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Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Nederland 2025 (renewal in 2024-25)

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statusUnder review
Wikimedia Nederland 2025
Fluxx IDR-GS-2408-16736
start date2024-01-01
end date2026-12-31
budget (local currency)469328 EUR
amount requested (USD)510445.83 USD [note 1]
grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
funding regionNWE
decision fiscal year2024-25
funding program roundRound 1
organizationVereniging Wikimedia Nederland

Applicant information

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Organization name or Wikimedia Username for individuals. (required)
Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland
Do you have any approved General Support Fund requests? (required)
Yes, I have already applied and received a General Support Fund
You are applying as a(n). (required)
Wikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
Are your group or organization legally registered in your country? (required)
Yes
Do you have a fiscal sponsor?
No
Fiscal organization name.
N/A

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)
Wikimedia Nederland 2025

(Multi-year funding questions skipped)

3. Proposed start date. (required)
2024-01-01
4. Proposed end date. (required)
2026-12-31
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
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
7. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
International (more than one country across continents or regions)
WMNL develops and supports free knowledge projects throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of the European Netherlands, the dependent Caribbean territories Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius, and the independent Caribbean nations Curacao, Aruba and St Maarten, and in all languages spoken within the Kingdom (Dutch, Papiamento and Frysian). Since 2022, we also support activities in Surinam.
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)

Challenges and responses This grant application (2024-2026) builds on the work we started under our current grant (2022-2023). Both fall within the framework of the WMNL Strategy 2022- 2026. .

The multi-year strategy is WMNL's formal response to the Movement Strategy 2030. We identified challenges we face in the Netherlands in the context of the Movement Strategy 2030. WMNL will mainly focus on what (in terms of content) is still missing within Wikimedia projects, and who (which groups) are still missing within the community.

For full information on our work programme and strategies we refer to the Strategy 2022-2025 and the Annual Plan 2024. Detailed information on our plans and budget for 2024 can be found in the Annual Plan.

Goals 2024

  • increase project funding, especially to provide a solid basis for our work in the Dutch Caribbean and Surinam
  • recruit more donors, and raise more revenue from donations
  • recruit volunteers who want to be active in WMNL activities, especially in editor training and mentoring (writing) events - and support these volunteers
  • increase the self-sufficiency of partners and volunteers, via the Knowledge Platform, training courses and knowledge-sharing events
  • reinforce our strategic communication, in support of those plans but especially in support of donor and volunteer recruitment.


Below we highlight some important developments and changes since we submitted our last grant request. Please see our Annual Plan 2024 for more details.

1. Programme Sustainability 1.1 Fundraising through donations Increasing revenue through donations to WMNL remains challenging. We have carried out several pilots, with the help of consultants. This has helped us identify groups most likely to donate to WMNL, but had limited effect in terms of donations actually received as the result of campaigns. Simultaneously, we do see a steady growth from year to year in spontaneous donations to WMNL, so there is a willingness among the public to support our work. Instead of focusing on donation campaigns, we will expand our social media presence all year round to focus more on the direct impact we have on improving and expanding Wikimedia content, especially content that may appeal to target audiences. We will routinely highlight the option to donate in all our communication. In this way, we hope to tap into the apparent willingness of the Dutch population to donate.

1.2 Project funding We have had more success with project funding. For example: our ongoing capacity building programme (the master classes and the knowledge platform) has been externally funded. Because of long term illness and vacancies in 2022 - 2023 , we were not able to put as much effort into applying for project funding as we had hoped. We are now returning to this ambition.

However, fundraising for large (€150.000+) multiyear grants from e.g. the Postcode Lottery Fund, is not possible for WMNL as this requires CBF registration (official certification as a reliable charitable fundraising organisation in the Netherlands). Because of CBF regulations, WMNL is not eligible for certification because WMF (‘an entity with a similar name’) already raises funds in the Netherlands via the banner.

We are concerned about the effect of repeated coverage in Dutch media concerning the ”wealth of Wikipedia” on our fundraising efforts (and those of WMF), and will try to balance this image through targeted communication.

1.3 Young editors In 2023, we began research into the motivation of young people to become active as editors and as WMNL volunteers, and are learning a lot about their needs and ideas. In ‘24-’25 we will start experimenting with activities (e.g. focussing on digital culture, games, fashion) and ways of contributing (data&images rather than text) that appeal to younger people.

