Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Enhancing Operational Infrastructure for Wikimedia Bangladesh:Office Setup and Essential Amenities (ID: 22594538)

Follow-up Questions and Observations on your grant application

Hello @Tarunno,

Thank you for putting in your grant application. Here are the consolidated questions, comments and observations from the reviewers. Would you be able to provide a response to them? Thank you.

--

Feedback on activities proposed

1) The proposal has outlined the setting up and enhancing the operational Infrastructure of the WMBD. However, it has non operational components not linked with Infrastructural development needing further clarity such as Partnership Development, Capacity Building Workshops, Community Outreach Events. Could you elaborate further?

Feedback on budget

2) A large chunk of the budget is going towards the office space but that is understandable and the amounts seem reasonable.

3) The budget seems reasonable for a chapter to setup office space. However, I don’t see any cost associated with the hardware (laptop/desktop) procurement or electricity/water bills. And it could be due to the upper limit of the grant. Perhaps to consider adding these into the next general support fund that you plan to apply for.

For consideration and suggestions

4) The budget covers cost associated with one time setup cost. However, miscellaneous daily operational cost is not assumed in the budget like tea and beverages, small repairs, electricity/water bills. Are there any plans to generate funds to cover up these costs for the time being?

Report

5) The learning questions that you have listed at question 17 comes across as very comprehensive and it would be good to keep these in mind as you put together your final report. These will be useful learnings for other affiliates who are undergoing the same growth trajectory as yours.

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline on behalf of SA Regional Funds Committee and WMF staff who have contributed to the review of your application

JChen (WMF) (talk) 01:23, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the questions. The answers are as follows -

A1) In previous years, we had pursued several leads to potential partnership with like minded organizations. And in those meetings one of the common questions we faces is, "Where are you based at?" or "Do you have a office?". Even if we send an official letter with organizational letterhead, they asks why there is not address line on the letter. In the our local culture it is perceived that if you do not have a office address, you are not reliable enough. We believe with a physical office presence, we will be able to materialize more of these missed opportunity in the future.

The way we are thinking about having the small office space is as a center of community gathering and learning and not a typical corporate looking one. If we have a place where community members has easier access to come and use the space to have workshops, edit-a-thon or meet-ups, we believe this will have large positive impact. Currently to arrange a workshop or edit-a-thon we need to rent a hall and that it both expensive and time consuming. If we have a facility of our own, it will be far more cost and time efficient.

A3) Yes, we could add those due to upper limit of the grant and we are planning to add hardwares to next annual grant.

A4) The utility bills are inclusive on our rental budgets. But you have pointed out correctly that we didn't add any budgets for tea and beverages or small repairs. It was an oversight from our end.

Thank you.

- Shabab Mustafa (talk) 10:39, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Your grant has been approved

Hello @Tarunno

Congratulations! Your grant application has been approved in the amount of BDT 539,000 from 1 June 2024 to 31 December 2024.

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 on South Asia Open Community Calls.

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/Individuals Documenting project expenses: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Documenting_project_expenses

Plug We are actively recruiting community members to join the South Asia Regional Funds Committee and hope you can help spread the word and recommend people to apply. For more information, refer to Grants:Regions/South Asia/Committee Call 2024.

Future grants We thank you for your participation in the grant application process and we hope to continue to journey with you as you embark on this project. For future grant applications, we encourage you to get in touch with the regional programme officer early before submitting your grant application. This allows lead time to support you in putting together an application and also work through fiscal sponsor options (if required) with you. The timeline for future rapid fund grant rounds can be found here - Grants:Project/Rapid#Timeline and for general support fund here - Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/General Support Fund#Timeline

Thank you.

Regards, Jacqueline JChen (WMF) (talk) 03:24, 24 May 2024 (UTC)