Grants talk:Project/Rapid/San Francisco Art Institute Art and Feminism 2017 Editathon/Report

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

@Nikikana: Thanks for your report, and apologies for the delay in reviewing. Our staffing was somewhat short in May, and created a backlog in reviewing reports generally. I've had a change to read over your report-- I appreciate how thorough and thoughtful it is, especially regarding what did and did not work with you event. Here are my comments:

• I've coordinated some events at academic institutions where the academic calendar did not make things ideal in terms of a break or another campus event, but it's impressive that for Spring Break, you were able to get 45 participants across your events. I can imagine your attendance would be much higher than the 60 participants you initially set as a goal, so this is an exciting prospect for future events you might hold. It sounds like space may be an issue though-- is there space for many more tables at the venue or will a different space be needed for attendance above 60 persons?
  • We would need to use a different space than the gallery where this event was held in order to accommodate more attendees. But thankfully there are many possible spaces at SFAI that we could use, including classrooms and the library, as well as multiple sites for outdoor seating. The challenge in these cases will be to still foster a feeling of togetherness and connection if we are in different sites around campus. Do you have any strategies you could recommend for a scenario like this? Nikikana (talk) 19:18, 11 July 2017 (UTC)
• It's great to hear that you were able to work with on-campus groups and involve students in welcoming participants and developing outreach materials. Thank you for documenting these collaborative efforts within SFAI to help make your events successful.
• Thanks for taking video of the round-robin session at the end of the event. Could you ping me or e-mail us at rapidgrantswikimedia.org when this is uploaded and linked in the report? Thank you.
  • Yes, I certainly will! This will be near the end of the summer or in the fall, most likely. Nikikana (talk) 19:18, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

This report is officially approved. In terms of the remaining funds from the grant, please let me check with our grants administrator about how this can be handled given that you'll be applying for a new rapid grant in the future. In the meantime, please feel free to draft this request and propose it when it is ready. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 22:46, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

Hello @Nikikana:. After talking to our Grants administrator, it turns out that the easiest way to go about this is for you to turn in your receipts and get reimbursed for what you have effectively disbursed and for us all to consider this grant closed. "Retaining" the funds as you suggest is more complicated than it would be for you to just submit a new grant request. As we're starting a new fiscal year, we have plenty of funds anyway. We will be issuing the reimbursement of the funds as soon as / if your receipts are in! Best Delphine (WMF) (talk) 12:25, 5 July 2017 (UTC) cc/ I JethroBT (WMF)

Hello @I JethroBT (WMF): and @Delphine (WMF): Thank you both and please pardon my delay in reply (it is a busy summer!). Delphine, thanks for the clarification regarding the funds disbursement, and we will go ahead and submit a new grant request for our upcoming projects. We have already submitted our receipts for this event. Thank you in advance for sending the reimbursement. JethroBT, I have replied to your questions/comments inline above. Also, exciting news: we are having an informal refresh event for this editathon in SF today! (though so far I am the only person signed up to attend on the meetup page :) ) I will report back on how the event tonight goes. Thanks, both! Nikikana (talk) 19:18, 11 July 2017 (UTC)