Knowledge Equity Fund/FAQ

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General

What is the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Knowledge Equity Fund is a US$4.5M fund created by the Wikimedia Foundation to provide grants to organizations external to the Wikimedia movement whose work increases the availability of free knowledge by counteracting structural inequalities relating to racial equity around the world.

The Knowledge Equity Fund started as a pilot initiative that came out of the commitments the Foundation’s leadership team made in June 2020, in the wake of global protests against racial injustice. Our goal was to create a grant-making fund with an explicit focus on addressing barriers to free knowledge experienced by Black, Indigenous and racialised communities around the world that have been systematically excluded and erased from the Western historical canon.

This is part of our commitment to advancing knowledge equity, one of two key pillars of our 2030 strategic direction of becoming the essential infrastructure of free knowledge.

Who will make decisions about who receives grants from the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Wikimedia Foundation has created a Knowledge Equity Fund Committee that will identify potential grant recipients. Presently, this committee is made up of both Wikimedia Foundation employees and members from the Wikimedia community, with the goal of having an equal number of community members and staff. During the launch of the Knowledge Equity Fund, it began with largely Wikimedia staff members that were able to contribute the time and expertise needed for the introduction of the Fund, including staff from partnerships, fundraising and legal teams.

Eventually, the fund committee expanded its community representation. The current committee members are listed on Meta.

The Knowledge Equity Fund Committee shares regular updates about grant recipients on Meta, including the terms of each grant and updates on their progress. In August of 2022, the Round 1 grantees shared annual reports of their work and progress with the year of funds given by the Equity Fund, from September 2021-August 2022. These reports provide a summary of work completed by each grantee during their 12 month period.

How did the Knowledge Equity Fund come about?

In June 2020, as we saw countries around the world stand up against racial injustice, the Wikimedia Foundation made an explicit commitment to advance racial justice within our own work, as a part of our movement’s larger commitment to knowledge equity. We wanted to do more than issue a statement without any follow-through. We knew that racial equity was inextricably tied to our focus on knowledge equity, and we wanted to identify ways in which we could serve our movement and drive sustainable impact in improving free knowledge. We created the Knowledge Equity Fund to focus on addressing barriers to free knowledge experienced by Black, Indigenous and communities of color around the world.

This fund is an outcome of the recognition that the work required for knowledge justice is something that we as a Wikimedia movement cannot do alone. Our projects can only do so much when, for example, academic and mass media representation of marginalized communities remains insufficient, which in turn limits citations and primary sources for us to build from. The Knowledge Equity Fund aims to help us to build a robust ecosystem of free knowledge partners working to address the barriers to knowledge equity.

How can community members get involved in the Knowledge Equity Fund?

Yes. Currently there are five community members who are part of the Knowledge Equity Fund Committee. We are also relying on community members to recommend organizations for future funding from the Knowledge Equity Fund.

Are community members who serve on the Knowledge Equity Fund Committee compensated?

Yes, a flat stipend is provided to the community members who participate on the Knowledge Equity Fund Committee to compensate them for potential costs associated with their participation including time, meals, internet, and childcare.

What is the focus of the Knowledge Equity Fund and how does it relate to the mission of the Wikimedia projects?

We decided to focus on racial equity because it is a pervasive problem that is inextricably linked to the work of knowledge equity. Many of the barriers that prevent people from accessing and contributing to free knowledge are rooted in systems of racial oppression. Ongoing colonization, and the pervasive histories of colonization and slavery, have resulted in the systematic exclusion and erasure of knowledge from Black and Indigenous communities from the historical canon.

Over the past several years, we have seen groups across the movement work towards knowledge equity with new user groups, projects and initiatives that have a specific focus on content and communities that have been traditionally underrepresented. These focused efforts have had tremendous success in inviting in new communities, new people and new knowledge. For example, Wiki Women in Red, VisibleWikiWomen,and Wikigap have been extremely successful in narrowing the gender gap on multiple language Wikipedias and creating content about notable women left out of history.

We wanted to learn from these successful projects and be intentional and specific about the communities and areas where the Knowledge Equity Fund is designed to make an impact. The Knowledge Equity Fund is the first targeted effort from the Foundation focused on racial equity.

How do you define “racial justice/ racial equity”?

The Wikimedia Foundation defines racial equity as shifting away from US and Eurocentricity, White-male-imperialist-patriarchal supremacy, superiority, power and privilege to create an environment that is inclusive and reflects the experiences of communities of color worldwide. These modes of privilege mentioned above function as setting the dominant social, political, legal, policy-oriented, and cultural norms around the world.

