Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/AfroCROWD:Continuing to Champion Communities of African Descent on and in Wikimedia and Improving the relevance of Wikipedia and open technology to communities of Color

Regional Committee feedback and questions

Hi Shanluan, Aliceba and Adjoajo, and thanks for AfroCROWD's proposal for for its activities and projects between 2023-2026. The US/Canada Regional Committee has initially reviewed the proposal, and wanted to offer some initial feedback and questions for your review:

• The committee felt that the overall direction of AfroCROWD’s proposal is productive and positive. In particular, the approach taken in your evaluation procedures is an improvement from the previous application. It will help you learn more about the needs of different groups you work with including educators and partner organizations.
• Relatedly, we appreciate the intention to reflect on AfroCROWD’s internal practices and dynamics (such as feelings of ownership in your activities from organizational members), and agree that this will be a good way to identify member needs as well as inform your strategic direction moving forward. We look forward to hearing about what you learn from this evaluation.

This Learning and Evaluation Document should identify some of what we hope to learn from our work this proposal.Shanluan (talk) 13:37, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

• The committee also appreciated the level of detail provided in your staffing plan, as it draws clear connections between the proposed roles and your goals proposed specific to groups like HBCUs and the LGBTQ+ community.
• Due to restrictions on our ability to adjust our overall General Support Fund budget for this round, it may not be possible to fully fund this proposal, even if the Regional Committee were to support this decision. However, we do want to understand what impact a partial funding decision would have on your budget and related activities or operations? For clarity, this decision would likely be somewhere between your funding award last year and the proposed amount in the current proposal (i.e. between 133,489 USD - 173,489 USD).

We note the strain this round and pursuant to this, have made changes to tighten costs. Due to an error, our travel section asked for more than planned. Our local travel should have read 5 expected travel disbursements, not 15. This is now updated. We also have ambition to take AfroCROWDers to more Wikimedia Movement events and conferences. WikiConference North America is one example. We have tightened this to take 4 people instead of the 6 originally requested and plan to emphasize scholarships instead. These changes also address the questions below regarding travel and save 8,100 USD. This thereby cuts our overall grant request significantly to 165,389 USD. Shanluan (talk) 13:37, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

• Given that AfroCROWD’s partnerships are a critical part of its regular work, could a response to question 14.1 be provided? (i.e. Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work). This will help us better understand how partners support your activities in general.

No problem! AfroCROWD connects with grassroots, GLAM and educational organizations and communities driven in-line with our mission to amplify, and engage the BIPOC community with Wikimedia and open technological movements. Our core aim is to amplify marginalized communities of the African Diaspora and with that we synergize with global partners who wish to do the same. Every organization with which we connect synergizes with that mission and are motivated by it. Our partners include partners both within the Movement, and those new to it. We have also worked with social media influencers, and external partners this year seen here in our timeline.

• Brooklyn Library
• Haiti Cultural Exchange
• Access Now
• Jaaklac
• RightsCon
• Open Foundation West Africa in Ghana: African Wiki Challenge
• Howard University Center for African Studies
• SUNY Albany
• Wiki Caribbean, SEA Partners, Haitian Research Partner/ Podcast Partners
• Queering Wikimedia
• Ambassador's Association, Wiki Caribbean
• Howard University Professors and students, SMOOTHInc., Morgan State University Professors
• WikiVibrance
• Wiki Caribbean, Wiki Benin, Wiki Madagascar, Wiki Singapore, Wiki Niger, Wiki Burkina Faso, Wiki Nigeria and other partners
• Wiki Caribbean
• Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture
• Wiki Listen among other podcasts
• Ambassador's Association, Wiki Caribbean
• National Science Foundation REU ILLC Site Program
• Wiki Earth, CT Caribbean Cultural Centers
• Ambassador's Association, Wiki Benin
• LES Girls Club

We appreciate their support and partnerships. Shanluan (talk) 13:49, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

• One area of concern in the proposal is that the amount of travel in the proposal seems very high. While Wikimania travel is understandably more expensive this year, and understand that you are working with communities across the African diaspora, would it be possible to reduce or set different priorities for travel during the funding period?

