Grants talk:Project/Rapid/TRahman/Administrative expenses for Wikimedia community in Bangladesh

Questions

1. Link to a Wikimedia Bangladesh report
2. Can you clarify the administration of this money? Is this a grant to WM Bangladesh or another community group?
3. The funds here all go to administration. Rapid grants typically fund actual projects. I think that funding admin to do projects is fine, but can you describe some of the upcoming Bangladeshi projects? Brief is fine.
4. What is t RJSCF? Is what you are describing all government registration, or is any of this non-government and optional? If there is something optional here, then why are you choosing to do something beyond what the law requires?

Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:56, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

Dear Bluerasberry, I apologize for the extreme delay.

Here is the report to the last grant we had.

It is a grant to meet the administrative expenses of the WMBD of course and no other organization.

RJSCF stands for Registrar of Joint Stock Companies And Firms. It's government authority responsible for registering Foundations. As you may probably know our organization WMBD is registered as Wikimedia Bangladesh Foundation. Once registered, the registration has to be renewed each year and report has to be submitted. In case of new members join the board their security verification also have to be made. We haven't done those since we registered so there are fees we have to pay to maintain our legal existence. It is not optional.

I hope this answers your questions. — T. 10:34, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

@Wikitanvir: Thanks, that answers my questions. Blue Rasberry (talk) 10:38, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

Comments from WMF

Hello Wikitanvir first of all please accept my sincere apology for the extreme delay in responding to your grant request. We initially had questions about our ability to fund in Bangladesh and it delayed our ability to respond quickly. Now that we have that sorted I have reviewed your application I have the following questions for you:

1. Would it be possible to add numbers to your impact section. You mention increasing members, total number of events and member retention. It would be helpful to know how many people you have currently, how many events you host and how many members are long time contributors so you can measure your progress later.
2. Could you also please respond to Bluerasberry's questions above.

• Please let us know what activities you plan to host that will ensure the sustainability of the Bangladesh community
• You can either provide a link to a report on your previous activities or tell us about some of the activities your community has engaged in thus far

Lastly, I understand that you've received a grant from us before so I assume you know that if this grant does get approved we will need to fund it as a reimbursement after you have spent the funds and provide receipts. Please let me know if you have any questions. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 01:17, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, I am standing by to acknowledge answers to the questions. Blue Rasberry (talk) 15:24, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

I apologize for my delay to answer your questions, too. We currently have 62 members. We maintain a public list of our registered members which can be found here. We also have 7 local communities. Our object is primarily to increase the activities of the local communities so we will get more Wikipedia users, contributors, and members for our organization. We can add the figures to the impact section if that satisfies you.

We have no problem for this grant being a reimbursement. But you have to understand that with volunteers' money we couldn't finance all the activities listed in the budget breakdown section. So if you prefer we can send you the receipts of the expenses we already have so you can fund us for those expenses and with that money we can fulfill the reset so we can send you the receipts of those expenses and a full report of the grant as well. Alternatively, you can take the receipts we already have and fund us in full so we can fulfill rest of the tasks and send you rest of the receipts with a report. In this case both sides can save some money for the service charges. It's up to you how you prefer. — T. 10:34, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

@Wikitanvir:Thanks for the update. I talked with Wiki Bangladesh about this and it seems that the cost of sending money from the United States to Bangladesh in the way that the WMF prefers is a substantial part of the overall budget and creates administrative work which Wikimedia chapters in other countries do not experience. I wish that funding and reimbursement was as easy for Bangladesh as it is for groups in the United States.

I expect that the WMF would prefer to operate by time - like for example, if you have anything which has needed reimbursement for 1 month, then ask WMF for that now, and probably the WMF will want to pay the fees. If the fees seem like too much then I expect the WMF would pay you in advance, because that is how it works in other countries.

Wiki volunteers should not hold on to receipts for more than 1 month, 2 at most, because this is the custom in the United States.

I see the awkwardness in this because in the case of Bangladesh, the fees associated with getting reimbursement could be more than the reimbursement itself, and so far as I know, the WMF has never had a public conversation about this very common international situation and the social tension around it.

I appreciate the talks and ongoing conversation WM Bangladesh has with Wiki NYC about chapter administration. Blue Rasberry (talk) 10:46, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

Not Funded

Hello Wikitanvir, unfortunately I am marking this proposal as not funded since you haven't responded to our questions from last month. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 23:44, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

@WJifar (WMF): I sincerely reconsider you to rethink the decision as it you mentioned it will be a reimbursement we are working on collecting the receipts of all the expenses. Thank you. — T. 09:47, 17 January 2019 (UTC)

Reversing Funding Decision/ Now Approved

Hello Wikitanvir, thank you for providing responses to our questions. I am approving your grant request. You mention you have not been able to carry out all the activities in your proposal, could you then please edit your proposal to reflect what you were able to conduct. As mentioned before we will be able to provide a reimbursement for the expenses you have had. You also offered in an email that you can submit the Final report for this grant. Yes we would need that to be submitted to process this request. Finally, I also see in the comments here funds to cover the transfer of money to Bangladesh, if your bank charges you processing fees please be sure to include that so we can cover it as well. Thank you again for your patience and I will do my best to move this process along quickly and get you your funds by the end of the month. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 04:34, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

Great news! Blue Rasberry (talk) 14:41, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your response. I have updated the budget breakdown per actual expense figures. — T. 15:51, 15 February 2019 (UTC)