Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska/2017-2018

Eligibility

Hello, Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska!

Thank you for submitting your eligibility form, which was reviewed on 27 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 12 months, starting 1 July 2017 and ending 30 June 2018. Wikimedians of Rpublic of Srpska have done a good job managing their past grants, but past grants total less than $10,000 US dollars altogether. Therefore, Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska are eligible to apply for a 12-month grant in the range of $10000-$12000 US dollars. This grant can include your program and operating costs, but should not include any funding for staff.

Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska have received 2 grants since 2016:

• Grants:PEG/Wikimedians_of_Republic_of_Srpska/Projects_of_Wikimedians_of_Republic_of_Srpska_for_period_of_July_11st_to_August_14st_2016 - About $1200 US dollars for meetings and to create outreach and training materials.
• Grants:Project/Rapid/Wikimedians_of_Republic_of_Srpska/Wiki_ambassador_in_Republic_of_Srpska - About $800 US dollars to finance a Wiki ambassador to work within local GLAM institutions.

Prior to the formation of the user group, Bojana Podgorica received these related grants as an individual:

• Grants:PEG/Bojana_Wiki_PG/Trace_of_a_Soul - About $4000 for an editing competion.
• Grants:PEG/Bojana_Wiki_PG/Wikimedia_Start_Republika_Srpska_2016 - About $1800 for a start up grant for the user group, including a Wikipedia Day celebration and conference.

Thank you for your work on this grant application and your detailed budget, and for working with us while drafting your application to clarify your application and budget. This 6-month grant should offer your group the opportunity to gain more experience with managing a larger budget and implementing several programs, and we are looking forward to the results.

Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:56, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Metrics missing in the spreadsheet

Hi Wikimedians of the Republic of Srpska, thank you for submitting your application - it is well thought of and the additional documentation is of very good quality! I noticed you have defined SMART goals in your programs, but have not filled them in on the [metrics reporting spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qZxJ7B9U_Eo6pMG55ox-zCHppM9-lubQm0jKI2tn6g/edit#gid=398269168]. Could you fill those in there? I know it might seem redundant work, but it's important because:

• It allows us to compare different organizations
• It allows us to see your metrics going forward (if you submit again next year we can compare)

Many thanks, Alleycat80 (talk) 19:30, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Hello Alleycat80! Thank you for your comment and suggestions. We tried to add the table on the given link, however it is locked. If you can provide us with access, we'll do it tomorrow. Thank you! Sincerely, --Bojana Wiki PG (talk) 21:06, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Hello, Alleycat80. Bojana and Ljubisa completed the metrics worksheet at the time their application was submitted. You can find their answers here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qZxJ7B9U_Eo6pMG55ox-zCHppM9-lubQm0jKI2tn6g/edit?ts=59453bfe#gid=189316232. I think that what you were looking at was an additional worksheet that may have been added as a draft a long time ago. I deleted it from the main document to avoid further confusion. Sorry about that! :) Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:52, 19 June 2017 (UTC)

Thank you Winifred!, my bad for messing things up :)

Simple Annual Plan Grant Committee recommendation

Committee recommendations

Funding recommendations: The committee recommends funding this grant in the requested amount of 10,536 Euro for 12 months. The committee has some recommendations to consider: We encourage the user group to develop their skills in the area of storytelling, to bring out the meaning of their work more strongly in future reports and applications. We recommend that the group start by reviewing the storytelling resources available on Meta, and work with committee members and their program officer to apply these concepts to future reports and applications. We encourage the user group to collaborate with other groups in the region, and other Wikimedia groups globally.

Strengths identified by the committee: The group included specific plans for gender gap work, and the emphasis on this work in this application demonstrates real commitment, especially considering the size of this group. The group has developed strategic and annual plans that demonstrate a significant degree of independent planning activity and strategic analysis around the applicant’s programs and operations. The committee was impressed with this program plan, which includes discrete and clearly defined programs, clear and appropriate targets, and a sufficient degree of programmatic analysis. This plan is realistic and seems grounded in the current capacity of the group. The group's program plan includes a broad spectrum of proven, low-risk activities, including GLAM and education partnerships, edit-a-thons, and photography competitions. This is a good approach for a first-time APG applicant, and we have confidence that the group can implement what they are planning.

Concerns identified by the committee: This is the group’s first annual plan, and they do not yet have experience implementing or documenting a large portfolio of activities. While the committee appreciates that this group is lean and volunteer-focused, the informal structure of the group may make it more difficult to oversee a more complex plan. Targets regarding strengthening the community (for example, recruiting 6 new editors as a result of the conference) may be too low to sustain the growth of the organization in the long term. Some metrics, such as "stronger community", will be difficult or impossible to assess. This plan overly emphasizes quantitative goals and rationale, and is lacking more qualitative data and explanations for why the program plan makes sense. The focus and likely impact of this plan is entirely local, and this group operates within a small geographical area.

On behalf of the Simple Annual Plan Grant Committee. Kirill Lokshin (talk) 11:54, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

WMF approval

Decision from WMF

Funding decision: Many thanks to the committee for this quality recommendation and to the Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska User Group for this wonderful application. We are very impressed with the effort you put into your first APG application, especially knowing that you are an informal user group with limited resources. I also appreciate that you were quick to respond to requests and to point out errors or points of confusion in the application process. We can build on these good communication practices in our future work together. We are approving the committee's recommendation to fund your grant in the amount of 10,536 Euro for 12 months. We hope this will be an exciting year for your group, and that your APG will give your group a solid foundation to work from throughout the year. I am looking forward to reviewing the results of your work together with you over the course of this year.

Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:59, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

Comments on your midpoint report

Dear Wikimedians of Republic of Srpksa,

Thank you for taking the time in your evening to meet with me and to talk extensively about your work. It was great to be more familiar with your work and plans for the next 6 months.

We spoke about your current programmatic work and your progress in Education with your partnerships with local institutions in Pale and in East Sarajevo. While these workshops have focused on training new participants in Wikipedia and spending time in providing background for the project, it is good to see that you are in contact with these organizers t to provide support and further engagement with these communities. This will be helpful to promote a level of comfort for new and returning participants to edit and contribute more extensively.

We highlighted that of the education workshops that have taken place, you have also taken note of the gender ratio of the participants. While the gender gap activities have not been realized until the next half of your grant, we encourage you to continue to monitor this information to inform some of your work in the future, and how you could encourage more female representation in participants to achieve gender-balanced workshops.

We also discussed Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska's achievements in the Trace of a Soul contest, now in its third year. It's interesting to learn about your plans for how this contest can evolve, especially with level of support from several local tourist and cultural preservation institutions. It will be interesting to see this contest develop in the future as you begin to focus on monuments and sites that are less accessible and have less content coverage, and how you integrate it with the Wiki Loves campaign. I did not get to mention this on our call, but I wanted to highlight the articles written in several languages during the contest!

There are also opportunities for the Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska to develop geographic diversity in the region, and we hope to see you work towards achieving more prominently in the coming months as you continue to partner with locally-based, cultural, and heritage partners. This has been your strength so far, and we hope to see your community help lead this effort.

Thank you again for your work, and for this report! I look forward to sharing this experience with our colleagues.

Cheers, Morgan Jue (WMF) (talk) 21:51, 12 February 2018 (UTC)