Grants talk:PEG/WM RS/Annual plan 2012-2013

GAC members who are studying the grant

# Thuvack (talk) 07:04, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

# Béria Lima ^msg 20:03, 28 August 2012 (UTC) After reading all the grant and discussion here (which answer most of the questions I had) I do support the fund of this grant. Béria Lima ^msg 05:34, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

• Tony (talk) 11:13, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi Tony. Please can you give us information are you sill studying the grant? We are waiting for you more than 10 days and we want to move forward with this request. We have several programs who are waiting for funds and some of these are planed to start this months. Thanks in advance. --MikyM (talk) 01:05, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

GAC members who have read this but had no comment

1. 3BRBS (talk) 22:12, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

GAC members who abstain from comment/vote

• Mile Kiš
• Packa

Questions

Query

The figures for tax on rental and tax and benefits on employee costs are included in both heir own sections,and in section E. The unadjusted totals are then added to give an overall total, apparently overstating the total by about 8%. Is this an error, or am I missing something? Rich Farmbrough 14:19 17 August 2012 (GMT).

Hi Rich. We are probably talking about subheading Total (Contents 1.6). As you told, taxes for rental and employee are included in their own sections. In section E we display all taxes, including tax for rental and employee just to help you to see in one place all taxes and unforeseen expenses. In the subheading Total you can see table named Retrospective. It serves to remind the upper sections and their costs. Final amount is 8.4% less than amount you get by adding sections A, B, C, D and E. If we were to just add this sections, then the tax given in separate and cumulative sections E would be counted twice in final ammount. I hope this clarifies the issue.--MikyM (talk) 15:21, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. It looks like you fixed that before I posted my query, good work. Rich Farmbrough 01:24 18 August 2012 (GMT).

Employee

Hi there. I have a question regarding the employee. Their job description here is a bit short, so I was wondering if you could make it a bit more specific? Is this someone that will be a secretary? Or rather a project manager? Or something else? Maybe there is a job description somewhere? Thanks for your help! notafish }<';> 07:53, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Not quite sure about the place with more description, as I am not the one who is responsible for the application, but here is the answer on your question: That's ED position (Secretary-General in our structure). That means that that person would work on almost everything. Secretary is the primary job, while working on projects for the rest of the worktime is the secondary job. That person would negotiate with domestic organizations and governmental institutions; as well as for everything else when Board members don't have time to do it. --Millosh (talk) 10:02, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

+How are you about to find the proper person, i.e. how do you plan to organise a reqrutation process? Polimerek (talk) 10:07, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

According to our bylaws, we have that position, no matter if it's paid or not. Presently, Secretary-General of Wikimedia Serbia is Mile Kis. Thus, Board evaluates his work yearly (with the possibility to open the process of choosing the new one if we are not satisfied with cooperation with the present Secretary-General). --Millosh (talk) 10:16, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

BTW, we were talking about the process of selecting any new possible person for any paid position. Our general conclusion is that we'd ask WMF, WCA or particular chapters to help us in that process. --Millosh (talk) 10:41, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

The main responsibilities of the Secretary-General are included in our Bylaws and policies ([1]), but as Milosh told, Gen-Sec. work on almost everything. The board elected who will be Gen-Sec and now are looking to find founds for his work. For any new paid positions we will have public competition (hope I used a right word) probably the same or very similar process like in WMF and other chapters. Also we have the Staff Policy--MikyM (talk) 21:15, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

First of all, great grant request and very detailed one.But I'm wondering, after I read some of WMRS activity reports, if it's not too early to start hiring ED? and even if it really needed, also to open an office? Could for the start the chapter can use shared space room for the ED to work from, before he need to have full office, with a conference room? Could you please share with us more about the decision to start hiring on this stage an ED? --Itzike (talk) 21:29, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

