Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/Wikimedia NYC:Expanding Reach, Programs, Partnerships, and Capacity from 2025-2028

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

@Pacita (WikiNYC), Pharos, Wil540 art, and Kosboot: Thanks for your multiyear funding proposal supporting activities and projects in and around the New York metropolitan area, as well collaborative opportunities with other regional communities. I had a few comments and questions regarding the proposal, independent from Regional Committee feedback that I wanted to share here:

• The need for greater staffing capacity features prominently in the proposal, which we have discussed previously in preparation for this funding round. Some specific, dedicated roles you have named in the proposal include fundraising and programming, and possibly technical support / tool development. In a more ideal staffing scenario, how would the role of the ED change if additional staffing capacity is available, and what opportunities or capacities could that open up for your organization? What proposed programs from Wikimedia NYC (like those described in Question 8) would benefit most at this time from having dedicated staffing capacity, and why?
• Can you unpack a little more about what expected conferences and Wikimedia events the chapter will be using its travel budget for? It's OK for there to be some uncertainty here, but we do want to understand better which movement events or other conferences are a priority for your organization over the next few years.
• Wikimedia NYC's current strategic plan spans from 2022-2025. Are there aspects of this strategy that you think are likely to continue into 2026 and beyond, and what plans does the chapter have to develop its next multiyear strategy to inform its programmatic choices and organizational priorities?

Please let me know if you have any questions or needs for clarity around these comments and requests. To support our review and decisionmaking, responses to proposal feedback from myself and Regional Committee members will be due on 2 May 2025. With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 19:21, 4 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi! Responses to your questions below:

The role of the ED would remain largely the same but opening up additional staffing capacity would allow for more partnership opportunities, volunteer support, and programming across the region. As the cultural climate in the U.S. shifts there's a greater need for more focus on editor safety, support, and collaborative organizing and that strategy and work would fall on the plate of the executive director to help lead over the next few years. With that in mind, our programs centered on supporting experienced editors and admins/folks with extended user rights would benefit the most from having dedicated staff to help our longstanding editors during this difficult time. And of course, additional fundraising staffing capacity would help sustain all of our programs for the long term. Finally, additional staff would help us grow our Wikimedian in Residence program. This year we were able to launch our first official Wikimedian in Residence at the City University of New York which is luckily being supported by an external funder. We would like to launch Wikimedians in Residence at more major institutions across NYC (we have interest from a few but no funding right now to make it happen) and with the right staffing will likely be able to do that.

The travel budget would be used for Wikimedia conferences like Wikiconference North America, EduWiki Conference, Wikimania, and the Wikimedia Executive Director retreats that happen annually. As well as aligned regional conferences that help support our work. In the budget, we've also created a line item to help fund two editors from our community to attend Wikimania this year. Given the competitive nature of Wikimania scholarship applications we imagine that there will be many qualified participants in the Wikimedia NYC network who would not receive a scholarship and wouldn't have the opportunity to connect and learn with their global peers.

Yes, there are many pieces of the current strategic plan that will continue in the next one. Including stabilizing the organization - in particular increasing our staffing capacity, that is mentioned above, and creating succession plans. Increasing awareness of our brand and impact - which we began to explore in 2024 with beginner editor programs like Wikicurious and in 2025 with the NYC 400 campaign and our Wikipedia Day celebration are all seeing a lot of engagement and brand awareness. This year we'll begin to develop a brand and communications strategy and create the infrastructure to hold it, especially as we receive more and more press/media attention and inquiries because of the political climate. Revitalizing our members and volunteers will also continue as we flesh out our membership structure and volunteer engagement, with the added element of editor safety as referenced above. Developing resources and trainings for our volunteers and partners is also a priority. At the end of this month, we will be having our annual visioning meeting that will kick off the process of creating our next multiyear strategic plan.

Hope this answered your questions! Thanks, Pacita.

Pacita (WikiNYC) (talk) 17:10, 7 April 2025 (UTC)

Comments from the Regional Committee

@Pacita (WikiNYC), Pharos, Wil540 art, and Kosboot:

The Regional Committee reviewed your proposal last week and read with interest your comprehensive and ambitious plans for the coming 3 years. I especially appreciated your focus on engaging underrepresented groups, beginners, and new partners; your "commitment to building a Wikimedia as diverse and democratic as the New York City subway."

Given the scope of your work, maintaining your Executive Director position while also hiring a (part time) Program Manager seems wise.

It's exciting to see that you will be hosting WikiConference North America later this year, a major event with 300 attendees for 4 days of programming. I note that your budget indicates a number of monthly event costs but no budget specifically assigned for WC NA. How will you adjust your budget -- as well as your scheduling -- to accommodate this activity?

In the Other Metrics section (section 15) of your proposal, you list a target of 400 under the “Address Content Gaps”. Is this perhaps related to your NYC 400 project of “updating or creating Wikipedia articles for 400 neighborhoods and remarkable individuals”?

Thanks again for your submission. On behalf of the Regional Committee, Redwidgeon (talk)

Comments from Wikimedia NYC

@Redwidgeon

Big thanks to you and the Regional Committee for reviewing our proposal! In regards to Wikiconference North America in NYC, we have a separate conference budget that is being used to cover the cost of that conference. Given inflation and in general how much more expensive things in New York are compared to other places, we may need to use some of the general fund budget to cover costs that go over the current conference budget but that's still be to determined. In terms of scheduling, we're committing to decreasing the number of programs in the month before and during Wikiconference North America so we can focus all our attention on the logistics of the conference. We also started planning for this conference as soon as it was announced late last year so we have a bit of a head start on organizing in comparison to other years.

Yes, the 400 metric under addressing content gaps is in relation to the NYC 400 campaign. It's likely we'll have more than 400 new and updated articles about underrepresented neighborhoods and individuals in New York (we have close to 1,000 submissions) but at the minimum there will be 400.

Thanks, Pacita. Pacita (WikiNYC) (talk)