Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in Serbia (ID: 23065302)
This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the web service of Wikimedia Foundation Funds where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.
Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
MikyM
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
Wiki Loves Monuments 2025 in Serbia
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-06-30 - 2025-10-31
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
Serbia
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Wiki Loves Monuments
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photography competition focused on documenting and freely sharing images of protected cultural heritage sites, organized by the global Wikimedia community. In Serbia, the contest has been organized seven times so far: three times by the local Wikimedia chapter, once by an independent external organization, and three times by a group of individual Wikipedia editors.
In 2024, the competition achieved historic results in Serbia, breaking three national records in its seven-year history. A total of 4,035 photos were submitted, surpassing the previous record of 3,756 set in 2012—over a decade ago. More than 40 high-quality images were received in just the first 20 days of the contest. The project website also saw record traffic in October, with over 1.8 million page hits and more than 60,000 visits. These results were accompanied by a high usage rate of images on Wikimedia platforms (over 12%). In terms of article coverage, all officially listed monuments now have a corresponding article on Wikipedia, but many of these require updating and expansion, while newly listed monuments still need to be covered—this is the primary goal of the editorial component of the project.
Our long-term objective is to make Serbia’s cultural heritage more visible and accessible to a wider community of photography enthusiasts, and to encourage their active involvement in documenting and preserving cultural heritage through the free sharing of knowledge and visual materials. We will continue to organize photo tours with a focus on monuments that lack photographs or whose images are outdated. These tours also serve as a tool for community development, capacity building, and volunteer engagement.
One of the ongoing challenges is community sustainability and attracting new contributors. Therefore, this project offers multiple entry points for involvement—from photography and writing to participating in promotional and educational efforts—making it accessible to different user groups and interest communities.
As part of our innovation strategy, we will further develop our presence on social media—particularly Instagram—which proved to be highly effective in reaching new audiences and maintaining communication with participants. By applying for funding earlier this year, we have gained additional time to design creative campaigns and explore new media approaches. A significant component of our outreach strategy involves retaining and upgrading the project website. Despite some suggestions to shut it down, we strongly believe the website plays a crucial role in the project’s visibility, organization, and communication. It served as a clear, user-friendly hub with highly visited pages and an accessible communication channel—especially via email, which proved more efficient and practical than using Wiki platforms alone. In the upcoming cycle, we plan to expand the site by launching a blog section for sharing project-related stories, news, and updates, as well as creating a dedicated space for tips and resources on taking high-quality monument photographs.
Finally, exhibitions will play a key role in direct engagement with participants, volunteers, and partners. They will serve not only to showcase project results but also to strengthen the community, build partnerships, and promote the importance of cultural heritage documentation. To improve the user experience and enhance the jury workspace, we localized the jury tool. Starting this year, we also plan to provide additional support to the jury in their work — through extra workshops, bringing in new people, strengthening the team, and offering better technical assistance.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
- Review and revise the entire database of existing monuments and compare them with new lists.
- Updating lists and databases and adding new monuments
- Make statistics
- Creating new tutorials and updating a website and entering all relevant information.
- Creating and updating guides and instructions with tips on how to take quality photos and how to upload them.
- Looking for a local GLAM partner.
- Editing and creating templates
- Attracting the community
- Organizing between 3 and 5 photo tours. (making lists and maps, finding sites, organizing tours, etc.)
- Organization of taming during September and monitoring.
- Providing technical support during sending.
- View and select all submitted photos.
- Selection and selection of jury members
- Prepare tools for the jury: Selection of photos for the jury
- Selection of top 10 photos.
- Organizing one or two exhibitions.
- Send a photo to an international selection.
- Creating promotional material.
- Running a PR campaign and cooperating with the media.
- Regularly sending press clippings and running pages on social networks.
- Organization of an edit-a-thon (creation of pages and events, monitoring, providing support, etc.)
- Other ad hoc jobs.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
- MikyM – project manager
- Bebauautu – volunteer, support in organizing. She is architect by profession and longtime Wikipedian, she was the lead organizer of the 2012 project, which achieved outstanding results
- MareBG- Jury-related tasks. Marko is an economist and a Wikipedia administrator on the Serbian-language edition. A photography, history, and sports enthusiast, he has been editing Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects since 2007. He has been participating in the competition for many years.
