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Timeline for "Wikimedia Technology Fund"

Hi there, I have come to the grants pages a few times this year but the technology fund pages continue to say "coming soon". Is there a timeline for these? ·addshore· ^{talk to me!} 16:43, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

Me too. Any updates? Sophivorus (talk) 13:54, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Pinging @I JethroBT (WMF) & @KEchavarriqueen (WMF) who I have seen replying to other threads here. ·addshore· ^{talk to me!} 23:05, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

@Sophivorus and Addshore: Thanks for checking in with us about the Technology Fund. We don't currently have a schedule or timeline for when this funding program is expected to begin, so I will remove the "coming soon" language until we have more certainty about when the program will begin. We had hoped launch this program much sooner, but due to a number of factors mostly internal to the Foundation, have not been able to do so. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 01:45, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Many thanks for the update. ·addshore· ^{talk to me!} 15:57, 22 April 2023 (UTC)

Is it appropriate to tell someone that might be suitable for this program to apply for to the Rapid Fund in the interim? The example I have in mind relates to a QuickStatements Lexeme creation feature that's been languishing on Phabricator for four years (task T220985) and that'd be useful both in Wikimedia projects and outside of it - it was brought up on our affiliate's mailing list. GreenReaper (talk) 10:10, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF) and KEchavarriqueen (WMF): I have heard that "The Technology Fund was permanently placed on hold. It means that we will not launch it in the near future. This means that we cannot fund long-term software development projects." replied by WMF. Does this mean that the Technology Fund is permanently closed and what is the alternative fund that developers could apply for? Thanks. SCP-2000 11:32, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

I have the same problem and I'm maintaining some longer-term projects. Due to various reasons, such as the number of development members, insufficient funds, etc., it is impossible for me to complete all development goals in the short term at once. I would like some periodic and sustainable funds.

However, I noticed that the only ones I could find suitable for me to apply for so far seemed to be the Rapid Fund. But in the introduction, it mentioned that:

Proposals that depend on multiple or continuous Rapid Funds for long-term maintenance or development goals are generally ineligible.

Does this mean that we don't have any friendly help for long-term development projects? In other words, we can only wait for the long period of full feature development to be completed, and cannot get any financial help for post-maintenance. Rowe Wilson Frederisk Holme (talk) 13:30, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

@SCP-2000 and Rowe Wilson Frederisk Holme: Thanks for your questions. While the Rapid Fund program offers some possible opportunities for funding small-scale software development as Rowe has pointed out, there is no such alternative for specifically funding large-scale or continuous software development at this time. More information on eligibility for this kind of work in the Rapid Fund program is available here: Grants:Project/Rapid#Eligibility_criteria. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 13:38, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. I understand that there may be some difficulties, but it is bit disappointed that there is no alternative for funding long term development. Whether it is short term or long term development, it is valuable to the Wikimedia project and it would be great to see support for their project. SCP-2000 13:53, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF), KEchavarriqueen (WMF), SCP-2000, and Rowe Wilson Frederisk Holme: hello,

You may find the template {{Grants}} useful for guiding grants requests. This template is too little known. Feel free to share and update boldly this template which gather a clear map and properties of available WM grants. Yug (talk) 15:18, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

The template previously cited here –{{Grants}}–, listing major WMF grants with grant budget, next deadline, who, how, has be supersede by Grants:Programs, Grants:Alternatives, and Grants. The template has therefore been speedy deleted due to obsolescence.

