Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Creating free knowledge in Israel through educational and GLAM projects, and enhancement of gender, age and ability diversity in the Hebrew and Arabic Wikipedias.
Promoting engagement and representation of sectors and genders in our society, in terms of both content and content creators, in 50% of our activities; Enriching our instructional capabilities with at least two new means; Promoting the awareness of free content, enrolling 4-5 additional GLAM institutes; Fostering the community of volunteers, adding 2-3 new volunteers and new fields;
Strengthening our organizational sustainability, increasing our efficiencyThis is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.
Applicant details
editWikimedia username(s):
- RevitalP-WMIL
Organization:
- Wikimedia Israel
Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?
- Applied previously and did receive a grant
Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?
- Yes
Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?
- Yad Hanadiv, Ica Israel, Arkin Family Foundation . We have received grants from local philanthropic foundations, that are focused on specific areas of interest, and limited in their amount and support components.
Approval of their grants depend on each Foundation's financial availability, timetable, policy, and priorities. Funding criteria are subject to changes at the discretion of the relevant Fund. These grants are applicable to 2021
Organization details
editWhat is your organization or group's mission?
- Wikimedia Israel is the local Israeli chapter of the worldwide Wikimedia movement. It works in close cooperation with the global Wikimedia Foundation and with other local Wikimedia chapters around the world. Our main goal is to promote and secure access to knowledge and cultural assets by encouraging people from all parts of the Israeli society to share their knowledge and create free content, namely content that is easy to access, share and reuse from technological and legal points of view.
If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has. (optional)
Grant proposal
editPlease state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page.
- Creating free knowledge in Israel through educational and GLAM projects, and enhancement of gender, age and ability diversity in the Hebrew and Arabic Wikipedias.
Where will this proposal be implemented?
- Israel
Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries? (optional)
- Local
If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.
What are the main challenges you are trying to solve and your proposed solution?
- The main challenges we are facing are:
The potential number of content creators, both in HE & AR, in our geographical domain, is relatively low owing to the relatively small population and the small amount of available free online content in both languages. The community of he-wp editors does not represent the human diversity of the Israeli society. Women are particularly underrepresented in content-creating activities of the Wikimedia projects. Consequently, there is insufficient content about underrepresented audiences. The local population is small, hence the number of active volunteers is also rather small. Our volunteers are very committed - some have been active since the establishment of the chapter - but the workload is high and the needs are ever growing. We work constantly to preserve the existing group and enroll new volunteers. The local awareness of free content as a means to increase accessibility, equality, education and creativity, is low. This includes GLAM & governmental institutes, which show low willingness to share their contents. Our proposed solutions to address these challenges consists of: Careful choice of target audiences, to create significant impact, diversification & inclusion. Fostering underrepresented audiences with a good potential of becoming active creators of quality content, e.g. senior citizens; creating inclusive and safe instructional environments for underrepresented audiences (e.g. women); engaging people on the autistic spectrum. Promoting creation of impactful diverse content through instructional activities in HE- & AR-speaking educational frameworks and the academy, while emphasizing content gaps in he-wp & ar-wp; searching for new partners to enrich Wikidata with local data. Further development of instructional tools, while strengthening the team’s capabilities as facilitators and promoters of instructional activities; establishing a support environment for instructional materials, focusing on university lecturers; developing an Arabic online editing course to promote knowledge equity in Israel and worldwide. Conducting a survey among our volunteers to find new ways of strengthening our relations and mapping the volunteers’ capabilities, as well as enrolling new volunteers. Promoting public awareness of the meaning of free content and encouraging GLAM institutes to release contents to the public domain. To this end, we will further develop GLAM Wiki Dashboard and promote its usage locally and worldwide.
What is the main objective of your proposal?