1.4 Supporting editors To reduce our carbon footprint, we will no longer provide community scholarships for intercontinental travel (e.g. to attend Wikimania). The only exception is if the recipient is giving a presentation at the event. We will continue to support editors through small grants and professional support. We see an increasing demand from the community for assistance in matters like violation of contributor copyright, legal support, and individual skills development. Over the past year, we have helped some (young) editors by introducing them to our partners for small work-experience programmes. We will continue to offer this option.


2. Programme Safety & inclusion Over the past years, WMNL became the first affiliate to fully implement the Universal Code of Conduct in all its operations. We are sharing our experiences with other affiliates via Meta, Learning Clinics and the Executive Directors group and will continue to do so in the coming years.

The survey WMNL carried out in 2022 among the Dutch Wikimedia community shows that it still is not representative of the general population, especially regarding gender (only 12% female) and ethnic background (only 3 %) . Activities to address this are included under Programme Impact more positively. The survey also showed that the LGBTI+ community is not as such underrepresented, and overall indicated an improvement in appreciation of the working climate on NLWP.


3. Program Impact In NLWP, there are gaps concerning content on the Dutch Caribbean, women, and (post-)colonial history. This may be linked to underrepresentation of groups in the editing community.

3.1 Dutch Caribbean + Surinam We have been working on developing a Wikimedia community and partnerships in/concerning the (former) Dutch Caribbean and Surinam, and have substantially invested resources in this. Expanding the Papiamento Wikipedia is an integral part of this. There is enthusiasm on both sides of the Atlantic, but getting this to a sustainable and self-supporting level requires at least one dedicated staff member, and additional resources. Our goal is to appoint a wiki-coordinator, based at one of our partners in the region, who will become the engine of our Dutch Caribbean work, and will become the go-to person for potential partners and volunteers. We have included this in our grant application. Until we can achieve that goal, we will stimulate regional participation in Wiki Loves campaigns as these have proven to be easy-entry activities for partners and newby-editors in different parts of the Dutch Caribbean and Surinam.

In the (European) Netherlands, we will introduce a programme of activities commemorating Keti Koti/Emancipation Day(abolition of slavery) on July 1. This is similar to the activities we organise every year around International Women’s Day as these have proven successful in focussing efforts of editors and partners.  


3.2 Gender/LGBTI+ We have long running partnerships with the institute for gender studies ATRIA and international LGBTI-expertise centre IHLIA. Over the past year, we have invested in making them more self-supporting and increasing their sense of ownership of the events organised. This has re-energised both the partnership and the events. WMNL is now focussing its resources on improving content, especially via Wikidata. We will not invest heavily in editor recruitment. Even despite our best efforts over the past 10 years, the number of women editing Wikipedia remains low at 11-12%. Continuing with our current approach and expecting different outcomes is not realistic. One of our plans in 2024-2026 is to investigate what motivates and demotivates female editors and develop a new, more successful, approach. The LGBTI+ community as a group is not underrepresented (although people identifying as female in this group are). We will introduce and support activities around Pride as a focus for our work on LGBTI+ topics.


3.3 Programme Coordinate between stakeholders Our different stakeholders combined request more support than WMNL can offer. In order to support as many (potential) partners as possible, we will focus on capacity building and increasing their self sufficiency. We will continue our Master Classes on working with the Wikimedia projects and expand/update the WIkimedia knowledge platform. There is increasing interest among partners for using Wikidata as a tool in their internal collection and data management. We are going to increase our capacity to provide training and support to (editing) events by helping more volunteers to become trainers/mentors(train trainer-programme), and providing them with adequate tools and (teaching) materials In the future we will ‘only’ organise one major event (such as a WikiCon, Techstorm or international event) per year. Organising such events is a heavy drain on resources, especially staff time, at the cost of other programmes.


Programmes Skills development and leadership & Equity in decision-making

There are no major changes compared to the Strategy 2024-2026.

