Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Espana/2020

Simple APG Committee recommendation

We recommend that Wikimedia España receive a grant of 100,000 EUR for a year. Wikimedia España has been doing great work on their programs, and we are looking forward to continuous development of work around content gap with activities such as their "No Spanish Municipality Without Photo" or taking care of diversifying communities by focusing on underrepresented communities (women, elderly, rural communities).

We are concerned that Wikimedia España has been underpaying its staff and urge them to rethink their governance and management practices to make sure that something like this does not happen again. Taking care of one's employees should be always taken into consideration when writing annual plans and should be one of the top priorities of every board, given the environment we all work in together.

We note that Wikimedia España has shifted a lot of its focus to advocacy, which we understand is interesting for the movement and for their context, but which seems to take a lot of resources. We hope they can turn this into a successful venture for the movement, especially in Europe. We would like them to rethink the whole of their program strategically though. Spending staff and volunteer time in programs that have always been there does not qualify as long-term planning. Looking at the growth in terms of what Wikimedia España can offer in added-value to their community and the wider movement would be beneficial for everyone involved, including how Wikimedia España fits into the more and more complicated affiliate structure within Spain.

For the committee, Philip Kopetzky (talk) 12:27, 27 November 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedia España APG approved in the amount of 100,000 EUR

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 100,000 EUR, with a grant term starting 1 January 2020 and ending 31 December 2020.

Wikimedia España is now in its 4th year in the simple APG program. In 2019, the organization has been working on its strategy, in the footsteps of the Movement Strategy process. We know that WMES is pursuing efforts to clear their public utility status as well as exploring ideas about how to leverage other sources of funding and are looking forward to see how they can prioritize that in the coming year.

WMES has changed its programs this year following its strategy development and is going to focus on three main programs.

The Program Content diversification rests on various initiatives around gender gap and culture gaps destined to bring diversified content to the Wikimedia Projects. A few successful initiatives to bring more cultural specific contents in Wikimedia Projects are pursued in 2020, such as the activity "no Spanish Municipality Without Picture", but also beyond Spain, with the aim of improving content about other countries and areas of the world in the Spanish version of the Wikimedia Projects.

WMES's Program "Community" hinges on two aspects: support and increasing diversity. WMES intends to do this in 2020 by increasing its support through capacity building initiatives (organizers, train the trainer) but also in making sure its activities target underrepresented communities. Objectives such as Broaden the training and experience…" are not very specific in this program and it might be interesting to refine the metrics and targets to better serve the program development over the year.

WMES's new program this year is the Institutional relations and Public Policy program, which is interesting in that it mixes advocacy and public policy efforts. While the public policy part of this program is clearly defined through diverse activities, the advocacy efforts towards institutions is not very clear at this stage. In theory, it could be a very helpful program focus supporting activities to ensure that all partners (GLAM, Education etc.) are trained and understand free licenses, open resources, free knowledge... all important topics for ensuring that Wikimedia Projects actually thrive. However the activities presented in this plan are not specific enough to measure the impact on partners. WMES should probably work on better articulating how this program comes in support of its two other programs and will help strengthen their impact.

WMES has been achieving good results in the past years, and its targets this year again are somewhat conservative in regard to previous years. It would be good to adapt these targets and further develop them to reflect actual capacity.

On the organizational level, WMES needs to work on defining roles between board and staff, among staff, and among board members, and on learning to prioritize as they are doing annual planning. Growth is not always about "having more" but often about using existing resources better. The board needs to look for more members who have the necessary expertise in financial planning and management, in order to help the organization get to the next level. This year, WMES is asking to increase salaries to bring the employees at the level they should be at, which is a good thing. It is however concerning that employees be underpaid for long and while it is not something that is specific to WMES and we've seen it in other Wikimedia organizations, we hope that this is something that will be prioritized in the future by the board in how they envisage their employee's progression and future hires. Succession planning and employee care are important as lack thereof can put the organization and its programs at risk.

Best regards, Delphine (WMF) (talk) 18:35, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

Request for reallocation of part of the 2020 budget

Dear Woubzena and all,

We would like to reallocate 1000 euros from the budget line "Attending Wikimedia events" (line 16) to another budget line. This has not been planned and it would be called "Staff Training" and would be under the signature Laboral Costs. (New line 39)--Pedro J Pacheco (talk) 15:00, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Midterm Report Accepted

Hello Rubén Ojeda (WMES) and Wikimedia Espana Colleagues, thanks for submitting your midpoint report. We have reviewed the metrics, budget, and report and marked them as accepted. Thank you for your work for the Wikimedia Movement! Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 12:55, 6 August 2020 (UTC)