Grants talk:Project/Rapid/WBG/Annual Plan 2021-22

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

@Atudu, Bodhisattwa, and Jayantanth: Thanks for your proposal for WBG's Annual Plan for this year. We will be funding this proposal, and want to extend our appreciation for the quality of WBG's your proposals and reports over the past several years. In future years however, we will be unable to support Annual Plan-like proposals through Rapid Grants in the future, as the program is intended to support a single program in a given grant, as opposed to multiple, independent programs supported by an affiliate. Our general guidelines state that Multiple, independent projects per proposal are not eligible. Relatedly, our team is also not well equipped to be able to evaluate annual plans in this grant program, as this kind of proposal is more consistent with what we would expect to see in Simple Annual Plan Grants (and that we would be able to provide more funding for).

Towards the end of this grant, possibly around October/November 2021, I would suggest that we meet to discuss WBG's next steps with regard to future grant funding. These next steps will we make will also be affected by the current Grants Relaunch process that will change some aspects of our current approach grant making and the programs by which we distribute funds. While I could make recommendations now about the current systems we use for grants, I would prefer to meet once we have certainty over what options for funding would be available to you and support WBG's work in future years. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 21:40, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF):, thanks for approving the grant proposal and continuously supporting us to plan and execute our projects. We chose Rapid Grants because it is simple. As you are aware, Simple Annual Plan Grants require lots of obligations, for example, having a bank account for the group. We are not a registered organization so far and if we are not registered, we can not have a bank account for our group. As a volunteer user group, we have to take a lot of extra burden for ourselves just to become a registered organization and run it for long time. I am sure, these issues will be kept in mind during Cluster E discussion of Wikimedia Strategy process and the Grants Strategy Relaunch process. We are excited and hopeful about both these initiatives and believe that the processes will help our user group sustain in future. We will be extremely happy to discuss with you around October/November 2021 as you suggested, about how we can move forward next year. Thanks again for your kind support. -- Bodhisattwa (talk) 05:38, 23 January 2021 (UTC)

Good report

I just checked the report published at Grants:Project/Rapid/WBG/Annual_Plan_2021-22/Report and it looks great. There are a lot of projects here and a lot of documentation for relatively little financial support.

WBG wiki programs continue to be held and reported consistently. I am always ready to support this group.

I understand that the en:Kolkata Book Fair is happening right now and liked the outreach idea that came from this group years ago when it was safe to go out with no pandemic. Whether you all ever do that again or do any other outreach including the programs listed here, I am ready to comment and support. Thanks. Bluerasberry (talk) 21:25, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry: Thanks for your encouragement. It means a lot to us. Your support is most welcome. Please let us know how we can collaborate with you in an organized and effective way.

We had a primary discussion during our AGM regarding another outreach program through Kolkata Book Fair next year. Last time in 2014, i.e. 8 years ago, we had to pay INR 200,000/- to the organizers of the book fair to provide us a space for the stall. They were in no mood to negotiate with us, as a non-profit group of volunteers, to reduce or nullify the amount. Also, there was shortage of manpower too. Now, we think, we have some contacts and reasons to believe that we can convince them. I am sure the fee for the space has increased a lot in these 8 years and if we can't convince them, we might have to drop the idea as it is too much money to spend. Bodhisattwa (talk) 14:58, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

I get it, maybe the book fair is not the best use of the money. I am still glad you went in the past. As someone who does not live in Kolkata, the book fair is one of the local events which I hear about in the city, so it is just something that I can talk about and recognize. But you all should do the events that make sense for your local community. 2 lakh is a lot of money and developing the community in the long term with events of the sort you did in this annual plan report is better.

There is a lot that you are doing that aligns well with international Wikimedia initiatives. The word pronunciation project goes well with Lingua Libre, the book digitization project goes well with the efforts to use Wikisource as base for more serious development in particular languages, the photo hunts are great all around and congratulations to user:Atudu for recognition in the last year like this.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/world-photography-day-2021-wiki-loves-butterflys-ananya-mondal-wins-rich-media-award/amp/ar-AANuVto

You all are doing great. Thanks. Bluerasberry (talk) 15:11, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry:, I am sharing with you our annual activity report for the last year in case you have not noticed it. Hope you will like it and give your valuable feedback there. -- Bodhisattwa (talk) 16:25, 23 March 2022 (UTC)