We are hiring a "person for everything". Wikimedia Serbia is active since 2005 (since February as a community, since December as an organization) and the most of our problems are related to the fact that we don't have a person to which we would rely. Position of SG/ED in an organization with one employee requires that all of the organizational tasks would default to that person. Thus, that's not just SG/ED, but Board assistant, secretary, assistant to anyone who wants to create a project, operational supervisor of the projects, financial consultant etc. We are fortunate that Mile was involved in WM RS last four years (maybe five; don't remember well) and that he is capable to do ED/GS job in the sense of higher level negotiations and similar. It is likely that we'd employ chief of office if we don't have a person capable to make particular political decisions, as well. --Millosh (talk) 23:11, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Selfsustainablity and sources of your income

IMHO this is very good and very (maybe a bit too) detailed grant application. Just 2 questions:

1. Are you thining about being selfsustainable in the future or rather want to be dependent on WMF grant for longer?
2. What are the sources of your own income and what are your predictions about them? I was trying to find it in your 2011 report Wikimedia chapters/Reports/Wikimedia Serbia/2011 - but it does not contain any financial information, and the formal financial report [1] - is hard to follow due to language barrier :-)

Polimerek (talk) 10:07, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, we are thinking about that, but from what I heard (not directly), WMF expects from us to concentrate more on programs than on various kinds of fundraising. We had a project of offline fundraising at the end of 2009 and it was success. That kind of fundraising (asking small business to help us with donations up to 100 EUR/year) will be something to explore more during 2013 or 2014. Also, we are open for cooperation with EU chapters in process of getting grants from EU. It is likely that we'll think about other possibilities, as well. Besides that, we are getting some resources for free (for example, venue for CEE meeting). I don't think that it's reasonable to expect that the government of Serbia would help WM RS more substantially, as the corruption level in country is high and quality of the program usually doesn't matter. There are some smaller donors in Serbia (like RNIDS -- NIC RS -- is), which donate ~1000 EUR for the projects. --Millosh (talk) 10:25, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

I'd like to confirm that WMF suggested WMRS focus on building its capacity, membership, and partners before focusing efforts on financial self-sustainability. We think it is the right thing to do this year for the best impact. Perhaps as early as next year we will be able to build on the results of this year's activity to seek complete or partial independence from the fundraiser funds. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 17:35, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Polimerek. Yes it's a bit too detailed and trust me we cut some parts :) As you was able to read, this is the result of several months of work and we wanted to show the main topics. Thanks too for your questions. As Milosh wrote, we are thinking about self sustainable. In the first place we need to develop our community and our programs. But even that we are looking for local money. There was/is a lot of in-kind donations, asking small business for small donations, etc. It's not a lot money but it is significant for us and our trying for self sustainable and local sources of funds. Even when we have the funds we are looking to find additional partners and sponsors, and save WMF money. (see: Grants:WM RS/Open Wiki GLAM of Serbia/Report#Reporting and documentation of expenditures)--MikyM (talk) 20:58, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Travels

There is only travel cost for the ED to the chapters meeting, what about the two other board members? from where their costs will be covered? --Itzike (talk) 21:29, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

Hello Itzike. Thanks for your questions. So far the organizers covered travel costs for board member but not for staff. That is the reason why there is not travel cost for board member. But if WMF think that we should/can get $1,000 more, we will include. --MikyM (talk) 21:58, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

I believe WMDE expect chapters to pay by themselves. They are helping chapters who can't pay their travel costs, but to pay for each chapters travel costs is not really part of their budget plan - or the others chapter who support WMDE by giving money to help chapter without budget to participate. Specially if the chapter have money for office, and ED. This is not a question if the WMF want to give more or less 1,000$, it's need to be part of your total budget if you plan so. After all, even if the money come from WMDE, all our movement money come from the same place - one fundraising, and now the FDC. --Itzike (talk) 19:12, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I'll add the changes.--MikyM (talk) 19:29, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

That's correct. When creating a general operating budget, these expenses should be included. Thanks for making the change. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 17:28, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. We didn't know a lot of details about Chap.Conf. budget. Once again, thanks for advice. I made changes 3 days ago and i will do update of pie chart in nexts 24hrs. --MikyM (talk) 19:29, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Pie chart are updated. --MikyM (talk) 13:58, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Some costs

