Affiliate-Communities Relationships Workshop

The Wikimedia projects thrive thanks to the dedication and contributions of thousands of volunteers around the world. Wikimedia Affiliates play a pivotal role in supporting and empowering local communities, and linking them to the global Wikimedia Movement. While these two groups are deeply interdependent, their relationships can sometimes be challenged by tensions and mistrust, which may undermine our collective mission and put the future of the Wikimedia projects at risk.

We believe that this relationship has improved over the last years. However, recent governance conversations have shown that there is still a perceived gap between affiliates and the project communities that undermine our ability to make essential decisions as a Movement. We would like to discuss this narrative with you to get a better idea of the current state of the affiliate-communities relationship in your context, and reflect together on what can be done to strengthen ties between both groups.

To make a first step in this direction, we would like to organize an in-person workshop after WMEU general assembly to start exploring if and how this topic could be addressed in the future:

When?

Sunday, April 27th from 10am to 3pm

Who is organizing this?

The workshop will be co-hosted by Jan-Bart (WMNL) and Eva Martin (WMDE) and will be facilitate by Bhav Patel (external facilitator).

Who can participate?

Everyone who will be in Prague to join the Wikimedia Europe General Assembly. The workshop is intended for affiliates (in and outside of Europe) but we are considering how to best include participation from others within the movement should they be interested. (please note: this is not a hybrid meeting, you have to be in Prague)

Full Documentation

General Information

List of affiliates participating in the workshop (16):

Wikidonne UG
Wikimedia Belgium
Wikimedia Czech Republic
Wikimedia Deutschland
Wikimedia Europe
Wikimedia Finland
Wikimedia France
Wikimedia Italia
Wikimédia Magyarország
Wikimedia Norge
Wikimedia Österreich
Wikimedia Polska
Wikimedia Portugal
Wikimedia Serbia
Wikimedia Ukraine
Wikimedians of Romania and Moldova User Group

Hosts:Jan-Bart (WMNL), Eva Martin (WMDE)
Facilitation: Bhav Patel
How-to-guide: HERE

Commentary from the hosts

You are reading the evaluation of the workshop we organised as an addition to the General Assembly of Wikimedia Europe. Our goals included:

Learning from and inspiring each other
Getting a clearer picture of the priorities and ambitions of the participating affiliates
Getting a clearer picture of the different contributions to the movement that the participating affiliates (could) make
Testing the workshop format and refining it so that other groups of affiliates could use it to complete the “movement-wide” picture of affiliates, their activities, priorities and ambitions.

Disclaimer: Before going to give some more insight into our learnings it is important to realise that this workshop was conducted with Wikimedia affiliates active in Europe. We acknowledge that a lot of the European affiliates are privileged and do not reflect the full diversity of contexts across the Wikimedia Movement. We believe that the strength or our movement lies in its diversity. Please consider this documentation not as a prescriptive list of what all Wikimedia affiliates should do, but as an example of what affiliates could do.

Some of the observations made during this session:

All affiliates feel that they represent/facilitate/support community members, some more directly than others.
All affiliates also recognise that there is a share of the number of community members in their region or target audience that is not connected to the affiliates at all, and have no interest in this.
All affiliates (large and small) have to make choices. Resources are always limited and choices have to be made.
Although it might seem otherwise, a lot of affiliates indicated that they were not interested in (significant) growth.
There is a lot of interest in sharing successes and failures, but there is also a lack of resources (or currently a venue such as a global affiliate gathering) to do so
During this session we already noticed that the smaller affiliates were able to inspire the larger, more established affiliates due to more “thinking outside the box” and not having built up a lot of experience which guides their decision making.
Having the entities Wikimedia Europe and the CEE Hub has made this group of affiliates closer and made it easier to share.
There was a general consensus that the part that affiliates (can) play in the movement is unique and complementary to that of the Foundation and community members.

Jan-Bart & Eva

Session 1: Explore the current landscape of affiliate-communities relationships

Session aim and purpose

Aim: To gather insights into the current landscape of affiliate-communities relationships in Europe.

Process:

Individual reflection.
Small group sharing.
Whole group discussion.

Documentation

Who do you support?

Q1: How would you describe the Wikimedia communities you work with, support, or feel accountable to? (Who do you support?)

Here is a summarized bullet list of groups of individuals mentioned during the exercice:

Wikimedia contributors/editors and volunteers

Local Wikipedia editors, often by language or region
Contributors to sister projects (Wikidata, Commons, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikivoyage)
Subgroups like administrators, moderators, patrollers
Event organizers, wiki ambassadors, and campaign participants
New potential contributors

Affiliate members and staff Wikimedia organizations and structures

Board members, regional coordinators
Members and donors of Wikimedia organizations
Affiliate staff

Institutions

Cultural and heritage institutions exploring or actively engaged in Wikimedia projects (GLAM)
Teachers, lecturers, university professors
Educational institutions integrating Wikimedia into learning
Students and youth involved in educational Wikimedia programs

Partners and allies from the free knowledge ecosystem

General "open" movement supporters
Civil society organizations and advocacy partners
Partners: Free software, Creative Commons, and OpenStreetMap communities

How do you support them?