- Our main objectives for 2022 are:
Promoting engagement and representation of sectors and genders in our society, in terms of both content and content creators, in 50% of our activities; Enriching our instructional capabilities with at least two new means; Promoting the awareness of free content, enrolling 4-5 additional GLAM institutes; Fostering the community of volunteers, adding 2-3 new volunteers and new fields; Strengthening our organizational sustainability, increasing our efficiency
Describe your main strategies to achieve this objective and the main activities you will be developing as part of these strategies.
- Our strategy is based on integration of 4 major organizing principles:
Increasing the engagement & representation of the various sectors and genders of the Israeli society; Enhancing and diversifying our activities with partners to create quality content, information & data; Developing capabilities, skills & tools to position ourselves as the leading organization in the field of free content; Increasing our visibility & organizational sustainability in our geographical domain & within the movement. Our activity clusters will focus on: Our editing courses, as a central model for increasing diversity, inclusion & community expansion. Main target audiences: senior citizens, women & people with special needs. Using online methods will allow better geographic diversity & outreach to remote and small communities. Knowledge-creation strategies aiming at enriching Wikimedia projects with quality contents & data implemented through several coopeations: Article-writing projects in the HE- and AR-speaking educational systems & the academy, while prioritizing high-impact topics & insufficiently covered subjects on he-wp and ar-wp, and further development of teacher trainings as force multipliers. Coopeations with organizations that can enrich Wikidata, combined with initiatives for fostering an open-source community. Further development of the Dashboard’s capacities and its adoption in GLAM institutes in Israel and worldwide will be our main means for increasing awareness of free content and encouraging its release. Development of training tools & skills will focus on expanding content-creation capabilities, both in training activities and for our staff and volunteers. We will also develop a first online editing course in Arabic, to become available in Israel & throughout the movement, aiming at increasing cultural diversity and knowledge equity. Enhancement of our sustainability and public visibility will include: Expanding resource development, with an emphasis on diversifying our income sources and prioritizing field of activity with a combined potential of fundraising and significant impact. Initiating a thinking process to promote respectful discourse and improve the experience of new editors, for expanding the he-wp community and improving its reputation. Increasing visibility in the community and reaching out to new audiences through social media and public activities (e.g. webinars) to deepen knowledge about Wikimedia projects and related topics.
Please state if you will be carrying out any of these activities within your programs? Select all that apply.
- Organizing Meet-up online, Organizing Meet-up offline, Train-the-Trainer, Contest, Wiki Loves campaign, Media outreach campaign
Are you running any in-person events or activities?
- Yes
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18UQwT02j6G9x8uWt2vSwVT0SNXbIxW0ToPq9pZtVRNo/edit?usp=sharing
Please state if your proposal aims to work on any of the identified content knowledge gaps?
- Content Gender gap, Language, Important Topics (topics considered to be of impact or important in the specific context), Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or thematic focus.
- Education, Human Rights, Climate Change and sustainability, Culture, heritage or GLAM , Open Technology, Diversity
Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select all categories that apply.
- Gender Identity, Geographic , Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Disabilities, Linguistic / Language, Age
Please tell us more about your target participants.
- During the coming year we will continue to work for the expansion and diversification of our community with organizations, institutes, sectors and genders that are on top of the movement’s and our own priorities.
Institutional frameworks: Teachers & students in the HE- and AR-speaking educational systems, lecturers & students in higher-education institutes. Voluntary-engagement programs: senior citizens, women Specially targeted audiences: People on the autistic spectrum (for the first time) GLAM institutes, both as participants and organizers Volunteers & community members Influential officeholders: Mid and senior executives at the civil service, selected government ministries and others. The activities will take place throughout Israel, in person or online, to allow geographic diversity. Retention efforts will be tailored to the initial participation motivations and the potential of continuity. To encourage the participation of these audiences and enhance the potential of continuous work, our strategy will include: Specially designed environments that will meet the needs of the specific targeted audience & create a safe convenient space. For example, women-only editing courses, which allow women to be more open and feel more comfortable and create essential contacts among themselves. Development & expansion of our complementary activities and support for editing-course graduates, to encourage their growth as editors and further engagement in the community & in the chapter's activities, including joining up as volunteers. Strengthening the chapter’s support capabilities of various target audiences in formal settings, such as schools, the academy etc, and in public environments, by developing specific training materials in requested topics and through strengthening support networks for new editors, while improving their user experience. Defining preferred agendas in specific subjects to encourage the participation of relevant target audiences, as a means to reach out to new potential participants and increase the involvement of existing ones, e.g. gender issues, minority cultures, selected historical themes. Promoting projects that offer added value to participants, especially GLAM institutes, and encourage them to constantly release free contents for their own benefit. For example, the GLAM-Wiki Dashboard, which allows the institutes to follow the usage of their released contents and serves them as an important management & marketing tool.
