Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Canada/2017/H2

Eligibility

Hello, Wikimedia Canada colleagues:

Thank you for submitting your eligibility form, which was reviewed on 14 April 2017. After reviewing your past grants we've determined that you are eligible to apply for a Simple Annual Plan Grant with a term of 6 months, starting 1 July and ending 31 December 2017. This grant can include your program and operating costs, but should not include any funding for staff, and the total amount of your grant for six months should stay at a similar level to the amount you received in project and rapid grants in the past year (e.g. around $15000 US dollars). We appreciate this high quality and focused plan, which is truly impressive for an organization applying for an APG for the first time. This 6-month grant will give your organization the chance to establish a track record of effectively managing your budget and tracking your goals across several programs during a long term period, and will allow you to showcase the results of your current program activities before requesting a larger grant.

Wikimedia Canada has received a total of 8 grants since 2012. WMCA has struggled to produce grant reports and comply with aspects of the grants process in the past, but has corrected these issues in recent years. Grants from the previous era include,

• Grants:PEG/WM CA/Operations Supplement 2012
• Grants:PEG/WM CA/Start Up
• Grants:PEG/WM CA/Quebec Programs 2012
• Grants:PEG/WM CA/In person meeting
• Grants:PEG/WM CA/Programs 2013

Despite past issues with compliance, the current board of Wikimedia Canada is correcting their past compliance record and doing a good job managing its current grants. The following more recent grants are therefore more relevant to the question of eligibility, although only one has been completed so far:

• Grants:Project/Rapid/WMCA/Wiki Loves Earth 2017 in Canada - About $2,000 granted through the Rapid Grants process to run a Wiki Loves Earth competition in Canada.
• Grants:Project/Rapid/WM CA/In person meeting 2017 - About $2,000 granted through the Rapid Grants process for an in person meeting for the board in 2017.
• Grants:PEG/Atikamekw knowledge, culture and language in Wikimedia projects - About $10,000 granted through the Project Grants process for increasing and improving Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons content on the Atikamekw (a Canadian First Nation) knowledege, culture and language.

Several of WMCA's current grants will extend into the current grant period, including Wiki Loves Earth which will be completed at the end of August and the Atikamekw knowledge project which will be completed by the end of August. We will grant permission for WMCA to continue these grant activities during the early part of their 6-month Simple APG in order to enable them to continue these activities without interruption. For subsequent grants, all activities will need to be covered by their Simple APG.

We know that Wikimania will be hosted in Montreal this year, and we hope this grant helps Wikimedia Canada make the most of momentum generated by this important event! We are looking forward to learning more about the results of WMCA's current projects in the coming months, and hope the stability of a 6-month grant further enables their success.

Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 17:55, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Change end date

End date should be 31 December 2017 not 2018 as per email discussions. Thanks, Amqui (talk) 22:47, 15 May 2017 (UTC) Amqui (talk) 22:47, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

• Would you please provide some more information on the email conversations you refer to so that can see the context. Thank you. - Becksguy (talk) 04:32, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

It is just that we want 6 months for this grant and ask later for a 12 months one for the following year. We feel it is more adequate that way and Winifred in the initial email discussions agreed. Amqui (talk) 14:55, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

Comment from Becksguy

I really like the presentation in the way that it shows strengths/weaknesses and opportunities/threats side-by-side. Also looks like detailed SMART objectives will help channel efforts for reportable results. - Becksguy (talk) 04:41, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Amqui (talk) 14:55, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

Comment from Alleycat80

The only comment I have is that this is a very well prepared application, and I have no comments :) I just thought you should know it's very good. Alleycat80 (talk) 19:25, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Thank you, Amqui (talk) 15:47, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

budget

Hi, guys! Why do you deduct amount of funds from WMF grants from the assets' total? Will be it returned WMF and is that the reason of deducting? Best regards, rubin16 (talk) 17:55, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

• and maths doesn't work for me while checking total in the income section: you say that 280+300+9312+2603 = 9892 rubin16 (talk) 18:00, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

That's the link for the budget: [1]. APG request is in second tab. The link you've put in this section's title is a draft in my username space and the numbers may not reflect actual numbers and may not have been updated. You will see there that forecasted income is 280+9,612+2,603=12,495 CAD. Please refer to the budget in the Google Docs linked in this APG request. I have updated the draft under my user page on WMCA's wiki to link to that document as well.

Amount for funds from WMF grants are substracted from assets total to have the total amount of cash WMCA has available that it is its "own", because the cash for WMF grants is not discretionatory, as the total says "Total available cash", not "Total assets", we cannot put amounts from WMF grants against programs that are part of this APG nor our operating cost.

I have also updated the link to the Annual Plan I have published on our wiki (not the draft under my username): [2]. Plese refer to that one.

