Grants:Project/Rapid/Learn
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Rapid Grants
Learn the information you need to apply for a Rapid Grant, including program guidelines, who is eligible for funding, criteria used to review requests, timelines for the process, and what expenses can be requested.
 | IMPORTANT NOTICE: We have updated our guidelines regarding organizing in-person events with Wikimedia Foundation grant funding.
Our new COVID-19 Risk Assessment protocol for in-person gatherings is designed to be sensitive to the constantly changing circumstances around this pandemic, and allow potential grantees and community members to assess their own ability to safely host events and activities. If you are planning an in-person event plan to request funding, please follow the steps described in these guidelines before submitting a grant proposal. For current grants already in progress, please contact your program officer if you would like to include or change your activities to include in-person activities.
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Guidelines and Criteria
Eligibility criteria
- Individuals, groups, and organizations may apply.
- Any individual, group, or organization is allowed up to three (3) open Project Grants and Rapid Grants at any one time. See details here.
- You may submit your grant request or report in any language.
- Grants must be between 500 USD and 2000 USD (or its equivalent in another currency at the time of the application).
- Grants can be up to 12 months in length, and there is no minimum length.
- Rapid Grants should fund one discrete project, and not several independent projects. Everything funded by the grant must be thematically related to the grant. Ongoing operating expenses are not eligible for funding.
- Funds are generally for direct expenses. Compensation for an individual's time is permitted for a limited number of roles.
- Activities or expenses that have already taken place at the time of application are ineligible for funding.
- Applicants must be in good community and legal standing according to the assessments of the Wikimedia Foundation's Trust & Safety Team and the Community Resources Team. See details here.
- Applicants (including individuals and groups involved with the application) must be in compliance with all current and past grant agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation. They must not have any late, past due, or incomplete grant reports.
- Applicants that repeatedly do not respond to requests for information about their applications or grants, or who have mismanaged past grants or applications may be made ineligible for future grants.
Details on grant limit
- An open grant is defined as a grant that is approved but not yet completed. This also includes approved grants with terms not started, and also grants with terms that have ended, but for which reporting is not yet finished.
- This limit applies to both Rapid Grants and Project Grants. Conference Grants are not included in this cap. Grantees receiving Annual Plan Grants (APGs) are limited to one grant (their APG), with the exception of Conference Grants, and are not eligible for Rapid Grants or Project Grants with grant terms that overlap with their Annual Plan Grant, according to the requirements of the APG program.
- Individual grants to affiliate leaders or grants that heavily involve an affiliate's participation will be included in the three open grant count per organization. (This is to prevent grants that are actually to groups/organizations being granted to individuals who wish to avoid the cap.)
- Some activities are appropriate for groups and not individuals. If you apply as an individual for a group activity, your program officer may suggest that you apply as a group instead of as an individual. (This is to prevent grants that are actually to groups being granted to individuals who wish to avoid the cap.)
- There are multiple reasons why there are limits placed on the number of open grants an individuals or organization can have at one time. First, there are limitations on the budget for grant programs. Second, it is important that individuals and affiliates across the Wikimedia movement are able to access funding through grants. Finally, we want to make sure grantees do not become overwhelmed with excessive grant-related obligations and requirements.
Behavioral requirements
We ask that applicants meet the following criteria for behavioral conduct. These standards apply to all members of a group’s or organization’s leadership team, and to any key people involved with organizing the funded activities. A list of these people must be provided to the grants administration team at the time of application.
- Applicants should be in good standing in regard to ethical behavior within your community (e.g. social behavior, financial behavior, legal behavior, etc), as determined through the due diligence process of the grant program. Past instances as well as current investigations or incidents will be considered by the Wikimedia Foundation when determining the eligibility of each applicant.
- Within the last year, applicants have not been blocked, banned, or otherwise flagged by Wikimedia Foundation staff or another affiliate for violations of friendly space expectations or friendly space policies, or for other types of violations or conduct issues. If such issues have occurred in the past, the applicant is required to demonstrate learning and understanding in regard to the cause for the issue, such that they are ready to serve as a role model for others as a grantee.
- Within the last year, applicants have not been repeatedly blocked or flagged for the same issue and/or have not been banned on the Wikimedia Projects. If a block/ban is recorded in the applicant's account history, the applicant is required to demonstrates learning and understanding in regard to the cause for the block, such that they are ready to serve as a role model for others as a grantee.
- On occasion, we make exceptions to these criteria if we believe it contributes to a fair and equitable review process. If there is something you believe is important for us to understand about your circumstances in regard to our criteria, you are welcome to reach out to us at rapidgrants
wikimedia.org. - Due to issues around privacy and the sensitivity of information, it may not always be possible to share complete information about eligibility decisions with each applicant for every decision.
