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Feedback from the NWE Regional Funds Committee

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Latest comment: 3 months ago4 comments3 people in discussion

Dear Wikimedia Portugal  team,

Thanks for submitting your multiannual grant request. The Committee has reviewed and discussed your proposal, and wishes to share the following feedback:

It was appreciated in the proposal that the organisation took time to reflect on limitations and opportunities, and decided to re-structure its personnel, developed a programming based on a multi-annual strategy, and diversified the governance, which are all welcome organisational developments. Among others, the proposal’s strengths include a credible partnership ecosystem, community consultation processes, and a focus on knowledge equity (e.g., minority languages), planned revenue diversification, attention to staff wellbeing, and a pragmatic, potentially replicable model for GLAM and education.

Some weaknesses were also identified, such as:

  • An observed lack of integration of outcomes of the recent GLAM conference and a lack of engagement with international GLAM networks and partnerships (e.g., European affiliates, Content Partnerships Hub) and larger scale Open Knowledge initiatives beyond open data and OpenStreetMap;
  • Lack of actions to increase the public awareness of Wikimedia projects (in light of trends of decreasing readership, editorship on WP:PT and declining community), and exploring new impact metrics in the AI era (who is using/engaging with the content uploaded/added by WM PT and the volunteer community whose work you facilitate, how AI is engaging with this content or the content on minority language Wikis?);
  • Lack of clarity about how the gender work is shared with WELx without resulting in duplication of efforts or conflict, what safeguards or measures were taken since drafting the MoU last year to ensure a smooth, cooperative co-existence, built on each other’s strengths?;
  • Last year, the organisation was asked to improve cost efficiency by reducing event-heavy spending in favor of on-wiki impact, which remained unaddressed based on the planned budget;
  • The plan to obtain DGERT certification is an interesting idea, but it is a very long term plan starting in 3 years, and the proposal lacks details on the expected roadmap to get there between 2026-2029, beyond the currently requested FTE growth, the impact plan of this certification (why this is the most efficient path, what will this achieve?), and lacks a contingency plan in case the certification is not obtained.

The Committee has furthermore the following clarifying questions:

Questions on WMPT’s training plans:

  • We would like to understand much better the pedagogical approaches for the training programs mentioned in the proposal (in terms of their content, methodology, target groups and their community integration). Can you please, therefore, explain to us in detail, who are you planning to train, how many trained people are planned, when, on what subjects, at which level, using what methodologies, in which setting (e.g. in GLAM, EDU-professors, PhD students, community members)? Can you please share this information in an overview table format with us, so we have a better overview of all planned training?
  • What methodology are you planning to use for increasing digital literacy skills, for example? How will you measure skill development?
  • Becoming a wikimedian activist, editor or even just a user needs a reasonable positive awareness about the Wikimedia environment. How will this be addressed in the training programs?
  • At the doctorate level training, would it be a transversal competence for all fields of knowledge, or just for teaching/communication areas?
  • The use of QS, OR and other practical tools to build up information from databases is very valuable. Will they be included in a wider competence of programming skills (e.g., in widely used coding languages like Python or R, and widely used tools like QGIS that deal with key properties in WD and information in WP/Commons)?

Staffing questions:

  • Can you please explain to us, what is the role of the interns mentioned under the staff plan? What will they do, how will they be recruited?
  • What is the necessity for the 0.5FTE admin personnel?
  • Do you already have candidates for all positions, or will there be an open recruitment for some? If the latter, what is the recruitment plan?
  • The planned new ED position is a promotion from a PM position to the ED position, without prior experience as managing director. What support structures (mentoring, coaching, board oversight) are planned to accompany this transition?

Revenue model:

  • We would like to know if the community is in agreement with a business-like approach for revenue generation, and if that is in alignment with the local non-profit status of WMPT? Also, we are confused by the paid or free nature of the mentioned capacity building: “WMPT’s intention is to ensure a sustainable social revenue model, with the launch of free capacity building for individuals and institutions (B2B and B2C)”.
  • What is the current status of the Public Utility Status application, and which requirements are already met?
  • Could WMPT provide a breakdown of the €40,000 autonomous revenue target by source?
  • The introduction of membership fees was planned in the previous two annual plans and has not materialised. What has changed that makes this more likely in the current triennium?

