Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund/PhilWiki Community Annual Plan 2024

Follow-up questions about your grant application

Hello Phil Wiki team,

Thank you for responding to the follow-up questions. For documentation purposes, we are also making the questions and responses available here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EjXH-ZJmj54Q-EcJQ55ZA9sc7uHMgh80/view?usp=sharing

This file was also uploaded onto the grant application retrospectively and can be found under additional information at question 22.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 14:35, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Your grant application has been approved

Hello Phil Wiki team,

Thank you for your responses to the follow-ups questions.

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of PHP 2,590,000 (including fiscal sponsor fee and PHP 187,700 for Bikol Wikisource Train the Trainers Programme) from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. With this approved amount, do submit a revised budget by adding a tab to your existing spreadsheet and labelling it revised. Please reply to this talkpage message once the adjustments have been made.  

Let’s continue having regular conversations over the course of your grant implementation. Please let me know if you require support in any way or would like to share your experiences with a wider community through the Let's Connect Programme or at ESEAP community meetings.

Note on grant funding amount

In your award letter/email, you may observe that the USD equivalent may be different from that floating exchange rate on Oanda. This is because (at the moment) we apply a pre-determined exchange rate for each grant as determined by the WMF Finance team. That said, I've published on meta the approved amount in your local currency and we can use that as a common reference point.

We know even the best thought through plans may change.

In the event that there are changes to your implementation schedule, you can reach out to request for a grant extension (i.e. extend end date). Similarly, if there is a surplus budget or changes to your planned budget, you can reach out to your programme officer about reallocation (via email and on this talkpage). There is also the option to have the unspent funds deducted against a future grant. More details here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Return_unused_funds_to_WMF

Disbursement of Funds

To facilitate the funds disbursement process, we seek your prompt response on Fluxx and via emails with the WMF Grants Administrator team (grantsadmin@wikimedia.org). We highly encourage you to submit all supporting documents and endorse the grant agreements within the stipulated time frame. When in doubt, proactively reach out to the WMF Grants Administration team and copy your programme officer for clarifications.

Additional resources which may be useful

• The reporting requirements and templates for the grant can be found here. All reports are to be completed and submitted via Fluxx.
• Timelines for reporting can be found in your grant agreement or on Fluxx.
• Instructions for post award: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Processing/Grantee_Portal/Post_award
• Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

Recommendations

• For this grant application, we would like to flag questions/ responses for 2 / 16 (clarity on local context, defining the challenges more clearly and how your proposed solutions address the challenges and are in alignment with movement goals), 4  (partnerships), 9/10/11 (staffing), and 18 (Board)  for further reflection and inclusion into your implementation plan. (Note: referencing follow-up questions document on talkpage; also uploaded at question 22 of grant application.)

• Clarity on local context, defining challenges more clearly and how your proposed solutions address the challenges and are in alignment with movement goals: Based on your application and responses in the follow-up questions, these key questions are still left unanswered. Specifically, it would be helpful to think along these lines
  • Analysis / evaluation of your operating context
  • Needs of the society and the community that drive your work and why you are best suited/positioned to do that work out of the many affiliates already operating in the country.
  • See Theory of Change example 1 and example 2
  • Without the above, it also means that the proposed impact and how you hope to achieve it is not clear, and without it, the potential to achieve is left undefined either.

• Partnerships: Reflecting and developing a partnerships strategy that helps your team to understand and evaluate the types of partnerships you are establishing, the motivation behind the partnerships and the added value they would bring to the local movement, your community or organisation. If you require support in this area, do reach out to Sakti Pramudya, Partnerships (Southeast Asia) for further conversations.

• Staffing: As you transition to hiring paid staff, It would be useful to understand local labour laws to ensure that you are in full compliance with your employer obligations. In addition, as you seek to professionalise Phil Wiki’s set up, you will need to focus on building internal documentation, policies, clear job descriptions, reporting lines, performance evaluation, decision making processes and making these available on your meta page.

• Board: As a  locally registered organisation with paid staff and Board of Directors. The Board of Directors should also be aware and have the capacity/ experience to perform their duty of care. We appreciate your thinking behind the current status of the Board composition and look forward to learning your further plans on evolving the Board and ensuring a clear separation of duties across board members, paid staff, volunteers etc.

• It would be also useful to flag that these considerations have been taken into account and tracked in your final report, where possible. If you find it supportive, do have a further discussion at your next check-in with your programme officer. Please feel free to reach out proactively.
• As you will be reflecting and prioritising key initiatives in your revised budget, it would be useful to keep the above in mind when you adjust your budget.
• For the next grant application, we would encourage you to start conversations early (with the programme officer) to identify and plan for the supporting structures needed for your affiliate to grow. We hope to tap on the collective wisdom of your experiences, peer learning and sharing to plan for your growth.

We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project. Good luck!

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf or ESEAP funds committee and WMF staff who reviewed your grant application JChen (WMF) (talk) 14:41, 7 June 2024 (UTC)