I hope this answer your questions and your concerns, thank you, Amqui (talk) 23:14, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Thank you! The link for the budget version mentioned above was published on the grant page, that's why I used it... I see that expenses equal to 18 869 CAD but you also have 12k CAD on your account: do you intent to keep it or will it decrease the amount of grant requested? Best regards rubin16 (talk) 15:14, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Total expenses not including expenses to be made under current PEG and Rapid Grants are 31,614 CAD, not 18,869 CAD. Total expenses including the two current grants are 44,241.20 CAD (including $10k for the Atikamekw PEG and $2,6k for WLE Rapid Grant). The $12k in the bank account include this $10k for the Atikamekw grant, so, as the budget says, we only have $2k that is available cash not under a current grant. Also, we are forecasting income of $12k from other sources (including the $2,6k Rapid Grant for WLE, which we actually have received since 1st of May). As such, the requested amount for this APG of 18,869.08 CAD is the total expenses with already the $2k available cash, the current grants received, and the forecasted income deducted. Both current grants are on track to spend all their allocated budgets, if this is not the case at the end of them, the balance will be returned and/or applied against the next APG request for the new year (whichever the WMF wants us to do). As discussed with the WMF by email, the expenses to be made under those two current grants are not included in the programs/expenses of this APG request and will be carried out to their end as planned at the moment of their requests, as this is our first APG. I hope this makes sense, I made you a quick summary table below to outline all of this, Amqui (talk) 15:57, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Budget summary (CAD)

Total expenses (1 May to 31 December)	$44,2k (including $10k for the Atikamekw PEG and $2,6k for the WLE Rapid Grant)
Balance in the bank account (as of 1 May)	$12,8k (including $10k for the Atikamekw PEG)
Forecasted income (1 May to 31 December)	$12,5k (including $2,6k for the WLE Rapid Grant)
APG amount requested Total expenses - (Balance + Forecasted income)	$18,9k

Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee recommendation

Committee recommendations

Funding recommendations: The committee recommends funding this grant in the requested amount of 18,869 Canadian dollars for 6 months. The committee was very impressed with the quality of this first annual plan grant application from Wikimedia Canada. We recommend that Wikimedia Canada articulate a clear strategy for volunteer engagement, including considering how the growth of their volunteer community will sustain their organization in the long term. We recommend that Wikimedia Canada also focus on storytelling in future reports and applications, alongside their efforts to carefully measure the results of their work, and better articulate the links between program activities and outcomes through tools such as logic models. While the committee recommends funding this grant in full, we note the high costs of office rental and equipment included in this budget. These costs make up more than one third of the total budget. We recommend that Wikimedia Canada monitor the efficacy of these facilities during the grant period, and consider delaying the purchase of large equipment items if possible.

Strengths identified by the committee: The applicant has developed clear strategic and annual plans that demonstrate a significant degree of independent planning activity and strategic analysis around the applicant’s programs and operations. The program plan includes clear, well-defined, and appropriate targets (particularly, for content and participants), as well as a SWOT analysis. Atikamekw Nehiromowin is an ambitious and innovative project, with the potential to generate important learning for the Wikimedia movement. It is good to see Wikimedia Canada pursuing interesting opportunities to bring in new contributors that are relevant to their context. Throughout this plan, Wikimedia Canada demonstrates a good understanding of, and emphasis on, inclusion. The workshops and photography events are likely to engage the community, which is a strength of the chapter. While many volunteers are centered in Quebec, it is very good to see the chapter organizing activities to engage contributors across Canada, such as the Canadian National Contribution Month.

Concerns identified by the committee: Wikimedia Canada has not yet articulated a strategy to sustain as a community, including frameworks which could reduce volunteer effort to reduce the volunteer burn rate. For example, goals do not include an emphasis on bringing on new contributors or volunteers. While innovative, there is also a risk that Atikamekw Nehiromowin will fail. For example, travel to the indigenous tribe would be difficult and it is not clear how they will keep the momentum of editing, also how the experience can be transferable to other minor languages. While the clear metrics are appreciated, there is not a strong enough emphasis on storytelling or explaining why certain activities will be effective. For example, the Atikamekw Nehiromowin is an interesting program, but we need more explanation about the links between program activities and results. There have been past difficulties with reporting for the WMCA chapter. The chapter has undergone some restructuring, and is just now establishing a strong track record with reporting. For example, they have several successful grants that are ongoing, but these grants have not yet been completed and reported on. In this context, the amount of funding requested is significant.

On behalf of the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee - Chinmayisk (talk) 17:33, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Thank you very much for this very detailed feedback and recommendations. I would just like to comment on one point. Wikimedia Canada is not actually paying anything for renting for the office space at BAnQ in Montreal, this is a donation in kind; a monetary value has been assigned to it just to quantify the value of the donation from BAnQ. As such, our real operating costs are 6,596 CAD, which represents 19% of our total expenses. Accordingly, we will not be looking for new office space as this one is very good in a central location in Montreal and free and close to our main partner (BAnQ); it would be very hard to find a better choice. That being said, we will take into consideration the recommandtion from the committee of not acquiring large equipment this year. We are sorry for any confusion this caused. We will find a better way to reflect 'donations in kind' in future annual budgets and will not include them in our expenses if they are not 'cash' expenses. This is a learning process for us as this is our first real annual plan. Thank you very much again, Amqui (talk) 18:57, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Hello Chinmayisk and Wolliff. It was my suggestion that Amqui adds the 'renting the office space' in the budget breakdown in order to show to the SAPG committee and WMF that BAnQ is also a lender, not only WMF. I agree with Amqui that we need to find a better way to reflect 'donations in kind' in our budgets, do you have a better way to reflect those? Regards, Benoit Rochon (talk) 19:12, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Benoit, this was a great idea. Thank you for including it. I apologize for the confusion on this point. Let's do a consultation with James Baldwin (our Community Finance Analyst) during your grant to talk about the format of your budget and how to best account for in kind donations. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:45, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