Metrics:

  • Which activity pipelines will ensure meeting the increased metric targets compared to previous years?

Please be so kind as to submit your responses to the Committee feedback by 17th April 2026.

Thank you very much!

On behalf of the NWE Regional Committee  == ABruszik-WMF (talk) 05:45, 9 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Dear @ABruszik-WMF and the NWE Regional Committee, we kindly ask for some patience in expecting our responses. This deadline coincided with the holidays of our Executive Coordinator, and some answers require his input. He will be back on Monday, so we expect to be able to submit them by end of Monday or early Tuesday, the latest, if that is ok with you! Thank you in advance! GoEThe (talk) 09:14, 18 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
Dear @GoEThe, Please submit your responses by 17:00 PM Monday, please as the Committee meets on Monday evening! Thank you! ABruszik-WMF (talk) 17:58, 18 April 2026 (UTC)Reply
Dear @ABruszik-WMF and the NWE Regional Committee,
Wikimedia Portugal thanks you for the time reviewing our application to the multi-year general community fund and for the constructive feedback provided, which is very relevant and it will certainly be used to improve our multi-year plan. We are committed to continuous improvement and sustainable growth. We will respond to your comments and questions point-by-point and we welcome further feedback if and where you see fit. The responses are numbered to make cross referencing easier.

An observed lack of integration of outcomes of the recent GLAM conference and a lack of engagement with international GLAM networks and partnerships (e.g., European affiliates, Content Partnerships Hub) and larger scale Open Knowledge initiatives beyond open data and OpenStreetMap;
  • RESPONSE 1: The GLAM Conference was very important in many aspects of the WMPT activity, and although we recognize that there is still room to deepen our engagement with international GLAM networks, it is also an area where we are working on. Our priority has been in solidification of our partnerships and GLAM community, and, at the same time, forficate a local GLAM community in order to increase our operational capacity. During this process, our team as been creating protocols and documentation to better assist those who are joining us, and will become part of the international networks. Nevertheless, some examples of this international networks integration already exists. There is a strong contingence of our local community in DARIAH Wiki Usergroup, working with international teams and part of the organization of DARIAH events, accessing DARIAH funds, and other funding systems. Some of our community members connected with academia, but also some of our board members are a part of GOBLIN - Global Network on Large-Scale, Cross-domain and Multilingual Open Knowledge Graphs, Cost Action (CA23147). We are also participating in an international group seeking funding for Erasmus+ funding with the project Voices, Inclusion, Technology, and Advancement for Sustainable Development in Indigenous Communities (VITA), combining Wikimedia communities, GLAM institutions, researchers, academic and technical institutions and local indigenous communities. What we lack is having those who can make the bridge between international Wikimedia GLAM Networks and our community. During the next Wikimedia hackathon, we will have a first example of that, with the first-time participation of a member from the GLAM movement who has been integrated into our network. Moreover, we are aiming to strengthen international ties within the Wikimedia communities and enhance our own community's skills, by hosting the Users with Extended Rights meeting later this year.

