Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia DC:Sustaining and Growing Chapter Programs and Partnerships in 2023-24

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statusFunded
Wikimedia DC: Sustaining and Growing Chapter Programs and Partnerships in 2023-24
start date2023-07-012023-07-01T00:00:00Z
end date2024-12-312024-12-31T00:00:00Z
budget (local currency)109900 USD
amount requested (USD)109900 USD
amount recommended (USD)146450
grant typeWikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
funding regionNA
decision fiscal year2022-23
funding program roundRound 2
applicant and people related to proposaleconterms; Antony-22 ; Sarasays
organization (if applicable)Wiki Society of Washington DC Inc. dba Wikimedia DC

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Applicant details[edit]

Wikimedia username(s):

econterms; Antony-22 ; Sarasays

Organization:

Wiki Society of Washington DC Inc. dba Wikimedia DC

G. Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?

Applied previously and did receive a grant

H. Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?

No

H.1 Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?

Our chapter, WMDC, has been fiscal sponsor for a grant from the Knight Foundation.

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Additional information[edit]

R. Where will this proposal be implemented?

United States of America

S. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope:

Local

S1. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.

Our primary focus is on serving the chapter’s official region, the mid-Atlantic states of the USA. In practice, we run and support programs and partners across the USA, especially since most events were online. Through our leadership on WikiConference North America, we collaborate with affiliates in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Separately, we have proposed a Movement Strategy research grant to assess the needs around a North America coalition, which could lead to a regional Hub.

T. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has. (optional)

M. Do you have a fiscal sponsor?

No

M1. Fiscal organization name.

N/A

Proposal[edit]

1. What is the overall vision of your organization and how does this proposal contribute to this? How does this proposal connect to past work and learning?

The vision of Wikimedia District of Columbia (WMDC) is to grow, sustain, and support the work of the Wikimedia community in our region through a network of collaborations, partnerships, events, and advocacy efforts. As the regional Wikimedia chapter serving the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, our areas of focus include:

Education and outreach: WMDC promotes engagement with Wikimedia projects, platforms, and products, and reaches out proactively to dozens of educational institutions such as universities and GLAMs to build information literacy skills and knowledge of the Wikimedia movement among their constituencies.

Community engagement: WMDC organizes events and activities to engage the community, including meetups, edit-a-thons, hackathons, and other collaborative events. The chapter’s membership and board are highly engaged, helping plan and run Wikiconference North America, issuing annual awards, running competitions, and contributing to Movement Strategy. Advocacy: WMDC advocates for policies and practices that support the creation, development, and distribution of free educational content on the web through work with government organizations, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

WMDC continues to be a leader, advocate, and source of community strength in North America. This proposal is focused on ensuring the ongoing health, viability, and stability of our established program, and on focusing our priorities for the future through the creation of a new strategic plan.

Since its founding in 2011, WMDC has managed a successful outreach and institutional partnerships program, training a diverse set of hundreds of new editors and advocates who come away with a better understanding of the movement and the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission. The chapter’s program has a strong thematic focus on reducing the gender gap and producing content related to marginalized communities and stories. Chapter-sponsored edit-a-thons and workshops have focused on topics such as increasing representation of Black and Asian American history, art, and culture, and of women in science and technology.

Over the years, the US-based demand for WMDC volunteers to provide support in running training sessions, edit-a-thons, and GLAM programs has grown steadily. In 2017, the demand grew so great that WMDC successfully applied for a Wikimedia Foundation grant to hire our first full-time employee, an Institutional Partnerships Manager. The high volume of daily planning and communications to sustain our work cannot be carried out solely by volunteers who need to attend to other jobs during weekday business hours. For six years, our Institutional Partnerships Manager has been the friendly and welcoming face of the Wikimedia movement for hundreds of first-time editors.

WMDC’s Institutional Partnerships Manager has organized, and run or assisted with over 160 edit-a-thons and training sessions, about 25 per year. She has helped steward the publication or improvement of hundreds of articles, and has personally trained hundreds of editors. The majority of the programs they organize address the gender gap. She works in partnership with dozens of different GLAMs, government agencies, and community organizations (see list of recent partners in our 2022 Annual Report [1]).

