Grants:PEG/WM ZA/Administrator bridging funding

This grantee has requested a change to the budget submitted here and this change has been approved by WMF. Please see the discussion page for details.

This projects report can be viewed here.

statusFunded

Project & Event Grants

WM ZA/Administrator Bridging Finance prior to FDC Round 2 Application

This grant request aims to support the continued employment of the full time Administrator for the Chapter and related logistical expenses.

targetWikimedia ZA and support to local languages

strategic priorityIncreasing Reach, Increasing Participation

start date1 December

start year2014

end date31 July

end year2015

budget (local currency)ZAR 264 900.00

budget (USD)USD 24 213.89

grant typeOrganisation

non-profit statusYES

creator• Discott

contact(s)• douglas.i.scottgmail.com• Thuvack

organization• Wikimedia South Africa

website• www.wikimedia.org.za

friendly space expectations

view all PEG requests

Background

This grant request comes out of the 2013 OSF bridging funding, and a grant made to Wikimedia ZA in 2013 by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa to help professionalise the chapter, and so expand logistical capacity. I was hoped that the Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF) would continue this funding for the 2014/2015 year, however a commitment on future funding has not been forthcoming, despite Wikimedia ZA's application and our attempts of following up with them regarding the outcome. We would have been advised about the outcome of our application in September but no such notification has so far been forthcoming. Although they have not stated that they will not be giving us a continuation of the grant they gave us in 2013, we are assuming that they will not support the project in the new year.

As explained below the original grant from the OSF and the accompanying Foundation bridging grant was to hire an administrator so as to expand capacity and help professionalise Wikimedia ZA. We feel that this has been achieved.

After funding had been approved in November 2013, we went through the rigorous process of hiring a full time administrator. We feel we have been very successful in this process, and are very happy with the services of the administrator we have hired. Theresa has shown herself to be a versatile, organised, adaptable and hard working addition to Wikimedia ZA and has been a great asset to the chapter. As she has worked with Wikimedia ZA over the past months she has learned a lot about the chapter, the systems of the Wikimedia Foundation and the culture of the Wiki community at large. Loosing her would be a great blow to Wikimedia ZA and replacing her would prove a most difficult and resource intensive task.

Prior to hiring the administrator Wikimedia ZA was severely hamstrung by our logistical limitations, thereby preventing us from getting properly organised and hosting the many projects and events we wanted to do. In 2012/13 Wikimedia ZA only managed to host two projects of significant size. Namely Wiki Loves Monuments and Joburgpedia. Just these two events pushed us to our limits.

A more detailed expansion of the administrator's actives between December 2013 (when she was hired) and October 2014 can be found here.

More information on these projects and what we have been able to do as a chapter in the last year can be found at our chapter's report here.

Projects directly involving the administrator

Since hiring the administrator we have managed to do the following:

• Cape Town Wikimania 2015 bid (assisted)
• Finances
• Completing paper work on Wikimedia ZA's legal status and registration as a public benefit organisation for tax purposes
• WikiIndaba (organised)
• Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa 2014 (greatly assisted in organisation of)
• Joburgpedia 2014 (greatly assisted in organisation of)
• WikiNews: coverage of Nelson Mandela's Funeral
• AGM reports, organisation, and hosting
• Fundraising (seeking and applying for)

A number of these projects such as WikiIndaba were major undertakings that would not in anyway have been possible without the administrator's assistance.

Projects made possible due to administrator

Below is a list of projects made possible by the expanded logistical and professional capacity opened up by the availability of the administrator.

• Open Book Festival edit-a-thon
• Western Cape Libraries edit-a-thon
• WLM 2014 exhibition

Additional

Theresa's ability to speak Afrikaans fluently has also allowed Wikimedia ZA to reach out and connect with the Afrikaans Wikipedia community, one of the most active and vibrant of the African language communities on Wikipedia. Prior to her arrival, we had only very limited communication with the Afrikaans community due to a lack of adequate Afrikaans language speakers amongst the Wikimedia ZA board. This as since been rectified somewhat and we have now elected a member of the Afrikaans Wikipedia community to our board. Without Theresa's assistance this would not have been possible.

Goal

The organisational capacity brought about by the Administrator has increased the presence of the Chapter in South Africa and has created awareness of the Chapter in Africa.

We would like to build on the success to date, and continue enhancing the logistical and institutional capabilities of the Chapter. The continued employment of the Administrator will form the nucleus of an organised, focused, effective and more professionalised Chapter, that will deepen Wikimedia ZA's capabilities to fulfil its objectives and obligations to local Wikimedia Community.