Do you have plans to work with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?
- Yes
Please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.
- We intend to expand our global cooperation within the movement focusing mainly on GLAM and Wikidata projects.This include:
Expanding the already existing collaborations for the GLAM-Wiki dashboard, the open-source based analytical tool for following usage of free contents released to WM projects. Contacts with WMF Community Programs, and with certain selected chapters and user groups, were made so far through direct approach. Collaborations include back-end open-source development features, feedback, mobilizing global GLAM institutes to use the dashboard, and more. We accepted WMDE invitation to join their cross-chapter collaborative initiative to develop capacity-building resources for GLAM work across the movement. Since our open-source community is very small, we are interested in creating global cooperation for making the Israeli Film Archive’s historical collection (mainly newsreels) accessible through Wikidata. First steps were taken during the recent WikidataCon.
Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?
- Yes
Please describe these partnerships.
- The alliances are based mainly on a common interest shared with organizing entities that have a relative advantage or can provide an added value in issues we wish to promote by joining forces.
Our main allies: Israel’s Ministry of Education (for both HE & AR education), higher education institutes, the National Library, Yad Vashem, senior-citizen organizations, GLAM institutes. More alliances are expected. Collaborations are tailored to reach specific goals. Each alliance is formed in an articulated manner that eventually broadens the overall impact of our work. They can be manifested in a variety of ways: providing better accessibility and outreach to target audiences, increase of public visibility and media outreach, providing quality information sources for editing processes, optimizing time and financial resources, and improvement of implementation capabilities by sharing tasks and dividing certain costs (e.g. learning & activity spaces, joint marketing, refreshments, etc).
How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?
- Our strategic concept is based upon creating an ongoing impact to allow growth as a sustainable chapter and establish our position as a leading organization in promoting and facilitating free-content creation and accessibility, in Israel and as a contributor to the global movement and its vision.
The modi operandi to be implemented will be examined for their scaling potential & sustainability in the long run, as well as their cost-effectiveness ratio. This concept will be manifested this working year in various ways, among them: Enhancement & development of strategic alliances with partners and leading organizers, to include WM projects in their working plans & facilitate a continuous growing influence over time. Responding to challenges encountered by editors, particularly new ones, providing practical means of support to improve the discourse among editors, their experience, retention and the community’s sustainability. Identifying new or developing socially impactful issues that may provide opportunities for enriching the content of he-wp, through their integration into our activities, and also for diversifying funding resources. Flexibility of our activity & constant reexamination of the changing needs and circumstances, and the level of relevancy and influence of our projects. Expanding the sum of our activity potential & our outreach to new audiences by fostering the volunteers’ human capital & building an ongoing process of ever growing network of activists.
Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?
- The WMIL team is made up of the following members:
- Executive Director - RevitalP-WMIL- Full time
In charge of the chapter’s strategic planning and its implementation; resource development, development and fostering of partnerships and free-knowledge awareness in Israel and within the movement.
- Deputy Director for Content and Programs: - Shai-WMIL - Full time; on maternity leave until January 2022
In charge of the chapter’s content and educational programs, tools, skill development, and programs for enhancing diversity.