Thanks for the submission. Generally, the request seems to be good for me, but I need at least clarifications for some of the costs included in the budget. You have an item for decoration and other office costs that weights 350.88 euros and is the same price as many other costs in this table. Did you make any research to get to all of these figures or they're given arbitrary on a predictable base? What is meant by decoration? I also see that you have operational costs, although some operational costs are mentioned previously in the grant (ex. electricity, heating, telephone lines, Internet, space rental, etc.). So, what kind of operational costs is included in this item? Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 08:39, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi Kiril. Thanks for your questions. All amounts presented are the results of research, and a lot of sections are with minimal costs. Operational budget are not only for board, but for all others who are participating in meetings, negotiating with partners, etc. They will need money for juice, water and coffee. There are also long meetings and several assemblies where it is desirable to have some kind of snack. WMRS has a board members who do not live in Belegrade, and sometimes they need a few dollars for a bus ticket. Please note that there is Decoration and others not only Decoration. Most of this budget is for Other (that mostly include cost of hygienic material for one year). We also need a few glasses, clock, small shelf (where we will put awards) and similar small items.--MikyM (talk) 19:50, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot about this detailed clarification. Seems that these things are really necessary as well.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 22:04, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your support!--MikyM (talk) 22:12, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Office Equipment

Computers

If you're hiring only one person (Secretary General), why do you need 3 computers? Abbasjnr (talk) 05:28, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your questions Abbasjnr. If we already establishing an office and hiring staff why we can not use this place as a working place for the rest of the team who are doing on some project? We will have min. 10 project in the next 12 months. Some of them are big and will take several days per week for realization. Having two more computers will help to people to work together in one place, using others existing things from the office.--MikyM (talk) 08:13, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Those are two desktop/laptop computers and one office server. It's reasonable to have one more desktop/laptop in the office. --Millosh (talk) 14:06, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Laminators

Is it possible for you to remove the 2 laminators that were budgeted for? Or is it absolutely necessary? Abbasjnr (talk) 05:31, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

We have an obligation to have membership cards for our members. Sometimes, we use laminators for documents. Having our own equipment will save the money and time. For example if we print only membership cards for this year it will take more than $120. If we buy laminators we will be free to use in the future. I think that it is more cost-effective to have our own than to pay each time. Just to make more clear, there is 2 sizes (big for documents, small for cards) of laminators with film and paper pack. --MikyM (talk) 08:28, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be ideal to procure only equipment that would be used very frequently? Please guide me, would it be still much cheaper to have materials to be laminated commercially in a span of three years? I have reservations on equipment that wouldn't be frequently used. -- Namayan (talk) 09:57, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

We have rediscussed this, and decided to remove laminators from the budget and add costs of comercial lamination. After researching the prices we calculated that we would need €50 for lamination costs (~200 ID cards plus some A4 documents) for this year. Mile will make adjustments in the budget shortly. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 15:03, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the notice. -- Namayan (talk) 00:23, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Insurance

I'm not sure about the situation in Serbia, but considering that you'll be investing heavily in acquiring company assets, don't you think that they should be insured, or something? Abbasjnr (talk) 05:36, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

The situation is generally safe, but you are true. It is usually to have some type insurance. We thought about that but for any kind of insurance we will need money. If you think we should put this in budget, we will do that.--MikyM (talk) 08:36, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't think that it's necessary; at least for the first year. --Millosh (talk) 14:07, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia in Schools

Sorry, may you indicate that this projects have not to be funded here but there is still an open request? --Ilario (talk) 20:35, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Buonasera Ilario! The Wikipedia in Schools is part of our annual plane. On Section Total we wrote: "Remark: GLAM grant is funded. So the annual grant will be deduced by 3,820.00$. If WMF will accept WLM in Serbia and Wikipedia in Schools grant, than total amount requested for this annual grant is 57,038.05$." So that means we did not calculated costs of Wikipedia in Schools twice in the total of requested amount. --MikyM (talk) 20:59, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

Queries on costs, rent, etc.

• Pheweee, on-costs of 62% (or even 54%) are pretty sky-high, even if they do include health insurance and superannuation. And I presume the incumbent will pay income tax out of her/his $9561 yearly salary too?

