Funds Dissemination Committee/Key financial data and insights from Chapters

In May 2012, The Bridgespan Group requested responses to the Chapter Finances Survey in order to develop an understanding of the movement's current and future funding needs. 30 of 39 chapters (~77%) responded to the survey. Results have been tallied and summarized below (all currencies are in USD).

Also note that at the bottom of the page, below the table, we have collected the write-in responses that chapters included in their surveys about their expectations/concerns/questions about the funds dissemination process.

Chapter Finance Survey Summary

Current chapter expenses

• In their current fiscal year,
  • 4 chapters reported an expense budget of >$500,000
  • 8 chapters reported an expense budget of $100,000-$500,000
  • 5 chapters reported an expense budget of $50,000-$100,000
  • 6 chapters reported an expense budget of $10,000-50,000
  • 7 chapters reported an expense budget of <$10,000

Expectations for requesting funds next year

• In the next fiscal year, 27 of 30 chapters anticipate requesting funds
  • 5 chapters anticipate requesting >$500,000
  • 4 chapters anticipate requesting $100,000-$500,000
  • 5 chapters anticipate requesting $50,000-$100,000
  • 7 chapters anticipate requesting $10,000-50,000
  • 6 chapters anticipate requesting <$10,000

Grant programs within the movement

• 21 chapters who responded reported that they will grant funds to other individuals or entities in their current fiscal year
  • 6 chapters said they would grant >$20,000
  • 5 chapters said they would grant $10,000-20,000
  • 10 chapters said they would grant <$20,000

Chapter fiscal year ends

• 21 chapters end their fiscal years on December 31
• 4 chapters end their fiscal years on June 30
• 5 chapters have other fiscal year end dates

Note: This supports the recommendation that two FDC grant cycles per year will serve most entities in the movement well.

Summary Results Table

			Chapter Expenses		Chapter Revenues		Chapter Grants Programs			Dates
Short-Form	Name	Fiscal Year-End	Previous Year	Current Year	Previous Year	Current Year	Previous Year	Current Year	Anticipated needs	To request funds from the FDC	To receive funds from the FDC
AR	Argentina
AT	Österreich	31-Aug	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	5,000-10,000	10,000-50,000	1000-5000	<1000	100,000-500,000	Oct/Nov	Jan/Feb
AU	Australia	30-Jun	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	1,000-5,000	1,000-5,000	>$20,001	$10,001-20,000	100,000-500,000	Apr/May	June
BD	Bangladesh	30-Jun	1,000-5,000	5,000-10,000	N/A	<1,000	N/A	N/A	5,000-10,000	Apr/May	June
CA	Canada
CH	CH	31-Dec	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	N/A	10,000-50,000	1000-5000	10,001-20,000	>500,000	Nov/Dec	Jan
CL	Chile	31-Dec	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	<1,000	<1,000	N/A	N/A	5,000-10,000	Nov/Dec	Jan
CZ	Česká republika	31-Dec	5,000-10,000	10,000-50,000	1,000-5,000	1,000-5,000	5001-10,000	10,001-20,000	N/A
DE	Deutschland	31-Dec	>500,000	>500,000	100,000-500,000	>500,000	>20,001	>20,001	>500,000	Sep/Oct	Jan
DK	Danmark	30-Jun	<1,000	1,000-5,000	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	10,000-50,000
EE	Eesti	31-Dec	5,000-10,000	10,000-50,000	<1,000	5,000-10,000	N/A	N/A	10,000-50,000	Nov/Dec	Jan
ES	España	31-Dec	1,000-5,000	1,000-5,000	1,000-5,000	1,000-5,000	N/A	N/A	10,000-50,000	Sept/Oct	Jan
FI	Suomi
FR	France	31-Dec	100,000-500,000	>500,000	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	>20,001	>20,001	>500,000 (estimate)
GB	UK	31-Jan	>500,000	>500,000	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	>20,001	>20,001	>500,000	Aug	Oct (for approval)
HK	Hong Kong	30-Jun	1,000-5,000	5,000-10,000	N/A	<1,000	N/A	N/A	5,000-10,000
HU	Magyarország	31-Dec	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	1,000-5,000	5,001-10,000	<1000	1000-5000	50,000-100,000	Oct/Nov	Dec
ID	Indonesia	31-Dec	>500,000	100,000-500,000	>500,000	N/A	>20,001	>20,001	100,000-500,000
IL	Israel	31-Dec	100,000-500,000	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	10,000-50,000	1000-5000	1000-5000	50,000-100,000	Jan	Feb/Mar
IN	India	31-Mar	10,000-50,000	50,000-100,000	<1,000	1,000-5,000	N/A	10,001-20,000	50,000-100,000	July	Sept
IT	Italia	31-Dec	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	5001-10,000	10,001-20,000	N/A
KE	Kenya	31-Dec		5,000-10,000	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	5,000-10,000	Dec	Feb
MK	Macedonia	31-Dec	<1,000	10,000-50,000	1,000-5,000	10,000-50,000	N/A	>20,001	10,000-50,000		Jan
MO	Macau
MX	México	31-Dec	<1,000	5,000-10,000	N/A	<1,000	N/A	<1000	5,000-10,000	Dec	Jan/Feb
NL	Nederland	31-Dec	100,000-500,000	100,000-500,000	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	1000-5000	1000-5000	>500,000	Nov	Dec
NO	Norge	31-Dec	10,000-50,000	50,000-100,000	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	N/A	1000-5000	10,000-50,000
PH	Philippines	31-Dec	5,000-10,000	10,000-50,000	<1,000	<1,000	N/A	<1000	10,000-50,000	Jun/Jul	Aug/Sep
PL	Polska	31-Dec	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	100,000-500,000	100,000-500,000	>20,001	>20,001	N/A
PT	Portugal	31-Dec	1,000-5,000	5,000-10,000	<1,000	<1,000	<$1000	N/A	5,000-10,000	Nov/Dec	Jan
RS	а Србије
RU	РУ	31-Dec	10,000-50,000	50,000-100,000	10,000-50,000	10,000-50,000	1000-5000	5001-10,000	50,000-100,000	Nov/Dec	Jan
SE	Sverige	31-Dec	50,000-100,000	100,000-500,000	10,000-50,000	50,000-100,000	5001-10,000	5001-10,000	100,000-500,000	Oct/Nov	Jan
TW	Taiwan
UA	Україна
US-DC	District of Columbia	30-Sep	<1,000	>500,000	<1,000	100,000-500,000	N/A	1000-5000	10,000-50,000	Nov	Jan
US-NYC	New York City
VE	Venezuela
ZA	South Africa	28-Feb	N/A	50,000-100,000	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	50,000-100,000	July/Aug	Sept/Oct