Please note this questions is answered above. Shanluan (talk) 13:49, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

• It seems that at least some of the contractual positions that are open for recruitment in the current proposal (e.g. Evaluations expert, Audio/Visual expert) were funded in your previous General Support Fund. Can you provide a staffing report from the last cycle? If recruitment was not successful, how were those funds reallocated?

The ability to add the staff positions last cycle has had a quantifiable effect on our outreach capacity. In the case of Feybeon Mickens, our LGBT consultant, for example, we increased traction in the QTBIPOC LGBT community by several percentage points. Some of our social media posts, have seen increased engagement by more than 150%. They are included here again, because, for all intents and purposes, we would like to renew their budgetary allocation for the coming fiscal year.

Please see our report here.

• The committee had two questions about your external sources of funding:
  • In your budget, there is about 17,100 USD of external funding for the Media Manager and Web Management role. Could you tell us more about what these funding sources are?

Our Web Manager handles traffic and other activities associated with our website. Bag Of Apples generously manages this for us to a limited extent as a donation in-kind right now. We are in talks with a contact at GoDaddy to continue where they leave off to ensure we have a great and even more functional and useful website for AfroCROWDers and global visitors. We are also looking at other ways we may be able to work with them as a supporter in our growth.

• • If you are actively seeking out other sources of funding, or plan to do so during this funding period, in what ways are you conducting this search?

Kindly see the answer above. Shanluan (talk) 14:15, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

In terms of the schedule for our review process, please complete your review and responses to committee feedback by May 8th. After this time, the Regional Committee will begin a final review of the proposal to make a formal decision. Thanks again for your work on the proposal and supporting our review! On behalf of the Regional Committee, Wugapodes (talk) 19:07, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you. Shanluan (talk) 14:15, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

Additional Regional Committee feedback and questions

Hi Shanluan, Aliceba and Adjoajo, and thanks for AfroCROWD's proposal for for its activities and projects between 2023-2026. The US/Canada Regional Committee has initially reviewed the proposal, and wanted to ask some additional questions:

• Section 14.1 is empty--would you like to include a response?

Please see response above.

• Can you share reporting from your last funding cycle?

Can you please clarify? This is the previous report.

• Please provide the survey you will be using, as well as a summary of survey results from the past year (if this is not available in a mid-year report elsewhere.)

Please see the response above.

• It seems that at least some of the positions that are open for recruitment were funded with our last cycle--can you provide a staffing report from the last cycle? If recruitment was not successful, how were those funds reallocated?

Please see response above.

• Please expand upon your office costs and your 'web management' costs

Please kindly see the response in the section above regarding web management. AfroCROWD's office costs are associated with an office used for our work and meetings. This was offered to us at a rate much lower than market value. Is this what you mean?

• Please expand on your Wikimania costs.

Please clarify. These costs area associated with payment of economy flight and hotel costs to participate at the annual Wikimania events projected using the Wikimedia/ Wikipedia pages announcing them.

• Please expand on your travel costs

Please clarify. Kindly note the response in the question and answer section above as our travel costs have been adjusted.

• Please expand on your fiscal sponsor fees

Fiscal sponsor fees are associated with 8% administrative fee assessed by our fiscal sponsor in the management of our account including associated 501(c)3 and Tax administration.

• Please expand on your Wiki Indaba and Wiki Conference North America costs --why are these not included under travel?

These items were being listed as single conferences, but can now be under travel. Shanluan (talk) 15:58, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

• Please provide your timeline as a static document - PDF okay

Please find AfroCROWD Timeline attached.

In terms of the schedule for our review process, please complete your review and responses to committee feedback by May 8th. After this time, the Regional Committee will begin a final review of the proposal to make a formal decision. Thanks again for your work on the proposal and supporting our review!