Lack of actions to increase the public awareness of Wikimedia projects (in light of trends of decreasing readership, editorship on WP:PT and declining community), and exploring new impact metrics in the AI era (who is using/engaging with the content uploaded/added by WM PT and the volunteer community whose work you facilitate, how AI is engaging with this content or the content on minority language Wikis?);
There has been talk of the Portuguese community disappearing for 15 years (https://web.archive.org/web/20110103181314/http://www.ionline.pt/conteudo/96443-wikipedia-celebra-dez-anos-com-editores-portugueses-em-vias-extincao), but even that seems relatively stable, with 10% of editors located in Portugal: https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/pt.wikipedia.org/contributing/active-editors-by-country/normal%7Ctable%7Clast-month%7C(activity-level)~5..99-edits%7Cmonthly Even the number of readers seems to be growing since 2025, despite a drop in 2024: https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/pt.wikipedia.org/reading/total-page-views/normal%7Cbar%7Call%7C~total%7Cmonthly. Which is not to say that we do not aim to increase public awareness and perception. In fact, everything we do aims at increasing public perception of the projects, and that is why we want to reinforce our communication. Despite the challenges, we have increased our public visibility, as you can see in the media where Wikimedia Portugal is mentioned in 2025 (https://pt.wikimedia.org/wiki/Relat%C3%B3rios/Anual/2025#Comunica%C3%A7%C3%A3o,_visibilidade_e_advocacia_p%C3%BAblica). Moreover, we produced a specific publication to bring awareness about the challenges Wikipedia faces with the increased use of chatbots and other LLM based AI tools, which will be published soon in the Journal of the Libraries of NOVA FCSH: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y9ubLSvGWOn482zL6SMRTaxGbLjqrQSwe7u38qvRqFY/edit?usp=sharing In addition, AI issues are always mentioned and discussed in the Wikimedia projects that are being implemented in the classroom, both at the University of Porto and at NOVA FCSH in Lisbon. The same care applies to the training of our doctoral student and the BA interns and it is replicable across other universities. Furthermore, new partnerships are being formed, trying to reach more diverse university communities and to further develop awareness about the human-based vs. machine-based knowledge (e.g. the planning of a course for university teachers at UBI (Covilhã) and U. Porto and organization of WikiCon at the U. Coimbra). The rest could be interesting for a dedicated project, but we do not think it is possible to include everything in a 3-year project. For instance, the question “How AI is engaging with this content or the content on minority language Wikis?” could be undertaken by a MA or a PhD student in Information Science, with WMPT’s support, but not undertaken directly by WMPT at this point.

Lack of clarity about how the gender work is shared with WELx without resulting in duplication of efforts or conflict, what safeguards or measures were taken since drafting the MoU last year to ensure a smooth, cooperative co-existence, built on each other’s strengths?;
  • RESPONSE 3: Since the drafting of the MoU, our cooperation with WELx has moved from a formal intent to a practical synergy, proven by the successful organization of the GLAM Wiki conference. Wikimedia Portugal has concrete plans to collaborate with WELx in the Education program, where WELx may assume a central role in gender themes. Beyond the MoU, we ensure that there are no overlaps in the gender work with different targets. While WELx leads on community-facing grassroots engagement, WMPT activities related to gender are directed to a broader public and cooperating with partners whose interest goes beyond gender (e.g. Ciência Viva: science, climate change, etc). We are also discussing how we can improve our cooperation, and avoid unnecessary overlaps. Finally, WMPT will continue to invite WELx to actively participate in WikiCon Portugal and in all activities related to gender, including those organized with other affiliates to highlight very special and specific dates (like the Women’s Writers day, with Wikimedia España, and the International Women’s day).

Last year, the organization was asked to improve cost efficiency by reducing event-heavy spending in favor of on-wiki impact, which remained unaddressed based on the planned budget;
  • RESPONSE 4: In the previous annual plan (2025-2026), Wikimedia Portugal requested 30900€ in the “Wikimedia Events / conferences” slice, and for this year (2026-2027), we budgeted 25000€, which represents a reduction of almost 20%. We understand that the committee may feel that we could have made further adjustments at this point, however, in the light of the community survey (section 3.2. and 4.8.), the Portuguese community considers the in-person meetings one of the most important actions of Wikimedia Portugal, both to meet other active editors, get support and convert participants into active editors: https://pt.wikimedia.org/wiki/Inqu%C3%A9rito_de_Ausculta%C3%A7%C3%A3o_da_comunidade_wikimedista_de_Portugal_2026/Relat%C3%B3rio As a consequence, Wikimedia Portugal believes that further reductions in the events budget could seriously undermine community cohesion. At the same time, we have not only reduced the events budget but are also shifting from a model of large‑scale events to a greater number of smaller, targeted activities with more direct and measurable impact on‑wiki.

