Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Multi-year plan grant Wikimedia Österreich 2022-24

Feedback

Thank you for submitting this application. Thank you for your time, energy and effort. After the first review step, We have some remarks, recommendations and questions that we'd like to get more clarity on, please find them below : (With our very best wishes ☕ Antiqueight ^chatter 17:12, 23 December 2021 (UTC) on behalf of the NWE Grants Committee)
Dear Antiqueight, please find our responses below. --CDG (WMAT staff) (talk) 16:42, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

Project Context & Overview

Can Wikimedia Austria explain their position regarding:

• Development of Schulen and Weiternutzung projects and their contribution to the multi year strategy of the organization

These activities are designed to contribute to our strategic goal to empower people to use and create free knowledge, so it can become an integral part of our society. The earlier (young) people get to know and understand the underlying principles, the better. Ideally, this comprises a broad approach, that would be beyond the scope of an organisation of our size. Hence, our aim for 2022 is to look for suitable partners and networks, and then plan what will be possible with these joint resources.

• How would the option of Banner fundraising change the scope and mandate of the organization?

It would change our mandate in the sense that we could directly communicate with the donors from Austria, providing them with information about the work we do here in our local context and that there are more ways to get involved and to contribute if people are interested (e.g. joining our photo contests, attend events etc). This a missed opportunity at the moment, not only here in Austria but in many countries and regions with local groups and affiliates. Regarding the scope: Without further information about the number and amount of donors and donations from Austria (this is not available to us) we cannot really answer this question. Depending on how the financial governance of the movement will be structured in future, the financial scope might not even change at all (if affiliates get a certain amount of movement funds, independent from the amount raised in their countries).

Community Engagement & partners

• Is there further detail available on the the proposed metrics, Can this be provided?

We don't have anymore information readily available, as this level of detail used to be sufficient for the FDC process in the previous years and also for the communication with our communities or other funders. We are häppy to answer concrete questions though or give more information if you can specify what that information would be.

• In question 18, there is a reference to the "small fraction of ‘donor data in Austria'" mentioned in the strategic plan., This would have a major impact on the multi-year dimension of this grant, way beyond this one small line. Is this something that WMAT and WMF expect to happen before the end of 2024?

We cannot speak for the WMF but only for ourselves, however given the speed of the Movement Strategey implementation process so far, we think that this might not become a reality in the next 2-3 years. We (as "we" the international Wikimedia movement) will hopefully lay important groundwork in this time period (e.g. the Movement Charter, implementation of a regional hub in NWE etc) but a working regional fundraising process for regional affiliates will probably take longer.

Proposal Impact & strategies & Sustainability

• Can a more detailed layout of the goals be explained in terms of the first year objective v the 3 year plan?

From our communication with the WMF, we understood that details around metrics were only required for the first year, as longer term projections are difficult, especially during a global pandemic. Generally, without a major increase in financial or staff resources, most metrics would stay at a comparable level. Once we enter the endemic phase of COVID-19 we hope that our photography metrics will increase again (fewer restrictions, more sports and cultural events to cover etc), for now we calculated the numbers on a mix of pandemic and pre-pandemic baseline figures. As outlined in our 3-year plan, there are areas for growth which would also mean an increase in metrics, or possibly additional metrics. The increase would be dependent on the additional resources available due to third party funding or resource pools from partner networks. But at the moment, it would be too early to put a concrete number on it.

Budget and resources allocation

• Is fiscal sponsorship of WLM and CEE Spring confirmed, both by their organizers and WLM?

It is confirmed by the volunteers who organize these two projects (CEE spring and WLM international). I'm not sure what you mean by "their organisers and WLM"?

• What is ‘Volunteer recruitment’?

These are activities to attract and onboard new volunteers (e.g. our monthly office hour for new contributors, edit-a-thons etc).

• What is ‘Project infrastructure’? If it is technical infrastructure (e.g. tools), will this be something that can be shared internationally?

This is mainly the technical infrastructre and its maintenance for our projects (e.g. general and project specific websites, our two wikis, mailing lists and mailservers, video conferencing platforms etc). We did share some of these things on request in the past (e.g. our WLE website design with some smaller CEE comunities) and are häppy to do it again.

• What is the overall goal of the proposal? If you can sum up the main motivation for the next year, what would it be?

To enable a vital and productive network of volunteers and to promote free knowledge in Austria and Europe. In addition, we want to contribute to the implementation of the Movement Strategy recommendations, by co-creating the future of peer learning and volunteer support in the movement and by safeguaring the principle of subsidiarity in our future governance structures.

Recommendation

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 317,904.00 USD for your first year, with a grant term starting 1 January 2022 and ending 31 December 2024. The committee would have liked to see more information about the second year of this fund to fully evaluate the multi-year proposal - but we understand that this information will be shared in the reports of this funding cycle.

The committee is pleased to continue supporting Wikimedia Österreich over the next three years. The organisation’s myriad efforts to support more people and languages demonstrates the organisation values free knowledge as well as establishing peer learning and volunteer support in the movement. The committee is excited to support the contribution to the movement strategy principles. The committee also appreciates the degree to which the organisation has worked to evaluate and secure several revenue sources to support their work. In addition the community has strong experiences and in its future work the committee recommends that Wikimedia Österreich consider expanding plans to share their techniques and technologies with less established communities. We appreciate your effort on the proposal and look forward to working with you in solidarity to support important and fundamental transformations in the Wikimedia movement. On behalf of the committee ☕ Antiqueight ^chatter 14:22, 12 January 2022 (UTC)