@Yug: Thanks for preparing this table, for working to update it, and the invitation to boldly update it! This table is fairly comprehensive and shows some useful points of comparison. I'll share it with the Community Resources team to see if and where it might make sense to integrate it in our documentation pages. A few initial points of feedback just from my personal perspective:

• Rather than provide an estimate of the length of the application in A4 units (applications are rarely printed out these days), I think it would be better to link directly to the application itself.
• It will be very difficult to provide comprehensive information on "What we fund" in a table format, if only because the scope of movement activities and eligible expenses or is excessively large, so I would prefer linking to sections in each funding program where this scope is described. I don't support providing a few examples in these sections without more substantial context, because historically, people unfamiliar with the funding programs have misunderstood this we only support certain expenses.
• If we move ahead with this, I suggest we use this to replace the general information on the Grants Meta-wiki page, which has not been actively maintained. Furthermore, I would want to message affiliates to invite them to add their info to this table as well.

Once I've discussed this with my team, I'll let you know how we plan to move forward. Thanks again for your work! I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:04, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

@Yug: Thanks for your effort. However, Jethro has already stated that "Rapid Fund program offers some possible opportunities for funding small-scale software development" rather than long term development. TBH this comparison table is bit useless for the current problem of lack of support for long-term development. Thanks for your understanding. SCP-2000 17:17, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Grant Fund disturbing comments

Hello ABruszik-WMF, CAlmog (WMF), I JethroBT (WMF), DSaroyan (WMF), DGuedri (WMF), User:JChen (WMF), JStephenson (WMF), KEchavarriqueen (WMF), MCasoValdes (WMF), VThamaini (WMF), Jtud (WMF), MJue (WMF), RSharma (WMF), AGary (WMF),

Following my request for answers here, I am requesting to know the accounts of "series of banned users that I am associated with". There are allegations laid against me at this Grant talk that my account is "associated with a series of banned users" by YPam (WMF) and I am yet to get answers on the list of the "series of banned users that I am associated with". Further comments there makes me feel that my privacy during the application may be compromised because I was directed to where I did not apply. I want an assurance that my privacy is intact and to know the list of the "series of banned user associated with me". Sagbosam (talk) 20:08, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

2023 proposal cycle?

Last year, Research Grants were due December, 2022. Will there by another cycle this year with proposals due December 2023? Hexatekin (talk) 21:26, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

@KGordon (WMF) just drawing your attention to this question. JStephenson (WMF) (talk) 11:32, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for tagging me here, @JStephenson (WMF).

@Hexatekin, there will be another cycle this year though dates for proposal submissions have not been finalized. We expect to confirm these dates by the end of the month and I'll make sure to follow up here when that is done. KGordon (WMF) (talk) 16:28, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

Hello @Hexatekin, I am happy to announce that the Wikimedia Research Fund will be accepting applications until December 15, 2023. Detailed submission instructions will be shared by November 15, 2023 on the Meta page. For a sample of last year's stage I submissions, please check the archive.

You can also review previously funded proposals here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Research_Fund/Proposals/Funded.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions! KGordon (WMF) (talk) 12:22, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

A specific time due on Dec 15th is not listed. This information would be useful. Hexatekin (talk) 19:14, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Is my Rapid Fund grant request live?

It is at Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Reliable newspaper module for Wikipedia Globalization courses (ID: 22271301). It is tagged as draft and I've no idea why and how to make it not a draft. I submitted it in August, it is now November, and I was wondering if the draft status is delaying its assessment? Piotrus (talk) 10:15, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

@KGordon (WMF) @JStephenson (WMF) - can someone get back to me? TIA. Piotrus (talk) 03:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Hi @Piotrus, apologies for missing this. I forwarded this question to our Community Resources team. Someone should get back to you here soon. KGordon (WMF) (talk) 08:14, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Hello Piotrus, your Rapid Fund is not live because you haven't submitted it. When you open your draft request, there is a "Submit application" button on the bottom right corner. You need to submit it, so that it is considered for review. Before submitting, please take a look at the Rapid Fund round timeline and adjust your application dates accordingly. You can contact us at eseap_rapidwikimedia.org for any questions. --DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 08:40, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