Racial equity means acknowledging explicit and implicit affirmative actions for White people and groups with privilege related to racialisation or ethnicity have already been created systemically through institutional power, dominance, and control.

Racial equity aims to promote consistent and sustained repair for non-White, non-US and non-Eurocentric communities and communities that continue to experience harm due to racism, colonisation, colorism, caste and other systems of marginalisation.

Lastly, racial equity includes authentic and intersectional, racial, ethnic and/or ethnic demographic representation that promotes sustained and consistent participation of people from oppressed communities based on racialisation.

What is the geographic scope of Knowledge Equity Fund grants?

Racial injustice is not just a US problem; Indigenous communities and communities of color across the globe have been marginalized and excluded from history both locally and globally. Our goal is to invest in organizations around the world that qualify for support on these basis. We will be intentional about identifying organizations that are working to address racial inequities preventing equitable access and participation in free knowledge in different parts of the world.

How will the Knowledge Equity Fund work with existing grants programmes?

The Knowledge Equity Fund has a very specific scope for funding, and will work with external organizations that are not eligible for our traditional community grants. We want to focus on organizations that are working towards racial equity in one of the five focus areas of the Knowledge Equity Fund (below), and can benefit the movement with their work even while they may not be directly tied to our movement.

1. Supporting scholarship & advocacy focused on free knowledge and racial equity
2. Supporting media and journalism efforts focused on people of color around the world, in order to expand reliable media sources covering these communities
3. Addressing unequal internet access
4. Improving digital literacy skills that impede access to knowledge
5. Investing in non-traditional records of knowledge (i.e. oral histories)

Where did the funding for the Knowledge Equity Fund come from?

At the end of the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Foundation had a budget underrun, due mainly to the cancellation of many in-person events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic especially during a strong fundraising year. This gave us an opportunity to set aside funds for the year ahead (the 2020-2021 fiscal year), and to fund the Knowledge Equity Fund as a new pilot program based on the commitments the Foundation’s leadership team made in June 2020, in the wake of global protests against racial injustice.

How does the Knowledge Equity Fund impact grants available for communities?

The Knowledge Equity Fund is a new fund in addition to the existing grants and funds available for community support. It is not a redistribution of funding away from Wikimedia volunteer communities; instead, this is a separate fund to create a new pathway to support knowledge equity. The Knowledge Equity Fund does not impact the grants that will be available to the community.

When did the Board approve the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees discussed and approved the Knowledge Equity Fund as part of the Foundation’s FY2020-21 Annual Plan in September 2020 (minutes).

Is the Knowledge Equity Fund part of the $8.7 million given to Tides Advocacy in 2019-2020?

Yes. At the end of the Foundation’s 2019-2020 fiscal year, $8.7 million was used to set up a grantmaking fund at Tides Advocacy to fund two areas: 1) Funding Annual Plan Grants (APG) to the affiliates and 2) creating this $4.5 million Knowledge Equity Fund. This money was moved back from Tides into the Wikimedia Foundation in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Grant recipients

Why is the Knowledge Equity Fund focused on external organizations? How will that benefit the Wikimedia movement?

Knowledge equity is not a goal that we as a movement can achieve alone. Our projects can only do so much if, for example, academic and mass media representation of marginalized communities does not improve, as that limits the citations and primary sources for us to build from. Knowledge Equity Fund will help us to build a robust ecosystem of free knowledge partners working to address the barriers to knowledge equity -- partners that we know will be critical as we work towards becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge.

The Wikimedia Foundation has several existing grant programs in place to support movement groups and affiliates on a variety of work including knowledge equity. The Knowledge Equity Fund is meant to supplement these existing investments into our movement, with a new method of investing in the ecosystem of free knowledge in order to benefit our movement

We have chosen five focus areas of funding that specifically address how racial injustice impacts access to knowledge. Impact in these five areas will increase the availability of content and/or increase access and participation in free knowledge, which is essential to closing the gaps in knowledge that currently exist on Wikimedia projects. For example, by investing in media and journalism efforts focused on people of color around the world, there will be expanded media sources covering these communities and consequently more citations for contributors to use.

Can organizations that are part of the movement receive grants from the Knowledge Equity Fund?

This is a new fund and will be used to support organizations that do not fall into the current grant programs of the Wikimedia Foundation, and whose work will directly impact racial equity in free knowledge. The Knowledge Equity Fund will not take away from the existing funds available for community affiliates or individuals working on wikiprojects.