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 Yes
Community support and engagement Yes
Participation in campaigns and contests Yes
Public policy advocacy No
Other No

Education

9.1.1. Select all your programs and activities for Education. (required)
Editing Wikipedia Training, Translation, Wikidata programs
Other programs and activities if any: N/A
9.1.2. Select all relevant audience groups for Education. (required)
Vocational, tertiary, or higher education
Other groups if any: N/A

Culture, heritage or GLAM

9.2. Select all your programs and activities for Culture, heritage or GLAM. (required)
Introducing new approaches to underrepresented culture and heritage, e.g. decolonising or reparative work; oral and visual knowledge; outreach to communities of origin, indigenous and first nations self-determination, 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, Partnering with institutions, professional associations, and allied organizations to raise awareness of open culture, ethical sharing, and related issues
Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Gender and diversity

9.3. Select all your programs and activities for Gender and diversity.
Bringing in women and/or gender diverse participants and editors, Focusing on creating content about women and/or gender diverse groups, including biographies, intersectional topic areas and/or adding images, Focusing on creating content about marginalized (underrepresented) communities and their knowledge, Focusing on knowledge equity by bringing in contributors from underrepresented communities, Fomenting female leadership within the movement (either staff, members or boards)
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.
On-wiki training of community members, Off-wiki training of community members, Organizing meetups, conferences, and community events, Supporting community members' participation in events and conferences, Offering microgrants and other financial support to community members , Offering non financial support and services to community members (equipment, space, books, etc.)
Other programs and activities if any: N/A

Participation in campaigns and contests

9.5. Select all campaigns that apply. (required)
Wiki Loves Folklore, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wikipedia Birthday or Anniversary
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)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DgpFhnIdncLsZDao7lGYQoAyi6qqto81n6EbLO_MNXM/edit
11. Describe your team. (required)

Wikimedia Nederland has a staff of 4 fte, which is insufficient to fully meet the current demand for our help and services, especially if we want to make full use of current opportunities for knowledge equity and inclusion of previously underrepresented groups. We hope to expand the staff to at least 5 fte and have included this in our budget 2024 and in this grant application.


Team: Sandra Rientjes - 1 fte - Executive Director - User:SRientjes Michelle van Lanschot - 0,8 fte - project coordinator - User:MichellevL (WMNL) Thamara Groenleer - 0,7 fte - project coordinator User: ThamaraGroenleer Germien Cox - 0,5 fte - communications User:Germien Cox Kirsten Jansen - 1 fte - office management and event organiser User:JansenKirsten


Ultimate responsibility for the implementation of the annual plan and multi-annual plan lies with the Board of WNML: Lizzy Jongma -open knowledge/cultural partnerships- user:LizzyJongma Bart Nieuwenhuis - treasurer Heleen Ririassa - marketing and communication Marike van Roon - open knowledge/cultural partnerships. User::Marikevanroon20 Migiza Victoriashoop - communications/Dutch Caribbean programme Jan-Bart de Vreede - chair - user:JanBart Michel Wesseling - user:Michelgwesseling - secretary&donors and sponsoring

For the implementation of activities, WMNL works with a group of 35 Wikimedians who act as volunteer organisers, trainers, coaches and technical advisors. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation we cannot share their (user)names.

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)

WMNL has ongoing partnerships with 35 GLAM institutions and heritage organisations, and 6 colleges/universities in the EU Netherlands, the (former) Dutch Caribbean and Surinam. Every year, approximately 30 different partners participate in activities.

The partnerships are focused on content donations (to Commons, WikiData or WikiSource) or adding/improving content, mainly on the Dutch, English or Papiamento language versions of Wikipedia. Increasingly, partners are also interested in integrating Wikimedia projects (especially Wikidata and Commons) in their own knowledge or collection management processes and systems. We also cooperate with organisations active in the field of open knowledge and digital rights.

WMNL provides technical and logistical support to partners free of charge. The partners contribute to WMNL activities ‘in kind’, e.g. by providing expertise, venues for events and access to their communications channels.

One of our priorities in the coming years is to make the partners self-supporting through capacity building and tool development. Over the past years, we have organised three (externally funded) series of Share-your-Data (Deel je Data) masterclasses around the themes of colonial heritage, World War II and Holocaust remembrance, and Roman history in the Netherlands. In these masterclasses we teach staff of partners the basics of working with Wikipedia, Commons and WikiData. These masterclasses are successful, and have led to longer running partnerships. We will continue this approach in the coming years.

We have developed (with external funding) a knowledge platform, which provides tools, checklists and ‘how to’ guidance on working with the Wikimedia projects and navigating the Wikimedia environment. We will continue to expand this.

We will prioritise new partnerships that can contribute to knowledge equity, and/or give a substantial contribution to the quality of the Wikimedia projects. In particular, we want to focus on expanding partnerships in the Dutch Caribbean, Aruba, Sint Maarten en Curaçao, and Surinam.

We work with Wikimedia affiliates in Europe and worldwide, especially with affiliates active in countries which share history with the Netherlands such as - most prominently - Wikimedia Indonesia.