Thank you! Shanluan (talk) 16:19, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you. On behalf of the Regional Committee, Emjackson42 (talk) 18:56, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, @Shanluan. Can you please provide a direct link to your most recent progress report for the last cycle of funding? I'm not finding it in the Meta milieu. Thanks! Emjackson42 (talk) 14:25, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

@Shanluan nevermind--found it! Emjackson42 (talk) 14:39, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

General Support Fund proposal approved in the amount of 145,000 USD

Shanluan, Aliceba and Adjoajo: Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 145,000 USD with a grant term starting 1 July 2023 and ending 30 June 2024. This represents a partial funding decision based on the original request.

The Regional Committee supported continued funding for AfroCROWD for the upcoming year, and noted these areas of strength in the proposal:

• Significant improvements in the evaluation plan from last year in terms of qualitative analyses, in particular the effort to look at participant motivation, effective ways of supporting teacher participation, practices that help sustain your partnerships, and assessing community involvement in AfroCROWD’s strategic planning.
• Clear plans around approaches to improve knowledge equity needs in African diaspora communities
• AfroCROWD continues to maintain robust partnerships that support its goals at both local and international levels, providing various forms of support around outreach, access, and resourcing for its activities.

The Regional Committee did not support full funding for the proposal, but supported an increase of about 8% from AfroCROWD’s previous budget. In addition to budgetary constraints for the General Support Fund this round, the committee did not support full funding due to some broader concerns. The committee offers some suggestions on how to address these concerns in your next proposal:

• The committee requests a clear explanation around why staff positions proposed in AfroCROWD’s previous General Support Fund proposal (for an Evaluations expert and an Audio/Visual expert) were not filled. This explanation is important, especially when new staff are requested in a subsequent proposal. While we understand that funding was used to support additional outreach directly supporting relevant communities for your work, it’s unclear why these proposed positions could not be or otherwise were not filled. If possible, please provide more details on these circumstances here on the talk page.
• Relatedly, the committee is also concerned about AfroCROWD capacity to hire staff it has requested. The committee asks that AfroCROWD uses existing funds for these critical investments in its capacity before requesting funding for additional staffing or other substantial growth.
• The amount of travel proposed for the funding period is high, and the proposal did not include clear information about how this travel would support AfroCROWD’s goals or connect to its evaluation plan. While the Regional Committee understands that AfroCROWD’s scope of work encompasses the African diaspora, and that there may be a greater need for travel to support adequate community engagement, more information about why this travel is important should be included in the proposal. Incorporating goals into your evaluation plan related to your travel is recommended as well. It may be necessary to consider seeking additional funding opportunities if AfroCROWD’s travel will grow substantially in future years.
• The committee had several points of feedback for improving the overall structure and organization of future General Support Fund proposals:
  • When requesting multiyear funding, please ensure your detailed budget and metrics clearly reflect the first year for that funding period. Subsequent years (Year 2 / Year 3) do not need to be as detailed, as it is generally difficult to anticipate exact budgets and outcomes far in advance. During its review, it was challenging for the Regional Committee to evaluate parts of the proposal when the budget reflected a three-year total, instead of a one-year total. Optionally, you can split out budget information by year if you prefer, and then add it together for a three-year total.
  • The committee would appreciate a clear reference or link to your most recent report in your next proposal.
  • For multiyear funding, please include some expected milestones or major expected activities during the multiyear period.

One important change in the General Support Fund is that a written midpoint report is no longer required. We will continue to have a midpoint conversation to meet and generally reflect on your progress, needs, and updates on your ongoing and future movement work.

In terms of next steps:

1. You will be contacted to sign a grant agreement.
2. If you want to discuss the funding decision or have questions during the funding period, you are welcome to contact your regional program officer.

Thanks again for your hard work preparing the proposal and supporting our review process for the General Support Fund. We look forward to your work this year!

On behalf of the Regional Committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 06:05, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your generous support, consideration and feedback for AfroCROWD. This is especially valuable as we look towards coming programming and activity in the Wikimedia community and movement. Shanluan (talk) 20:51, 29 May 2023 (UTC)