While many events and partnership meetings happened in-person prior to 2020, during COVID-19 we shifted to virtual programs, allowing for greater geographic reach. Now in 2023 there is increasing demand for in-person events once more, while the desire for virtual events has not abated. The Institutional Partnerships Manager not only leads events and outreach, but also writes reports and analyzes event participant data for submission to the WMF labs WMDC Programs & Events Dashboard. [2]

2. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important?

One of only two regional chapters in the United States, WMDC faced many administrative and personal hardships during recent years, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. We seek to reestablish WMDC once again as a sustainable and resilient Chapter and nonprofit organization. After the termination of the former WMF Simple Annual Plan Grants program, the chapter found itself without sustained revenue beyond private donations. The chapter was fortunate to receive private donations adequate to ensure its survival, though only precariously. The volunteer board leadership was exhausted, and mistakes related to tax filings by the former leadership led to the temporary loss of WMDC’s nonprofit status, which has now been fully reinstated—retroactively and unambiguously.

With this proposal, we seek funding for our organization’s efforts to reestablish itself as a sustainable and professional Chapter and nonprofit organization, and to overcome the challenges of financial precarity and leadership turnover that characterized the COVID-19 era of WMDC’s existence. Using the Theory of Change methodology, we have developed a clear plan for achieving our objectives and creating meaningful change in our organization and our community:

1. Inputs: WMDC receives a grant to reestablish itself as a sustainable and professional nonprofit organization, giving stability to our current employee, and to set goals and priorities for future growth. We anticipate a stable and continuing level of participation from our members, volunteers, and organizations.
2. Activities: WMDC uses the grant funds to improve the effectiveness of its public programs, partnerships, events, communications, financial accounting, and administration. The Institutional Partnerships Manager organizes and runs numerous events, edit-a-thons, and training sessions in partnership with various institutions, with a strong focus on reducing the gender gap and producing content related to marginalized communities and stories. A strategic planning facilitator will be engaged to help lead the organization into writing a new, 5-year strategic plan.
3. Outputs: WMDC successfully runs a diverse range of programs and events, improves online content, and deepens connections with current collaborators and the community. The Institutional Partnerships Manager leads the events and outreach, writes reports, and analyzes participant data for submission to the WMF labs Programs and Events Dashboard. A new strategic plan will be produced and published with input from the membership, the WMF, and the larger community.
4. Outcomes: WMDC asserts itself more boldly as a reliable expert collaborator and partner to governments and GLAM institutions, and a more effective community partner to the WMF in their Washington, DC-based advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. WMDC is able to sustain and grow its community and institutional partnerships. New editors are recruited, diversity is supported, and the gender gap in the US is addressed. WMDC’s new strategic plan leads to more targeted prioritization and effectiveness in supporting the movement and the community, and also opens the possibility of multi-year grant funding.
5. Impact: WMDC becomes a sustainable and resilient nonprofit organization, able to continue its important work for years to come, and grows into a model of excellence and sustainability for affiliates in North America. WMDC's work contributes to reducing the gender gap and increasing the representation of marginalized communities and stories on Wikipedia, and helps to advance the Wikimedia Foundation's mission and advocacy.

With this grant, we seek to transform WMDC’s current precarious state into one of stability and professionalism, and to build on our past successes and take our programs to the next level, making a lasting impact in the communities we serve.

3. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.

After a tumultuous several years of leadership change and pandemic-related pivots, this is a time to rebuild WMDC by focusing on three main goals and strategies:

1. Organizational and administrative excellence

1a. Solidify the chapter’s administrative practices, communications, recordkeeping, and bookkeeping to ensure ongoing effectiveness 1b. Renew our strategic plan to clarify priorities for FY25-FY30, and define new organization priorities that feed into the movement strategy

2. GLAM and Organizational Partnerships

2a. Strengthen and sustain our 12-year history of developing partnerships with some of the most important and prestigious educational and governmental organizations in the United States. Continue to leverage the rich resources, holdings, and expertise of institutions in the cultural, academic, and government sectors in and around the US National Capital region to improve Wikimedia projects and other free knowledge repositories. Forging lasting connections with these organizations requires consistent interpersonal communications and a degree of professionalism that is hard to achieve when relying solely on volunteers. Therefore, our strategy is to continue to build on the successful past performance that has resulted from having a paid employee dedicated to this work.