In January 2024, the Knowledge Equity Fund introduced a new Connected Grants program to allow movement groups to receive grants from the Fund as part of a pair of grants, to support existing partnerships with external partners working on closing knowledge gaps.

What is the selection process for receiving grants for the Knowledge Equity Fund?

Recipients will have to meet specific criteria, such as being a recognized nonprofit, establishing a proven track record of impact, and maintaining an independant sustainable financial model that is not dependent on a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation. Selected recipients will also be subject to a compliance check by the Wikimedia Foundation to confirm their eligibility to receive charitable grants under US law.

Can communities participate in selecting recipients of funding from the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Knowledge Equity Fund Committee - a combination of Wikimedia Foundation employees and community members - will continue to finalize the recipients of the Knowledge Equity Fund. However, rely on nominations from Wikimedia communities for potential grantees.

How are you measuring progress and impact from grant recipients?

After analyzing how other Foundations and philanthropic institutions around the world are measuring impact when it comes to racial equity, we are centering our measure of impact around the activities that each grant recipient commits to and executes.

We are funding changes to the ecosystem which need to be considered on a longer time horizon in order to see change. This may mean that we are talking about different measures of impact – such as activities with equity-based outcomes, instead of specified content metrics.

For all grantees moving forward (including our recent Round 2 grantees), we will include a summary of how their organization currently measures impact and how it is related to knowledge equity. Knowledge Equity Fund grants are general operating grants that fund the organization’s overall work, so their current measures for impact will inform the future impact they can have. We will also continue to publish annual reports of each grantee.

Administration of the fund

Who will be administering the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Knowledge Equity Fund Committee is responsible for reviewing nominations and selecting grantees for each round, as well as establishing the criteria and process for application and reporting.

When the fund was first established, Tides Advocacy disbursed the Knowledge Equity Fund grants on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation. In April 2023, the Committee announced that we would be moving the remainder of the Knowledge Equity Fund from Tides Advocacy back to the Wikimedia Foundation. Future Equity Fund grants will be disbursed by the Wikimedia Foundation.

Does Tides Advocacy have any involvement in the Knowledge Equity Fund?

Since the remainder of the Knowledge Equity Fund has moved back into the Wikimedia Foundation, Tides Advocacy has no involvement with the Knowledge Equity Fund.

Connected Grants

What are Connected Grants?

Connected Grants are a bundle of two grants given to two organizations - an external organization and a Wikimedia movement group, as recognized by AffCom.

Lead recipients of Knowledge Equity Fund Connected Grants will continue to be organizations that are external to the movement, and the second part of the grant will be given to a Wikimedia movement group that has an established relationship with the external organization or partner in order to support their work with that external partner. The purpose of Connected Grants will still be to close knowledge gaps through supporting the creation and sharing of knowledge through external organizations. These collaborative grants will allow us to see some external impact made as translated to the Wikimedia space.

Does this mean the Knowledge Equity Fund is opening up its fund to the Wikimedia movement?

Yes, one of the pair of grants in a Connected Grants bundle would go to a Wikimedia movement group specifically to support its work with an external organization to close knowledge gaps. The Committee introduced this change after hearing feedback through committee calls about the need to support existing partnerships work that Wikimedia movement groups are doing with external partners on knowledge equity.

How do I know if I’m eligible for a Connected Grant?

Connected Grant nominees must be based in the same region as the movement group and/or work on supporting the same community or group. Ideally, they have existing relationships with the external organization already in place. Eligibility criteria for all grantees, including for Connected Grants, will continue to remain the same.

Additional questions

How can volunteers know if some of the work they are doing around knowledge equity could be eligible for a grant from the Knowledge Equity Fund?

The Wikimedia Foundation has several existing grant programs in place to support movement groups and affiliates on a variety of work including knowledge equity. The Knowledge Equity Fund will be used to support external organizations that do not fall into the current grant programs of the Wikimedia Foundation. If volunteers have questions about if a partnership or organization they are working with could be eligible for a grant from the Knowledge Equity Fund, we encourage them to reach out with more information about the program via the recommendation form (hosted by Google) or via email to equityfundwikimedia.org. The Equity Fund Committee has also committed to hosting more regular community calls to answer questions.

Are there legally-binding reporting requirements, regarding where money in the fund is going?

Every grant recipient from the Knowledge Equity Fund will be required to share metrics about their progress annually, all of which will be on Meta.