Q2: What is the main purpose and mission of your affiliate in relation to these communities? (How do you support them?)

Bellow is a ranked list of the types of support that affiliates offer to their communities, based on how frequently they were mentioned in the data collected:

1. Provide financial support (14 mentions)

Provide microgrants, scholarships, event funding, travel support, equipment etc…
Infrastructure (legal, contractual, technical)

2. Create space for people to meet (13 mentions)

Organizing events (meetups, editathons, conferences, competitions)
Offering physical or virtual meeting spaces
Supporting project logistics

3. Offer trainings for capacity building (11 mentions)

Workshops, technical training
Conflict management, moderation, volunteer support

4. Community building and engagement (10 mentions)

Recruiting, motivating, retaining editors
Creating safe and inclusive spaces
Supporting new or small communities

5. Communication and outreach to general public (9 mentions)

PR, media relations, awareness campaigns
Highlighting community work through banners or stories
Promoting Wikimedia in the wider public

6. Advocacy and representation (7 mentions)

Lobbying for legal/policy changes
Representing community interests to WMF, and external actors
Participating in global movement conversations

7. Community care and wellbeing (6 mentions)

Preventing burnout, offering psychological support
Creating respectful, harassment-free environments
Promoting respect for movement values and Code of Conduct

8. Provide technical infrastructure (1 mention)

Maintain and develop the technical infrastructure for the Wikimedia projects, especially Wikidata

What works well

Q3: What is currently going well in your work and your relationship with these communities?

1. Strong trust and relationships with communities (10 mentions)

Communities trust the affiliate and regularly request support
Affiliates are seen as part of the community, not separate from it
Open, honest contact and engagement (online and in-person)
Trusted relationships lead to active collaboration and co-creation

2. Successful events and campaigns (8 mentions)

High participation in campaigns, editathons, photo contests
Activities spark affiliate visibility
Campaigns show growth over time and attract new contributors

3. Positive feedback and member satisfaction (6 mentions)

Members express appreciation for support and programs
Communities are happy and inspired, according to feedback survey
Scholarships and funding are especially valued

4. Effective GLAM and education partnerships (6 mentions)

Institutions engage in Wikimedia projects successfully
Wikimedia is present in learning paths and training programs
Educational content is created and used

5. Good internal structure and operations (5 mentions)

Clear strategic plans, coordination, and execution
Effective governance (e.g. board handling many issues smoothly)
Availability and responsiveness (e.g. “picking up the phone”)

6. Growing and active communities (4 mentions)

New communities forming naturally and taking ownership
Members independently start and lead projects

7. Effective Cross-Affiliate Collaboration (2 mentions)

Partnerships with other affiliates, also in other regions
Collaborative campaigns and mutual support

What are common challenges

Q4: What challenges or difficulties are you experiencing in your work and your relationship with these communities?

1. Limited capacity and lack of resources (12 mentions)

Not enough staff, volunteers, or time to follow up on initiatives
Heavy reliance on volunteer work, which is unsustainable
Lack of funds to support all desired projects

2. Community outreach (10 mentions)

Hard to reach broad parts of the community
Only a few loud voices dominate; others remain silent
Limited participation and trust in affiliates
Difficulty forming personal relationships, especially with new or underrepresented members

3. Retention and recruitment of contributors (9 mentions)

Editor retention remains a persistent task and challenge
Difficulty recruiting young people, women, and new editors
Long-term volunteer interest is hard to maintain

4. Poor perception of affiliates by editing communities (6 mentions)

Affiliates sometimes seen as bureaucratic or irrelevant
Suspicion toward affiliate-led editing or educational projects
Some users don't see the value of affiliates at all

5. Internal communication and coordination problems (5 mentions)

Lack of tools to coordinate action or change
Passive communication; difficulty aligning with community priorities
Governance roles and responsibilities are unclear or misunderstood

6. Adapting to change and innovating (5 mentions)

Hard to keep up with external changes (AI, tech trends)
Communities and systems resist innovation; too much inertia
Few scalable models of innovation in the movement

7. Conflicts and community tensions (4 mentions)

Online aggression and non-constructive feedback to new users
Judgment or criticism of affiliate members by experienced users
Affiliates sometimes expected to "police" or resolve all disputes
People withdrawing due to harm or toxic interactions

8. Lack of strategic clarity or alignment (3 mentions)

Misunderstandings around goals and priorities
Struggle to align affiliate activities with broader movement goals
Inactive projects linger without clear next steps

9. Digital skills gaps (2 mentions)

New users take a long time to learn
Low digital literacy affects participation and onboarding

10. Legal and Political Environment Challenges (2 mentions)

Increasingly risky political or legal contexts for affiliates
External threats hinder long-term planning

Session 2: Reflect on the responsibilities and commitments of affiliates to the Wikimedia communities they support

Session aims and process

Aim: To reflect on the role of affiliates within the Movement, specifically their responsibilities and commitments to the communities they support.