2b. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant pivot of WMDC’s institutional partnership programs toward virtual participation and engagement. Over the course of the remaining calendar year, WMDC already has plans to collaborate with at least 25 institutional partners; we expect that this collaboration will continue to primarily take the form of individual virtual events, and she will continue to explore, develop, and adapt additional mechanisms of engagement and services to the community. Most partnership activities WMDC organizes make focused efforts to address diversity of content and of participation.

3. Community Partner for Advocacy

3a. Deepen relationships with DC-based Wikimedia Foundation advocacy activities and staff 3b. Assist with WMF outreach and advocacy efforts to lawmakers and staff on Capitol Hill and beyond

In the future, we will seek additional contractor (or staff) support to help achieve these goals. The staff might focus on edit-a-thons, software development, or administration support such as tax and finance, organizing a strategic plan, or filling in for our existing employee should she not be available. We may wish to shift to an Executive Director structure, or formally coordinate with WMNY, but this determination will depend in part on the research findings of the North American Hub research project.

4. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?

1. Organizational and administrative excellence

  • Seek professional services for recordkeeping, accounting, and tax preparation for nonprofits to ensure 501(c)(3) status is maintained.
  • Upgrade communications software licenses and practices to allow for multiple users and cross-training with staff member
  • Ensure use of password managers and two-factor authentication for all shared software tools
  • Cross-train staff member and additional board members on reporting tools
  • Regularize communications such as email newsletters according to a standard schedule
  • Improve management of member database to ensure ongoing data quality
  • Institute annual membership and fundraising campaign to diversify income streams in order to build a resilience fund, should we face difficult financial times again
  • Engage strategic planning consultant familiar with nonprofit organizations and free knowledge movement to help WMDC renew our strategic plan in order to clarify priorities for FY25-FY30, and define new organization priorities that will feed into the movement strategy and inform future funding strategies
  • Develop the skills in evaluating quality improvements, e.g. by using the ORES scoring scheme for edit improvements, as well as by our traditional metrics of editors and edit counts
  • Work with affiliates and independent contributors to investigate the potential of a US or North American Hub. Advise other affiliates considering chapter status.
  • File for charity sales-tax-exemption in Washington DC, and perhaps other jurisdictions. Build expertise on state-tax deductibility for donations to us.
2. GLAM and Organizational Partnerships
  • Strengthen and sustain GLAM partnerships and US government agency relationships through more regular high-touch communications and outreach.
  • Plan events and editing programs, which not only serve to retain new editors and volunteers, but also to persuade and create advocates who come to understand the value of open licensing sharing among open knowledge communities.
  • In particular we have discussed holding annual GLAM-wiki camp weekends with our expert partners at the Smithsonian, National Archives, and Library of Congress. We’ve done this four times, and the events got good reviews and helped build movement expertise in past years, but we have not been able to offer it in recent years.
  • Partner with instructors, colleges, or thematic centers within the university to provide public programs and training opportunities. We have coordinated at a small scale with classes to offer editathons, lectures, or particular celebrations.
  • Reinstate in-person events alongside virtual programming to engage local participants more.
  • Answer email inquiries from the community, following up with contacts to offer further assistance
3. Community Partner for Advocacy
  • Board members will meet regularly with DC-based Wikimedia Foundation advocacy staff and offer community feedback and support for their activities
  • Provide training and event assistance to WMF Policy staff in speaking to lawmakers and staff on Capitol Hill and beyond. WMF managers have invited us to attend or support the State of the Net conference, the Nobel Summit, Credibility Coalition events, and a teach-in to Capitol Hill staff; at present we strain to do any of this.
  • Assist and lead policy coordination and training for volunteers across North America, in concert with Movement Strategy efforts. (Our chapter has relatively easy access to lawmakers’ offices, and may be the only U.S. affiliate which ever had a sustained committee or effort toward policy advocacy.)
  • Reply to requests for comment by government agencies, e.g. the Copyright office, where we have filed comments before. We have the ambition also to file amicus briefs in court cases where comments by user/volunteers would be relevant. (The WMF has more expertise, but is running a platform, which is a different role.)

5. Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?      

No

5.1 If yes, provide a brief overview of Year 2 and Year 3 of the proposed plan and how this relates to the current proposal and your strategic plan?

N/A

6. Please include a timeline (operational calendar) for your proposal.

As an affiliate that serves regional, national, and international institutional partners, WMDC’s calendar is often shaped by the needs of these partners. For example, a partner’s own mission or programmatic focus during a particular time of year may align with a thematic month, such as Black History Month, or an internal initiative. Therefore, WMDC’s own events calendar must also align to meet these needs. With that caveat, the following is an approximate quarterly schedule:

July to September 2023: Major Planning Phase 1 and Implementation

  • Milestone: Schedule summer events, coordinate with partners to assess goals and opportunities
    • Summer in the DC region is slower, programmatically. Institutional partners are deep into the tourist season and tend to prefer to focus on Wikimedia work in the fall and winter. This is also true for university partners due to the nature of the semester schedule. For that reason, Summer is used to cultivate new partners, reach out to existing ones, and schedule events for later in the year, though some editing events will take place. Planning for upcoming conferences, such as Wikimedia North America, also occurs during this time.
  • Milestone: Implement 4-5 summer events and initiatives tied to thematic priorities of institutional partners.
  • Milestone: Begin process of implementing administrative improvements and upgrades to ensure organizational excellence

October to December 2023: Implementation

  • Milestone: Implement 6-8 fall events and initiatives tied to thematic priorities of institutional partners.
    • This includes coordinating with partners on event logistics, cultivation of worklists and resources, and activation of the programs within the dashboard.
  • Milestone: WikiConference North America.
    • Wikimedia’s DC volunteers are consistently involved in the planning process for WikiConference North America and will be readily available to assist Wikimedia Canada as needed. Staff and volunteers will also serve as panelists and presenters.
    • Milestone: Following administrative improvements plan, research and begin contracting process with a strategic planning firm. Engage accounting and tax preparation assistance aligned with the end of WMDC’s fiscal year in order to meet tax filing deadlines.

January to March 2024: Major Planning Phase 2 and Implementation

  • Milestone: Schedule 6-8 events, coordinate with partners to assess goals and opportunities
    • Early Winter begins with a secondary planning phase that occurs naturally due to the lack of programs during the holiday season. This time is used to plan events that occurs during WMDC’s busiest months of February (Black History Month) and March (Women’s History Month)
  • Milestone: Implement 6-8 winter events and initiatives tied to thematic priorities of institutional partners. Most will be themed around Black History Month.

This includes coordinating with partners on event logistics, cultivation of worklists and resources, and activation of the programs within the dashboard.

  • Milestone: Following administrative improvements plan, begin discovery and community engagement for strategic planning process.

April to June 2024: Implementation

  • Milestone: Implement 10-12 spring events and initiatives tied to thematic priorities of institutional partners. At least six events will be themed around Women’s History Month.
  • Milestone: Continue with drafting, feedback, review, and editing to finalize WMDC strategic plan.

Note: WMDC is actively planning throughout the year based on the needs of its institutional partners and the Wikimedia community. Planning does not only occur within the major planning phases above, though trends tracked over the past six years have informed where natural programmatic breaks appear within the calendar. Those breaks are noted above as ‘Major planning phases’.

7. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?

For the agenda specified in this grant application, we believe our one full-time staff person can do the job, aided by our existing volunteer and board support network, along with strategic planning contractors. The staff person is already hired; the strategic planning consultant would be sought and hired after the beginning of the grant cycle.