Yes, the tax is very high. It is also the reason for spread (although illegal) practice among employers in Serbia to register all their employees on minimal wage and pay them the rest in cash. That does include all taxes. I'm not a tax expert, and if I'm mistaken someone please correct me, but I think that income tax is paid only if person has large enough yearly income. If I calculate correctly, even if we double the pay, our employee will not fit into that category. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• The salary is about 1.6 times the per-capita nominal GDP for Serbia; seems OK. In blunt average terms, real costs in Serbia are about half of US costs.

Note that averages for Serbia are not good measure for costs in Belgrade. Costs of living in Belgrade are much higher than averages for Serbia and even averages for other larger cities. Idea is that employee of WMRS be paid reasonably but to be able to afford comfortable living (without luxury). During our initial talks with Asaf, he suggested to increase the pay a bit. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Confirmed. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 19:25, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• "Unforeseen expenses"—I guess anything unspent will be returned to the WMF, too.

Yes, either returned or renegotiated with WMF to be included in some future grant (to avoid additional money transfer costs). -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

And note that this is a given; all grants are disbursed against a signed grant agreement, that includes provisions for the return of any unused funds. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 19:25, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• Please avoid assuming that an employee will be male.

This is a translation thing. In Serbian in such cases neutral form is same as male form (for example "запослени има право на одмор" -> "employee (he) has right to take a vacation"). Translator didn't use neutral gender (probably because of rushed translation). Principle 1 in WMRS staff policy prohibites discrimination according to sex. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• Trivial matter: phone costs seem to be specified for "office space" to a greater level of detail than for the "employee". No big deal; wondering whether it's a fixed-line or mobile phone for the SG, which might explain why no call costs are estimated (yearly phone plan?).

As I can see in the table, phone costs for office space are broken down to phone line (one time cost) and phone costs (per month). For employee is given only phone costs (per month). It is not specified yet but most likely it will be mobile phone with montly plan, so there is no phone line costs. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• Could you give a brief indication of whether the employee will be at gradual level, and roughly what skill-base you'll be advertising for? (Do you have someone in mind already, or will it be advertised?)

As decided, our first employee will be our secretary general. WMRS already have secretary general (Mile Kiš), which is unpaid position, and we intend to change it to paid position. When (for whichever reason) this position becomes vacant, WMRS will, according to its staff policy issue public call for candidates and WMRS Board will select new employee. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• So the office-space rent is costing $12.6K, but the employee is paid $9.6K. So the employee couldn't nearly afford to rent the office out of their whole salary. Will the office be in Belgrade, and is that city particularly expensive in terms of rent? Have you targeted specific premises yet?

I'm not quite sure I understand. It is not employee that pay for the office space rent. I haven't heard of that practise before (maybe you took that just as a comparison). Yes, office will be in Belgrade, and in terms of rent in comparison with rest of Serbia, Belgrade is expensive. We will probably rent a flat and turn it into office, and commercial rent for flats is always more expensive than rent for living. We had one or two ideas for office, but since we weren't sure when exactly will be needing the office (and have resources to pay for it) we haven't started serious hunt for space yet. We will probably be located in a flat, and people that rent flats don't want to wait for several months for rentee. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, this comparison is by analogy: the rent for the office will far exceed the salary for the person in it. This seems an unusual ratio. Is it not possible for the "flat" (which sounds rather larger than is necessary for a workspace) to be rented in a cheaper part of Belgrade? Tony (talk) 06:35, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Note that projected rent is $7,354.84 or $8,825.81 when you add tax. That is less than employee salary which is $9,561.29 or $15,501.94 when you add tax.

Flat doesn't have to be large at all. Flats smaller than 30m² are quite usual and popular for office space in Belgrade. They usually consist of corridor, one room, toilet and small kitchen. Also, small apartments are significantly more expensive (relative to their size) than larger apartments (few people can afford to buy/rent large apartment, so supply is larger than demand and prices (per square meter) are lower than for small apartments).

