Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Project/Rapid/PH-WC/Wiki Loves Earth 2020 in the Philippines

Comments from WMF

Hello Maffeth.opiana, thanks for submitting this Rapid Grant request! With consideration to the recent announcement made by our Executive Director regarding the response of WMF to the COVID-19 pandemic, could you please state in the proposal page that you will not organize any offline event or gathering before September 15, 2020? I noted that you have scheduled the award ceremony for November or December 2020, but we need to be sure that this is the only planned offline event. Once you make the requested update, we will move forward and review you request. Thank you, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 12:29, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi DSaroyan, thanks for the reply! I scheduled the awarding way in the later part of the year hoping that the crisis is over by then. Part of my strategy is to encourage the participants to upload images they have taken in the past such as images taken during their vacation early this year or even years ago. Yes, there will be no offline event during the competition. The use of paid social media promotion will be considered in order to reach wider audience. Maffeth.opiana (talk) 13:17, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Is this an individual grant or a user group grant?

I find it unusual that this project is run by PhilWiki Community, where the proposer serves on its board of trustees, and was funded through them in 2018 and 2019, but in 2020 it was decided to go through an individual rapid grant instead. In addition, the contingency cost of P20,000 isn't justified by the project's scope. Isn't it normally lower than that as a proportion of the project budget?

I hope the Wikimedia Foundation considers that given this is a project run by that organization, it only makes sense that PhilWiki file the application as a chapter grant as opposed to an individual one. I'm concerned that there will be significant failures of oversight as to the spending of movement funds should this application be allowed to proceed in its current form, where an individual is receiving movement funds for the obvious benefit of a user group but without the oversight that comes along with it. --172.58.188.99 17:18, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

The previous editions of WLE PH were individual grants fully supported by PhilWiki Community. --Maffeth.opiana (talk) 21:33, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Hello 172.58.188.99, thank you for useful feedback! Maffeth.opiana has made a number of changes in the proposal page by our request. In particular, this grant is now credited to the PhilWiki Community User Group, contingency costs are decreased and allocated to other expenses. I hope these changes address you concerns! Thank you, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 11:26, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

Questionable items in the budget

@DSaroyan (WMF): It seems there are some questionable line items in the budget added in the previous week that do not seem to be required for executing the project: "Incorporation fees", "Permits", "New bank account" and "Other assessments". These seem to be administrative overhead expenses for a business entity and not directly needed for executing the project given that PhilWiki has done Wiki Loves Earth for the previous 2 years and have not requested similar items in the past. -180.190.115.205

Hello 180.190.115.205, thanks for your question! The budget items you mentioned are non-recurring administrative expenses required for the PhilWiki Community User Group to open a dedicated bank account for the grant funds. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 14:09, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

It all looks transparent and on the up-and-up to me. The fine tuning helped a lot. Cheers! - Checkingfax (talk) 01:44, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks @DSaroyan (WMF): and @Checkingfax:! Feeling excited as the contest is about to start in the Philippines in two days. I invite 172.58.188.99 and also 180.190.115.205 to join and use their valuable time in supporting the project. More powers! Maffeth.opiana (talk)

Thank you, Checkingfax and Maffeth.opiana. We are looking forward to the amazing photos from the Philippines! --DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 07:53, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Budget Adjustment Request

Good day. I would like to request if we could make some adjustments in the approved budget as some items can be short of fund. There is the additional delivery charge for the tokens we ordered from the Wikimedia Store, social media promotion is slightly over the original allocation, and there are other assessments such as notarial fees and accounting fee since the organization has operating expenses being a non-profit company. We will also include these operating expenses in our future grants. The amount I received was PhP 91, 655.39 instead of the actual approved budget amounting to Php 94, 089.47. For this reason, may we request to appropriate the budget from the plaques and most of the budget for the courier fees to the said expenses above, instead e-certificates will be sent to the winners. Thank you for the consideration. --Maffeth.opiana (talk) 14:06, 31 July 2020 (UTC)

Budget change request approved

Hello Maffeth.opiana, thanks for posting your request, I am approving it. You can reallocate the budget for plaques and courier to the swag and promotional expenses, as well as to the administrative fees. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 14:26, 31 July 2020 (UTC)