  • One Institutional Partnerships Manager: Full time, salaried. This grant would cover her annual salary for a 12 month period.
  • Strategic Planners: WMDC will issue an RFP and contract a consultant to facilitate the strategic planning process.
  • Volunteer Board Members: 8, all active on Wikimedia, sometimes through chapter activities. Board Members give an average 4 to 16 hours per week, per person, supporting Chapter needs.
  • Volunteers: Dozens of community volunteers and chapter members attend various events, some active in leading workshops or other activities.
  • WMDC has dozens of organizational partners (see recent list at https://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Annual_report_(2021%E2%80%932022).
  • WMDC is presently fulfilling a contract to develop Wikimedia-related software for Hacks/Hackers, a WMF grantee.

If there should be any organizational changes to the board, we would seek to replace any missing members according to the chapter’s bylaws, though we feel confident in the stability of the executive team. If WMDC’s current employee chooses to leave, we would recruit and hire another. In this way, we feel that the organization is well positioned for stability and the risk of being unable to fulfill the terms of the grant is very low.

8. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Content Gender gap, Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context), Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial

8.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.

Most of the chapter’s programs are aligned with the goals of closing the gender gap, centering the stories of people of color, or important topics like promoting reliable historic, governmental, and scientific information. Example edit-a-thons:

  • 2/14/2023: National Nanotechnology Initiative Black History Month
  • 2/9: Edit-a-Thon: A Celebration of Black Authors and Artists
  • 2/1: Wiki Focus: Black Women in Food and Drink History
  • 11/5/2022: DC Statehood and Home Rule
  • 8/14: Women in Virginia History
  • 7/13: Cooperative Agriculture: Planning & Practice
  • 4/28: WikiGap: Women, Health & Environment
  • 3/31: African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
  • 3/11: History of Women in Statistics
  • 2/24: African American Artists of Texas
  • 1/29: History of 19th Century African American Education
  • 1/27: Advancing Equity Through Food and Nutrition Security

See a more on list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/DC. We anticipate continuing this pattern.

9. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.

Advocacy, Culture, heritage or GLAM

Explanation to #9 inserted in #11; there's no box in #9 for it

10. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Please note, we had previously asked about inclusion and diversity in terms of CONTENTS, in this question we are asking about the diversity of PARTICIPANTS. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Gender Identity, Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background

11. What are your strategies for engaging participants, particularly those that currently are non-Wikimedia?

Engaging the public and recruiting new and diverse participants is essential for the growth and sustainability of WMDC and of Wikimedia projects. Ongoing partnerships are nurtured through regular outreach communications, social media, and email newsletters, written and coordinated by WMDC staff and board members. This strategy has proved successful over the last 12 years as we have many long term and repeat GLAM, educational, and organizational partnerships.

Here are some specific strategies we have utilized in the past and will continue to utilize during the grant period:

Partner with community organizations: We collaborate with community organizations and GLAMs to engage and recruit diverse participants. These organizations help spread the word about the movement and provide a platform to engage with individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives. We find new partner organizations regularly.

Host events: We organize edit-a-thons, workshops, and online campaigns to attract new participants. Most of these events, every year, have been oriented toward coverage of under-covered groups or participation by under-represented groups, such as African Americans, women in STEM, as well as groups organized to support ethnic, gender, or LGBT+ representation. See #8 for specifics. We will continue this pattern, per the chapter’s Annual Plan, which is published each year on our web site. Our focus on such content draws interested participants from underrepresented groups. We partner regularly.

Provide training and support: We offer training and support to new participants and to subject matter experts to help them navigate Wikimedia platform and feel more confident contributing.

Use social media: We engage with potential participants and promote Wikimedia projects by sharing updates, success stories, and opportunities to participate to keep the community engaged and informed.

Create inclusive spaces: Through our safe space policy and practices, we demonstrate that the Wikimedia community is welcoming and inclusive. We encourage respectful dialogue and provide a place individuals to report issues or concerns.

Showcase diverse content: We highlight content created by diverse contributors to showcase the range of perspectives and knowledge available on Wikimedia projects. This helps attract new participants who may be interested in contributing to underrepresented topics.

12. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants and promoting the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy, and/or equivalent local policies and processes?

At every event we announce or display some version of our Safe Space policy, which comprehensively addresses how WMDC contributes to equitable, supportive, and safe spaces both within our organization and at any events or programs we sponsor. The policy is publicly posted at https://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Safe_space_policy. There is also a standing Safe Space Committee of the chapter's Board of Directors. The Committee investigates reports of harassment, including sexual harassment, within or related to the organization.

We follow the principle that no attendee needs to report a problem to the exact person who caused it. There has not been an evident need to put this into practice since we have a culture of welcoming and accepting participation in our activities.

WMDC actively welcomes diverse participants, online and offline, and we have found that our partner organizations are pleased with our policies and experiences, and choose to work with us again.

WMDC also led the update of the WikiConference North America Friendly Space policy, meeting with OpenStreetMap organizers to gather the best of both worlds. It is a successful policy model, and the (online) conference had no identified safe space problems.

13. Do you have plans to work with Wikimedia communities, groups, or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?

No

13.1 If yes, please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.


14. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?

Yes

14.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

For #13: We (WMDC) have proposed separately to find new ways to coordinate and communicate with other North American affiliates. In this proposal we focus on our existing programs in our existing structure. As a regional Chapter that has already been in existence for 12 years, relevant Wikimedia communities are already largely aware of WMDC’s existence and supportive of our continued work.

For #14: Our normal events, editathons, are partnerships with GLAM institutions, professional associations, government institutions, and so forth. Partners value gaining expertise and insights into our open knowledge ecosystem. They have opportunities to meet their own missions, to share information publicly, and get their content of interest posted and community-reviewed.

We focus on GLAMs because collaborating with community organizations helps engage and recruit diverse participants. These organizations help spread the word about the movement and provide a platform to engage with individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives. Washington, DC is rich with a diverse landscape of organizations, libraries, institutions, and government agencies that are excited to have a local partner in WMDC.

We focus on advocacy because of our strategic location in the US national capital, where national lawmakers and leaders are primarily located. Our colleagues from WMF who are also physically located in DC appreciate having community-based partners in the chapter who can assist with training and answering questions from congressional staff and leaders, among others.

15. How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?

As a local chapter, we anticipate receiving continuing annual grants from the WMF because we are performing the mission well. The model of local chapters has been endorsed and certified by the Foundation through its approach to affiliates.

We may instead apply for multi-year funding in the future, after a strategic planning process. Depending on the research into prospects for a US- or North American Hub, we may coordinate or unify in a new way with other affiliates. Any of these paths would sustain our main existing programs.

16. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these. This can include factors such as external/contextual issues that may affect implementation, as well as internal issues, such as governance/leadership changes.

We were shocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, but WMDC adapted quickly to hold more events online. However a pandemic or other natural disaster would affect our planning.

More importantly, our one staff person is an expert participant on Wikimedia, and an essential manager and implementer of our WikiCred and ARTT contract work and our anticipated Movement Strategy grant too. It would be difficult for the chapter to adapt if for any reason she could not continue in her present role, and realistically we might miss some of the ambitious targets specified here if that happened and we had to recruit, hire, and train a replacement staff member.

17. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Coordinate Across Stakeholders, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development

18. Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here.  

Yes
https://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Strategic_plan_(2016%E2%80%932021)

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation[edit]

19. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?

Please note that this grant submission is focused on continuing WMDC's existing programs and strategies. The chapter also has submitted a MSIG research grant request to assess needs around a North American Hub. The specific questions asked and answered in that research grant should augment and complement the findings in the Learning Questions, below.

Learning Questions

1. How can WMDC continue to remove barriers that prevent new and experienced editors from engaging with Wikimedia projects?
2. How can WMDC continue to recruit new institutional partners and nurture existing relationships?
3. What are the best ways to continue to close content gaps while engaging new and existing editors and institutional partners?
4. What, as an official chapter affiliate, can WMDC’s do to strengthen our resilience as an organization while strengthening relationships among Wikimedians, user groups, and other community stakeholders?

20. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following space provided.

Main Metrics Description Target
Brief on removing barriers to engagement for individuals Based on qualitative feedback and interviews with program and event participants, WMDC will write a summary brief that lists and analyzes the barriers that prevent new and experienced editors from engaging more deeply with Wikimedia projects. The goal of the brief will be to summarize recommendations and best practices to empower participants in future engagement. N/A
Brief on engaging with institutional partners Based on qualitative feedback and interviews with current and prospective institutional partners, WMDC will write a summary brief that lists and analyzes the issues, barriers, policies and practices that institutional partners must face when choosing to engage with Wikimedia projects. The goal of the brief will be to summarize recommendations and best practices and open up greater opportunity and possibilities for institutional partners. N/A
Brief on addressing content gaps Based on qualitative feedback and interviews with current and prospective individual contributors and institutional partners, WMDC will write a summary brief that lists and analyzes the issues and concerns about content gaps on Wikimedia projects, and point to examples and case studies that suggest ways of overcoming or addressing these gaps. The goal of the brief will be to summarize recommendations and best practices to inform future programs and activities for WMDC. N/A
Brief on WMDC Chapter resilience and community support More internally focused than the prior metrics, this brief will analyze the challenges and barriers the Chapter has faced in being administratively resilient and serving as a vibrant community resource for local and regional Wikimedians. The brief will examine the investments and practices put into place during the grant period, with a goal of summarizing recommendations for strengthening the Chapter and for strengthening relationships among local and regional Wikimedians, user groups, and other community stakeholders. N/A
N/A N/A N/A

Here are some additional metrics that you can use if they are relevant to your work. Please note that this is just an optional list, mostly of quantitative metrics. They may complement the qualitative metrics you have defined in the previous boxes.

Additional Metrics Description Target
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability N/A N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors N/A N/A
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees N/A N/A
Number of people reached through social media publications N/A N/A
Number of activities developed N/A N/A
Number of volunteer hours N/A N/A

21. Additional core quantitative metrics. These core metrics will not tell the whole story about your work, but they are important for measuring some Movement-wide changes. Please try to include these core metrics if they are relevant to your work. If they are not, please use the space provided to explain why they are not relevant or why you can not capture this data. Your explanation will help us review our core metrics and make sure we are using the best ones for the movement as a whole.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target
Number of participants Individuals attending or participating in conferences, bootcamp or non-edit-a-thon gatherings led or co-led by WMDC 100
Number of editors WMDC will facilitate 30 editing events, including training sessions and edit-a-thons. Based on past metrics, these events would accommodate approximately 150-250 editors, depending on the number of repeat editors. 200
Number of organizers This includes Wikimedia staff, volunteers, and representatives from WMDC’s institutional partners. 50
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia English Wikipedia

Articles created - 100 Articles edited - 500 References added - 500

1100
Wikimedia Commons Images uploaded - 100 (This does not include mass uploads that could be done by institutional partners. This number is harder to estimate as it would be determined by the nature of future partnerships.) 100
Wikidata Items created or edited - 50 50
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A

21.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.


22. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?

  • Participants - Event registrations and attendance
  • Editors - Programs and events dashboard
  • Organizers - Programs and events dashboard
  • New content contributions per Wikimedia project - Programs and events dashboard

We have used these metrics effectively for over a hundred events over several years.

Financial Proposal[edit]

23. & 23.1 What is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.

109900 USD

23.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?

109900 USD

23.3 Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BYulMgZD3jrOQfE-6Ixqo61lrna3HQG3/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107339971778774786470&rtpof=true&sd=true

23.4 Please include any additional observations or comments you would like to include about your budget.

After conversations with Chris Schilling, we have prepared a second budget that drastically reduces programmatic activities and organizational excellence goals in order to come in under $75,000. This can be provided upon request, with the understanding that we could not achieve all objectives and strategies described in this proposal should only partial funding be awarded. Such partial funding would have a negative impact on our ability to seek future multiyear funding.

Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.

Other public document(s): None at present

Final Message[edit]

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


Feedback[edit]