Global Resource Distribution Committee/Creation of the interim GRDC

This page describes the process to create the proposed interim Global Resource Distribution Committee.

The call for candidates starts on February 5 and ends on March 31, End of Day, AoE (1 April 2025, 12:00:00 UTC). Read the information below to submit your candidacy.

Timeline

2025-02-04 - ~~The drafting of this process is completed.~~
2025-02-05 - ~~Call for candidates starts.~~
2025-03-31 - Call for candidates ends.
2025-04-01 - Selection process starts.
2025-04-15/18 - Selected candidates are contacted for confirmation.
2025-04-22 - Interim GRDC members confirmed and announced.
2025-04-28 (or any other day that week) - First interim GRDC meeting.

Goals

The interim Global Resource Distribution Committee is a community-wide committee that

manages the Wikimedia Community Fund
sets the community grants strategy of the Wikimedia movement, and
advises the Wikimedia Foundation on funding Wikimedia organizations and other volunteer efforts.

This interim committee is established by the Wikimedia Foundation for an experimental period of two years with these responsibilities:

Make recommendations to the Wikimedia Foundation related to the Wikimedia Community Fund, especially for its annual plan.
Allocate the grants budget currently disbursed under the Wikimedia Community Fund, including the Rapid Fund, the Conference & Event Fund, the General Support Fund, and the Multi-year funding.
Set the resource distribution strategy and policies, including the types of activities and entities to support, and diversity and equity policies.
Establish thematic and regional funding principles and goals, and their success metrics.
Adjust current grantmaking structures to meet the needs of the movement, for example deciding whether funding of thematic areas should be administered by a specific committee.
Oversee the Regional Fund Commitees and evolve their scope and processes, starting with their selection process.
Coordinate with the Affiliations Committee to ensure consistent support to Wikimedia organizations.
Provide regular updates to the Wikimedia Foundation, the communities, and affiliates.

Because the Board of Trustees holds ultimate financial and fiduciary obligations, they are ultimately responsible for approving how much of the Foundation’s budget will be made available for the Wikimedia Community Fund. For this, the Board will seek the recommendations and insights of the interim GRDC.

The intent is for the GRDC to set the regional and thematic fund allocations based on the principles it sets . WMF staff will support the GRDC in making decisions about these allocations as needed based on relevant historical data.

The committee is established as a two-year learning experiment. The success of this experiment is based on the capacity of the GRDC to assume its responsibilities and manage the Wikimedia Community Fund effectively. There will be a consultation about the future of the committee after the results of this experiment are shared publicly in 2027.

Expected skills and experience

The interim GRDC must be formed by a diverse set of individuals with experience in grantmaking processes and project budgeting. All candidates must meet minimum requirements. The selection process will look at complementary skills and experiences between candidates.

Basic requirements

Commit to act in the interest of the whole Movement and not just specific regions, themes, or organizations.
Be able to invest an average of 5 hours per week for two years. That time might vary depending on the workflow.
Be able to take part in online meetings considering multiple time zones
Demonstrated English communication and teamwork skills
Abide by the Universal Code of Conduct.
Commit to follow the guidelines on potential conflicts of interest.
Not be under active sanctions by any Wikimedia project or the Wikimedia Foundation, including event bans.
Share identity information with the Wikimedia Foundation. Candidates for this position must submit proof of identity and evidence of age of majority as a condition of candidacy.
In order to avoid conflict of interest, it is not possible to be a member of the GRDC and a Regional Fund Committee. Current RFC members are welcome to apply like everyone else, but if you are selected and appointed to the GRDC, you must resign from your RFC role.

Required experience

Please note that this list of responsibilities and requirements is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. We seek to build a team with diverse profiles, so we expect committee members to have at least some of the following skills, knowledge or experience.

Experience in developing comprehensive strategic plans preferably in an area related to Wikimedia's open knowledge mission
Experience in management of non-profit, private or public organizations. Among other skills, experience in program design, setting measurable objectives and defining frameworks for assessing impact.
Experience in grant making or funding processes (allocation, application and management) and evaluating community grants ensuring accountability and compliance.
Experience in financial planning and managing and executing budgets.
Strong knowledge of the Wikimedia Movement's grant types and the current funding distribution process, its challenges and potential areas for improvement.
Experience in defining frameworks and implementing policies and/or standards, -particularly in relation to funding priorities, community-based initiatives, resources allocation etc.- to ensure that resources are distributed in a fair and equitable manner in the Wikimedia Movement.
Experience in incorporating community feedback, needs and priorities, particularly from historically underrepresented communities.