We have inlcluded a list of partners we worked with in 2021-2022.

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, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Manage Internal Knowledge, Identify Topics for Impact

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 N/A N/A
Number of new editors N/A
Number of retained editors N/A
Number of all organizers N/A N/A
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 3300
Wikimedia Commons 30000
Wikidata 20000
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions / Abstract Wikipedia
Description for Wikimedia projects contributions metrics. (optional)

We do not distinguish between items created and items improved as we think that there is no difference between impact on the quality of the Wikimediaprojects. (Bad/outdated content can be worse than no content at all)

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 activities Online of offline activities organised in the course of the year 40
newly registered editors Individuals that created an account and made their first edits during/as the result of an activitiy 350
Editor retention Number of newly registered editors that are still active on WIkimedia projects six months after registration. 35
New partnerships Insitutions/organisations participating in a WMNL activity for the first time 5
N/A N/A N/A

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)

Membership fees Donations Project grants

16.2. Approximately how much revenue will you have from other sources in your local currency? (required)
113500
17. Your local currency. (required)
EUR
18. What is the total requested amount in your local currency? (required)
469328 EUR
Requested amount in USD
510445.83 USD [note 1]
  1. a b The following amount in US dollars was calculated by Wikimedia Foundation staff using the fixed currency rates. This amount is approximate and may not reflect the actual currency exchange rates on the day of submission or distribution. If the application is funded, the funding will be sent in the recipient’s local currency.
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.

We plan to include six staff members.
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.

We plan to include 5 fte.

This in 1 fte growth compared to our current grant- for project management and outreach/communication. This is necessary to realise our ambitions, especially concerning underrepresented groups and our work in the Caribbean region and Surinam. Also: WMNL staff has been steady at 4 fte since 2013. Since then, we have to accommodate the expansion of our geographical work area, growing interest among the GLAM and Education sectors, and also a larger demand placed on chapter-staff by WMF for input in international affairs/strategy implementation etc.

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 397500 EUR
Operational costs 42500 EUR
Programmatic costs 29238 EUR
21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1in10eIUvm7hGknDcYMVL6naIaEGno5SAu6jGu9PwYBs/edit#gid=0

Following the decision of the grantcommittee NWE to allocate €411.840 to WMNL for 2024, and not award multiyear funding, we have made some amendments to the budget 2024 in the spreadsheet as requested. We have not made any other changes to our plans, as our ambitions remain the same.


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)

As part of a global movement, Wikimedia Nederland provides an environment in which volunteers and organisations work together to collect and distribute free knowledge worldwide. WMNL sees itself as the broker between the Wikimedia projects, the Wikimedia community and wider society.

The overall challenge facing WMNL is that over the years demand for our support has grown among the community, partners and WMF. Also, in response to the Movement Strategy 2030’s call to focus on underrepresented groups and content, we have expanded our area of operations to include the Dutch speaking territories and nations in the Caribbean.

However, our staff resources have not increased since 2013, remaining steady at 4fte. Also, the increases in operational budget over the years do not fully compensate for inflation and customary annual salary rises. With 40-45 activities per year, involving some 30 different partners, we are now at the maximum of our operational capacity. This level of activity is not sustainable with the current resources: it puts too much pressure on volunteers and staff, which takes much of the fun out of activities.

Part of our resources go to doing essential tasks such as financial administration, governance, reporting, international affairs, fundraising and office management. We also have a permanent programme of activities in place to support volunteers and partners, and to communicate via newsletter, website, social media and press contacts.

Only limited capacity remains for innovation, new partnerships, and follow-up, even though there are ambitions in those areas. Achieving those ambitions requires more capacity, both in the office and among volunteers, and more money. But time was lacking in recent years to properly address fundraising and volunteer recruitment.

We see opportunities, we have ambitions, but are not able to act on these because of lack of resources. This applies in particular to our work on underrepresented groups and knowledge in the Dutch Caribbean. Although we have invested time - and money - in fundraising, the results are not sufficient to cover the costs of one 1 fte extra staff for the coming years. And that is what we really need.

We are aware that the budget for grants to affiliates in NW Europe has not really increased. The 6% growth more or less covers inflation in the region. Still, we made the conscious decision to ask for a 18% increase in our grant compared to 2022-2023. This consists mainly of €50.000 needed to cover the full costs of 1 fte growth. We felt it was important to provide the grant committee with our honest appraisal so that the committee can base its decision on the best information we can provide.


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

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