The plan to obtain DGERT certification is an interesting idea, but it is a very long term plan starting in 3 years, and the proposal lacks details on the expected roadmap to get there between 2026-2029, beyond the currently requested FTE growth, the impact plan of this certification (why this is the most efficient path, what will this achieve?), and lacks a contingency plan in case the certification is not obtained.
  • RESPONSE 5: Among our partners, we have several institutions that are interested in receiving advanced training and are willing to pay for it. In Portugal, for example, teachers are required to complete a certain number of hours of certified training every year, and every employee is entitled to at least 40 hours of certified training per year. Our goal is to explore this opportunity by offering high‑quality, certified Wikimedia‑related training that meets these legal and institutional requirements. Our partners need advanced, reliable training and stability over time, which is difficult to ensure using only volunteers. Even volunteers themselves require advanced training, and we need to set up a more stable, professional training structure that can deliver consistent availability and quality. DGERT certification meets this need by giving our training offer formal recognition and making it easier to integrate into institutional training plans, while still aligning with our mission of knowledge equity and open education. To obtain the status of “Entidade de Formação Certificada” by DGERT, a series of requirements must be met, which take time to put in place. These include having suitable facilities, demonstrating pedagogical capacity (i.e., proven experience as a training provider), and “employing” trainers with the Certificado de Competências Pedagógicas (CCP). For this reason, it is a process that cannot be completed from one year to the next and requires medium‑term planning. However, we are exploring with partners the possibility of, before obtaining DGERT certification ourselves, gradually building our internal structure and already offering certified training in partnership with entities that are already DGERT‑certified. This means that the certification would not be the beginning, but one more step, and the program can be developed gradually, on top of the experience acquired.

The Committee has furthermore the following clarifying questions:
Questions on WMPT’s training plans:
We would like to understand much better the pedagogical approaches for the training programs mentioned in the proposal (in terms of their content, methodology, target groups and their community integration). Can you please, therefore, explain to us in detail, who are you planning to train, how many trained people are planned, when, on what subjects, at which level, using what methodologies, in which setting (e.g. in GLAM, EDU-professors, PhD students, community members)? Can you please share this information in an overview table format with us, so we have a better overview of all planned training?
  • RESPONSE 6: We created this spreadsheet to provide the committee with a clearer overview of the training activities: (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Oyn7zt4AwSPMxJNOjXiLGcnJqloqqzK-Olq1ia1CGG4/edit?usp=sharing), which follows the timeline distribution already formalized in the training calendar (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xB8VWx-i8QsyF8amnD1ihmqxBEpCBaMgXrrFir-z9lg/edit?usp=sharing). The planned training activities are structured along two complementary axes. On the one hand, there is open and ongoing training, delivered mostly online from the second year onward, with a frequency of 2 to 3 sessions per month and small groups (15–20 participants). These aim to support the gradual onboarding of new editors into the Wikimedia ecosystem, as well as to strengthen the skills of existing participants, including community members, GLAM professionals, and researchers. These trainings also function as a strategic entry point for engaging new partnerships, allowing different audiences to be involved in a flexible way, while promoting the consolidation of our active community. To reduce reliance on staff, it is planned that these trainings will be delivered by members or individuals from the broader Wikimedia Portugal community who already possess the relevant expertise. On the other hand, structured in-person institutional training will be developed in partnership with specific organizations and implemented in more intensive and replicable formats, such as short courses and continuing education programs. In this context, the free course developed in partnership with FLUP (https://w.wiki/LB45), already approved and scheduled for implementation in the second half of 2026, stands out. It represents an adaptation of models previously developed by initiatives such as Wikimedia Argentina’s Wikipuentes and the Wikipedia Mini-course for Professors from the Projeto Mais Teoria da História na Wiki (Brazil). These institutional trainings are primarily aimed at academic and educational audiences, such as university lecturers and students, and are characterized by a more formalized pedagogical structure, with strong potential for replication and integration into curricular contexts.