Application timeline
- You must submit your application between the 1st and 15th of each month. Please schedule your activities accordingly, so you will have a decision about your grant within the timeframe you need to plan and begin your activities. Our goal is to provide a funding decision on an application by the end of the month. Decisions may take longer depending on the need to resolve eligibility or other proposal issues, the current number of Rapid Grant proposals, among other factors.
- In the months specified below, we will prioritize support to contests and campaigns. These months will primarily (but not exclusively) focus on different contests throughout the year:
- ...
- ...
- ...
Proposals independent from these campaigns will be reviewed as capacity allows, but may need to be postponed for a later month.
- We will evaluate each batch of grants once a month and accept the best proposals in alignment with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Medium-term goals.
- Grants for activities that have already taken place will not be funded retroactively. You must apply for your grant in time for a decision to be made before any funded activities have taken place. Applications for past activities will be rejected.
- You must respond to requests for information within one week during the review period (the time between submitting the application and receiving a decision). Applicants that do not comply will have their applications rejected, and will need to reapply.
- You must agree to the reporting requirements, sign a grant agreement, and provide the Wikimedia Foundation with the information needed to process your funding in a timely manner. Prospective grantees must provide the requested information within two weeks of approval. Applicants that do not comply will have their grant approvals rescinded, and will need to reapply.
Selection criteria
When selecting applications we consider the following criteria:
- Strategic priority: Do your activities improve one or more of Wikimedia’s existing websites?
- Potential outcomes and impact: What are the concrete outcomes that are anticipated as a result of the activities? What difference do you expect your project to make?
- Contribution record: Do you have a history of engaging with Wikimedia projects and communities?
- Support and endorsement: Do you have sufficient volunteers to complete the project and endorsements from community members?
Funding guidelines
Please check with your local Wikimedia affiliate to see if they offer a local grant program!
General guidelines
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Projects aimed at improving one or more of Wikimedia's existing websites | Projects aimed at improving third-party applications
(Click here if you're interested in creating a new wiki instead.) |
| Projects that foster conditions to encourage editing by volunteers (e.g. editor recruitment campaigns) | Projects that replace volunteer action by directly funding someone to create content (e.g. editing articles, uploading photos) |
| Direct expenses and compensation for code, research, or materials that are published and released as free and open-source. Licensing should be compatible with current Wikimedia and MediaWiki practices | Direct expenses or compensation for people's time for code, research, materials that are created on a closed source platform or published in such a way that access is not freely available |
| Projects up to 12 months long | Projects more than 12 months long |
| Requests from individuals or a group of people not affiliated with an organization
Requests from organizations with proof of non-profit status |
Requests from groups and organizations that already have a current Annual Plan Grant or Simple Annual Plan Grant
Requests from for-profit companies, organizations, or fiscal sponsors |
| Requests from affiliates (including User Groups) that have announced grant requests on their official user group page on Meta and a local language forum that is recognized by each group, to allow adequate space for objections and support to be voiced. | Requests from affiliates (including User Groups) that have not announced their grant requests to the user group and received feedback and support from the group. |
| One project per proposal, up to a year in duration. | Multiple, independent projects per proposal. If you would like to submit a multi-project proposal, please apply through our Project Grant or Simple Annual Plan Grant programs. |
| Requests between USD $500 and up to USD $2000 | Requests of more than USD $2,000 |
| Applicants who (i) agree to the reporting requirements, and (ii) are willing to sign a grant agreement, and (iii) provide the Wikimedia Foundation with information needed to process their funding. | Applicants who can't comply with the requirements and contractual terms of the program |
| Fiscal sponsor administrative fees of no more than 20% of the requested grant amount. Must be included as an explicit budget line item in the finance section of the grant proposal. | Administrative fees above 20% of the requested grant amount
Excessive contingency fees |
| Applicants in good community standing. | Applicants who are blocked or banned on any Wikimedia spaces, or who have a demonstrated history of not complying with Friendly Space expectations. If applicants have been in good community standing for three years, but have previous history of censure, proposals will be reviewed on a case by case basis. |
| Planned activities for future implementation after the grant start date. | Reimbursements for ongoing or completed activities. Exceptions may be made based on funding restrictions or if the review process is delayed for reasons beyond the applicants' control. |
Compensation for grantees or others
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Caretakers or babysitting services necessary to support either applicants or participants with children to attend the events supported by the Rapid Grant. | Caretakers or babysitting services outside the scheduled event dates supported by the Rapid Grant.
