Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia New York City strategic implementation/Yearly Report (2023)
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 30 July 2024
Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Yearly Learning Report (for multi-year fund recipients) , reporting year: 2023
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General information
[edit]This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving multi-year Wikimedia Community Funds to report on their yearly results.
- Name of Organization: Wikimedia New York City
- Title of Proposal: Wikimedia New York City strategic implementation
Part 1 Understanding your work
[edit]1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
- One of our main goals was to stabilize the organization by hiring our first Executive Director. With the help of consultants, we went through an extensive hiring process to both find the right candidate and set up the infrastructure for our first full time salaried position. The hiring happened four months later than expected but now that we have an Executive Director on board, we are diving into operational and programmatic infrastructure through strategic planning to sustain the organization long term.
We also continued to expand our community building efforts. Over the past year we have hosted monthly WikiWednesdays both in person and virtual to gather our Wikimedia community and strengthen relationships. At these gatherings we not only see members in New York City but members from neighboring states like New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Connecticut who are eager for a structured community. This year, we've started to experiment with a "WMF and Free Culture Friends Friday" monthly gathering at our space for Wikimedia Foundation staff based in NYC, Wikimedia NYC leaders, and other leaders from free culture orgs to connect informally and work together. We've found that these types of gatherings are essential in building trust and for folks having more awareness of projects happening outside of the different bubbles in our universe.
A core strategy of ours is to conduct high impact activities that grow our network and bring diverse communities into our movement. We partnered with different institutions throughout the year like the New York Botanical Garden, ArtCrawl Harlem, CUNY, Rutgers University, Brown Institute, AfroCROWD, Queens Public Library, City Tech Library, Farming Concrete, NYC Community Gardens and Emergent Works for edit-a-thons that attracted new audiences to our network. We organized hackathons and coordinated an NYC to Toronto wiki-train for a group field trip to WikiConference North America. We also launched "Wikicurious" - a new series focused on beginners and incorporated a WikiCoach model using experienced volunteers from our community and giving them stipends to help train newcomers on how to use Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
- In terms of org administration, we restructured the Board moving away from one year terms to two year terms that are staggered across election years and created a more organized system of appointed seats. We think that this will help bring stability to the Board and provide consistency for big organizational decisions.
Our focus on building long-term alliances was effective as well. Our current office space is housed at Prime Produce which is a cooperative building that is shared with a number of other aligned NYC organizations. We have been able to build closer relationships and collaborations because of that partnership. The same can be said for our mapping project - Wikispore and partnerships with public libraries and universities like Columbia Journalism School. As well as our partnership with Equis on Hispanic outreach which we will be continuing to develop over this next year.
3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?
- One innovation we focused on is more of an emphasis on true beginner editors, targeting folks who have never edited Wikipedia before and/or have never had exposure to Wikimedia platforms and using social media and media platforms as a way to attract those audiences. Our beginner series "Wikicurious" is part of a larger strategy to develop a media strategy that draws a more diverse audience into our chapter, expands our reach, and creates skills building opportunities for people in New York. We will continue to experiment with this approach this year by investing in more creative visual assets, diversifying our partnerships, and diving more into the social media, influencer, digital ads, and general media landscape of New York City.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
- Beyond working with universities, public libraries, and other Wikimedia organizations, we partnered with grassroots orgs and folks who have had less exposure to Wikimedia platforms. A good example of this are the edit-a-thons we did with community gardens and prison system impacted individuals. For many of the attendees, those edit-a-thons were their first exposure to Wikimedia and our plan is to continue to support the participants with both their skills growth and integration into the Wikimedia community.
5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiknic_NYC_2024
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:NYC_Community_Gardens_Editathon_2024
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikicurious_July_2024
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikidata_Day_2023_at_the_Butler_Library_-_Columbia
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. | Strongly agree |
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
- As the New York City Wikimedia affiliate, we live and work in one of the most diverse cities in the world and because of this have made a conscious decision to make sure our chapter reflects the diversity of our community. To do that, we need to meet people where they are which is part of our strategy around expanding partnerships beyond the traditional institutions we've worked with in the past and investing heavily in a social media and digital strategy that reaches underrepresented groups.
Part 2: Your main learning
[edit]8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
- Some of our learning priorities included figuring out how many local partners we can collaborate with per year, how many partnerships can be expanded, and how many partnerships could we revitalize. We learned that there were an abundance of local partners we could collaborate with but the biggest challenge was capacity to do that with no full time staff to support that work. Now that we have a full time Executive Director, we're beginning to re-establish relationships with partners we've worked with in the past while exploring new partnerships at the same time. Finally having a full time staff member to lead in those relationships is helpful but we know it's not enough. Eventually we would like to get to a financial position where we can hire more staff, whether part time or full time, to support the work.
We also wanted to increase our communication and collaboration with other Wiki communities as well as participate in more regional and international events. WikiConference North America and the potential for a North American Hub has provided us that opportunity to collaborate more regionally. And as our Executive Director gets more settled she will begin attending more international events (starting with WikiMania Poland) and getting connected to the International movement to support collaboration.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
- It took us longer than expected to hire an Executive Director which meant that some of the goals in our strategic plan had to be pushed back. This also had a significant impact on programming as our Board was wrapped up in an intense and exhaustive hiring process and we're still coming out of covid recovery mode rebuilding relationships.
