Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Art+Feminism/2019-2020

A+F team, It is incredible to see how much you have grown over the years and can only imagine what is to come as you head down this path.

Staffing

I understand the struggle with burn out and am in support of the changes in staffing.

I have a question regarding the Executive Director and the Grant Writer. In the job description for the ED it says under development that the ED will be writing grants. However, you have a separate position for grant writing. Can you explain the need for duplication in responsibilities here? If grant writing is a development responsibility for the ED, why do you need a separate position for a grant writer?

Looking forward to your reply. Siarus1074 (talk) 19:05, 23 July 2019 (UTC)

Hi @Siarus1074:! Thanks for your question and apologies for the late reply - we didn't know this page existed. Sorry if we were unclear. The ED will oversee the writing of grants and facilitate the relationship with the granting bodies. The grant writer will research and draft grants for the ED's review.

Simple APG Recommendation

We recommend Art+Feminism receive a grant of $250,000 for one year.

Art+Feminism has been at the forefront of getting the Wikimedia projects closer to knowledge equity and will hopefully be there for the foreseeable future. The organisation's activities to bring in large numbers of newcomers and address content gaps also helps the local communities in becoming more diverse and adding important voices to the conversations in the projects.

To make this future happen, the organisation has understood that it needs to change in ways that might not be easy to master, especially considering how the current organisation model has reached its limits. The proposed budget and staffing model is sound but lacks some clarity when it comes to the role of the ED, who - with a payment not necessarily competitive in a region like New York City - will be the lead on most tasks. How these tasks are delegated to the other staff members will be a crucial piece of the organisation puzzle. The A+F team has experienced burnout. While the project is not projected to grow significantly in the next year, Art+Feminism will be devoting significant efforts to growing and strengthening their organization. When Art+Feminism has the capacity to grow again, we urge the A+F team to evaluate which events and in which locations yield lesser impact and should be scaled back to make other locations with more potential available. Since this is a mature, high profile project, we would expect to see efforts to diversify sources of income for 2021 as part of the newly formed charitable organization.

The new organisation model includes new approaches within the Wikimedia community where paid coordinator roles are focused on specific regions of the world, promising more development in those regions and bringing us closer to knowledge equity. The already cultivated ethos of sharing reports, lessons learned and materials is beneficial to the global community and the committee urges the organisation to carry on this work. By expanding the number of staff members and changing the organisation model, the committee also recommends expanding the international network of the organisation to work closely together with other Wikimedia affiliates and, for example, take part in the discussions that are happening within the group of EDs and the group of Wikimedia chairpersons.

On behalf of the Simple APG committee, Alleycat80 (talk) 19:53, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

APPROVED

In line with the committee's recommendation WMF is approving this grant in the amount of $249,000 for 12 months with a start date of 6 September 2019 and an end date of 31 August 2020. The total amount will be disbursed in a single installment unless you choose to make separate arrangements with our grants administrators. At the grantee's request, no contingency fee will be added.

Art+Feminism welcomes large numbers of newcomers to the Wikimedia projects each year, and continues to address content gaps across several Wikimedia projects in gender, feminism, and the arts. They are requesting an increase in the upcoming year to strengthen their organization by hiring a fulltime ED, transitioning to a governance board, repairing their website, and taking steps to focus on organizer retention. We believe that an investment in Art+Feminism’s organizational health at this critical time will lay a foundation for effective program work in future years, and that without this investment their team will not be able to sustain this important program in the long term.

Targets for 2020 remain stable at 285 events, 4,200 participants, 1,400 newly registered users, 28,000 articles, and a productivity rate of 6.7 articles per participant. Art+Feminism is also aiming for a 50% retention rate for organizers. Art+Feminism’s impact goes beyond these numbers since they are focused on bringing people to the Wikimedia projects who are not already there and on contributing to the diversity of knowledge on the Wikimedia projects in areas where there are gaps. Based on consistent results in past years, we are confident that Art+Feminism will be able to achieve their targets for the upcoming year, which are similar to their achievements in the current year.

Their grant increase from $150,000 to $250,000 in the upcoming year amounts to a net increase of $100,000 and this increase is distributed roughly evenly across stipends for organizers, director salary, programs, and operations. Art+Feminism has calculated that their in-kind donations are significant at around $330,000 and these remain stable year over year. Including in-kind donations, they calculate their total projected revenues for the upcoming year at $584,000. Art+Feminism needs to increase their reliance on WMF funding in the upcoming year to support their organizational development goals, but they are making long term plans to reduce their reliance on WMF funding by developing resilience and fundraising capacity.

