowledge we came across while editing! We will also be able to help each other out and share skills. This allows us to be in contact with English and Irish editors in Ireland and provide them with a safe place to interact with the Wikimedia Community.
We’ve had several collaborations with Wiki Affiliates over the last granting period.
- We completed the Wiki Women Erasmus+ Project partnership with Basque Wikimedians User Group and other partners with the launching of the project at the Celtic Knot Conference held in Waterford in September 2024 and our final student visit held in Leeuwarden in December 2024. We also received feedback from some of our participants at the Celtic Knot Conference.
- We partnered with the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group as part of Africa Day celebrations by holding a talk in Waterford with Khadija Iddrisu.
- Our Irish Language officer travelled to Bari, Italy for an exchange in relation to an Irish-Italian translation project run by Wikimedia Italy.
- We applied for an Erasmus+ Project on Climate change with partners from Wikimedia Community User Group Greece,Wikimedia Portugal, and Basque Wikimedians User Group. We will hear about this funding in the coming months
- We took part in the Rising Voices Intiative for digital activism with other minortiy language Wikimedia Affiliate Groups includingthe Dagbani Wikimedians User Group, the Igbo Wikimedians User Group, the Community of Angika Wikimedians and the Yogyakarta Wikimedia Community.
- We also continue to collaborate with Wikimedia UK for Wiki Loves Earth and planning the upcoming Celtic Knot Celebration day.
We continued working with our established allies in the GLAM and Education sphere while initiating projects with new allies.
- We continued our long partnership with University College Dublin (UCD) by assisting with a module on editing of Wikipedia In October 2024
- We again participated in the Translation Bureau Project with Dublin City University and a module in the Public History MA with University of Limerick (UL). These projects were reported on in our November 2024 newsletter.
- We started a new collaboration with the University of Maynooth with a presentation on Digital Critical Skills. This was reported in our November 2024 newsletter.
- We also started a new collaboration with the University of Galway where we gave a guest lecture for Media for Social Change, to a group of MA students. This is reported in ourJanuary newsletter.
- Our Irish Language Officer spoke at University of Galway in February 2025 about the scientific research behind WIkipedia and how the projects are contributing to STEM through the medium of the Irish language. This was reported in the March 2025 newsletter.
- We held a workshop at the annual Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) conference in March 2025.
- We continued our collaboration with the Hunt Museum in March 2025 by beginning a collaboration under the Art+Feminism banner. This collaboration which involves secondary school students, will culminate with an online exhibition being launched on International Women's Day 2026
- We hosted an additional Art+Feminism event at the National Gallery in April and another event at Trinity College Dublin in March. The event at Trinity was co-hosted with our Wikimedian in Residence who was visiting from Wikimedia Japan.
- Waterford and South Tipperary Community Youth Services hosted our first Irish Language Wiki Camp in June 2024.
We also developed relationships with new allies outside of GLAMs and Education.
- We partnered with Ulster Wildlife during our Wiki Loves Earth competition in 2025.
- We held a workshop for Pride of the Déise at the Waterford Central Library in June 2025.
- We also commissioned an artist who we connected with through Celtic Knot to create graphics that are openly accessible on Wikimedia Commons for Wiki Loves Folkore. You can read about this collaboration here.
Additional Documentation of our activities
Metrics Spreadsheet-uploaded
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)
We are always happy to share our work with the Wikimedia community
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 hold monthly meetings with the community that anyone can attend. This allows the community to get information about our projects and interact with staff and other volunteers. Minutes are hosted on Meta from the 2024 meetings and 2025 meetings.
We requested feedback from the Vicipeid community through a survey that was distributed in February 2025. The results from this survey will be published during the 2025-26 grant period.
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, neurodiverse people, LGBTQ+ groups, young people, speakers of minority languages
- 6.2 Develop content about the following underrepresented topics or groups of people: women, neurodiverse people, LGBTQ+ groups, speakers of minority languages
- 6.3 Support the retention of: Editors, Organizers, Partnerships, Wikimedians in Residence positions
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)
During this grant period our events targeted secondary school students, Irish speakers, and LGBTQ groups.
We engaged with secondary school students and Irish speakers through promotion of the Wiki Women Toolkits at events such as the CESI Conference, The Celtic Knot Conference, and the annual Irish Language Festival.
We engaged with LGBTQ groups through our Wiki Pride and Queering Wikipedia initiatives.
We encouraged the development of content around the topics of Wiki Pride, Queering Wikipedia, and Irish Language on English Wikipedia, Vicipeid, and Wikimedia Commons through several writing and photo contests. These contests and their results are contained in the uploaded Activity Metrics document.
Contacts made during the Celtic Knot Conference led to several projects and once off events detailed below.