- Milosh S.- technical support, website, and jury tools
- Adjusn - volunteer
- Ivan25 – volonteer
- Several other community members at the Village Pump expressed their willingness to join the project once specific tasks are defined, and they will get involved at the appropriate time.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
Bearing in mind that this project has several layers and goals, the target groups vary accordingly. For photo collection, the primary target audience includes photography enthusiasts and admirers of cultural heritage. These individuals do not need to be existing Wikimedians—it's enough that they appreciate the idea of Wiki Loves Monuments and are motivated to contribute. They may be professionals or amateurs, coming from various backgrounds and age groups. For the edit-a-thon component, we target both new and existing users of Serbian Wikipedia who are interested in writing and improving content about cultural monuments. This includes both experienced editors and newcomers who will receive support during the event.
For capacity development and movement building, we aim to engage current members of the local community, as well as Wikimedians who are not formally affiliated but have participated in past activities and expressed interest in closer collaboration. Strengthening connections between these individuals is one of the key goals.
In terms of partnerships, our target group is the establishment of a network with local partners from fields that can contribute to the expansion, promotion, and support of our projects.
Before the activities, we will engage participants through multiple channels:
- – by organizing online and in-person info sessions for those unfamiliar with the competition or Wikipedia editing,
- – by publishing visual guides and short tutorials on how to participate,
- – by launching an open call for volunteers and contributors,
- – and by actively promoting the project through our website, mailing lists, social media platforms, and a dedicated blog section that will be introduced this year.
During the competition, we will maintain consistent communication across all platforms. We will run interactive campaigns on social media (especially Instagram), monitor engagement via hashtags, respond to questions promptly, and support participants through email and talk pages. We will also offer guidance during the edit-a-thon, particularly to newcomers, and ensure a welcoming and helpful environment.
After the activities, we will implement several follow-up measures to strengthen relationships with participants:
- – we will conduct a short post-competition survey to gather feedback and identify participants interested in further involvement,
- – we will invite them to other Wikimedia projects such as Wiki Loves Earth or local edit-a-thons,
- – we will publicly thank and highlight contributions through our website and social media,
- – and we will invite the most active contributors to share their experience through blog posts or short interviews as a way to recognize their efforts and inspire others.
This multi-tiered approach is designed not only to ensure strong participation but also to build long-term engagement and community resilience.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
The idea has been shared with the previous organizing team. Additionally, the local Wiki community has been informed via the mailing list, and the idea has been shared on the Wikipedia Village Pump. The local Wikimedia organization has also been informed. The idea has been well received from all sides, and people who are interested in actively participating in the implementation are gradually coming forward. We also launched a survey on social networks where we received the support of followers and previous participants. We also informed the local chapter about the project.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Not applicable
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
- Can the continuity of the project be maintained despite challenges?
- How does the use of new technologies and social networks affect the project?
- What is the interest of the community for future participation?
- How can we sustain long-term engagement and support for the volunteer base?
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
---|---|---|
Number of participants | 80 | Number of participants in photo competition and edit-a-thon |
Number of editors | 15 | |
Number of organizers | 5 |
Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
---|---|
Wikipedia | |
Wikimedia Commons | |
Wikidata | |
Wiktionary | |
Wikisource | |
Wikimedia Incubator | |
Translatewiki | |
MediaWiki | |
Wikiquote | |
Wikivoyage | |
Wikibooks | |
Wikiversity | |
Wikinews | |
Wikispecies | |
Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
N/A
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
Yes
Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
---|---|---|
Number of used photos | % of images used in the time of report | 10 |
Number of photo tours | N/A | 3 |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
Last years, we worked on localizing the Wiki-Loves-Jurytool, which proved to be very effective and user-friendly. The plan is to continue using this tool, as its interface has been translated into Serbian, creating a smoother working environment for the jury. Additionally, we will utilize other tools such as GLAMours for category monitoring and tracking image usage.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D1SPTaQE4AZcm9FeJUEqSLxFsQUBqgspzPJlUXMgOkc/edit?usp=sharing
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
4440 EUR
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
4889 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).