Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia Hungary 2026

Initial Feedback

Dear members of Wikimédia Magyarország Egyesület,

Congratulations on your first General Support Fund application! This is a very strong proposal, and it demonstrates clear alignment with the Movement Strategy 2030. We also appreciate the thoughtful analysis of trends in WMF projects in Hungarian, which provides a strong justification for your proposed activities.

The planned organizational restructuring is an important and ambitious step. We were wondering whether you have considered contingency plans in case challenges arise during this transition, especially since you are planning to expand programmatic activities at the same time.

Your goal of creating 100,000 new items on Wikidata is impressive and ambitious. It appears that part of this work will build on outcomes from earlier partnerships, but it'd be helpful if you could provide a bit more detail on this target and how you plan to achieve it.

Thank you! Nataev ^talk 22:57, 6 November 2025 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the time and effort you dedicated to reviewing our proposal and for the positive feedback. Please find our response to the questions below.

As part of its annual planning process, the Association carefully assessed the potential challenges and risks that may arise during the transition, which we summarize below together with the relevant contingency measures where applicable.

1. Internal decision-making: The planned transition must be supported by both the Board and the General Assembly (i.e., the membership) of the Association. However, in recent years, the membership and the governing bodies have repeatedly committed to this direction, as the transformation has been implemented as a gradual, multi-year process based on previous decisions. The current stage is already an intermediate milestone in this process. Therefore, the likelihood of not supporting the next step toward building an efficient, professional organization is considered low.
2. Legal and administrative requirements: The introduction of an executive director-led governance structure and the related organizational amendments are legally possible; the required legal framework exists, and several other Hungarian public benefit organizations operate under a similar model. What remains necessary is the internal discussions and external legal consultations on the detailed regulations, which may require time and financial resources but is not expected to pose a problem for the Association.
3. Human resources considerations: The transition includes the modification of staff roles and the increase of working hours, and accordingly, amendments to staff contracts. If the recruitment of new staff members were to become necessary, finding suitable candidates (job posting, candidate search, interviews, selection, offer, contracting) would entail uncertainty and may require additional time. However, according to the current plans, the Association intends to continue employing its existing, long-serving staff in expanded roles and working hours, and both parties have already expressed preliminary agreement regarding these changes. (In fact, staff members have explicitly requested this change, and its absence would pose a greater risk to the Association’s continuous operations.) Should any current staff member unexpectedly not continue under the new structure, conducting the above recruitment process would serve as the relevant contingency measure. In addition, internal procedures and documentation have been continuously developed in recent years to reduce dependency on any specific staff member, although further improvement in this area remains possible.
4. Implementation timeline: Based on the experience of previous years, the timeline and milestones defined for the transition are considered realistic. Should delays occur due to unforeseen reasons (e.g., the recruitment process becoming necessary or a prolonged legal procedure), the delay would likely be limited to 1–2 months, which would not fundamentally affect the implementation of the annual plan or the Association’s budget, though it may require minor adjustments.
5. Implementation of the annual program plan: The Association plans to expand its programmatic activities; however, this is made possible precisely by the planned increase in internal capacity. The Association will focus on programs that are already well-tested and scalable, thereby reducing implementation risks. It also intends to prioritize programs that were previously planned but postponed due to capacity constraints, several of which have already undergone extensive preparatory work or are ready to launch based on existing plans. During the restructuring process, the Association will prioritize core activities and may temporarily postpone or scale down less critical initiatives to ensure stable operations if necessary. In general, as in previous years, the Association will manage and continuously reassess the program plan throughout the year, in light of emerging opportunities and challenges, and will focus on those programs and activities that most effectively support its strategic plan and the goals of Movement Strategy 2030.

Wikimedia Hungary has been consciously preparing for this transition for many years. Many related issues have already been clarified and addressed, and several steps have been gradually implemented. Therefore, the failure of the transition is not anticipated. The governance restructuring will not limit the Association’s expanded programmatic activities; rather, once implemented, it will support them by enabling increased and more efficient internal capacity. While its implementation will temporarily require resources during the first half of the year, it is expected to yield multiple long-term benefits. Should unforeseen obstacles arise during the transition, the Association has the necessary contingency plans and sufficient flexibility to address them. Overall, we are confident that the phased approach, existing operational reserves, and clearly defined contingency measures ensure that both the restructuring and the planned programmatic growth can be carried out responsibly and sustainably.

The 100,000 new items planned for upload to Wikidata are the result of a cooperation agreement concluded last year with the SZTE Klebelsberg Library and Archives, under which the Library granted free-use permission for its catalog and bibliographic database. This is important because databases of this type, containing works published in Hungary, have not previously been openly reusable, and the Library is one of the largest and most significant institutions of its kind in the country.

The transferred database contains several million records; however, it cannot be uploaded and used immediately, as it first requires data filtering, cleaning, and structuring, establishing the prerequisites for upload on Wikidata, mapping the data fields, identifying and removing duplicates, and performing additional manual tasks both before and after the phased bulk uploads. A larger-scale upload will be preceded by a pilot project, which will upload a smaller data set and evaluate the outcomes before scaling further. For this reason, we are not able to estimate precisely how many new Wikidata items can be created within the framework of this project in 2026; the target of 100,000 new items should therefore be considered an informed projection. The Association has several members who have previously participated in similar large-scale Wikidata-upload initiatives, and they can contribute valuable expertise and experience to this project as well.

The resulting database within Wikidata may serve as a foundation for further tools in the future, including improvements to Wikipedia’s citation tool, which the Association also intends to work on. In addition, it will enhance the machine-searchability of Hungarian cultural heritage, improve the quality of Wikipedia articles (citations, authority data, VIAF, etc.), and support future GLAM–Wikidata collaborations across the Hungarian cultural heritage sector and beyond.

Please let us know if you have any further questions; we would be glad to provide additional details.

Best regards, WMHU's Team – Samat (talk) 22:49, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

General Support Fund proposal approved in the amount of 20,000,000 HUF

Dear Wikimédia Magyarország Egyesület,

Congratulations! Your grant proposal has been approved for a total of 20,000,000 HUF. The grant will commence on January 1, 2026, and will conclude on December 31, 2026.

The committee found your application strong and appreciated your prompt response to our questions. Your chapter has taken great care with respect to this transition in its governance and decision-making processes, considered different risks around this plan, and taken steps to reduce risks where possible. Wikimedia Hungary’s recent partnership with the SZTE Klebelsberg Library and Archives also appears to have been very successful, and we look forward to your reporting on Wikidata-related outcomes stemming from this work. We recommend that you explore ways to further expand your collaboration with affiliates and partners in the region and globally.

We look forward to your work and achievements over the next year.

On behalf of the Regional Committee, Nataev ^talk 17:47, 8 December 2025 (UTC)