Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/Call for community input on the funding proposals from 11 Wikimedia organisations

This was a draft for a blog post that has since been published at https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/25/call-for-community-input-funding-proposals-11-wikimedia-organisations/

Call for community input on the funding proposals from 11 Wikimedia organisations

Funding requests from Wikimedia organizations have come in to further free knowledge - can you help ensure that money is spent wisely?

The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) is a body of Wikimedia volunteers, advising the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees on the allocation of funds to Wikimedia movement entities around the world. Eleven Wikimedia organisations are currently planning their activities for the next year, and have submitted their detailed program plans and budgets to the FDC through the Annual Plan Grants process. There are nearly 6 million dollars available to allocate for two rounds of funding in 2013-2014. While this is quite a sum, the total amount requested by applicants in this first round is actually already very close to what is available for the full year. This makes allocating wisely a difficult task. And this is where you, members of our communities, need to chip in.

An essential part of the review process of applications is the community feedback. Community review of the proposed projects allows to appreciate their added value even better, as well as spot incoherencies and potential mistakes. More importantly, the community feedback phase is the only direct way in which we all, within the movement, can express our view on the philosophy and direction of spending of these resources.

What we need your help with:

1. Asking clarification questions if programs are unclear, so that the applications may be as straightforward as possible
2. Looking through the proposals and give your comments on:
   • Relevance of the programs (alignment with movement goals, for example),
   • Assessment of projects (Do presented projects make sense? Have you already had experience in making such projects happen? Following your experience, what is good in the projects plans, and what may be missing?)

It is extremely important for the process to work well to have as much feedback as possible on the submissions. We owe it to the numerous supporters of Wikimedia to spend the money wisely, and for this your help is precious. Please, do participate in the community review! We're looking forward to your comments and insights!

On behalf of the FDC:

-Cristian Consonni/User:CristianCantoro

-Dariusz Jemielniak/User:Pundit

-Ali Haidar Khan/User:Ali Haidar Khan

-Sydney Poore/User:FloNight