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Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Nederland work program 2022-2023/Yearly Report (2023)

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Yearly Learning Report (Year 2 - 2023)

Report Status: Accepted

Due date: 2024-04-10T00:00:00Z

Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund

Report type: Yearly Learning Report (for multi-year fund recipients) , reporting year: 2023

Application Yearly Report (2022)

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General information edit

This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving multi-year Wikimedia Community Funds to report on their yearly results.

  • Name of Organization: Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland
  • Title of Proposal: Wikimedia Nederland work program 2022-2023

Part 1 Understanding your work edit

1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.

During 2019-2022, the Wikimedia Nederland office faced understaffing due to illness and vacancies. In addition, the COVID pandemic imposed restrictions and obstacles, also for the wider volunteer community and cooperation partners. Wikimedia Nederlan created space in the 2023 annual plan for a 'recalibration' of the organisation (i.e.: refocussing), and for some overdue maintenance.

This free space has been used in 2023 to:

  • make a sharper prioritisation of the use of the office's resources and time. It was decided to focus mainly on attracting new volunteers and increasing the self-reliance of cooperation partners through manuals, the knowledge platform and training sessions. It was also decided that no more than one major event would be organised per year.
  • review the office's working methods and procedures and adjust them where necessary. This has reduced reporting pressure.
  • Develop a communication strategy to make better use of our resources in communicating with various stakeholders. As a first initiative we developed a short version of the annual report 2022 especially for the general public
  • recording internal knowledge in protocols and manuals, which reduced the organisation's vulnerability in case of long-term illness or staff changes
  • carry out a major digital and physical clean-up, and renovate the office.

Next to this 'recalibration programme' we still implemented a rather full programme of activities. We organised or supported 78 activities, ranging from providing a small grant to a volunteer enabling them to buy a reference book, helping partners in Surinam organise WikiLovesMonument, to providing a series of masterclasses for staff of WWII museums, and supporting volunteers in organising a hackathon for experienced wiki-hackers and coders. More than half of these activities fell in the 'Impact' programme, which aims to contribute to adding 'content that matters' to the Wikimedia projects.

Overall, in our work with partners in the Netherlands we see a change in emphasis from facilitating content donations to capacity building for more advanced skills in using the Wikimedia projects to improve collection and datamanagement.

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?

In our multiyear strategy 2022-2026, we identified several weakness and threats. We were able to address a number of these in 2023. As a result, some threats that were still marked as urgent in 2022 are now less acute. They are:
  • Internal knowledge of office and board is insufficiently captured. Action taken: capture staff knowledge in protocols and manuals
  • There is more demand for WMNL support than we can handle. This leads to a risk of burnout of volunteers and staff due to high workload. Action taken: sharper prioritisation and increasing self-reliance of partners and volunteers. WMNL has also taken out absenteeism insurance, which will make it financially possible to hire replacements in case of an employee's long-term illness.

On a more operational level:

  • Gently pushing partners to take more (operational) responsibility for joint activities has re-energised partnerships, especially concerning gender gap/LGBT issues
  • It takes an effort, but sticking to decisions to stay away from activities that are appealing and fun, but have proven to be unsuccessful (one-off editing events, cooperation with public libraries) does free up resources for more relevant stuff
  • Investing in capacity building for partners, e.g. through our Deel-Je-Data (share your data) masterclasses, is a good basis for a longer running partnership. In 2023, we implemented this programme for WW II museums and remembrance sites, who are coming back for more in 2024
  • Recycling works! We recycled WikiLovesMonuments, which we discontinued in the Netherlands several years ago as it had run out of momentum, and it is turning out to be a successful formula to kickstart Wiki-activities in the Dutch Caribbean and Surinam. We dusted off the templates for a regional photo challenge focussing on churches which we ran in 2017, and successfully implemented it nation wide.
  • We started exploring how we could better support young Wikimedians and carried out a survey (report to be published in Q2 2024). As a result of our hiring a younger staffmember who reached out to young Wikimedians for interviews, we already saw an increase in the number of younger people attending our events, reaching out to us for small grants and offering support in organising activities.
  • it is well worth while to take a step back as an organisation and give yourself the time and space to reflect on what you are doing, and have a good clean-up

3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?

I find this difficult to answer.

We may be more ruthless in abandoning activities that do not deliver results We may be closer to the editing community than some other chapters and more aware of what is going on on the WIki-projects.

4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.