What methodology are you planning to use for increasing digital literacy skills, for example? How will you measure skill development?
  • RESPONSE 7: For digital literacy specifically, the strategy focuses on a practical methodology of active participation, where learning takes place directly on Wikimedia platforms. Through editing sessions guided by the principle of learning by doing, participants will develop skills in creating and editing articles, uploading content to Commons, editing items on Wikidata, and verifying sources, with the support of simplified guidelines and individual assistance. The effectiveness of this training is assessed through indicators that combine productivity and technical quality of edits with the ability to create new content. The goal is to ensure that edits are successfully maintained, with low involvement in deletion processes, which can discourage new editors. We will also evaluate the level of autonomy demonstrated in using the platforms, the retention of editors after the activities, and the progress reflected in self-assessment questionnaires conducted before and after the sessions.

Becoming a wikimedian activist, editor or even just a user needs a reasonable positive awareness about the Wikimedia environment. How will this be addressed in the training programs?
  • RESPONSE 8: To transform perceptions of the Wikimedia ecosystem and convert participants into editors or informed users, awareness-raising is approached in a transversal way and adapted to each context. Rather than adopting a generic approach, introductory workshops and training programs (already taking place) tailor their messaging to different audiences. For instance, in universities, the focus is on scientific dissemination and the use of Wikimedia tools for developing 21st-century skills and supporting research, while for cultural institutions, the emphasis is placed on the visibility potential of their collections.This strategy aims to replace technical unfamiliarity among leadership and teams with a strategic vision, formally integrating Wikimedia into academic and cultural institutions staff curricula, and demonstrating through practice that the verification mechanisms of Wiki platforms make them reliable and high-quality tools. This shift in mindset is reinforced through the active deconstruction of misconceptions and the promotion of digital literacy, positioning participation in these projects as an exercise in critical citizenship. To consolidate this trust, the training initiatives draw on international success stories—such as the Witches project at the University of Edinburgh (https://witches.is.ed.ac.uk/) and the work of the Museu Paulista (https://w.wiki/JRL)—which serve as concrete evidence of the institutional value of these networks. By aligning organizational goals with the principles of open access, these training programs move beyond technical instruction to become a process of legitimation, demonstrating how the Wikimedia ecosystem can enhance each institution’s mission.

At the doctorate level training, would it be a transversal competence for all fields of knowledge, or just for teaching/communication areas?
  • RESPONSE 9: At this stage, doctoral projects are being negotiated with professors that are not always very aware of the Wikimedia ecosystem, so we try to integrate their work as PhD advisors and the work of their students in the Wikimedia platform that we consider the best fit (e.g. History of Art - Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, Linguistics - Wikipedia, Wikidata and Lingua Libre, Computational engineering- Wikibase and MediaWiki, etc). As the BA interns, doctoral students receive transversal training within the platforms and then specialize in one or two of them to conduct their research. At this stage, the training is very technical, but, as they develop the technical skills, we aim at training the teaching/communication areas, so they can apply in the future (e.g. Wikipedia in the classroom, being WMPT certified trainers, etc). With time, we would like to have doctoral students investigating specifically about Wikimedia platforms and their applications. For instance, one of our former interns went in November 2025 to Cape Verde to get initial material for her PhD in Linguistics. She tried to use Lingua Libre so all the materials could be automatically uploaded and categorized on Commons. However, she found that people resisted being recorded on reading words. When she came to Portugal, we discussed that it would be useful to do a PhD about the actual use of Wikimedia platforms for linguistic fieldwork, stating what we have, what works and does not work and how we can improve.

The use of QS, OR and other practical tools to build up information from databases is very valuable. Will they be included in a wider competence of programming skills (e.g., in widely used coding languages like Python or R, and widely used tools like QGIS that deal with key properties in WD and information in WP/Commons)?
  • RESPONSE 10: Tools such as OpenRefine, QuickStatements, and WQS are extremely relevant in the Portuguese context, particularly for audiences such as GLAM and Education, who are often interested in preparing and uploading data at scale within the Wikimedia ecosystem—whether institutional collections or research datasets. However, at present, only a small number of people within Wikimedia Portugal are trained in the use of these tools. Therefore, in an initial phase, the focus will be on internal capacity-building and the dissemination of these skills through practical training (for example, OpenRefine workshops) aimed at staff and the most active community members. The goal is to create a core group of trained individuals who can later replicate this knowledge with partners and external participants. At the same time, the pedagogical component will be developed, ensuring that content and methodologies are appropriate for non-technical audiences, especially within the GLAM sector. The integration of more advanced skills—such as programming in Python or R, or the use of tools like QGIS—may be considered at a later stage. In this initial phase, the priority is to consolidate basic and operational competencies, creating the conditions for sustainable development in the future.