@DSaroyan (WMF) I cannot located such a button, I use CTRL+F as well as my Mark I Eyeball. The only button I see is the blue Endorse buttonin the bottom left. Confusingly, the top says "This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their application.". It was my understsanding that I submitted the application in Fluxx, and the metawiki page created is a record of the submission? I'll update the dates in the meantime. Piotrus (talk) 04:06, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

@Piotrus, you will find the button on Fluxx where you have put the draft and not on the Meta page. Any changes should also be made on Fluxx; please do not update the Meta page manually. Here's a quick screenshot. --DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 09:40, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

@DSaroyan (WMF) Thank you, that's helpful. I think I was able to updaste it now. I'd suggest adding some note to the mediawiki page about how to finalize the draft, maybe linking to the screenshot you linked to above. Piotrus (talk) 02:12, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

@Piotrus, great, I'm glad it was helpful. There is a section in the "Final message" section in the application form with a help video and instructions on how to submit. I think I might have missed it. --DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 10:26, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

Let's Connect September 2023 report?

• Grants:Knowledge_Sharing/Connect#Timetable

Is this report out somewhere? Is this program still active? Bluerasberry (talk) 00:35, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Problems caused on Wikidata

I wanted to elevate this discussion. If these contributions are indeed related to this grant, then the fact that we have already deleted many of them and are poised to delete the remainder should be a matter of some concern. Should we be making grants if they're just going to waste time and resources and give people a bad impression of our projects? Bovlb (talk) 22:02, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

See also continuation in Grants_talk:Project/Rapid#Assessing_grant_proposers_as_Wikidata_trainers. Bovlb (talk) 17:10, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Suggest new categories for research proposals beginning March 2024

At Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Research_&_Technology_Fund/Wikimedia_Research_Fund#Review_submissions the grant designers set up a category for "Submissions by Regional Focus", but the majority of submissions are classified as Category:Wikimedia_Research_Fund_applications_in_FY_2023-24_-_Regional_Focus_-_No_identified_focus.

I am looking at these entries in this category, and think they would better be described as "policy", "design", "global infrastructure development", or "community insights". "Region" is not a fit.

Perhaps in the next round have another category for submissions which are neither specific to a Wikimedia project nor a region. Bluerasberry (talk) 15:48, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Hi Bluerasberry.

I'm Kinneret, Lead Research Community Officer on the WMF Research Team and the workflow chair for the fund.

Thank you for this feedback! This is the first year we created categorizations for the submissions in hope that they are helpful for people exploring the different submissions. I agree that the categories were far from perfect. We will improve this for the next round and I'll make sure we keep in mind the descriptions you suggested. KGordon (WMF) (talk) 15:02, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Use of open review website

I was just curious about what some of these grants were, and wanted to read the proposals (I was wondering what Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Research_Fund/Edit_History_Growth_Rate_Analysis was about). However it seems like you need an OpenReview account to do so, and the site will only let you register if you are currently at an institution. (This does not feel very "open" for a site called "OpenReview"). Could the PDFs of grant proposal be uploaded to commons and linked so that the rest of us could read them? Bawolff (talk) 18:43, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

Hello Bawolff,

We are currently in the Stage II review period and we needed to restrict the viewing of the proposals for this time. All proposals will be reopened for viewing via the OpenReview link in a few days. KGordon (WMF) (talk) 08:33, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Why is Israel included in Western and Northern Europe

Geographically Israel is neither in Western or Northern Europe. --Minilammas (talk) 10:49, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Given the complex geo-political dynamics between Israel and other countries in the MENA region and closer economic and political ties with the European Union, we included Israel in the North Western Europe region. ABruszik-WMF (talk) 13:25, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

FTEs (full-time equivalents)

In my understanding, FTE is a unit of workload, and if an organization has staff members, their FTEs would be more than 0 (although it could be less than 1, if they have only one part-time worker). Why do some grant applications claim 0 FTEs? Does it matter if people work without pay? whym (talk) 08:37, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

