User:AWang (WMF)/sandbox

Project idea

A pilot to directly support the needs of individual editors via equipment grants from the Wikimedia Foundation.

Problems we're trying to solve

1. Individuals (editors and photographers) are the lifeblood of Wikimedia projects; still, most of WMF's grantmaking dollars go to organizations and fund offline activities. With 76,500 active monthly editors around the world, and WMF's grants going to under 150 individuals per year (4% of all dollars granted), there is room to improve in terms of distributing resources to support more individual contributors across the globe.
2. In some countries, a local chapter can take on the role of facilitating the sharing of equipment, but in many communities there is no chapter or other local organization to provide direct support to the community in their language/locale.

Goals

1. Learn more about the equipment needs of top editors worldwide.
2. Test WMF grantmaking systems (financial, legal, communications, administrative) for making equipment grants to individuals around the world - pushing the boundaries of existing grantmaking practices to uncover gaps and potential scalability issues.

Pilot: Equipment Grants

Scope

This equipment grant pilot for individual editors will run during the first 6 months of 2015.

A central hub on the Grants space will be used for the project to:

• request equipment
• track approvals
• report outcomes

Workflows

Equipment requests

• WMF sets up account with Amazon and BandH that allows us to pay for laptops and camera equipment using a WMF credit card.
• Editor goes to the above sites and finds the link to the laptop or camera equipment they want to buy, making sure that shipping is available to their country from this seller.If shipping is not available, they will need to ship directly to WMF.
• Editor posts on the pilot page with link to the eqiupment they’re requesting, and the reason for the request.
• Program Officer checks the request, making sure it meets the basic criteria.
• Program Officer contacts the user to get their shipping address, logs into the account, finds the equipment and ships it to the user.
• Editor confirms on the pilot page when the equipment arrives, and posts links to articles they improved or photos uploaded thanks to the equipment.

Laptop request eligibility

• editor is active
• editor has made at least XX edits to Wikipedia
• editor’s prior requests were put to good use (ie, they submitted a short report)
• maximum per request (without shipping): $500

Camera request eligibility

• editor is active
• editor has made at least 3,000 contributions to Commons, with at least 50 featured photos and 1,000 quality photos.
• editor’s prior requests were put to good use (ie, they submitted a short report)
• editor does not have access to Wikimedia affiliate equipment
• maximum per request (without shipping): $1,500 for camera bodies and $800 for camera lenses
• maximum one camera body and one lens per request

Request format

Initial request:

• Wikipedia Username
• Link to equipment(s) being requested
• Total cost
• What topics do you most actively contribute to?

Tracking

On-wiki, status is added to the initial request

• Request approved? (program ofice updates this)
• Request purchased? (program officer adds date, update $ amount if needed)
• Request received? (user updates this)
• Equipment used to improve Wikimedia projects? (user updates this)

Editors receiving laptops will:

• report on the outcome of their purchase with 1 sentence linking to articles created/improved (w/in 3 months)

Editors receiving camera equipment will:

• report on the outcome of their purchase with 1 sentence linking to photos uploaded and articles improved (w/in 3 months)

Program officer will:

• Make timely purchases of equipment.

WMF Office staff will:

• Process timely shipping of equipment if direct shipping from purchaser is not available.

WMF grants admin will:

• Reconcile equipment purchases each month, comparing the on-wiki record with WMF’s credit card statements for each purchasing account.

Activities & timeline

Planning - January 15-31

• investigating background context
• putting grantmaking resources in place (budget, financial and legal processes, etc)
• drafting initial plan on meta

Launch - February 1

• communicate pilot to community
• pilot equipment requests for 6 months

Measurement - August-October

• assess outcomes, learning, and impact
• report out on recommendations and next steps

Budget

$X (to come from WMF’s grantmaking budget)

Impact plan

Target audience

Individual contributors to Wikipedia and Commons.

Measures of success

• 10 equipment requests submitted
• 7 equipment requests approved
• All approved requests successfully reach contributors
• All requests processed within 2 weeks
• Staff time will be tracked, to benchmark per-request time spent at pilot’s end
• Community satisfaction with outcomes of spending will be measured via survey (were the funds well spent?)
• X articles improved or created with assistance of this equipment (laptops and camera equipment)
• X photos uploaded to Commons with assistance of this equipment (camera equipment)

Sustainability

If successful, this pilot can be:

• continued with funding from WMF
• broadened in scope to include high potential new users with demonstrated financial need

If not successful, we'll:

• have learned a lot about equipment grants in our context
• share these lessons outward via a report and blog post