Staffing questions:
Can you please explain to us, what is the role of the interns mentioned under the staff plan? What will they do, how will they be recruited?
  • RESPONSE 11: We get BA interns by submitting project proposals that the students can select to undertake. The projects are submitted together with a GLAM partner whenever possible, so they can benefit WMPT in several ways. First, it strengthens the relationship with the GLAM partner with a mandatory signed protocol between the three institutions (GLAM, WMPT and the University). Interns cannot be compared to WMPT staff, in fact, they are closer to a WiR. The staff and active volunteers of WMPT train the interns in the Wikimedia platforms during this period. Therefore, after the internship, students can (1) become actual Wikimedians in Residence if the GLAM institution hires them or (2) become WMPT certified trainers and teach courses during and especially after the process of obtaining the DGERT certification by us. Please recall that one of the requirements for obtaining this certification is to have a pool of certified trainers. Another important aspect of this approach, is that it allows the GLAM institutions to better understand the importance and impact of such projects, and, in some cases, can be the practical example they need to invest in a Wikimedian in residence, for example.

What is the necessity for the 0.5FTE admin personnel?
  • RESPONSE 12: As you can see in this document (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DSiZb8LZ67ikIgBlaAqOcIukjf73RbxvFU92d4ekk74/edit?usp=sharing), all administrative tasks are being executed. However, they are being undertaken by the current Executive Coordinator (and partially by the Board). This situation generates limitations on the strategic planning. For example, it is seriously delaying the Public Utility Status application and it limits the quality and quantity of external funding applications to which Wikimedia Portugal is able to apply to. The problem deepens when we deal with multiple grants or sources of revenue (like it happened in GLAM Wiki) and we must produce different financial reports for different entities and keep the accounts separated. The 0.5FTE admin personnel is therefore essential to ensure a strong leadership and the long term sustainability of Wikimedia Portugal, because it frees valuable time for the board and the future ED. Hiring an administrative person is not a luxury, but a strategic investment. This is a priority to unlock the chapter's growth. This person will perform tasks such as:
    • Support for the Public Utility dossier: Collection of certificates, compilation of activity reports, and management of correspondence with the public administration.
    • Digital and Physical Archive: Keeping Google Drive (or server) organized, ensuring that contracts, documents, and protocols are accessible and up-to-date.
    • Minutes Management: Support in drafting and collecting signatures for minutes of General Assemblies and Board meetings.
    • Expense Preparation: Organization of invoices, receipts, and expense reports for monthly submission to accounting.
    • Payment Processing: Preparation of bank transfers (salaries, suppliers, bid prizes) for authorization by the Board.
    • Member Database Management: Maintain an up-to-date contact list (in compliance with GDPR).
    • General Support: Screening emails from the general inbox (info@...) and answering phone calls, forwarding only what is strictly necessary to the technical committee.
    • Merchandising/Prizes Delivery: Logistical management of sending contest prizes (such as Wiki Loves Monuments) or materials for volunteers.
    • Event Support: Room reservations, catering quote requests, and inventory checks for materials (roll-ups, brochures, stickers).
    • GDPR: Support in verifying that event registration forms comply with data protection rules.

Do you already have candidates for all positions, or will there be an open recruitment for some? If the latter, what is the recruitment plan?
  • RESPONSE 13: There will be an open recruitment for the new positions (ED and Admin). Equality of circumstances and absence of any kind of prejudice will be guaranteed for all candidates. The recruitment plan goes as it follows:
    • 1) announcement of the job vacancy (with the job description, requirements, criteria of selection and description of Wikimedia Portugal mission and plan for the next three years);
    • 2) application of an aptitude test, based on the appendix of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (John Maxwell), The Mind of the Leader (Jacqueline Carter e Rasmus Hougaard) and other relevant literature;
    • 3) review of the candidates in light of the curricula and the test results by the recruitment committee;
    • 4) selection of three to five candidates for a synchronous interview with the recruitment committee;
    • 5) final evaluation of the recruitment committee and selection of one candidate for the role;
    • 6) communication of the results.
The recruitment committee is composed of five people: two board members of Wikimedia Portugal, two volunteers from the community with proven management experience (e.g. executive directors or project leaders in other organizations) and one external advisor with expertise in human resources.