To be honest, I think they might just be doing it wrong. I don't think you can just say "we only have consultants" - you're meant to estimate the hours and figure out how many full time (40-35hr/week depending on the employer?) employees it's equivalent to. I mean, if they're not getting paid, that's fair enough, but is that actually the case, or is their rate just not specified? If they're working for free they should probably be called "volunteer staff" or the like. GreenReaper (talk) 05:26, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Also, in the first link they received 1/6 of the requested funding, and when they revised the grant application to match that, the FTE number was changed from 1 FTE and 2 consultants to 0. --Zache (talk) 07:41, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Good point that the funding was reduced, but I'd expect something like 0.1 or 0.2 FTEs instead of 0 in that case.

Some activities, especially volunteer driven ones, might be done on-demand and spontaneously and you might not even know if you are going to spend all of the fund eventually. However, it seems like the general support fund is more for regular, well-planned and predictable things. whym (talk) 08:49, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Is this FTE question not a priority in general? A grantee said that the WMF and/or the committee never brought up the issue when discussing the grant application privately. It's still not clear to me the "0" answer was a mistake, or there was a valid reason. The question is in Grants:MetaSync/Application templates/Wikimedia Community Fund v4: "19.2. How many FTEs (full-time equivalents) in total? (required)" whym (talk) 03:21, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

You could directly ask the reasoning behind the number from the grantee? About that the commitee never brought up the number in mid-term conversation, i dont think that is suprising. The discussions are generally pretty practical orientated (ie. what you have achieved, any highligts/problems, any differences compared to plans etc). So even if there is discussion about amount of employees it is not single number level, but more like if one have capacity and/or skills to targetted things. Btw. If you tried to ask JAUG to update the FTE number in application I don't think that grantee by themselfs can edit the application after it is approved. --Zache (talk) 15:19, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

I asked and it's now confirmed that it was indeed a misunderstanding. I pointed out the possible misunderstanding in early May. If it was too late, when was not? (Or is there a better way to communicate other than a talk page thread?) whym (talk) 06:13, 21 July 2024 (UTC)

Time to archive?

This page has 26 sections now. Is it time to archive some of the older sections? I might suggest setting up automatic archiving with a 1 year threshold. whym (talk) 08:52, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Whym, thanks for suggestion. I tried to set it up. Would you please take a quick look? I was also not sure if it archives sections from past years as well; if not, I will move them manually. Thanks again! -- DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 12:32, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I changed it a bit, and this should work. [1] This is going to archive inactive sections retroactively, not just for sections created from now on, if that is what you asked. whym (talk) 23:31, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks so much! DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 10:38, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

General Support Fund: Sorry for marking as closed

I marked a grant application as closed at special:diff/26666393/26936975. I am told that I was in error, and I apologize.

My explanation is that I read the page and did not see information about when the grant would reopen. I am a native English speaker and sometimes when I do not understand, then if I study a page, I make the edit that would have informed me. I feel like if I cannot understand, then a non-native English speaker might also have trouble.

I read on the page that grants go in 2 rounds only, and that round 2 was over. Because of this I marked the application as closed until next year. I do not think there was information on the page saying that it would reopen. If I understand correctly now, the year starts with round 2, then round 1 begins in late summer. This confused but what I could have done differently is ask for clarification.

Thanks. Bluerasberry (talk) 15:17, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Bluerasberry, thank you for adding your note here. I see where the confusion was coming from and I appreciate your edit on that page. It created some misunderstanding because some viewers thought that the upcoming round 1 in 2024-25 fiscal year would be cancelled, and we would only have a round in 2025 (calendar year).

I agree that the round naming can be confusing, especially for those not familiar with the Wikimedia Foundation fiscal year dates. And you are correct that the round 1 begins in July-August; we call it "round 1 of the 2024-2025 fiscal year" to make it a bit clear.