WMF approval

Decision from WMF

Funding decision: Many thanks to the committee for this quality recommendation and to the team at Wikimedia Canada for the fine work you did to prepare for this application and respond to requests from the committee and WMF throughout the application process. We are approving the committee's recommendation to fund your grant in the amount of 18,869 Canadian dollars for 6 months, and we are looking forward to the results of your work. We will keep in close contact over the next 6 months as we think through how to best approach your application this Fall. Congratulations! I'm looking forward to partnering together for many years to come.

Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:49, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your support the whole way Winifred, much appreciated. Amqui (talk) 02:42, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Thanks to all the members of the committee and the staff for your support. Benoit Rochon (talk) 14:02, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Amendments to the budget

Good day, I am proposing some amendments to the budget. It does not change the overall budget, just some changes to some line items. The new budget can be seen there [3]. On the second tab, you can see the initial budget side-by-side with the proposed changes in details, the amount spent to date and an explanation for every changes. If you require a more detailed list of the expenses to date, please refer to our APG budget tracker there: [4]. The tracker is still based on the line items of the initial budget, it will be modified to reflect the amendments once those are approved. Thank you very much, Amqui (talk) 12:56, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

The proposed changes do not change the total budget of the APG. It moves $1,647.08 from operating costs to programs expenses, which is a good thing since it was a concern raised during this proposal initially. The main reason for the lower operating costs is that a lot of the planned administrative tasks have been moved to next year because our volunteers were too busy with the organization of Wikimania and exhausted in its aftermath to carry out those tasks. This is a big concern that will need to be addressed in the 2018 APG as we cannot continue to rely that heavily on volunteers for those type of tasks that keep increasing with the growth of the chapter because we will lose those volunteers, which are really our biggest asset.

Within the programs expenses, some changes are proposed. We executed less photographic activities than planned, again because of the busyness of Wikimania. We propose to move the unspent funds from operating costs and photographic events to our activity called "Organize and facilitate workshops". Under this activity, we propose a new line item called "Meet and organize workshops and projects with GLAM and other partners", including the funds that were under "local transit for organizers" and "snacks for edit-a-thons". This new line item will be used to cover travel costs of volunteers to meet and organize events with Canadian GLAMs.

The second big change is to increase "Purchase IT equipment for training sessions" with unspent funds from other line items, which will also include the funds that were initially planned to "Purchase office supplies and IT equipment" under operating costs. The new proposed budget for this line item represents a significant increase. The reason behind it is that we purchased a scanner capable of scanning negatives to be used to scan archival negatives from Canadian archives and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. It was used during the very successful scan-a-thon hosted during the Wikimania Pre-Conference (see a blog post about it on the Wikimedia Blog) and will be used for similar activities with BAnQ in Montreal and we are looking at opportunities to do the same at other BAnQ's locations. The cost for this scanner was higher than expected, but the impact gained from it will be worth it since it already started a new initiative in Canada called "Wiki Loves Archives". This resulted in us not having sufficient funds in this line item for the planned purchase of a projector to be used for training sessions which is an important need of our volunteers since currently they have to borrow one as they can at their work, which is something we shouldn't ask our volunteers to do. So if those changes are approved, we plan to go ahead with this planned purchase. The remaining funds of the increase for this line item would be used to purchase 2x low-cost chromebooks to be used for workshops and training sessions, which was requested by our volunteers involved with GLAMUs.

The other changes under programs expenses are to rename the activity "Develop the Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin" to "Develop the Wikimedia Projects in Indigenous Languages" and to merge two line items together in order to not be limited to only the Atikamekw First Nation, but to be open for activities with all indigenous communities in Canada. For instance, we already started outreach with the Innu First Nation.

Under photographic events, we propose to cancel several line items that will not be done this year and increase the "Thematic photographic expeditions" budget that will be used to document the Remembrance Day in Ottawa in November and to document cemeteries in Montreal for Wikimedia Commons.

I hope this is clear to explain our proposed changes, if you have any questions, do not hesitate, thank you very much, Amqui (talk) 16:03, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Un grand grand merci for the detailled budget and explanations in the budget document. The requested changes are hereby approved! Delphine (WMF) (talk) 16:15, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you Delphine. Have a nice week-end. Benoit Rochon (talk) 16:28, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Merci beaucoup ! Amqui (talk) 17:33, 27 October 2017 (UTC)