The planned new ED position is a promotion from a PM position to the ED position, without prior experience as managing director. What support structures (mentoring, coaching, board oversight) are planned to accompany this transition?
  • RESPONSE 14: Wikimedia Portugal believes in transparency and equality of opportunities. Therefore, we do not support unreferred internal promotions. The new ED position will be open to all candidates who meet the requirements and are willing to take the role. The current Executive Coordinator may also apply in equal terms with regard to all other candidates (i. e. there will be no promotion). Then, the recruitment process will take the normal course as explained in response 13. The selected candidate will undergo mandatory training with close mentoring by the board in the first three months, mentorship through the Wikimedia ED group and a specific on-boarding program that is being designed.

Revenue model:
We would like to know if the community is in agreement with a business-like approach for revenue generation, and if that is in alignment with the local non-profit status of WMPT? Also, we are confused by the paid or free nature of the mentioned capacity building: WMPT’s intention is to ensure a sustainable social revenue model, with the launch of free capacity building for individuals and institutions (B2B and B2C).

As for the “paid or free nature”, the general idea is that the training should never be paid by the individuals (either in or out of the institutions), but rather by the institutions themselves (e.g. GLAM, Portuguese government, or EU funds).
What is the current status of the Public Utility Status application, and which requirements are already met?
  • RESPONSE 16: The recognition of Public Utility status is a highly relevant strategic objective for WMPT. The high bureaucratic burden inherent in the process demands a dedication of human and temporal resources incompatible with WMPT's current operational structure. For example, each legal requirement demanded in the Public Utility Statute requires a documentary collection that traces the association's history for a number of years, consuming dozens of hours of secretarial and legal advisory work that the current structure cannot absorb without sacrificing core activities (such as GLAM partnerships). In the short term, priority was given to consolidating GLAM partnerships and the digital literacy of the network, understanding that the administrative effort necessary for the public service process would require a legal and administrative support structure that the association still aspires to consolidate. At this moment, we have as a starting point a document/dossier, prepared by the previous staff, listing the requirements and their execution status. Based on this document, in order to resolve this situation in the future, we intend to hire a legal/administrative consultant to develop the necessary efforts.

Could WMPT provide a breakdown of the €40,000 autonomous revenue target by source?
  • RESPONSE 17: The 40 000€ comprises a mean of about 13 000€ per year, from which: 3-4k correspond to “indirect” revenue through sponsorships at events, concession of spaces (e.g. for training), transports, etc. The other 9k-10k will be gathered among various sources: donations (currently about 300€ per year, but we would expect up to 1k with an active campaign), paid training in investigation projects, such as COST actions like CA23128- ConnectLAA (1,5k-2k), leading or participation in EU funded project like GET- Global Education Time (6k-7k per year or 18k-21k in the course of the 3 years, if we get a project with longer duration).

The introduction of membership fees was planned in the previous two annual plans and has not materialised. What has changed that makes this more likely in the current triennium?
  • RESPONSE 18: This topic was addressed during our strategic planning sessions. The introduction of member fees, to be effective, would need to be accompanied by meaningful benefits for associates, providing a clear incentive to pay. It would also entail additional administrative work to manage payments and benefits, which is why we are currently consulting with our members and the broader community to weigh the costs and benefits of implementation at our current stage. This consideration has implications for the growth of our membership list, and we are evaluating the best approach accordingly. One potentially decisive factor is the implementation of the training model, alongside community support programs such as conference grants and the microgrant system, once stabilized.