Process:

Small group discussions.
Whole group clustering.
Whole group reflection.

Documentation

Actual responsibilities

Here is a list of what affiliates are currently doing to support their communities:

General support

To directly support the communities with trainings, equipment, resources and knowledge
To help improve safety

Communication:

With general public:
To keep the general public informed about the Wikimedia projects (goals, content, values, mission)
To be a point of contact with the general public (e.g. crisis communication, answer calls etc..)
With communities:
To facilitate a respectful two-ways communication between community members and affiliates
To keep affiliate members informed and active in the affiliate governance

Movement building

To share expertise, resources and capacities to help other communities and affiliates grow (e.g. Hubs)
To connect local communities with the global Wikimedia Movement
To build relationships within the Wikimedia Movement

Partnerships

To build and develop partnerships with external institutions (e.g. GLAM, education etc..)

Provide financial support

To provide financial support tailored to the communities needs

Recruit and retain new members

To recruit newcomers and grow the communities
To support the youth
To show appreciation to community members to retain them

Organize events

To organize events that are engaging for the communities, help make new content and connect the members

Possible responsibilities

Here is a list of what participants said their affiliates would like to do in the future to increase their support to the communities (some affiliates may already be doing some of these things, and some may not be):

General support

To provide legal and psychological support

Communication:

To reduce toxic conflicts

Partnerships:

To involve communities in partnerships
To make our communities more inclusive

Recruit and retain new members:

To grow affiliate membership

Growth:

To broaden our impact in the world
To get more resources
To grow healthy communities
To develop various skills

Session 3: Engage in peer learning and exchange to identify ways to strengthen affiliate–communities relationships.

Session aims and process

Aim: To identify ways to strengthen relationships between affiliates and communities.

Process:

Small group discussions.
Whole group sharing.

Documentation

Practices to strengthen relationships between affiliates and communities

Q: What are practical ways to strengthen relationships between affiliates and communities?

Here is a summarized and clustered list of the practices shared by affiliates:

1. Community-Centered Communication

Use the right channels and tone: Go where your community is, speak their language, use human and accessible communication.
Clarity and consistency: Clearly explain what you're doing and why, when and how the community can reach you.
Two-way communication: Avoid one-way updates; use surveys, offline conversations, and feedback loops. Foster mutual listening.
Break communication silos: Don’t just stick to traditional/usual platforms; reach across bubbles and encourage cross-community exchange.

2. Listening, Feedback, and Responsiveness

Listen deeply and often: Use surveys, informal conversations, and join meetups to understand needs, problems, and interests.
Act on feedback: Identify patterns, respond transparently, and be ready to admit when things didn’t go well.
Encourage self-reflection: Support a culture of constructive criticism (your own and others’).

3. Trust and Relationship Building

Show up: Attend community events when invited, stay for the full lenght, and engage meaningfully.
Respect and empathy: Recognize volunteers’ time constraints. Small gestures like cards or check-ins matter.
Build long-term trust: Be reactive to requests, show you care, and align your goals with community goals.

4. Safe and Inclusive Spaces

Create welcoming environments: Both online and offline, make spaces feel safe and respectful.
Be ready for criticism: Accept and handle negative feedback maturely.
Inclusion matters: Don’t withdraw from critical voices; invite diverse perspectives, including those outside your usual allies.

5. Recognition, Motivation, and Empowerment

Celebrate contributions: Highlight stories, offer recognition (PR, prizes, tokens like stickers), and share successes.
Create meaningful roles: Involve volunteers as consultants, speakers, or organizers.
Support autonomy: Enable community-led initiatives with funding and networking; help volunteers use their skills.

6. Practical Support and Simplicity

Keep things simple: Avoid overloading community members with too much info or overly complex processes.
Offer tangible help: Provide clarity about how you can support, and offer that support consistently.
Map and understand your community: Know who they are and what matters to them to adapt your approach accordingly.

7. Flexibility and Openness to Change

Avoid rigidity: Be ready to evolve, take risks, and go beyond pre-defined boxes or roles.
Adapt structures: If current setups exclude innovation, create new formats or pathways for participation.
Encourage experimentation: Let the community know you’re open to new ideas and are willing to adjust.

Next steps

This documentation will be shared with the WMF to inform the writing of the Wikimedia Organization Ecosystem paper.

Participants will be consulted on how to take this topic forward. Information about follow-up conversations will be shared on this page.