Wikimedia community

Participated:

  • generated content, attended events, applied to WMNL for support/help in their activities, helped organise and facilitate activities, gave technical wiki-advice

Were informed via

  • seasonal events
  • mailing lists
  • posts on discussion pages on Wikipedia and other projects
  • Newsletter (10x a year)
  • Website and WMNL wiki
  • Discord
  • Banners on WP

Cooperation partners

Participated:

  • donated content, applied to WMNL for support/help in their activities, hosted or facilitated activities, attended events, gave in kind or financial support

Were informed via

  • Quarterly meeting with wiki coordinators
  • Regular bilateral contacts via email, in person or chat
  • Participation in conferences and meeting of partners
  • Newsletter (10x a year)

Wikimedia Foundation

Participated:

  • gave financial support
  • gave advice on development of Friendly Space Policy

Were informed via

  • Reports
  • Participation in Wikimedia Summit
  • Bilateral contacts

Donors

Participated:

  • donated funds

Were informed via

  • Individual thank-you emails for donations >€100
  • Annual donor newsletter to all donors whose contact details are available

WMNL Members

Participated:

  • attended events, helped organise and facilitate activities, gave advice

Were informed via

  • Half-yearly AGMs
  • Newsletter (10x a year)
  • Announcements on the WMNL association wiki
  • Mailing list
  • Bilateral contacts

General public

Participated:

  • attended events, applied to WMNL for help in wikiproblems,

Were informed via

  • Social media
  • Website
  • Press and media
  • Banners on Wikipedia and other projects
  • Special version of annual report for the wider public

5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.

6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.

Our efforts during the Fund period have helped to...
A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups Agree
B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community Agree
C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups Strongly agree
D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives Neither agree nor disagree
E. Encourage the retention of editors Agree
F. Encourage the retention of organizers Agree
G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. Agree

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?

We have been working to develop a Wikimedia-community and Wikimedia-programme in the Dutch Caribbean and Surinam for some years now. We have concluded that to achieve this, it is necessary to have local Wikimedia-svayy staff. Unfortunately, the grantmaking structure of WMF has a problem dealing with the fact that Europe-based affiliates develop activities in underreprented parts of the world. This hampers progress. It also forces us to invest a lot of time in finding alternative sources of funding.

Part 2: Your main learning edit

8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?

This field provides insufficient space to answer this question adequately. Please see this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fN7ihkVT0iUFU5ztPRPAuckYiD3LPC98w5aD4mz-c5U/edit

9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?

It was interesting to see the impact of a change in the composition of our office team on interaction with the community. In 2022 we hired a new staff member, who is considerably younger than the other members of the team. This has considerably improved our connection to younger Wikimedians and brought in new volunteers.

10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?

WMNL's ambitions - and the external demand for support - exceed capacity and resources. This puts too much pressure on volunteers and staff and takes the fun out of activities for people involved in organising them. In 2024, we want to better align ambitions and resources. This means being realistic in ambitions, but also: realising more resources.

Time was lacking in recent years to properly address fundraising and volunteer recruitment. In 2023, we started to break that cycle. We will continue that in 2024. Our goals are:

  • achieve external project funding, especially for our work in the Caribbean and Suriname
  • recruit more donors, and realise more income from donations
  • recruit volunteers who want to be active in WMNL activities, especially training and guiding (writing) meetings - and support these volunteers well
  • increasing the self-reliance of partners and volunteers, via the Knowledge Platform, training courses and organising meetings
  • reinforce strategic commitment to communication, in support of those plans

More information can be found in our annual plan for 2024.

11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?

  • The time a journalist from one of the Netherlands' best know investigative tv-programmes reached out because his article on WP was being maliciously edited....
  • The time the Anne Frank Foundation - the owners of the legendary Achterhuis is Amsterdam - reached out to explore the potential of partnership to improve content on Anne Frank and her times on Wikimedia projects worldwide (will hopefully start in 2024)
  • The time multiyear grants were cancelled without notice, undermining our efforts at strategic planning

12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.