If you notice other unclear details or missing info, please let me know on this or my talk page and I'll be glad to clarify and edit them in a timely manner. Thanks again! -- DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 21:18, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Renaming : Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Research & Technology Fund

Hello all, hello User:DSaroyan_(WMF),

I've been browsing and readings about possible grants and may have some suggestions.

Given the second leg (Technology) of the Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Research & Technology Fund have never opened and has officially been dismissed this past June 2024 (2024.06: « a decision has been made to not have a dedicated Technology Fund. »), could we formally reshape and rename this branch of 2~3 pages ?

• Grants:Programs
  • Level 1 subpage …/Wikimedia Research & Technology Fund should be further depreciated.
    • Level 2 subpage …/Wikimedia Research Fund, which is still active, should stand up by itself. Likely moved to Level 1 subpage Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Research Fund, currently a redirect, you may ask an admin to fix it.
    • Level 2 subpage …/Wikimedia Technology Fund never existed, good ! Nothing to do.

Yug (talk) 13:45, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

Technology Fund : alternatives

Hello @Addshore, Sophivorus, GreenReaper, SCP-2000, Rowe Wilson Frederisk Holme, I JethroBT (WMF), and KEchavarriqueen (WMF):,
In past 2+ years we kept in touch for possible start of the …/Wikimedia Technology Fund grants. As it staled I eventually looked for alternatives supports for my WM projects (Lingua Libre & SignIt) which critically needed tech support. Since March 2024 to September 2024 I therefore became a double Google Summer of Code mentor. As of June 2024 it was announced « a decision has been made to not have a dedicated Technology Fund. ». Also, sharing my experience navigating across WMF grants and partners programs may be beneficial to our discussion and the larger WM community, to help us WM tools leaders to reach out to relevant alternative programs. Below are the avenues I identified, successfully relied on (GSoC24), and the ones I still see as being at reach :

Grant avenue	Application and support	Comment
mw:Google Summer of Code	Once a year, Google sponsoring an intern for 75h, 175h, or 350h.	GSoC gave major boost to our project's visibility among junior devs. Applications process pointed ~7 relevant junior devs CVs to us. About 4~5 made a commit to our repository as part of the selection process. We successfully pursued the GSoC24 with 2 projects and 2 Indian interns, respectively, leading to major build up and progress. GSoC24 ended in September 2024. Post GSoC24, each project needs further support for « the last mile » at production level. Project 1, Lingua Libre Django: WMFR is on track to provide ~15,000 US$ for UI polishing, data migration, prod-level review, prod deployment in 2025. Project 2, SignIt : see « Grants:Rapid » below.
mw:Outreachy	Twice a year, Wikimedia Foundation sponsoring a minority intern dev with overall budget of 7,000US$ and 3 months workload.	I considered it but didn't knew of any junior developer from marginalized community (women, ethnic minority, LGBTQ) and suitable skill sets.
Grants:Rapid	Every 2 months, under 5,000US$.	I applied on Oct. 1st, 2024, with 15 workdays 3,000 US$ for coding for (former GSoC24 intern) and 8 workdays <2,000 US$ for managerial, communication, documentation & co (me). Result by November 15, 2024.
Product & Tech department	Anytime, budget to discuss. Send concise statement of the situation of required specifications (2024.06: « if community tooling is needed, the Product & Tech department will work directly with volunteers to develop a plan for building it (potentially using contract agreements vs. grants), alongside a plan for maintaining it. »)	I'm considering them, seems an avenue to master and the future of WMF community projects developments.

I will update this section further in coming months to share more. I would also like to create a community portal page such as Grants:Alternatives to documents together such grants-like support programs on the model of Grants:Programs.

I encourage you to explore those avenues to support your coding projects. Yug (talk) 10:03, 10 October 2024 (UTC)

A question about "fiscal sponsor"

Hello, I have a question about fiscal sponsor: Grants talk:Fiscal sponsorships § Open Source Collective. I hope someone can provide advice if possible. Thank you very much! Plantaest (talk) 19:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)