Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia/2021

Timeline of article contests

@Mehman97: You mention CEE Spring here, despite not running it last year because of a lack of results from previous years. What changes do you want to make next year that would increase participation? BR, Philip Kopetzky (talk) 14:30, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Hello @Philip Kopetzky:. Yes, we decided to hold the next year and will use the strategy that we use in contests like Wiki Loves Caucasus 2020, WAM2019/2020 and others, where we actively advertise the contest using social networks, announce specific authors and assist newcomers in editing Wikipedia. Before that we didn't use this strategy for the CEE, since we didn't finance this contest and didn't decide as and how to reward the winners. This year we take on all responsibility and is not limited to co-organizing. We think this year will be able to change the situation for the better. Thanks, --Mehman 97 14:55, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Makes sense, hope this change works out! Thanks for the explanation! :-) Philip Kopetzky (talk) 19:21, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

APG approved in the amount of 29,800 USD

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 29,800 USD, with a grant term starting 1 January 2021 and ending 31 December 2021. This approved amount includes funding for the full increase in operations and activities, and partial increase in requested staff. This increase of 24% is significant over User Group’s last year budget. We appreciate all the efforts that Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia put into professional development, planning, and implementation in the last year.

In terms of strategic planning, we are happy to see a strategic plan for 2021-2023. However, we think that this strategic plan will need considerable adjustments. We encourage the User Group leadership to rework on the Strategic Plan, defining clearer strategic priorities and aligning them with the Movement Strategy recommendations.

We acknowledge that the current annual plan is similar to last year’s annual plan, focused on three main programmatic areas: Content Gap, Increasing Participation, and Community Support, Development & Promoting Wikimedia. We appreciate that you have proposed a broad set of content gap activities both international and local in scope, and are considering new kinds of thematic contests. However there is some inconsistency, for instance, around User Group’s engagement in the CEE Spring contest. We are also interested to see the User Group’s engagement in the regional and international Wikimedia activities, and hoping to learn more about their experience.

We understand that as the affiliate matures, they need more capacity and consistency in their operations. We welcome User Group’s plan to hire staff members to address this need, however, we will only approve expenses for a 1.0 FTE staff member. We recommend that this position is opened for either the Project Manager, or Media and Outreach Manager; tasks under the General Manager Activities should be carried out by the User Group Board for now. We think that the User Group leadership should demonstrate more experience and capacity around staff management in order to apply for more staff members in the future. The staff compensation rate is low for Georgian context, therefore we also recommend increasing the staff compensation rate to at least 550 USD per month (taxes included).

In terms of global metrics, we recommend that the User Group thinks about how to measure success and impact better in terms of given metrics and beyond. Specifically, we would recommend revising the second grantee-defined metrics to better align it with the general programmatic impact. Moreover, it is not completely clear how the User Group has set the metrics targets in comparison to last year’s data.

In summary, we are approving this grant in the amount of 29,800 USD with the following breakdown:

• Operations: 1,100 USD (full funding)
• Staff: 6,600 USD, 1. FTE, 550 USD per month (partial funding)
• Programs: 22,100 USD (full funding)

We hope that 2021 will bring more stability for the Georgian community and region, and look forward to working together!

Best regards on behalf of the SAPG Committee and Staff, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 14:53, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Hello Chris! Thanks for helping the development of the Wikimedia movement in Georgia and supporting the Georgian WikiCommunity. Our strategic plan is designed for 3 years, but it is not final and will be supplemented and developed in accordance with further needs. We will periodically update it and you will be aware of this whole process, of course. We strive both at the local level and at the regional (and global) level to be active and to promote the development of close ties and cooperation through various contests. CEE spring is invariably one of those platforms through which it is possible to develop regional communication and cooperation. Before we had limited participation in this competition and almost based on an international team. The international team, of course, couldn't know the local needs and specifics, so this competition has been the least active in the Georgian wikipedia for the last 3 years. This year we decided to change this and taking into account the local specifics of the community, we will apply a new methodology that can be successfully applied in other competitions. So we decided to take part in this year's competition and this caused some changes in our AP. Regarding paid positions, I will write to you separately by email. As for the metrics, we took into account the indicators of 2020 and made it up like that, but I agree with you that we need to improve it and make changes. We will do it as soon as possible. Thanks for all. Kindly, --Mehman 97 01:33, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

[Request] changes in sAPG2021

Hello VThamaini (WMF), hope you are doing fine.

As I indicated in the initiative email, we want to make the following changes to the sAPG Wikimedia UG Georgia, to hire an accountant and cover other costs.

Based on the above, we propose the following changes to the organization's sAPG:

1. Withdrawn funding for Wikimania 2021 (it will take place virtually this year, which doesn't require any costs) in the amount of $ 3,000.00 (USD) and redirect it to the programs listed below.
2. 800.00 USD is added to the amount of WikiCamps, since due to the pandemic and rising prices, we think this is a logical decision.
3. 700.00 USD is being added to the amount of legal issues, as this year we are making changes to the organization's charter based on the recommendation of the AffCom. Because of this, we hired a professional lawyer who checks the compliance of the charter with the legislation of Georgia. We also hired a translator who will translate the charter and plus the costs of a notary and registering the charter in the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.
4. Finally, we set aside $1,500.00 (per year) for professional accountant assistance.

Kindly, --Mehman 97 17:29, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank you Mehman 97 for sharing the update on the emerging needs of Wikimedia UG Georgia. It is essential for us that the User Group is in good standing regarding the local community regulations, making this request reasonable and aligned to the user group's sustained health. We believe this will also strengthen your operational structures and systems of the user group. It remains important for us to be flexible towards the emerging needs of our partners and their communities due to the pandemic. We wish you the very best as you continue to work with the community in Georgia.--VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 10:31, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Deadline extension request for midpoint report

Dear I JethroBT (WMF), I would like to ask on behalf of Wikimedia UG Georgia from you to extend the deadline for submitting the midpoint report until July 31th. Due to current processes, we were not able to do this until July 15, as well as some projects that we started in the first half of the year, we didn't complete and plan to complete by the end of this month. Kindly, --Mehman 97 07:41, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

@Mehman97: Hi Mehman, and thanks for this request to extend your midpoint to the end of July. Your request is approved, and I've updated the deadline until 31 July 2021. With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 14:18, 21 July 2021 (UTC)