Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/The Visible Ones - women artists in art museums in Croatia (ID: 22462290)

last

Hi @I JethroBT (WMF) @MikyM just for the record it is now 10 days past the feedback period was over and even 2 days past announcement day and I have not seen any. Has the process moved fully on flux and away from public access?

I hope you understand that I am trying to support MSU.hr work as Wikimedian in Residence and this situation (+killing of Alliance funding for Europe) renders Wikimedia very inconsistent to this prominent cultural institution that wants to partner in OPEN GLAM and A+F work. Both them and I invested resources (hosting 2 prominent in Wikimedians), many hours of work (mostly volunteer) and actual funds (2023)...now it is the last project listed to get (no) feedback even past the announcement deadline. Needless to say this makes my work almost impossible and erodes potential for development. -- Zblace (talk) 05:47, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

@Zblace: Thanks for these concerns. See my responses below:

• Apologies for the delay in arriving at a decision here. The main reason for the delay is because funding for Rapid Funds is very limited this round. Other proposals that were recently submitted I have had to decline on this basis, as you may have seen. I have been working to explore possibilities of whether additional funding is available outside of what was originally budgeted for Rapid Fund this fiscal year (based on factors like underspends from other grantees, underspends in other areas within our team). I expect to have some feedback on this tomorrow, and will be able to make a decision about this proposal thereafter.
• On the topic of feedback, speaking generally, I do not always offer feedback / comments / questions on every Rapid Fund proposal for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, for example, I don't have any specific feedback on a proposal. Other times, I can't prioritize feedback on Rapid Fund proposals during busier times of the year for our team, as the number of Rapid Fund proposals we receive for the region is not trivial.
• In terms of reducing the scope and funding to the Alliances Fund this year, this is a much broader discussion that deals with factors outside of this immediate proposal. For now, I will just acknowledge that budgetary limitations faced by the Foundation broadly meant that continuing to run the Alliances Fund more fully as well as funding other community needs in our other funding programs our team maintains (e.g. Conference Funds, Rapid Funds, General Support Funds) was not tenable. We are certainly open to feedback about the Community Resources overall budget or how it has been distributed across regions. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:31, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

In terms of deadlines and timelines, it can be flexible as needed, as has been the case in the past. for example, the deadline for applying, in this round, was January 15th, and this grant proposal appeared on Meta on January 21. I value all volunteer work and support the development of skills for working in uncomfortable situations (such as slight delays, coping with changing deadlines, etc.). I would suggest that in the future, you use the opportunity to talk to the program officer before submitting the grant, in order to get the information you are interested in at a 1-on-1 meeting. it can be useful, especially considering that program officer makes the decisions about these Rapid grants. --MikyM (talk) 23:36, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

early start

Hi @I JethroBT (WMF), thank you for approval of project. Would it be possible to start the project earlier? Money is not needed to advance for direct costs before April. We can use the March 8th for promotion and have first results reused on EN, before the start of Wikimedia CEE Spring 2024. -- Zblace (talk) 20:24, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

@Zblace: Normally, the start date of the grant is when project activities begin. The grant agreement hasn't been signed yet, so Jighura can reach out to grantsadminwikimedia.org to request a change to the grant agreement to adjust the start date. In the meantime, because no funding is needed at this stage, I don't have significant concerns around the promotional work and other tasks starting a bit early. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 16:10, 11 March 2024 (UTC)