Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wikimedians of Los Angeles Event Funding (ID: 22989175)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
We conducted three events using this funding: an edit-a-thon in Pasadena and the annual Los Angeles and San Diego Wiknics. At the Pasadena edit-a-thon we successfully continued our series of edit-a-thons relating to January's devastating Southern California wildfires by one in the area affected by a different wildfire. Over a dozen editors attended, about half new and half returning, and made 27 total edits and uploading 5 images to commons. The Wiknics were very well attended with a large number of returning editors and curious newcomers. Over a dozen attended the San Diego Wiknic and over twenty-five at the LA event. This number included returning editors grateful for a chance to meet other Wikimedians, new editors still learning, and the interested public curious in what the movement is all about. This funding allowed us to provide refreshments at these events making them more enjoyable and memorable.
The most effective tool for us was banner notifications on the homepage. People consistently said they were drawn to our events by seeing the banner at the top of Wikipedia. Signs/banners at the Wiknic site also helped draw in new people, with several participants at both events being interested bystanders.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
We put on three events with the funding from this grant, one edit-a-thon and two Wiknics. Our first event on 26 April was the Pasadena Heritage Wildfire edit-a-thon. In January of 2025 Wildfires ravaged Southern California damaging huge areas of Los Angeles and surrounding cities. In response WikiLA organized several edit-a-thons in areas most directly impacted. The first two (conducted before receiving this grant) occurred on the west side near the Palisades fire. For several months we had reached out to various civic/historical associations on the east side to address the Eaton Fire that took place in the area. After discussion with several groups, we set up an event with Pasadena Heritage at their historic Blinn House event space. Prior to the event, a worklist of potential articles to edit/create was compiled and added to the event page. Over a dozen participants, drawn from both WikiLA and Pasadena Heritage advertising, attended the event. Editors focused primarily on articles related to the Eaton Fire. Participants also took part in a tour of the venue, a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places. In all 2 articles were created, 27 total edits were made and 5 images were uploaded to commons. On 28 June we hosted the 10th edition of the Los Angeles Wiknic in Pan Pacific Park. This potluck picnic event open to the public saw approximately 25 people attend, share their love of Wiki, and make new friends. Several editors from January/April events attended again. On 16 August we hosted the San Diego Wiknic on Vacation Isle in Mission Bay. Another potluck, this event drew new and returning editors to the beach. As the sun went down we hosted a bonfire and observed fireworks at SeaWorld across the bay.
The Wiknics are the primary social event of the year for both user groups. Both Wiknics also saw significant interest from passerby - for many it was their first time meeting a Wikimedian and it gave us an opportunity to explain what we do and why. All events were advertised through WikiLA and San Diego Wikimedians channels as well as posting of central notice advertisements to Wiki users in southern California.
See the links below for the original event pages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/LA/Wildfire_Edit-a-thon_at_Pasadena_Heritage / https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/WikiLA/LA_Wildfires_Pasadena_Heritage_Edit-a-Thon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/LA/Wiknic_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Diego/August_2025_Wiknic
Our discord is also active and can be accessed here: https://discord.gg/W353dCHagc
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Slides from the Pasadena edit-a-thon are at the commons link below.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Welcome_to_Wiki_-_Wildfires.pdf
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: We hope to learn more ways to strengthen community connections to sustain editor engagement. Our primary objectives at WikiLA are increasing the number of editors, increasing existing editors' sense of community, and serving as the LA area's Wikipedia resource.
Some questions we’ll explore include: Editor growth: What strategies are most effective in recruiting and retaining new editors? How can we best help new editors get comfortable with their first edits at edit-a-thons so that they will continue to edit? Community: How can we build a stronger sense of community among editors in the greater Los Angeles area? How do in-person events impact contribution levels? GLAM: How can we best work with cultural and academic institutions and create mutually beneficial events? How can we best help editors translate these opportunities to on-wiki contributions? We'll continue to explore holding edit-a-thons on recent events, and holding events at cultural and academic institutions, and learn what we can do to best serve our commitments to editor growth. As we gather feedback and analyze participation, we’ll refine our event strategies and improve our introductory guide to editing to better support new and returning editors.