Long-term caretaker or babysitting services |
| Graphic designers or services to prepare images to promote or advertise an event or activity supported by the Rapid Grant proposal. | Graphic designers or services to prepare images for events or needs unrelated to Wikimedia projects or outside the scope of the proposal. |
| Developers for writing or testing code in relation to a gadget, extension, software, or other tool that benefits Wikimedia projects or its contributors. | Developers for writing or testing code for tools unrelated to Wikimedia projects. |
| Wikipedian-in-Residence to collect resources, train/engage GLAM and Wikimedian community, and organize events around integrating content | Wikipedian-in-Residence whose sole focus is to digitize resources and/or personally create content |
| Translation for project materials that cannot be supported through Meta:Babylon, especially for 1) languages where there are few or no available volunteer translators, or 2) where the translation request is substantial. | Translation needs that can be supported through requests at Meta:Babylon. |
| Project management or coordination fees
Honoraria or monetary gifts for event speakers or juries Professional photographers or videographers Accountant or financial officer fees Other roles or tasks not explicitly specified. |
Facilities, equipment and materials
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Temporary working space for short-term project organization | Ongoing office space rent |
| Rental equipment to be used for specific projects, such as cameras, wifi hotspot/dongle, etc. | Any equipment for purchase such as laptops, book scanners, cameras, and projectors. |
| Offline (hard-copy) publishing for targeted networking or training (ie: Wiki Love Monuments photo brochure to give your local GLAM partner) | Offline publishing of general outreach materials |
| Merchandise (swag) to recognize exceptional volunteer contributions (i.e: for help organizing an event, as a contest prize, for the best contributions during an editathon, etc.) | Merchandise giveaways for all participants in an event or for general outreach, including t-shirts. (exception: low-cost stickers and pins). Please see this article ("It's time to stop spending billions on cheap conference swag" for more info on the environmental and human impact of swag.)
Prizes for Rapid Grant recipients for contests they are organizing. |
| Certificates, gift cards, books, photo equipment, etc. to recognize achievements or contest winners for their contributions | Cash prizes for contest or other competition winners |
| Up to 10% of total budget for unforeseen expenses, such as when items cost more than initially estimated. However, total project budget cannot exceed $2,000 USD. | Expenses already accounted for or estimated in other parts of budget. Budgeting for miscellaneous or unforeseen expenses greater than 10% of total budget. |
Software Projects
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Software projects (including templates, gadgets, bots, and standalone applications) that can be fully completed by the Project Team | Software projects that would depend on Wikimedia Foundation staff for code review and integration or other technical support (unless those staff are part of your team) |
| Software projects requiring code review and integration, if there is demonstrated commitment from the related maintainers | Software projects requiring code review and integration that do not have the support of related maintainers |
Digitization Projects
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Digitization of materials as part of a program, at the request of the community, with a plan for how digitized content will be integrated into Wikimedia projects. | Paying individuals to digitize materials as the primary focus of the project |
General events
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| In-person events with a Friendly space policy | In-person events without a Friendly space policy |
| Series of events all focused on a specific theme
Single-instance events with a budget less than $2,000 (via Rapid Grants) |
Large, single-instance events over $2,000 are funded through the Conference & Event Grants program |
| Edit-a-thons | |
| Local travel for participants in relation to an edit-a-thon, photowalk, contest, or other approved event or program. | Long-distance travel for participants for an approved event or program
Travel to events funded through Conference & Event Grants, where travel scholarships are already available Travel to non-Wikimedia events |
Online or remote events
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Subscription services for video conferencing, webinars, or other online communication platforms during the grant period (see Working and convening remotely for examples of platforms) | Subscription services for video conferencing, webinars, or other online communication platforms that extend beyond the grant period |
| Expenses for temporary wired or wireless data plans needed for organizers to host online event
Expenses for internet data for volunteers to participate in the event, limited to regions where private internet/data costs are prohibitively expensive |
Expenses for wired or wireless data plans that extend beyond the grant period or are not clearly relevant to scheduled activities |
| Subscription services supporting communications, marketing, and promotion for online event via e-mail, social media, or other domains during the grant period. | Subscription services supporting communications, marketing, and promotion for online event beyond the grant period. |
General promotion campaigns for awareness
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Volunteers promoting Wikimedia projects/campaigns online or offline. | Hiring an ad agency to promote Wikimedia projects |
| Renting equipment that will only be used for the promotion campaign (e.g. laptop, tablets, video cameras, microphones, etc.) | Buying equipment that will only be for used the promotion campaign |
| Budget for paid ads for social media promotion
Printing promotional materials for offline promotion |
Video campaigns
| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Volunteers producing videos for promotion of Wikimedia projects/campaigns
Longer distance travel for activities that cannot be done online or by local volunteers |
Producing videos with no promotion plan in place |
| Renting equipment that will only be used for the promotion campaign (e.g. laptop, tablets, video cameras, microphones, etc.) | Buying equipment for the promotion campaign |