Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Art+Feminism/2020-2021

Endorsment from Wikimedia Norge: Art+Feminism Indigenous Community Work

We want to give our strong support to Art Feminism’s proposed efforts on adding more circumpolar content from both Sámi and Inuit populations to the Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Norge has worked on adding Sámi content to the Wikimedia projects for several years now. We are very excited about the collaboration we have started with Art+Feminism, which gives us a very valuable international partner in our Sámi project. Both Art+Feminism and Wikimedia Norge are small organizations, and by working together we can achieve more by learning from each other’s experiences. We are already exploring options for external funding and organizing online events in collaboration. The staff at Wikimedia Norge truly hopes Art+Feminsim can hire a Regional Organizer for Indigenous Communities to have the needed resources to continue this important work. In addition, in a world with closed borders and cancelled conferences, we believe international partnerships between both affiliates, partner institutions and volunteers are very important.--Astrid Carlsen (WMNO) (talk) 14:19, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Art+Feminism’s grant is approved in the amount of 401,982 USD for 16 months

Congratulations! This grant is approved in the amount of 401,982 USD, for 16 months with a start date of 1 September 2020 and an end date of 31 December 2021. This is a 15% increase over the last 12-month period and we appreciate all of the work dedicated to organizational development and effective programming done in 2019/2020. The amount will be distributed in two installments.

Despite facing significant and dynamic challenges as a result of the COVID pandemic, Art+Feminism was still able to engage large numbers of participants in their annual campaign. They also made significant progress in strengthening the organization over the last year.

This next year will focus on continued support for organizational development with an increase in staffing, year-round engagement of lead and regional organizers, a focus on community building and work with indigenous communities, and a focus on strategy development and implementation of restorative practices. We believe Art+Feminism is one of the key leaders of the Wikimedia movement in bringing in diverse participation and content, and equally related and important, deepening our understanding and practices of intersectionality and allyship to truly support our goals of knowledge equity and a thriving movement. We hope this reflective work and the practices it produces can serve as a model for communities to learn from and adapt around the world.

Targets for 2021 remain relatively in line with 2020 results, with a decrease expected in new editor engagement and overall content contribution due to constraints from the pandemic. This is realistic and we are very understanding of the uncertainties we are living with in this unprecedented moment. While Art+Feminism will increase their reliance on WMF funding in the upcoming year to support their organizational development goals, they will begin to experiment with a small donor model.

We are inspired by the work you have done and hope to do in the coming year and look forward to supporting Art+Feminism in 2020/2021.

Best, Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 20:34, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Budget Reallocation Request: Call for Action Art Commission

Hello! As anticipated, because of the many factors outlined in our grant proposal, our event numbers will be lower than previous years. In such, we'd like to request a budget reallocation to bring back the Call for Action Art Commission. Artists are selected to create a Creative Commons licensed artwork that edit-a-thon organizers can use to promote their events. Our goal is to both highlight the work of contemporary artists and to expand the body of images available that represent the project.

For this iteration, we plan to work on the call and focus on up to three regions (non-US or European). A high level timeline:

• Late April: Meet with curators to design call
• Mid-May: Call goes out
• June: Curators review and decide on final commission
• July - September: Artist creates commission
• October: New commission ready to be used when new season starts

For this purpose, we are requesting a reallocation of $3050.00 from the Global Events Microfunding line for this purpose. --Kiraface (talk) 21:52, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

@Kiraface, Thank you for your request for re-allocation of funds and for stating how it aligns to existing objectives and activities of the year. We understand the need for flexibility especially with the resulting social influences by the pandemic and see the Call for Action Art Commission as an innovative way of continuing to engage with the community. We believe that your consideration of working with different regions will enrich the resulting body of work. The request is approved. We wish you the very best and look forward to learning about the resulting impact. --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 09:36, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

Budget Reallocation Request - Staff Salaries

@VThamaini (WMF) (talk) The Art+Feminism board has approved to increase Program Manager, Nina Yeboah's salary from 50k/year to 60k/year (or $32.97/hour) and Executive Director, Kira Wisniewski's from 70k/year to 75k/year (or $41.21/hour) starting PPE 5/7/21. We are requesting to reallocate funds from the Leadership Retreat travel line ($7000) to increase salaries for the two full time staff members at Art+Feminism. Regrettably, due to the ongoing global pandemic, it will not be posssible for the Art+Feminism leadership team to safely travel and convene this year. This reallocation will cover the 11 remaining pay periods of this fiscal year. Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information. --Kiraface (talk) 17:59, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

@Kiraface Thank you for reaching out and making the reallocation request of $7000 from the initially planned Leadership Retreat travel and putting it towards the increase of compensation of the program manager and executive director. It is our belief that this will strengthen the team and therefore the roles contributing towards the impact of your work and that of the community. We wish you the very best. --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 14:37, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Midterm Report Ready for Review

Hi @VThamaini (WMF) (talk)! I'm pleased to share that our Midterm Report is ready for review. We look forward to your feedback. --Kiraface (talk) 12:06, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

Budget Reallocation Request

@User:I_JethroBT_(WMF) Thank you for meeting with us yesterday to discuss the new Grant Strategy and also our current grant budget. At this point we are projecting an underspend on our grant due to the ongoing pandemic in our budget categories around event support and travel. With that in mind we would like to formally request the reallocation of $17,570 in the following breakdown:

• $8025 to the Gender and cultural diversity on Wikimedia Commons research initiative. Read more on meta
• $6545 for backpay for the Art+Feminism Program Manager. Our Program Manager was promoted at the beginning of the fiscal year, but pay at the time did not fully reflect that promotion. This amount will cover the backpay due for all her great work from the beginning of this fiscal year.
• $3000 to help support the newly formed working group focused on producing new resources to meet volunteer needs in the communities we serve

Please let us know if you have any questions or need further details. Thank you for your consideration! --Kiraface (talk) 17:32, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

@Kiraface: Hi Kira, this reallocation request is approved. Thanks for working to use your funding for these new initiatives and to recognize additional responsibilities and undertaken by A+F staff. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:42, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, @User:I_JethroBT_(WMF)! Please note, there was a small miscalculation in the backpay of $395 that I've adjusted to reflect accurately above. --Kiraface (talk) 16:20, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Accounting Line Item Rollover Request

@User:I_JethroBT_(WMF)  As we wrap up year end accounting and change our fiscal year to match the calendar year/new funding cycle with our CPA, we seek permission for the allocated funds for that purpose rollover to 2022, so we’re able to remit payment once work is complete rather than pre-paying ($10,000). We anticipate that this work will conclude in early Q1. --Kiraface (talk) 16:30, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

@Kiraface: Thanks for this request, Kira. You are formally approved to hold the requested funds from you current Simple APG grant to cover this CPA payment that is scheduled slightly later than expected in Q1. I will notify the grant admin team so we can make any necessary adjustments. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 16:47, 15 December 2021 (UTC)