Cultural Exchange with Wikimedia Italy
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, Partners proactive interest
Part 2: Metrics
[edit]| Metrics name | Target | Result | Comments and tools used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of all participants | 380 | 228 | Tools used: Outreach Dashboards and Wiki Loves Competition Tools.
We were slightly low on our participants in Educational Outreach due to one planned course not going ahead. We were also slightly low on some of our photography contests. |
| Number of all editors | N/A | Tools used: Outreach Dashboards and Wiki Loves Competition Tools.
We were slightly low on our new editors in Educational Outreach due to one planned course not going ahead. We were also slightly low on some of our photography contests. | |
| Number of new editors | 252 | 179 | |
| Number of retained editors | N/A | ||
| Number of all organizers | 7 | 6 | |
| Number of new organizers | 7 | 6 |
| Wikimedia project | Target - Number of created pages | Target - Number of improved pages | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 150 | 70 | 50 | 1601 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 1975 | 1926 | 0 | |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Events/Meetings with GLAMs | We plan on holding events/meetings with GLAMs to increase awareness of open licensing and Wikidata for GLAMs by showcasing case studies, both national and international. | 5 | ||
| GLAM Conferences | Attend/present at GLAM oriented conferences | 3 | ||
| Irish Language Conferences | Attend/present at Irish Language Conferences | 3 | ||
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).
As a community, we have always been mostly women led. Our 3 employees are women, our Chair and one of the vice-chairs are women, and most of our active community volunteers are women. We will continue to promote this and actively encourage women to join the community.
Shannon Eichelberger, Volunteer Chair and Administrative Assistant, is a founding member of the community. She has a background in education and history and experience as an accredited Wikimedia trainer. She has managed the Programme Manager since the inception of the role in 2017. As the Administrative Assistant, she maintains the community's financial records, interacting with the payroll provider and accountants.
Sophie Fitzpatrick, Programme Manager, has a background in project management, communications, and Human Rights Law She possesses strong organizational and communication skills. She manages the Irish Language Officer. She is the direct contact of most of our Allies and educational partners.
Amy O'Riordan, Irish Language Officer, brings expertise in language promotion and community engagement. She interacts directly with the Irish Language Community in Ireland, promoting the use and dissemination of the Irish Language.
Eugene Eichelberger, Deputy Chair, is a technical programme manager, who brings extensive experience in digital literacy training, online safety, copyright, and community engagement. He is an accredited Wikimedia trainer and heads the volunteer outreach programme for the Community.
Shannon,Eugene and Sophie are accredited Wikimedia Trainers through a programme run by Wikimedia UK. Amy is currently in the process of completing this training.
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)
Once capacity that we need to develop is an internal governance structure including a plan to navigate potential community conflicts. We have recently voted on and passed our new Strategic Plan 2025-2030. Now that the Strategic Plan is in place, we will focus on refining and strengthening our organisation structure to make it more resilient and inclusive. Our current community structure can be found on our Meta page. We plan on restructuring our organisational leadership by instituting a Board that will oversee our work. Once the Board is in place, we will put into place conflict resolution procedures.
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).
Our affiliate information, including leadership and membership roles is located on our Meta Page. This page also includes links to the monthly meeting minutes, Our Safe Space Policy, contact information, and links to our Strategic Plan, Current Projects, Grants, and Reports. We are working on organisational structure to include a Board and conflict resolution procedures.
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 | 102075 | 95194.19 |
| Operational costs | 5500 | 3030.76 |
| Programmatic costs | 26115 | 17295.05 |
| Total General Support Fund | 120789.73 | 116016.36 |
| Other revenue | 141960 | 128971 |
| Remaining funds from General Support Fund | 5803 |
15. Please state the total amount spent from this fund in your local currency. (required)
116016.36 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: 3030.76 EUR
- Programmatic costs: 95194.19 EUR
- Staff and contractor costs: 17295.05 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): 141960 EUR
- 17.2. Provide the total amount spent from other revenue sources in your local currency. (required): 128971 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)
Due to a miscalculation on the fortnightly payroll amount of the Programme Manager and Irish Language Officer, the staff costs, including Irish taxes, were overspent by 6,397.31. This overspend is balanced by an underspend in most of the other budget categories including Pension Contributions for staff (the government programme was not rolled out), Travel & Accommodation budgets, conference attendance budgets, and the competitions budget.
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)
- 5803
- 19.2. Explain why you did not use the amount. (required)
- As noted above, we had underspends in several categories:
Pension Contributions-this is a government programme that did not go foward as planned Public Libraries Conference-we did not attend this conference Several Photo/Writing Contests-this comes from winners not claiming their prizes Travel & Accommodation-cost was less than anticipated
- 19.3. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
- C. I am planning to send them back to the WMF
- 19.4. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
- N/A
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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