- Coordinator for Higher Education Programs and Wikidata:- Keren-WMIL - Full time (50% higher education + 50% Wikidata)
In charge of academic educational programs (college and university lecturers and students) and Wikidata projects.
- Coordinator for Hebrew Educational Programs: - Ruti-WMIL - Full time
In charge of the “Students Write Wikipedia” program in HE-speaking middle and high-schools, as well as extracurricular activities, teacher trainings and development of instructional materials.
- Coordinator for Arabic Educational Programs:- Abeer-WMIL - Full time
In charge of the “Students Write Wikipedia” program in AR-speaking middle and high-schools, as well as extracurricular activities, teacher trainings and development of instructional materials.
- Marketing and Events Coordinator: - Gitit-WMIL - Full time
In charge of organizing the chapter’s events and communication, through social media and otherwise. (to be replaced, currently in recruiting process)
- Finance and Administration Coordinator: - Hanna-WMIL, Full time; In charge of accounting support, administration and logistical support for team tasks.
The team is reinforced by an external professional training facilitator for the senior-citizen editing courses, who is responsible, with the team’s support, for the training and guiding process of each course unit that he leads. In 2022 we intend to further consolidate this working model.
In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.
- Improve User Experience, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Innovate in Free Knowledge
Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here. (optional)
- Upload Strategic Plan
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation
editWhat do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?
- Our evaluation matrix focuses on the following main components:
- Impact:
To what extent our programs increase participation and representation in knowledge sharing within our geographic domain and the Wikimedia movement; Which of our strategies bear fruit in terms of promoting public awareness of releasing free content, and how we can enhance them; Which of our projects carry the potential of making an impact at the movement level and what we should do to scale and better adapt them.
- Sustainability:
Which activities should be prioritized for their contribution to both the overall impact of the chapter work and the expansion and diversification of our resource development efforts; Which activities should be reexamined or reformulated to make them more efficient in terms of time, human and financial resources.
- Community:
How we can support our communities more efficiently and more equitably, to increase the members' engagement; What tools and methods can be applied to promote respectful discourse, safe environment and supportive approach toward new editors, in order to improve their experience and facilitate their integration in the community, while strengthening he-wp’s community and its reputation.
- Efficiency & effectiveness:
To what extent our planning, including the learning and evaluation activities, are tailored to meet the needs of our target audiences, and how we can reach better and more effective results therefrom.
Core Metrics
editEnter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Core metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | The total number of participants in all activities: 1984 (returning + new participants)
Of these - at least 70% will be new (mostly middle- & high-school students, higher education students, and senior citizens who took part in the editing course or were exposed to it f |
1984 |
| Number of editors | The total number of new editors in all activities: 845 Including: middle- & high-school students (230 in HE, 200 in AR), higher education (225), Wikidata editors (10), senior citizens - both men & women (70), people with special needs (10), people who take part in editing events or contests (100) | 845 |
| Number of organizers | The total target number of organizers in all activities: 67
Of these: 14-16 will be new 18 volunteers in educational activities (2-3 will be new) / 14 volunteers in marketing activities and events (2 will be new) / 1 training facilitator, 8 members of the HE educational system (2 will be new) / 6 members of the AR educational system (2 will be new) / 15 lecturers in the academy who include a Wikipedia assignment in their course, and partners who promote the project (5 will be new) / 5 representatives of GLAM institutes and cultural organizations (1-2 will be new |
67 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Articles created or improved (he-wp) | 1135 |
| Wikipedia | Articles created or improved (ar-wp) | 200 |
| Wiktionary | Entries created or improved | 30 |
| Wikidata | Items created or improved | 4500 |
| Wikimedia Commons | Files uploaded | 5000 |
If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.