Part 3: Metrics for Year 2 edit

13a. Open and additional metrics data

Open Metrics
Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
retention of new editors Number of newly registered editors that remain active after 6 months. We strive towards retention of at least 10% 28 32 By providing social support and context for new editors, we are able to have a retention of 12% N/A
new partnerships New partnerships that will help realise targets in the areas 'sustainability' and 'impact' 5 3 Women in Quantum Development (WIQD)

Anne Frank Foundation Local Authority St Eustatius

N/A
Activities developed Online of in person activities developed by Wikimeda Nederland in 2023 45 78 More than half of these activities fell in the 'Impact' programme, which aims to contribute to adding 'content that matters' to the Wikimedia projects. There is a full overview in the Activiteitenverslag (Activity report) N/A
new editors N/A 275 295 N/A N/A
returning editors N/A 1060 417 Target was an overestimate. N/A


13b. Additional core metrics data.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants All individuals participating in online and in-real-life events developed by WMNL, including users of knowledge platforms, participants in online capacity building, survey respondents etc. Per programme area:

sustainabiliy: 220, safety and inclusion 410, impact: 715, knowledge: 335, invest in skills and leadership: 110, equity in decision making: 20

1810 2677
Number of editors Per programme area:

sustainabiliy: 180, safety and inclusion 300, impact: 530, knowledge: 205, invest in skills and leadership: 100, equity in decision making: 20

1335 712 New editors 295 (target 275)

Other editors 417 (target 1060)

Number of organizers N/A 40 110 In all activities, we volunteer organisers contributed 110 times. All in all, these are 45 individuals.
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
N/A N/A N/A 2365 N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A 7967 Large donations from GLAM partners facilitated by WMNL are becoming rarer. It is official Dutch policy to make digital heritage publicly available. Therefore, the Wikimedia community is able to upload items from Dutch collections without any support or involvement of WMNL. N/A
N/A N/A N/A 1673 We are having a problem getting a good grip on Wikidata content. To a certain extent, the same comment applies as with uploads from Commons. Contributing tot Open Data is official Dutch policy. Therefore the (very active and competent) Dutch Wikidata community is able to upload data without WMNL facilitation 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

14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?

No

15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.

Concerning the results in terms of added/improved content, it is a real problem that important tools are not properly maintained.

16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).

  • Upload Documents and Files
  • Here is an additional field to type in URLs.

Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships edit

17. Organizational Capacity

Organizational capacity dimension
A. Financial capacity and management This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
B. Conflict management or transformation This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
D. Partnership building This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
E. Strategic planning This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
F. Program design, implementation, and management This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
J. Governance This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
K. Communications, marketing, and social media This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
M. On-wiki technical skills This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
N. Accessing and using data This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
O. Evaluating and learning from our work This has grown over the last year, the capacity is high
P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders This capacity has grown but it should be further developed
N/A
N/A

17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Peer to peer learning with other community members in community/ies of practice* (structured and continuous learning and sharing spaces), Peer to peer learning with other community members (but that is not continuous or structured), Peer to peer learning with other community members in conferences/events

17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of volunteer time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of financial resources

18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?

N/A

19. Partnerships over the funding period.

Over the fund period...
A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) Agree
B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups Agree
C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups Agree

19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Permanent staff outreach, Board members’ outreach, Partners proactive interest

19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.

Lack of staff to conduct outreach to new strategic partners, Lack of staff capacity to respond to partners interested in working with us

20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?

As we mentioned in our previous report: our work with LGBT+ and Dutch Caribbean communities confirmed that partnerships require commitment for the long haul. It is especially important to find ‘ambassadors’: people known in the targeted community and provide opportunities for the groups to meet in familiar locations.

Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration edit

21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?

The question rather is whether the wider Wikimedia movement, especially WMF, feels that affiliates such as WMNL belong in the movement?

22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Somewhat decreased

23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

The confusion around the grant making process has had considerable impact on our trust in other parts of the movement. Also, the somewhat haphazard implementation of movement strategy recommendations is discouraging, especially since WMNL invested heavily in the Strategy process.

24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?

Stayed the same

25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.

N/A

26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.

We are a Wikimedia affiliate, I don't think this question applies?

Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration edit

We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.

27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?

Partially

27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?

We have particularly shared our experiences in developing a friendly space policy based on the UCoC, as we were the first affiliate to do this. We also share our experiences within the Executive Directors group, the Chairpersons group, Wikimedia Europe and the EU Glam group.

28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?

We do this occasionally (less than once a month)

29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?

See above.

Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance edit

30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

454052

31. Local currency type

EUR

32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

  • Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
  • Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MI8ktqEsVk01oNys6Cw-M6Br2nmwYjW0i4oS3stEyRc/edit#gid=0

33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.

N/A

34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?

34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.

N/A

34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?

N/A

34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.

N/A

35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?

As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.

36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?

Yes

37. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.

Yes

38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.

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