Grants:Bridge funding applications/Wikimedia India

This grant is approved. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 00:15, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Status

WMF will update the status of this request here once the request is submitted (e.g. under review, funded, withdrawn, not funded).

The status of this request is: Funded

Overview

This is an application for a bridge grant that provides funding for staff and operating expenses for a period of 6 months or less. This application is developed in consultation with WMF staff, when an organization is invited to apply for a bridge grant.

1. Organization name: Wikimedia India
2. Funding period: August 01, 2015 - January 31, 2016
3. Amount requested for staff (in currency requested): 541,500 INR
4. Amount requested for operating expenses (in currency requested): 888,000 INR

Rationale for bridge funding

Your organization has worked with WMF staff to determine that bridge funding is an option for your organization. Please also provide some background about this here on the public application form.

1. Why does your organization need bridge funding?

   Wikimedia India's proposal to participate in APG 2015 - 2016 Round 1 was declared ineligible mainly because we haven't obtained charity status for our organization in India yet. Having a full time staff, not all our expenses can be covered through PEG either. However, it is essential that we retain our current organizational setup to continue working on our successful programs and realize emerging opportunities. This will also help us retain and build on the momentum we have gathered during the past year. This bridge grant will help us sustain while we address the issues in getting charity status.

2. What milestones and reporting requirements will your organization commit to as a condition of this grant? These should be determined together with WMF staff.

   We will comply with all reporting requirements expected from entities participating in APG.

Organization

Please answer a few questions about how your organization works.

1. Please describe how roles and responsibilities are defined within your organization’s board or governing body, and describe how decisions are made in your organization.

   The roles, responsibilities and power of Wikimedia India's Executive Committee (EC) as defined by our Memorandum of Association (MoA) can be seen here and here. Profiles of members who currently serve in the EC can be seen here. As mandated by our MoA, the EC convenes a physical meeting every quarter to discuss and decide on various issues related to the organization. The EC also discuss issues through an internal mailing list and conference calls or Google Hangouts. Minutes of all these discussions are preserved in an internal wiki. All issues are decided based on consensus following a discussion. Decision is also taken by voting if and when required. Senior and founder members of WMIN are also available for advising the EC based on issues. As mandated by our MoA, all expenses above 100,000 INR need a resolution to be passed by the EC approving it. The EC also has clearly defined portfolios headed by individual or team of EC members for handling various admin issues like membership, staff management, statutory compliance, finance, community engagement etc., The EC also conducts regular team meetings with the staff through Google Hangouts or conference calls to keep itself update on both admin and programmatic activities. The EC strongly believes in serving and representing various Wikimedia communities in India and staying in touch with them closely through mailing lists, social media and IRC. This helps us in making decisions that ensures community approval and support. Significant governance related decisions can only be taken during the Annual General Meeting as explained in the MoA.

2. Describe how your organization learns from its work and applies learning to future work. Please offer at least one example of a time when your organization has done this by providing a link to a relevant learning pattern created by your organization.

   Here is a list of some learning patterns that helped us design and execute our programs: For Wiki Loves Food - Selecting winners of a large photo contest, The pre-jury as a tool for community engagement, Delivering Prizes, Use Social Media for Promotion, Planning the overall direction of a project and Let the community know. For Wikipedia in Education program - How to write an agreement with a GLAM or institution, Plan an education program pilot, Choosing an education program model and Choose promising program participants. For various edit-a-thons - Making sure that the participants actually come to an event, Create an Event Page, Mix newcomers and veterans, Number of active editors involved, Edit-a-thon worklists, Number of articles created or improved in Wikimedia projects and Focus on content. For organizational effectiveness - Division of tasks and responsibilities between board, staff and volunteers and Translation. We also document our learnings in our regular progress reports (Q1 report, Q2 report) submitted to the WMF.

3. Please tell us what your organization does really well.

   WMIN, by its nature and functioning, is seen and expected to represent the community of Wikimedians in India. We have been successful in retaining and reviving this relationship by means of the programs we do. Our programs are designed to be pan-Indian and helps to connect the diverse Indian Wikimedia community. Community engagement is our biggest strength.

4. Please describe your organization’s biggest challenge over the next 6 months.

   Getting charity status for WMIN will be the biggest challenge and also the priority for us in the next six months. Another challenge is to realize the full potential of Wikimedia movement in India as opportunities emerge and at the same time continuing to operate within our current set of limitations.

Program activity

This bridge funding will not fund your organization’s program activity, but it will fund staff and operating expenses that enable your programs. Please provide some general information about your organization’s planned programs over the next six months here. Specific program details, including targets and global metrics, will be provided in your grants through the PEG program.

Please list the programs your organization plans to do over the next 6 months here, to give a general idea of what programs this grant is enabling.

This list is non-binding, as we know your organization will be working with the GAC and WMF staff to refine your program plans and budgets through the PEG process. Links to relevant PEG applications and reports should be linked from this section as soon as they become available.

Ongoing programs that will be continued

• Wikipedia in Education program at SKP group of institutions, Tamil Nadu
• Equipment lending and Community Support Program.
• Microgrants for various community projects and events

New programs

• GLAM focus in West Bengal. More community driven projects like Kolikata Little Magazine Library GLAM will be supported as a core programmatic activity.

Staff

Through this bridge grant, your organization has the option to maintain your organization’s staff at current levels. Increases in number of staff or staff expenses will not be permitted during the bridge funding period. The organization must report any changes to personnel (e.g. current staff leaving or new staff being hired) to WMF immediately, as permitted by local regulations. We ask that you provide some information here about how your organization works with your staff, as this is an important part of the reason your organization is requesting bridge funding.

