Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Cultivate What’s Growing:BLT Wikimedians Community and Continuums 2026-2028

Comments from Wugapodes

Thanks for your proposal! It's great getting to hear about the great work you've been doing, and I'm especially impressed by the wide range of support you've gotten from other grant-makers. I wanted to ask a few clarifying questions to help my review:

• I appreciate the added context on the Regional Proxies in this proposal, and it sounds like they're doing interesting work! Do you have any examples of programs put on by some of these contractors?
• The additional metrics this year are really interesting and I'm excited to see how they work out! Do you plan to track new versus returning editors?

It was a pleasure to read through your proposal, and I hope the focus on initiatives that have been effective sets you up for future success. I'm looking forward to learning more, and other committee members may chime in with their questions. Thanks! Wugapodes (talk) 04:12, 4 November 2025 (UTC)

The Regional Proxy program feels like it has really found its groove, and we’re glad that comes across in the proposal. In our open call, we ask applicants to propose what they’d like to do during their term, and we take those ideas seriously as we shape the year. In past cycles, that has meant a focus on translation as well as overlaps with projects like AfroCine. Last year, for example, Rukaya Hamidu and Mohammed Kamal-Deen Fuseini worked together in Ghana; you can see details from one of their events here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Ba%C5%8Bsim_b%C9%9Bla_nuchee_ni.

Regional Proxy events are documented in multiple ways: dashboards, meetup pages, and, when it makes sense, recordings: with more documentation and event surveys implemented so we can better archive and improve the work. Our 2025 class is still in motion, but you can already see some of their work here from Chukwuma Dike: https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wiki_Activate_Africa_and_Black_Lunch_Table/Improving_African_Authors_and_Books_Items. And you can catch a great panel discussion from Candy Khohliwe here: https://vimeo.com/1121179541?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci.

I am not sure if you mean new editors within the RP program or across our other programs, so I’ll answer for the others. We will definitely be working to better coordinate editor tracking,(new and returning) especially since editor retention has been one of the ongoing challenges over the past few years. In addition to collecting editor names, we do share a survey with participants. It can be difficult to get full participation, but we remain hopeful, as every bit of information we gather helps us understand who is in community with us and how we can strengthen engagement, improve retention, and stay focused on closing our knowledge gap.

Thank you! Raggachampiongirl (talk) 23:27, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

Comments from Redwidgeon

I appreciated reading your proposal -- it's exciting to read about BLT's plans for the next 3 years. Your plans include a good mix of new projects as well as tried-&-true programs you've offered before.

Just a couple of comments/suggestions:

• I especially appreciated reading about the "Wikicurious" sessions, with the goal of helping artists (& others) understand how the citation process works in WP and engaging with Wikipedia to cultivate their own public presence.
• It's clear that you have made considerable effort to partner with other organizations & projects to further your goals. Have you had any contact with WikiPortraits? I'm just wondering if they might have some resources or contacts to support your Photo Booth initiatives.

Redwidgeon (talk) 00:05, 5 November 2025 (UTC)

Thank you. We’re working to build more nuance into different parts of our work and task lists for the coming term. For example, noting filmmakers, sculptors, and whether artists are living or deceased as possible subheadings on our task list, giving editors different entry points that may be more interesting to them. That approach is also shaping how we think about our programming. One example: we’re excited to partner with a Chicago community photo lab to share best practices with photographers on uploading their work to Commons and understanding their own pages, where applicable.

And, yes! I have been in contact with Jenny Lee a number of times. We actually met in NYC at a WikiCurious event. It was nice to chat about the different compensation models and how each of us work to create a target subject/event list.. There may yet be an opportunity to work together in the future. Raggachampiongirl (talk) 23:28, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

General Support Fund proposal approved

@Raggachampiongirl: Congratulations! Your grant is approved for multiyear funding in the amount 780,000 USD over a three-year period, with a grant term starting 1 January 2026 and ending 31 December 2028. The funding is approved for distribution over the multiyear period in the following manner:

• Year 1: 260,000 USD
• Year 2: 260,000 USD
• Year 3: 260,000 USD

The Regional Fund Committee supported sustaining Black Lunch Table’s (BLT) programs and operations through multiyear funding over the next three years. During review, the committee noted that BLT’s programmatic work is maturing, both in terms of sustaining programming that is working well and experimenting and partnering with others to support programming that speaks to more contemporary needs in your communities. These strengths are evidenced by BLT’s strategy to build a more dedicated presence in Chicago, engaging with publishers to access high-quality sources to support important content development the contributions of Black artists, teaching communities about important topics such as engaging with the Wikimedia movement as a public figure and one’s individual rights related to participating in photo booth programs. Finally, the committee agreed that BLT’s showcase of case studies of partnerships in its past reporting and direct interactions with artists is effective and beneficial for article quality, and reduces and prevents cases of COI around biographical content.

The organization has also demonstrated considerable success in diversifying its funding sources in the last year, and will continue seeking external funding opportunities in 2026. This work indicates a commitment to sustainable organizational growth. Finally, recent changes in BLT’s outreach and newsletter have also been positively received by the committee– please continue to forward these to your communities and program officer!

The committee was not able to support full funding for Years 2 and 3 due to uncertainty over the extent of expected budgetary growth for the regional budget for those years at this time. The Community Resources team will inform you if it is possible to request funding increases when the regional budget is confirmed for these fiscal years, but it may be necessary to maintain this level of funding over the three-year period without funding increases.

We look forward to Black Lunch Table’s development and contributions to the Wikimedia movement over the next three years. On behalf of the Regional Fund Committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 18:09, 10 December 2025 (UTC)