10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
- One thing we've learned is the importance of hiring an Executive Director and having that strategic thinking, stability, and responsiveness. It has helped us reprioritize the timeline of our strategic plan and help us develop new ideas for the future based on the skillset our ED brings to the table - namely cultural strategy, communications/media, partnerships, and fundraising.
11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?
- We're very lucky to have a community of Wikimedians here in New York City who are dedicated to the movement. And at the same time we know that there is an abundance of individuals and institutions who would be just as dedicated if they had exposure to who Wikimedia is and what we stand for. Our goal is to reach as many of those people as possible by experimenting with new ideas, programs, and communication channels to help bring the old and new together.
12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- N/A
Part 3: Metrics for Year 1
[edit]13a. Open and additional metrics data
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | N/A | 20 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of activities developed | N/A | 40 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of volunteer hours | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
13b. Additional core metrics data.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | N/A | N/A | |||
| Number of editors | N/A | N/A | |||
| Number of organizers | N/A | 30 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?
- No
15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.
- N/A
16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- N/A
Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships
[edit]17. Organizational Capacity
| A. Financial capacity and management | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| B. Conflict management or transformation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| D. Partnership building | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| E. Strategic planning | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| F. Program design, implementation, and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| J. Governance | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| K. Communications, marketing, and social media | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability | This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high |
| M. On-wiki technical skills | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| N. Accessing and using data | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| O. Evaluating and learning from our work | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Formal training provided by a Wikimedia Movement organizing group (i.e., Affiliates, Grantees, Regional or Thematic Hub, etc.), Peer to peer learning with other community members in conferences/events, Peer to peer learning with other community members in community/ies of practice* (structured and continuous learning and sharing spaces), Peer to peer learning with other community members (but that is not continuous or structured)
17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Lack of knowledge of available capacity building opportunities, Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of financial resources
18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?
- Our organizational capacity has grown a lot over the past few months with the hiring of our first Executive Director and we can see the potential for more growth now that we have a full time staff member. And as the sole staff at the org, training support, resources, and collaboration would be welcomed to help develop the org for the future.
19. Partnerships over the funding period.
| A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) | Strongly agree |
| B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach, Partners proactive interest
19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
- Lack of staff to conduct outreach to new strategic partners, Lack of staff capacity to respond to partners interested in working with us, Limited funding period
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
- A strategy for us has been to reach out to institutions and groups we're interested in working with, have an informal meeting to learn more about their priorities and goals, and then tailor a program that fits both our needs. For many partners who are new to Wikimedia we've found that a grounding in the ways that other similar organizations have used Wikimedia is helpful in shaping their understanding of the platforms.
Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration
[edit]21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?
- More opportunities to be face to face with other groups in the movement both regionally and internationally would be ideal. As well as opportunities to share our learnings and learn from others in smaller more intimate gatherings outside of the larger conferences where we can dive deeper into specific shared issues. Deeper engagement, connection, and collaboration with Wikimedia staff would be helpful as well.
22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
- Somewhat increased
23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
- N/A
24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
- Somewhat increased
25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
- The funding to support staffing and operational infrastructure has given Board members and other volunteer leaders the spaciousness to step away from the administration of the org and focus on the programmatic elements of the movement that they're passionate about.
26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.
- Racial justice, gender justice, and climate justice are key priorities for the org and are especially amplified and supported by the lived experience of our new Executive Director who is a Black, Queer, woman committed to climate, sustainability, and resilience efforts.
Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration
[edit]We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.
27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?
- Partially
27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?
- We have had conversations with other regional and local groups like Wikimedia DC, NARWHAL, Black Lunch Table etc. on our strategic priorities and learnings. We would like to do more sharing at conferences in the future and potentially produce written, visual, and video documentation that can support global learning.
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
- We do this occasionally (less than once a month)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
- Right now it's mainly through informal phone/zoom conversations or regional affiliate/user group meetings but we would like to build or help support the infrastructure for more consistent sharing.
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance
[edit]30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
- 72767
31. Local currency type
- USD
32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
- Due to the delay in hiring our Executive Director we underspent the first year's funds. We plan to roll the unspent funds into the second year budget to cover the cost of part-time programmatic support, brand design/digital media, fundraising support, and administrative tools to run the nonprofit.
34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
- We did not spend $59,233 of the budget largely because of the delay in the Executive Director hiring which resulted in a four month unused budget for salary and fringe benefits, along with a delay in the implementation of strategic priorities and programs. As mentioned above we plan to fully use the underspent amount in the second year budget to cover the cost of our strategic org priorities.
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
- A. Propose to use the underspent funds within this Fund period with PO approval
34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
- Part time contractor support for our programmatic work, brand design and the creation of visual assets, digital media strategy, contracting a fundraising consultant to help us with our long term financial stability, and administrative tools.
35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
- Yes
37. 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
38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.