WMIN has employed One Full Time staff (1.0 FTE) who serves as its Program Director (PD) since September 20, 2014. PD's job descriptions can be seen here. Besides these, he also takes care of additional responsibilities of a Program Executive and an Administration Executive as defined here. The PD reports to the EC and participates in regular team meetings with EC to keep it updated and seek its input on all issues . Two EC members take care of the staff management portfolio. These EC members work together with the staff closely and provide inputs on behalf of the EC. This ensures that staff activities are aligned with WMIN's charted plans and geared towards maximum impact.

For your organization

Please answer a few questions about your organization's staffing plan.

1. Please list your organization’s current monthly staff expenses here, for all staff. We will multiply this by the duration of your organization’s grant in months to determine the maximum staff expenses allowed for this grant.

   We have 1.0 FTE. Monthly expense regarding 1.0 FTE including salary and taxes stands at 90,250 INR

2. Who in your organization is responsible for managing staff? Link to your organization’s organogram if one exists.

   Currently, we have 1.0 FTE. He reports to the EC directly. Two EC members (Sanket Oswal and Yohann Varun Thomas) handle the staff management portfolio.

3. Please link to your organization’s staffing policy. A staffing policy is required if your organization is requesting any funds for staff.

   Please see our staffing policy here.

For each staff person

Please answer a few questions about each staff person you have. You can copy and paste the text below if you have more than one staff person.

1. Please provide the staff person’s title and FTE allocation. (E.g. 1.0 FTE Executive Director).

   1.0 FTE Program Director

2. Please include a general breakdown of how this staff person will spend his or her time on administration and on specific programs, as percentages.

   E.g. 40% administration, 20% community management, 20% GLAM partnerships, 15% Microgrants, 5% Wiki Loves Monuments. This breakdown is an estimate, and it is not binding. Your organization will be able to use staff time as needed during the course of your organization’s grant, but your organization will be asked to track and report about how staff time was used for specific programs.

   From 01st August 2015 to 31st January 2016, excluding weekends and local public holidays, 108 working days are available. PD will equally split his time for 70 % Administrative work (14% Strategy development for Wikimedia India, 13% Grants and reporting, 9% Banking, accounting and statutory compliances, 13% 12A procedures, 6% AGM and elections, 6% Membership processing, 3% Induction meet, 3% Meetings with various stakeholders and partners, 3% Miscellaneous) and 30% Programmatic work (9% Wikipedia in Education, , 7% for Miscellaneous and emerging opportunities, 6% each for Microgrants and GLAM Focus in West Bengal, 2% for Equipment lending and Community Support program).

3. Please explain why your organization needs this staff person in order to achieve its goals over the next 6 months.

   After years of persistent efforts by Wikimedians in India, WMIN was formally approved by the Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation in June 2010. From a completely volunteer driven organization to hiring our first part-time employee in 2012, it had been a long journey for WMIN so far. We are already serving 22 culturally diverse Indian language communities distributed across the country. As the most populated country in the world where Wikimedia projects are fully accessible, we have immense potential to realize and fulfill Wikimedia movement's mission but only if we have the right resources at disposal. Lack of resources in the past had severely affected both the organization and the community it serves. Many volunteers who actively served the organization in the past had burnt out and we cannot afford to continue in the same path. We have gathered excellent momentum in the last year successfully completing many projects utilizing our first FDC funding. Many of these projects are ongoing and need continuous inputs from WMIN to realize the true impact. We have complex statutory requirements and a pending initiative to get charity status for the organization. We have revived excellent relationship with the community and various stakeholders who look forward to continue the collaboration. These require time bound commitment of at least one full-time member located in Bangalore and no single volunteer can afford to do that. In fact, our current staff and EC members had severely stretched their work-life balance a lot to revive WMIN from the situation it was an year ago. Therefore, it is essential that we retain our current organizational setup to continue working on our successful programs and realize emerging opportunities.

4. Please link to or provide here a detailed job description. A job description is required for any staff person funded through this grant.

   PD's job description can be seen here. Besides these, the current PD also takes care of additional responsibilities of a Program Executive and an Administration Executive as defined here.

Operating expenses

Operating expenses and operating activities are are not directly related to an organization's programs. These include overhead costs such as legal fees, insurance, office administration, office supplies, office rent, human resources and recruiting fees (if not included in staff costs), governance, communications, fund raising, accounting, board or staff training (if not included in staff costs), and other organization activities not tied directly to your programs. These examples are not all-inclusive. If you have questions about how to classify your expenses and program expenses, please consult WMF staff.

1. Please link to a spreadsheet containing a detailed outline of your operating expenses for the next 6 months.

   You may group operating expenses according to your organization’s accounting practices, but we will need a description of the budget at the line item level (e.g. please break down categories such as “office supplies” into line items like “pens” and “paper”). Changes to this budget that exceed 20% of any individual line item must be approved in advance by WMF staff. Receipts for operating expenses must be provided upon request.

   Please see here for our proposed non-salary admin expenses from August 01, 2015 - January 31, 2016.

2. Please provide the total amount of operating expenses your organization is requesting here.

   888,000 INR438,000 INR

Please sign here with four tildes (~~~~) to complete your organization’s application.

--Ravidreams (WMIN) (talk) 02:45, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

--Sankoswal (talk) 15:34, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

--Nikhil.kawale (talk) 14:41, 24 August 2015 (UTC)