Risk accompanies every transition, but we believe Art+Feminism has taken necessary steps to mitigate risks around the transition to a new governance model and hiring their first fulltime ED. They are likely to need support as they move forward with defining new roles and responsibilities for board members, volunteer organizers, and staff.

We look forward to supporting Art+Feminism through these transitions in the coming year. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:55, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

2019-2020 Mid-Year Report Extension Request

user: Delphine (WMF), as per our conversation, I'm requesting an extension of a week for our mid-year report for our 2019-2020 Simple APG report. The requested due date is March 23, 2020. --Kiraface (talk) 16:35, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Kiraface thank you, extension granted! Delphine (WMF) (talk) 17:22, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

WJifar (WMF), our mid-year report is ready for your review. Please let us know if you have any questions! --Kiraface (talk) 17:51, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Hello Kiraface, thank you for submitting your mid-year report. I will be reviewing before our meeting in April. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 18:37, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Budget Reallocation Request

WJifar (WMF), I'd like to submit a formal request to reallocate funds for two endeavors that will help ensure the sustainability of Art+Feminism.

1) Conflict Resolution Training

As stated in our Brave, Friendly Space agreement, we recognize that conflict is natural. We're seeking training for the leadership team for both internal and external conflict. Currently, many hours of the team are spent whenever we encounter conflict. Our hope is that with this training, we'll be able to develop an internal process and protocols to work with conflict, both internal and externally more efficiently while ensuring it's a fair and equitable. This training will be provided by Harp + Sword for $2500.

2) Phase 1 Strategic Planning

With Siân Evans and Jacquleine Mabey stepping down from the leadership team after co-founding Art+Femeinism seven years ago, with nearly a year into the organization as an official non-profit with one full-time staff, and as we explore retention among our global community, the time has come for us to be asking big questions about our organization as we work towards building a strong, sustainable future. Phase 1 Strategic Planning will be facilitated by Wayfinding Partners, for $7500.

For these endeavors, I'd like to request that we use funds from the in-person working retreat ($5000) and also from the Grant Writer line ($5000). The in-person work retreat will not be possible this fiscal year, and would have many of the same goals that will be covered in Phrase 1 of Strategic Planning. Further, initially, our budget for this year included a line for grant writing. We've been largely able to handle applying for a handful of grant proposal opportunities outside of WMF internally. We hope in the future, with the guidance of the first phase of strategic planning, we'd be able to engage more meaningfully with a professional grant writer and feel at this time, those funds would better fit the needs outlined above. --Kiraface (talk) 19:48, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Approval of Budget Reallocation

Hello Kiraface, thank you for continuing to adapt to the current environment and moving your work forward. Both the conflict resolution training and phase I of strategic planning look like great opportunities to continue to build on the resilience of your organization. I am approving your reallocation request. Please let me know if you need anything else. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 05:03, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Budget Reallocation Request

Hi, AWang (WMF). As mentioned on our call, due to the pandemic, we are experiencing surplus in the areas of events, planning, and labor. We request to permission to reallocate funds for the following expenses:

• $2500 for Restorative justice policy writing and implementation by harp+sword who facilitated several workshops with the leadership team this summer. We think that this policy could serve as a model for other wiki projects.
• $1000 for restorative justice facilitation by harp+sword to start putting our policies into actions.
• $1700 for fundraising CRM to enable us to start setting up the infrastructure for our individual giving efforts.$5000 as a partial deposit for Strategic Planning, phase 2 facilitated by Wayfinding Partners (who is currently doing phase 1).
• $500 for each co-lead (five individuals) + transfer fees with the pandemic and the uprisings, our team has done a tremendous amount of unanticipated work.
• $450 to test a professional translation companies, that we'll more fully engage with next cycle.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need additional information. --Kiraface (talk) 18:16, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

@Kiraface: Thanks Kira for these details around Art+Feminism's revised plans in light of pandemic-related obstacles. This reallocation request is formally approved, thanks! I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 15:35, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Hi I JethroBT (WMF). As per our conversation, we are requesting to reallocate ~5K USD underspend from the salary toward Phase 2 strategic planning / programming needs (e.g. anti-racism trainings). --Kiraface (talk) 18:44, 31 August 2020 (UTC)

Final Report Ready

Hi I JethroBT (WMF). Please find our final report here. --Kiraface (talk) 15:24, 30 October 2020 (UTC)