Additional Chapter Questions or Comments

Deustchland - Germany

• Multi-year funding possibilities (important for long-time commitments such as: employment- and lease contracts, long-term project agreements where the project is partially funded by a third party etc.)
• Format of the financial plans to be submitted (substance/content, degree of detail, volume/scope)

Nederland - Netherlands

• What will be the framework of criteria to judge submitted grant applications? WM NL is moving fast forward in professionalization. We have set ambitious goals for growth, and expect revenue and expense to increase by 75% per annum for the next five years.

Indonesia

• Please see previous WMID grant requests [1], [2] [3], in the presence of trust, there's an absence of long painful discussion (sample). If FDC going to look like the recent grant process I give up, I don't have the time and energy to do what is given in the sample.

Macedonia

• If funds dissemination process is clean, easy process, we'll ask for funding, if not probably won't ask funding, we want to know the format of the financial plans to be submitted (degree of detail, volume/scope). For bigger projects WMMK need to forward in professionalization.

District of Columbia

• Bear in mind that our chapter is a special case. Our 'last fiscal year' lasted five months (May 6, 2011 through September 30, 2011) and very little happened, and for this financial year we have the incredibly costly Wikimania 2012 conference. Here's last year's financial report.
• What additional oversight mechanisms will be put in place? Does performance and under/over-utilization of funds in one year impact funding for the next year? At what point does the FDC say "stop asking us for money and raise money yourselves"? What will be done to ensure that regional politics do not have a harmful effect on the distribution of money? Is the FDC amenable to emergency fund dissemination to rescue chapters from bankruptcy, and if so, what would be the consequences? (I don't expect that to be an issue for Wikimedia DC, but it is a question worth raising.)

Hungary

• In the last four or so years the funds dissemination process (including fundraising and the grants programme) and attached criteria (eligibility; reporting; etc.) have changed at least once every single year; sometimes even more than once and usually with timing that didn't allow enough preparation for all parties leading to uncertainty and the desire to build up safeguards in the form of bigger reserves and pursuing labour-intensive outside funding sources.
• We understand that the FDC process will be evolving, however, we would really appreciate some stability in the system, once set up: either in the form of multi-year commitments to fund operating costs; or by making sure that changes, especially the fundamental ones are announced well in advance without affecting on-going grants or applications (e.g. so that they affect only subsequent funding cycles, not the current or immediately upcoming one).
• Once the details are finalized and the dust settles, I would appreciate a direct outreach (e.g. phone call) to the potential grantees (and those who have been eligible in the past, but for some reason are not in the present) to explain and discuss the new situation. (This could make sure that even those get the necessary info who do not have the time to read everything, and linguistic misunderstandings could be ironed out.)

Russia

• According to current plans, we might be able to perform most plans without FDC grants until 2014, unless our expectations related to donations fail.
• We would like the process to be as transparent as possible, and we would like to keep an eye on the development from very beginning. We don't have any specific questions that have deadlines yet.

Switzerland

• Basically it would be interesting to know the timeline and the process in order to prepare our projects plan for 2013.
• It's unclear the question to "receive" funds because in Switzerland the question is more connected with to "retain" funds as we receive sufficient funds through Wikimedia fundraising to cover our financial request.