(a) To develop and support the South African Wikimedia communities.

(b) To protect, preserve and promote local cultures, other African Wikimedia communities and the greater communities of free culture and open software.

(c) To support and facilitate the sharing of knowledge in all South African languages, thus contributing to the development of local languages on Wikimedia.

(d) To spread awareness of the Wikimedia projects as a significant resource within universities, archives, museums and other relevant communities, and to also actively engage with them.

(e) Act as the conduit between editors, writers and specialists within the community to support the growth and sustainability of high quality local content.

Plan

Strategy

This grant is being sought as bridging funding to keep Wikimedia ZA's administrator between now and once we have completed our application for FDC funding. This is also based on the assumption that the OSF will not renew funding for the administrator's position in this time frame. This grant is a once off funding application to allow us to keep and build on the gains from hiring our administrator whilst the chapter's application for FDC funding is being filed. The FDC funding will likely only be finalised in July 2015. Wikimedia ZA has already sent a letter of intent to obtain FDC funding and is currently going through the process of applying for it.

Activities

The scope of activities for the Administrator will cover a range of activities:

• To support the South African Wikimedia communities
• To promote local and other African Wikimedia communities
• To actively engage with GLAM and educational institutions and spread awareness of the Wikimedia projects as a significant resource.
• Act as the conduit between editors, writers and specialists within the community to support the growth and sustainability of high quality local content
• Chapter Administration in terms of legislative requirements
• Project Coordination and Facilitation
• Monthly Banking Administration
• Grant Applications and Reports

Impact

Target readership

All local language Wikipedia projects will benefit from continuation of community support.

Fit with strategy

Increase capacity by maintaining full-time staff to catalyze, support and partner with community members.

Measures of success

• Continue with logistical activities related to the successful implementation of Wikimedia ZA projects, and to comply with the Chapter's Agreement
• Produce a Bi-annual review and progress reports.
• Ensure the Wikimedia ZA complies with legislative and audit requirements.
• Successful implementation of proposed projects in 2015 that get funded.

Raising awareness of the Chapter and Wikipedia / Wikimedia has been a key priority for 2014. We would like to continue with this in 2015.

Resources and risks

Resources

Team members
Wikimedia ZA coordination team

• Douglas Scott
• Dumisani Ndubane

This grant is effectively an extension of:

• 2013 OSF Bridging Funding

Risks

• Organizational Stability - WM ZA chapter administration is greatly the responsibility of the Administrator. It would be a great risk to organization stability, if we are not able to continue the employment of the Administrative staff member.
  • Mitigation: WM ZA board members are volunteers and would be able to perform to a very low degree some of the activities of the Administrator.

Budget breakdown

		Qty	Rate	Total (Rand)	Total (US Dollars)	Notes
1.1	Administrator	8	20 000.00	160 000.00	14 625.23
1.2	Management Consultant		6 900.00	62 100.00	5 676.42
1.3	Consultant 2	9	3 450.00	31 050.00	2 838.21
1.4	Payroll Costs	8	800.00	6 400.00	585.00
1.5	Auditing & Legal Fees	1	30 000.00	30 000.00	2 742.23
1.6	Office Rental	8	3 000.00	24 000.00	2 193.78
1.7	Contingencies	1	20 000.00	20 000.00	1 828.15
1.8	Telecommunication	8	1 500.00	12 000.00	1 096.89
1.9	Equipment and IT Services	8	1 000.00	8 000.00	731.26
1.10	Banking Charges	1	4 500.00	4 500.00	411.33
	TOTAL			264 900.00	24 213.89

Budget Summary

Grantees are subject to line-item scrutiny of expenses. Changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Total cost of project

ZAR 264 900.00 or $24 213.89 rounded total as calculated to be R10.94/1USD on 24/10/2014 using latest exchange rates.

Total amount requested from the Project and Event Grants program

ZAR 264 900.00 or $24 213.89 rounded total.

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this project, and amounts funded

None

Non-financial requirements

Requests for non-financial assistance, if any

NONE

Discussion

Community notification

The application of this grant was endorsed by WM ZA Board. No Specific community notification was done, other than the notes of the AGM Meeting found here.

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Project and Event Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

• As a WMZA board member for 2013/4, I have seen first-hand how Theresa's presence has transformed the chapter's ability. I hope that this bid is successful to ensure that the good work continues. Islahaddow (talk) 09:57, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

For grantees

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