Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Shared Knowledge Annual Plan 2022

General Support Fund proposal approved in the amount of 32,784 EUR

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 32,784 EUR (~41,149 USD) with a grant term starting 1 January 2022 and ending 31 December 2022.

The committee supports funding Shared Knowledge at the same level it was funded in its previous Simple APG. The committee acknowledges the importance of Shared Knowledge’s work in engaging with scientific and government institutions, among other organizations. Its focus on academic staff as participants and direct beneficiaries of its work to help promote the Wikimedia movement is supported by the committee. The committee is also interested in the outcomes of the QR Code program to support better awareness of cultural heritage sites.

Last year, Shared Knowledge submitted a joint application for Simple APG with GLAM Macedonia as they shared and coordinated on some operational expenses. The committee notes that this coordination is complex and beneficial and marks an important improvement in collaboration between your organizations. Unfortunately, we were not able to support a joint application and budget due to changes in the Wikimedia Foundation’s funding systems and software. However, we expect that this arrangement can be supported next year, and the committee recommends that Shared Knowledge continue this practice if the organizations are operating separately.

The committee did not support increasing Shared Knowledge’s funding for the following reasons:

• The committee believes there are substantial risks to the movement and the community to growing budgets for your organization and GLAM Macedonia where there is a lack of clarity over how your organizations plan to work together in the future. This is because both organizations are based in Skopje and maintain a variety of activities related to GLAM and Education thematic areas.
• Relatedly, while there are some differences in programs between your organization and GLAM Macedonia, it is not clear to the committee how your organizations are coordinating together generally. Furthermore, the committee notes there are risks in growing this arrangement of organizations. When two organizations in the same locality are focused on similar thematic areas, it can effectively split an existing community into supporting one organization or another. This arrangement can also make it unclear which organization an external partner should work or consult with about Wikimedia projects or the movement generally.
• While the committee appreciates Shared Knowledge’s plans to address many knowledge gaps, insufficient detail was provided about how these specific gaps will be effectively addressed through your specific activities or your evaluation plan.

Given current levels of contributor activity in North Macedonia, there are some concerns from the committee that the targets sets for participation in your programs are too high.

In order to support a funding increase and growth for you organizational work in North Macedonia, the committee requests that Shared Knowledge and Shared Knowledge move in one of two directions in the next year:

• As recommended by the Simple APG Committee in last year’s recommendations, that your organizations work to merge with each other given your thematic overlap, or
• if the organizations are unwilling or unable to integrate their programmatic work and organizations, the committee would like to see a concrete plan for how the organizations will change their scope of work to support clear differentiation between the respective purposes of their organizations.

During this funding period, the committee would also like a clear statement from GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge on whether they intend their future programmatic and operational work to be joint or separate in North Macedonia. If support or guidance is needed on this work, please feel free to reach out to your program officer for guidance.

We look forward to supporting your future work with your communities and in the movement at large. On behalf of the committee, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:38, 15 December 2021 (UTC)