Q: What strategies are most effective in recruiting and retaining new editors? A: Remaining approachable and having frequent events is a winning strategy. Participants often tell us they wanted to go to a previous event but had other plans, a new date gives them that opportunity. Similarly, several participants at our events have started editing more due to frequent attendance. Giving people new events continues building confidence and community is critical to build the editor base. Similarly, having methods of communication outside of the edit-a-thon like our instagram and Discord allows editors to stay connected as well as reach out to those who like to be involved but are not interested/able to attend physical events.
Q: How can we best help new editors get comfortable with their first edits at edit-a-thons so that they will continue to edit? A: Significant one-on-one work helps build confidence. People usually come in with a variety of preconceived notions about editing (both positive and negative) and are generally somewhat nervous about starting. Answering their questions and guiding them through the process allows them to begin editing and understanding the process better. A place to start is also helpful as new editors often ask "Where do I start?" By compiling a list in advance of articles that need help, new editors can get an idea of what to work on without having to start from scratch.
Q:How can we build a stronger sense of community among editors in the greater Los Angeles area? How do in-person events impact contribution levels? See the answers above. More events and online accessibility is critical. In-person events draw people in and make Wikipedia more "real" and personal than just being a website. It also allows them to ask questions and overcome uncertainty in starting to become an editor.
Q: How can we best work with cultural and academic institutions and create mutually beneficial events? How can we best help editors translate these opportunities to on-wiki contributions? A: Community events animate people to attend. The "wildfires" theme was very helpful in getting us attention as the Southern California region at large felt powerless in the wake of such a devastating disaster. This gave us an in and sense of urgency with existing institutions. More work can be done in incorporating staff at these organizations to make it a true collaboration.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
The organizers have been doing events like this for years, so there wasn't much drastically new across our 3 events. What did surprise us was the chord struck with the Wildfire edit-a-thons in general. People really engaged with the topic and saw it as a real way to give back to the community and regain a sense of place and strength after the devastation in the region.
People also really engaged with movement principles (Neutral Point of View, Digital Literacy, Free Information, etc.) to an unexpected degree. These sparked discussion on fundamental issues with the internet today and encouraged further interest in the movement.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We have discussed submitting a retrospective on our Wildfires edit-a-thon series as a conference topic at a future Wikiconference North America or Wikimania. We also attend WALRUS calls and are in touch with numerous other user groups throughout the US.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 50 | 49 | ~12 people attended our Edit-a-thon, ~12 at the San Diego Wikinic, and ~25 at the LA Wikinic. We used the WMF dashboard to track edits at our edit-a-thon. We took a headcount at the Wicnic and referenced that with our on-wiki sign up page. |
| Number of editors | 30 | 43 | We currently have 43 participants in our WikiLA Discord. Most of these individuals came from our events and at least half are regular editors. |
| Number of organizers | 4 | 4 | WikiLA lost an organizer shortly after submitting our funding request which further limited our ability to put on events. We collaborated with existing San Diego Wikimedians efforts/organizers to put on additional events. |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 60 | 2 | 8 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 30 | 5 | 0 |
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | WikiLA Discord Members - important to building community and giving people a place to ask questions and interact with other editors. | |||
| 42 | Number of followers of @socalwikipedians on instagram. | |||
| 452 | Number of members in the Wikipedia Los Angeles Facebook group. Most of these are inactive members. | |||
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
Yes
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
It can be difficult with limited staff to cater to both new and returning editors. Newer editors need a lot more help in the basics and frequently need help from someone experienced. This occupies returning editor event staff time, leaving less time to do edits of their own. This ultimately results in fewer edits at the event.
Putting on more frequent events was also a challenge. We would love to put on more events but limited organizer time and availability means we can't do them as often as we'd like. This impacts the community we are trying to build as potential members have fewer opportunities to interact and get more involved.
The on-wiki sign up process was also confusing to new editors. Frequently people would mention the banner bringing them to the event page and in the same breath mention issues/uncertainty on if they actually signed up or not. For experienced editors this process is trivial, but not so for brand new ones. Differences between the visual and source editor also confuse new editors.
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
473.37
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
473.37
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Upload the financial report
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
We went slightly over our budget for the LA Wikinic ($25) and significantly under for our other events. We did not have as many events as expected so the majority of funding went unused.
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
Yes
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
USD2026.63 unspent
Several events did not occur in the timeline we expected. We had planned for more events, but losing an organizer and personal matters prevented us from doing more.
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
C. I am planning to send them back to the WMF
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. 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
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)