We could rent an aparmtment in suburbs, but it would affect only the space rental and tax. Other costs (electricity, heating, Internet, ...) would remain the same. We are already not targeting the "strict center" of Belgrade, but "edge of center" (for example Vračar instead of Stari grad). Going more suburban might get us cheaper office, but it would somewhat defeat the purpose - most businesses tend to have their office somewhere in center, and if we're located far from center, our partners/guests are far less likely to be willing to visit the office. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:24, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

• Terminology tip: Secretary-General is kind of grand, in English—to be brutal, the term sounds a bit pretentious for someone on that salary. It's the head of the UN. It's even rather too grand a term for the Wikimedia Chapters Association's planned head employee. Don't bother changing it now, but I do hope the term isn't going to be copied among all chapters without knowing the flavour when translated that way into English. Tony (talk) 11:40, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure what alternative you have in mind, but in Serbian "secretary general" doesn't sound grand/pretentious. The "secretary" part means that it is someone that assists another body/person. For example secretary-general of Government of Serbia is position that is percived in public (it might be sometnihg else in reality) as a person that assists ministers during meetings. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

(Let's stick to the substance here. The title doesn't matter much, and in any case only needs to make sense in the local context.) Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 19:25, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I hope that these are the answers to your questions. If I misunderstood you somewhere, please elaborate. Also, if you have additional questions, I will be happy to respond. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:09, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

• Asaf, I notice these two instructions, which I presume don't raise problems for this application ...
  • "Grants should not replace volunteer action to accomplish valuable work."
  • "Grants should not fund staff salaries and other recurring expenses (e.g. rent). In some cases, grant requests may fund part-time positions or full-time temporary positions specifically focused on the activities of the project for which funding is requested. Such funding would also depend on an assessment of the applicants' ability to effectively manage staff, and the existence of some infrastructure, such as policies for travel, hiring/firing, et cetera." Tony (talk) 12:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

  Correct: WMRS has put the necessary policies in place, and was going to request funding for its first employee and office through the proposed Annual Grants process, but that has been superseded by the FDC process in the meantime. That is why they qualify for an exception to the general rule about funding staff through the Grants program. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 22:50, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

  The rationale of this exemption is still unclear to me. Tony (talk) 01:44, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Currency

Let me inform you that Mile has changed currency for "amount requested" from USD to EUR. This is because prices in EUR are much more stable in terms of currency fluctuation. Serbia is in euro influence zone so most of prices in Serbia are according to EUR. -- Obradovic Goran (talk) 16:13, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

This is probably a good idea, and we would have no difficulty disbursing Euros. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 19:23, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Request changes to budget

Dear, Based on the discussion page of the Grants_talk:WM_RS/Wikimedia_CEE_Conference_2012/Report#Remaining_funds, please consider this request.

Projector: During the realization of our plan, we realized that the projector and a projection screen are necessary. Therefore, we suggest that a part of the unspent funds obtained for the CEE conference should be spent by buying a projector, projection screen, holder for a projection screen and a projector bags. It will cost about ~ €700 in total.

Laptop: Originally, the purchase of three computers was planned. Of those three computers, one we use as an internal server for important data storage, other is for our secretary, and the last one is for projects and volunteers. Activities in the office have proven that it is necessary to have at least two computers to be used for projects. We have planned a purchase of a laptop which is much needed for demonstrations and presentations outside the office. We suggest that one more laptop should be purchased from the remaining funds for CEE. It will cost about 550€.

Due to the foreign exchange gains and the increase in the price of services, we would suggest an increase of the funds for participating in Wikimania. It has come to the increase of the price of plane tickets, and the originally planned 100,000 dinars for the travel expenses, participation, accommodation, travel insurance and per die is not enough. It is supported by the ticket price, which amounted to 74.466 dinars. That is why we suggest that the amount of the individual scholarship should be increased 130,000 dinars, by using the remaining funds from the CEE project.

There are also changes in the prices in the office furniture market. While working we realized the necessity of extra drawers and boxes for storage of documentation and materials. Therefore, we suggest that €300 should be taken from the remaining funds to be used as a supplement for the budget needed for the office.

Originally, general promotional material was not planned. However, numerous meetings have pointed at the necessity of the materials, so we suggest that 300€ should be used for this cause, and that those should be also taken for the remaining funds for the CEE.