Metrics:
Which activity pipelines will ensure meeting the increased metric targets compared to previous years?
  • RESPONSE 19: We already have a consolidated base of GLAM partners and individuals who have been previously engaged through events and introductory training sessions carried out in previous years. Building on this foundation, our strategy is evolving to prioritize activities that deliver more concrete results. This means reorganizing the training format: instead of short, lecture-based workshops (1 to 1.5 hours), we are investing in longer sessions (2 to 3 hours), in which participants not only learn but also make edits to Wikimedia projects. The goal is to ensure that each activity generates tangible contributions, measure thought https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/. Another key component is the implementation of a continuous online training calendar, designed around sessions that result in edits to Wikimedia projects as part of an active learning methodology. All trainings will follow a hands-on approach, based on the principle of “learning by doing.” Each session will therefore be structured so that participants directly contribute content to Wikipedia, Wikidata, or Commons, ensuring a direct impact on metrics. We are also strengthening Wikimedia Portugal’s engagement with the academic sector by encouraging the participation of university professors and researchers interested in using Wikimedia platforms in their educational contexts. These educators are trained as new organizers and begin to integrate Wikimedia projects into their teaching practices. This model has strong scaling potential: a single professor can mobilize dozens or even hundreds of students per semester to edit Wikimedia projects—as seen in large institutions such as the University of Porto. In this way, each new academic partnership significantly increases the number of active editors and contributions. In addition, we recognize the key role of the community itself in organizing activities with a direct focus on editing impact, such as edit-a-thons and Wiki contests. Through Wikimedia Portugal’s microgrants program, launched this year, we provide financial support to community members to design and implement initiatives with concrete outcomes on Wikimedia projects. If the multi-year plan is successful—as we expect—more people will be trained as organizers and will begin to mobilize activities independently, contributing to an increase in the number of edits and overall participation across Wikimedia projects. Finally, we view metrics as strategic guidelines. Working with more ambitious goals allows us to expand both the reach and the quality of our activities, and at the same time helps to focus our efforts on the strategic goals, and helps us in the decision process. Even if not all targets are fully achieved, the effort to pursue them represents a meaningful step forward compared to previous years.
Carlos WMPT (talk) 09:03, 20 April 2026 (UTC)Reply

Round 2 2026 decision

[edit]
Latest comment: 2 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Congratulations! The Northern and Western Europe Regional Funds Committee has recommended your proposal for funding!

The Wikimedia Foundation has approved the committee's recommendation to partially fund your proposal for 135,000.00 EUR, for the implementation period of 01st July 2026 - 30th June 2027.

Comments regarding this decision:
The Regional Funds Committee welcomed and appreciated the massive progress made in building a vision for the Chapter, a strategic orientation, and addressing important aspects of staff stability, fiscal sustainability, positioning, organisational health and public status. The Committee believes that fundamentally the Chapter is on the right path with these developments.

The RFC awards this amount to WMPT to allow the Chapter to prioritize the following actions in this coming “interim year”, before returning to the question of a multiannual support, and asks WM PT to give a status update on the following issues next spring:

  • The finalisation of public utility status;
  • Staff onboarding, training and stabilisation;
  • Finalise important governance policies that support organizational health;
  • Internal capacity building on advanced on-Wiki skills to be able to provide high-level, high quality training in the future;
  • Refining further the planned training programs and offerings which needs more consistency and details, especially in academia (based on good curriculum examples by WM IL, or CEE affiliates, or WM France’s Open Badge plans (skill development program) for youth;
  • Align the digital literacy training initiatives to national digital literacy competency frameworks and strategies of Portugal (e.g.INCoDe.2030);
  • Develop a revenue strategy that is based on regular income (instead of one-off EU projects that require high staff capacity to submit and administer).

  • We hope that this funding helps to further consolidate the Chapter, and make it more ready to tackle the larger steps from FY27 onward.

    Next steps:
    1. You will be contacted to sign a grant agreement.
    2. If you have questions, you can contact the Regional Program Officer for the Northern and Western Europe Region.

    Posted on behalf of the Northern and Western Europe (NWE) Funding Committee, –ABruszik-WMF (talk) 14:15, 20 May 2026 (UTC)Reply

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