Other qualities that are important

Previous experience in participating effectively in high-level negotiation and decision-making processes (this could come from both within or outside the Wikimedia Movement).
Knowledge of the Wikimedia Movement's current thematic priorities, opportunities and challenges, as well as the ability to anticipate changes that may affect funding and resource priorities.
A good understanding of the Wikimedia Movement ecosystem and its communities, and volunteer or professional involvement of at least two years.
Recognize the current diversity within the Wikimedia Movement to help us establish inclusive and culturally sensitive strategies.
Strong communication skills and ability to build trusted relationships with Wikimedia Movement’s entities to favor collaborative work towards common goals.

Call for candidates

The call for candidates starts on February 5 and ends on March 31, End of Day, AoE (31 March 2025, 12:00:00 UTC). All candidates with the expected skills and experience are welcome to apply.

The seats to fill through this call for candidates are:

8 regional volunteers, one for each of these regions:
- Central & Eastern Europe & Central Asia
- East, Southeast Asia, & Pacific
- Latin America & Caribbean
- Middle East & North Africa
- North America
- Northern & Western Europe
- South Asia
- Sub-Saharan Africa
1 thematic volunteer

The self-nominations are public and must contain this information:

Name
Wikimedia username
Language capabilities (native or professional / advanced / basic):
Region and country you identify with:
Seats you are running for and why (regional volunteer/thematic volunteer):
Do you have any topic or area of specialization within the Wikimedia movement? (max 1000 characters)
Have you ever held any role or position, either current or past, in the Wikimedia movement? (max 1000 characters)
Why are you interested in the interim GRDC and what can you contribute? (max 1000 characters)
Please share any volunteering or professional experience relevant for the interim GRDC (role, organization, years) (max 1000 characters)
Describe your skills and experience relevant to the interim GRDC (max 1500 characters)
Describe your understanding of the Wikimedia Movement's current resource distribution process. (max 1500 characters)
How do you think the interim GRDC could improve the current situation and which priorities do you think it should have? (max 1500 characters)
By the end of the pilot in two years, what should the interim GRDC have accomplished and how should we measure its success? (max 1500 characters)

Submit your application

You can submit your application using the template below.

Please follow these steps:

Enter your username in the field below and click on the button.
Fill all the requested information and publish the page.

Your candidate page will be linked below.

Candidates

The candidates listed below have applied to join the interim Global Resource Distribution Committee. Selected candidates will be appointed to a 2-year term during the GRDC pilot.

Comments may be added to the talk page of each individual candidate page. While community input is helpful, please add references if you write a comment that is not supportive of the candidate. This process is supported and covered by the friendly space policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.

This list is automatically generated.

Candidates by seat

This list is maintained by the call for candidate organizers. Please don't edit it.

Central & Eastern Europe & Central Asia

East, Southeast Asia, & Pacific

Latin America & Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

North America

Northern & Western Europe

NickK

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Thematic

Ibrahim.ID

Selection

The interim GRDC will be selected from a pool of self-nominated candidates by the Wikimedia Foundation. RFC members, affiliates, and everyone else are encouraged to invite colleagues to nominate themselves.

These seats are filled through the call for candidates:

8 regional volunteers
1 thematic volunteer

These other seats are filled through separate processes:

2 affiliate stakeholders (volunteers or affiliate staff).
2 Wikimedia Foundation stakeholders (board members or staff).

The selection will be based on

individual candidate assessments against the requirements and optional interviews
a general assessment of the candidates as a team to ensure that the committee has the skills, experience, and diversity of perspectives required to perform its duties.

Candidates may be invited to attend an interview with Foundation staff as part of the process.

During the 2-year experimental period, the interim GRDC can cover absences and also identify missing profiles and competencies and invite potential new members, if needed.

Support

The WMF will provide the necessary support and resources to promote and guarantee the proper development of the committee and its objectives. To this end, committee members and their work will be adequately supported by WMF staff in facilitation, note-taking and communications, among other tasks. Committee members will also have access to onboarding or other training when needed.

The GRDC committee members may opt to receive a stipend to offset costs of participation. Stipends can be used to pay for childcare, internet, transportation and other costs that make volunteering possible

Skill development opportunities: Training is provided to the committee members in strategic movement topics and other areas as required to support DEI, review, discussion, and decision-making. Committee members will also have access to skill-building opportunities, including training on topics such as conflict transformation and nonviolent communication.

Q&A

The team organizing the creation of the interim GRDC keeps updating this section based on the questions we receive.

What is the main purpose of the interim GRDC?

The interim Global Resource Distribution Committee is a community-wide committee that administers the Wikimedia Community Fund in collaboration with the Regional Fund Committees, sets the community grants strategy of the Wikimedia movement, and advises the Wikimedia Foundation on funding Wikimedia organizations and other volunteer efforts. For more details, see the Goals section.

What are the expected results of the interim GRDC?

By the end of the 2-year pilot, the interim GRDC should have acquired enough evidence and experience to assess how the Wikimedia movement needs to organize resource distribution, whether we want to confirm a model based on the GRDC or end the pilot and go for an alternative model.