Deposit: When renting an apartment, we were forced to pay a deposit amounted to a one/month rent, that will be returned when the office space lease is ended. Due to this, we ask for 540€ for these expenses that will be returned to the WMF-budget on the day of the lease termination. These funds can be turned into "Unforeseen expenses".

Other: Under Decoration and others we have asked for €350. An unexpectedly large amount of meetings and programs in the office resulted in the need for more funds for basic hygiene materials and refreshments. Due to this, we would like to increase this budget with extra €150, most for hygiene materials.

No	Category	Qty	Unit	Qty	Unit	Unit Price (RSD)	Total Price (RSD)	Total Amount (EUR)	Note
1	Projector with equipment (screen, tripod, bag)	1	packet			80,000.00	80,000.00	701,75	not originally planned
2	Laptop	1	unit			62,700.00	62,700.00	550,00	not originally planned
3	Wikimania	1	unit	2	scholarships	130,000.00	260,000.00	2,280.70	originally planned € 1,754.39
4	Office furniture						241,200.06	2,115.79	originally planned 1,815.79
5	Pomotional materials						34,200.00	300	not originally planned
6	Unforeseen expenses						161,559,66	1,417.19	originally planned €877.19
7	Decoration and others						57,000.00	500.00	originally planned €350.88
	Subtotal						RSD 896,659.72	EUR 7,865.43	not counting unplanned, budget increase is €1.519.31 (including funds for deposit that will be returned); with previously unplanned items (projector, laptop...) budget increases is €3,071.06 which is total money requested for this changes. If you accept this request, €3,071.06 can be reallocated from unspent budget for CEE 2012 Conference.

--MikyM (talk) 11:33, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Hi, Mile: It appears from this table that the total difference between the budget presented here and the funds already planned for in Euros is actually 3067.18 EUR (7,865.43 EUR revised - 4798.25 EUR planned), but you're requesting 3,071.06 EUR. Is that difference just due to currency conversion from dinars or am I not understanding your budget correctly? This is not a big difference (only 4 Euro!) - I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding your table. Thanks for the request and we hope to have an answer for you by this Wednesday. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 17:43, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

This reallocation is approved. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 18:59, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

This increase to the project budget will be covered by funds remaining from Grants:WM_RS/Wikimedia_CEE_Conference_2012. Out of the 3880.00 EUR remaining from that grant, 3,071.00 EUR will be deducted from the unused funds to cover these costs, leaving 809.00 EUR still in Wikimedia Serbia's possession to be retained with WMF's permission until a decision is delivered on Grants:WM_RS/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_in_Serbia_-_2013, or until WMRS is otherwise instructed to return the funds to WMF. Please contact us with questions or concerns about these amounts. Regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 19:06, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! Yes, the difference is due currency conversion.--MikyM (talk) 22:35, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Cool! Thanks for confirming that. Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 18:49, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Request changes to budget II

Dear, regarding our conversations and consultations in Hong Kong, we are making this official request for a budget change regarding:

• Wikinews in schools: Regarding the analysis and long conversations, we have decided to shift the funds for Wikinews (€600) to Wiktionary and a new project called "1001 Arabic Word". As you were previously informed, WMRS has started working on a first Arabic- Serbian dictionary, which has shown to be very successful and continues spreading onto other projects. The funds will be used for covering the costs of some printing materials, organizing dozens of workshops, promotion of the project and etc.
• Work with marginalized groups: WMF has given this project €700, and WMRS has successfully saved €300 for now, and we are requesting relocation of the remaining funds from this projects to office equipment.--MikyM (talk) 14:31, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

This re-allocation is approved. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 00:03, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you!--MikyM (talk) 00:13, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

Request an extension

Dear WMF, we want to ask for a extension of this grant. This grant is primarily planed to be finished at October 31st and our new fiscal year will be started at January 1st. With this extension we want to cover the vacuum period between November and December 31. We will keep the priority of our program and do only what is written in this Annual plan/grant and grant agreement --MikyM (talk) 23:43, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

This extension is approved. An additional interim report will be due by 30 November 2013, and the final report will be due by 1 March 2014. Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 23:45, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for this quick response! --MikyM (talk) 23:46, 11 October 2013 (UTC)