- N/A
Additional Metrics
editEnter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | New graduates of the 2022 editing courses that will continue to edit for at least 3 months after completing the course | 25 |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | No. of institutes/organizations that contribute to our goals, demonstrate continued collaboration, and constitute force multipliers | 9 |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | Editing-course feedback survey (conducted among participants at the end of each cycle): An average overall final score of 4 out of 5 among participants | 4 |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | No. of new followers of our posts related to the work developed within the framework of this proposal = 800 new social-media followers, and 400 new mailing-list subscribers | 1200 |
| Number of activities developed | N/A | N/A |
| Number of volunteer hours | No. of person-hours of volunteers in our various projects: educational, senior citizens, and events | 800 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
What other information will you be collecting to learn about the impact of your work? (optional)
- Additional impact analysis information to be collected will include the following data:
- The number of articles written about women or gender-related topics, out of the total number of new articles;
- The number of articles dealing with the local Arab society in various fields (out of the total number of new articles in Arabic);
- The geographical distribution of participants and partner institutes (center vs. periphery), based on the data about participants in editing courses and geographical location of educational institutes.
What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?
- We will use both quantitative and qualitative tools to measure the selected metrics, depending on their relevant characteristics. The tools are:
WikiProject pages Dashboard Internal monitoring templates (Google sheets) Surveys (Google forms) Feedbacks from participants and organizers Statistics provided by social-media pages
How do you hope to share these results so that others can learn from them?
- Share results on social media, Share results with our communities, Develop learning material for other users, Other
- Share results on Wikimedia Community Blog, digest and lists
Financial Proposal
editWhat is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.
- 1273000 ILS
What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?
- 402128 USD
Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?
- No
If you have calculated it, please provide an estimate of the year 2 or year 3 request.
- N/A
Please share your budget for this proposal.
- See the attached budget documents (PDF) which include the following tabs:
1. Tab 1: Planned budget 2022 : including Revenues and expenses (program expenses,
operating costs, staff expenses), In kind contribution Amount requested from WMF.
2. Tab 2: Allowed use of Revenue source and Budget allocation plan according to funding sources 3. Tab 3: Notes on the 2022 Budget 4. Tab4: Annual follow-up table (to be filled - at mid 2022 and end of 2022 )
- A google sheet version of the Budget document (4 tabs) is sent via email separately for your convenience
- TAB 2 WMIL Use of Revenue Sources - 2022.pdf
- TAB 3-WMIL Notes on the 2022 Budget.pdf
- TAB 4- WMIL Budget-Annual follow-up 2022.pdf
What do you do to make sure there is a good management of funds?
- WMIL applies multidimensional policies, tools and procedures to ensure appropriate financial management.
All expenditures must be approved by the ED in advance, backed by a reference document and linked to the appropriate budget item. All income must be recorded and backed by a detailed receipt. Contracts with suppliers, or a purchase of a product above a certain amount, require three price quotations. Each payment is jointly signed by two authorized signatories (according to their authorization level). Monthly financial control is provided by the chapter's external account manager, and includes a detailed bookkeeping account of each revenue and expense, and monthly budget percentage utilization status report. Each quarter, she issues a quarterly financial report. Quarterly data is reported to the Board of Directors at board meetings. External accounting auditors issue annual financial statements. They audit and provide ongoing counseling upon demand.
How will you contribute towards creating a supportive environment for participants using the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy?
- WMIL considers the safety & inclusion of our community members as a crucial component of the ecosystem in which we operate. We apply a Safe Space Policy in all of our activities, whether face-to-face, in virtual spaces, in social networks or otherwise. In the spirit of the UCOC, and in order to ensure that members of our community feel welcomed, valued, and that their participation matters, we plan to initiate a brainstorming process (to include volunteers, community and staff members) whose goals are twofold:
o Delivering a clear message to the community about the importance of this issue for securing its own sustainability & strength and for a positive public reputation; o Identifying practical methods, tools and means to increase tolerance and encourage the reduction of disrespectful discourse among community members, while also recommending how to implement them, with a special focus on providing support for the most vulnerable sub-communities, such as women and new editors.
Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.
- Staffing plan or organogram:
- Other public document(s):
Final Message
editBy submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.
We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
- Yes
Feedback
edit- Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.