Results expected to validate the GRDC model include improvements on how the Wikimedia Community Fund is distributed, effective oversight of the Regional Fund Committees, the allocation of the grants budget in the different programs, and recommendations in the Wikimedia Foundation resource distribution strategic planning channeling the needs of the movement. For more details, see the Goals section.

What is the interim GRDC decision-making capacity?

The interim GRDC sets the future resource distribution policy and its strategy for the movement, and establishes the principles for funding distribution. It decides how the Wikimedia Community Fund is managed, under which strategic priorities and with which structures it operates, and how the Community Fund budget approved by the Foundation is distributed across the different programs.

The interim GRDC oversees the Regional Fund Committees and it can introduce improvements in their processes. It can also change the scope of current committees and create new ones. However, the interim GRDC doesn’t have decision-making capacity on specific grant requests and it cannot influence or interfere in the discussion and decisions of these committees. The bodies and processes to decide on grant applications remain the same for all Community Fund areas: General Fund, Rapid Fund, Conference Fund, and Multi-Year Fund. For more details, check the Goals section of Creation of the interim GRDC.

Why start creating the interim GRDC instead of improving the Regional Fund Committees?

The initial proposal presented by the Board of the WMF contemplated the simultaneous creation of the interim GRDC and the improvement of the Regional Fund Committees. However, based on the feedback received during the round of conversations between August and October 2024, the Foundation concluded that discussing the creation of the GRDC and the evolution of the RFCs at the same time would be very difficult. This is why in the updated proposal, the Board has empowered the interim GRDC to evolve the Regional Fund Committees. This point is explained in detail in the section Empower the interim GRDC to evolve the Regional Fund Committees of Changes to the GRDC proposal based on the feedback received.

What will happen to the Regional Fund Committees and their program officers?

The Regional Fund Committees and the Foundation’s program officers supporting them are continuing their operations regularly. Affiliates and communities continue working with their POs and the Regional Funds Committees as they have been doing until now. The interim GRDC oversees the Regional Fund Committees and it can evolve their scope and processes (for example their selection process). Any significant changes will be done based on feedback from communities and affiliates, and in consultation with the RFCs.

Can an interim GRDC member be a Regional Fund Committee member at the same time?

No, to avoid conflicts of interest, members of the Regional Fund Committees cannot be selected to serve on the interim GRDC or vice versa. This ensures clear separation of responsibilities and maintains transparency in decision-making processes. However, they can apply with the understanding that, if selected, they will need to resign from their previous committee.

Can candidates apply if they are not sure they can participate for two years?

The requirements specify that candidates must be able to invest an average of 5 hours per week for two years. That time might vary depending on the workflow. We encourage candidates to self-nominate as long as they plan to serve for all or most of the two-year. If you already know that you won’t be able to, you can disclose this information in your candidacy. Said that, two years is a long commitment for a volunteering role, and it is understood that unexpected events may happen. The committee will be able decide when absences constitute a problem for their operation and cover them if needed.

What seats can I apply for in the GRDC?

If you are a volunteer, you may apply for any regional and/or thematic positions as long as you are actively involved in those regions and/or themes.
We are looking to fill: 1 regional seat related to one of the following regions:

Central & Eastern Europe & Central Asia
East, Southeast Asia & Pacific
Latin America & the Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa
North America
Northern & Western Europe
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa

1 Thematic Seat. This seat represents thematic organizations or user groups (UGs) that focus on specific topics such as Education, GLAM, women’s and LGBTQI+ communities, minority languages, and many other areas of interest.

In regards to the remaining 4 seats, these are defined through separate selection processes for affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.

What types of questions is the GRDC expected to answer, and which are outside its scope?

We expect the GRDC to be a high-level committee focused on defining the overall strategy and direction for the Community Fund and its distribution within the Wikimedia Movement. Its role is to establish fund distribution policies and define clear goals to ensure that the movement’s resources are allocated equally and strategically to support Wikimedia’s broader mission.
We expect the GRDC to tackle questions like:

What policies and principles should guide the Wikimedia Movement’s grantmaking strategy and funding distribution?
How can the Wikimedia movement’s grant-making strategy foster community sustainability and stability?
What does a process for making recommendations to the WMF regarding the community fund looks like?
Which type of organizations should have access to Wikimedia Movement resources and why?
What improvements are needed in the current funds distribution process to improve flexibility in accessing resources to meet the evolving needs of our communities? For instance, should the selection of Regional Fund Committee members be changed? Should a new committee focus on thematic grants?

The GRDC will not function as an operational committee that handles day-to-day activities. For example, the committee will not be responsible for addressing questions about specific grant applications, which will remain under the purview of the RFCs.