Wikimedian in residence/Wikimedia project endorsement

A Wikimedia project endorsement is support from a Wikimedia community organization for a project. Project organizers often seek this endorsement as a way to increase Wikimedia community participation in their projects and because funders often require community endorsement as a condition of their funding a project. The expression of this support may be an endorsement letter, the signature of a Wikimedia community organization representative on a project page, or by giving permission to display the logo of the organization on a project page in a section for "supporters".

Meaning of endorsement

When a Wikimedia organization expresses endorsement, that endorsement has the following meaning:

The organization has had community discussions about endorsement
1. The organization's membership has had discussions about the meaning of project endorsement in some public meeting
  1. The organization's membership has recognized that endorsement is high value for projects receiving it, and typically low liability on the organization for supporting it
The organization has reviewed the project managers
1. The organization has verified that the project managers are in good standing with the Wikimedia community to do projects
2. The project's managers seem reasonably prepared and experienced to complete the project
The organization has reviewed the project itself
1. The project managers have provided information about their project
2. The project itself seems useful for Wikimedia projects
3. The project itself seems likely to be "beneficent," which means that the project will seek to do good and avoid harm

Except when the endorsing Wikimedia organization says otherwise, the following are typical limits:

The Wikimedia organization is not a co-organizer of the project
The Wikimedia organization is not responsible for the success or liability of the project
Only some representatives of the Wikimedia organization have evaluated the project, and not the general membership of the organization

Best practices for seeking endorsement

Project managers who seek endorsement from Wikimedia community organizations should...

...be members in good standing with those organizations, and ideally, have participated in that organization's activities
...draft the endorsement that they want when making their request, as a way of clarifying the request and supporting the organization's representative in producing their own revised endorsement
...have some on-wiki documentation of the project for which they seek endorsement

Sample endorsements

signature on wiki project page

Support I am a member of the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network. This project's organizers presented their proposal to our organization. Representative members of our organization reviewed this proposal, and we have consensus to support the project as beneficial to the interests of the Wikimedia community members which our organization represents. Furthermore, we feel that this project will produce outcomes which are beneficial to Wikipedia readers in general. Our estimation is that the 1,000,000 Wikipedia readers will request and access the media which this project produces within its first year of publishing. This is a significant benefit to a large and relevant audience. Because of the likelihood of project success and benefit to people seeking information online, we endorse this project. Blue Rasberry (talk) 18:34, 24 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

support with organization logo

The following organizations have reviewed this project and endorsed it in the ways described below

The team at the University of Virginia doing Wikipedia research as described at their project page reviewed this project and confirmed that it is beneficial to Wikidata.
The Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network confirmed that this project is a conventional collaboration between an organization and the Wikimedia community.

support with endorsement letter