Grants:Conference

October 15, 2024: General Support Fund (GSF) recipients will no longer required to submit any affiliate reporting information to the Wikimedia Affiliate Data. All affiliate reporting requirements will be met by the final GSF report in Fluxx.

(archive)

Conference and Event Fund

Who?

Groups, individuals, Wikimedia affiliates or organisations that are looking to bring together Wikimedians

What?

Local, regional and thematic conferences focused on sharing, skill-building, and networking

When?

3 months processing time, 2 rounds in a year

How much?

Starting from 10,000 USD

How to apply

Read about the fund and how to plan an event below.
Contact the Program Officer at conferencegrantswikimedia.org to discuss timelines and process. They will help you understand what round to apply for and will support you in the process. Two months before the grant round begins is a great time to contact.
Go to Wikimedia Foundation Grantee Portal (Fluxx) and log in.
- If you do not have an account, click Register Now and provide the requested information. You will receive confirmation of your registration within one working day.
Select the Apply for Conference and Event Fund button on the main page. Click Save and Continue or Save and Close to save the application.
Follow the instructions on the application form. You will need to give information about your event and upload some documents.
Click Submit to submit the application for review.

We accept applications in any language. We will support translation for applications and discussions as needed.
Applications will be published to Meta-Wiki automatically within two days. This is done for community review and feedback.
You can prepare the application offline. Make a copy of the application form, answer the questions and copy the text to Fluxx.

Conference & Event Fund Application Form (Google Docs)

English

What we fund

The Conference and Event Fund gives funding and planning support to organise local or regional conferences. These events bring Wikimedians together for experience sharing, skill-building, and networking.

We prioritise proposals that:

Are from underrepresented communities that have capacity-building as a main goal.
Support implementation of the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy recommendations.
Partner with affiliates to create regional, thematic, growth groups in the Wikimedia movement.
Include outreach and partnering with open knowledge organisations, expanding our global reach.
Empower new participants and contributions with a clear newcomer engagment plan.
Are creating virtual events instead of in-person.

Note: For grants under 5,000 USD, please see the Rapid Fund program.

Event categories and dates

Funding is generally awarded to three broad categories of movement events:

Thematic events such as GLAM Bootcamp, WikiWomen's Camp and Wiki Loves Monuments International team strategy meeting
National and regional conferences like WikiConference India, WikiConference North America and Regional affiliate meetings such as WikiArabia, CEE Meeting and Wiki Indaba
Growth events which focus on new innovative ideas and events focusing on movement growth

Eligibility requirements

This fund is for you if you:

Are a group or organisation with no outstanding reports. You and the fiscal sponsor should be in compliance with our funding and Wikimedia Foundation agreements.
Have an organisation or shared bank account. Groups with no shared bank account and individuals will need to have a fiscal sponsor.
Received Wikimedia Foundation Funds before. If you did not receive funding over 5,000 USD before, contact conferencegrantswikimedia.org to discuss.
Are applying to organise a future, planned event or conference.
Are a Wikimedia affiliate who wants to organise an international or regional conference. Examples are GLAMWiki conference, Wikisource Conference, WikiIndaba, CEE Meeting.

You are not eligible for funding if:

You are from a country that cannot legally receive funding for the described activities and expenses, based on laws on sending and receiving funds in the United States and their country.
The project includes lobbying activities, as per United States Internal Revenue Service definitions.
You are listed on the United States Department of Treasury Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN).
You do not provide all information and documents needed to receive the funding from Wikimedia Foundation.

We take all applicants through a due diligence process. This means you need to be in ethical good-standing, (e.g. Wikimedia behaviour, social behaviour, financial behaviour, legal behaviour, etc.).

You must follow the Universal Code of Conduct and Friendly Space Policies.

Youth Safety

Youth Safety Policy must be in place for any activity that involves underage community members.

If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, it also outlines compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provides documentation of the local laws in the annex.
The proposal demonstrates how they will ensure the safe engagement of young people in all of the project’s activities.
The proposal demonstrates that any adults who will be working in close contact with young people have been properly vetted and trained.
The proposal outlines an action protocol in the case that incidents occur relating to the physical and psychological safety of young people.

Review all compliance requirements

Funding FAQ

Review and application process

Proposals are reviewed according to the following criteria:

Community engagement
- How do you aim to engage your community in the planning process?
Impact potential
- Is there a demonstrated need for the event?
- Are goals and intended outcomes clearly articulated, high priority, and reasonably achievable?
- Is there a plan for follow up after the event?
Ability to execute
- Are there enough community members with the time and ability to plan and execute the event?

After submission, the application will be processed with the following steps:

Committee review and feedback of proposals (14 days)
Applicants make adjustments to their proposal where needed. Should the applicant need it, they can schedule phone calls with the program officer or committee members. (14 days)
Funding decision is posted within 4 weeks of submission.
After approval, monthly check-in calls will be scheduled with the Program Officer.

Timeline

Round 2 (Deadline: February 3, 2025)

Round 2

February 3, 2025

Submission deadline

February 3 - February 24

Staff and compliance review
Community review

February 24 - March 3

Receiving and engaging with feedback

March 3 - March 17

Committee review

March 28, 2025

Decision announced

June - December 2025

Event dates

Round 1 (Deadline: September 1, 2025)

Round 1

September 1, 2025

Submission deadline

September 1 - September 22

Staff and compliance review
Community review

September 22 - September 29

Receiving and engaging with feedback

September 29 - October 13

Committee review

October 27, 2025

Decision announced

January - June 2026

Event dates

Full timeline

Conference Fund

Round 2 (2024-2025)

Submission deadline: February 3, 2025
Eligibility check: February 3 - February 24, 2025
Staff review and feedback: February 3 - February 24, 2025
Community review: February 3 - February 24, 2025
Engaging with feedback: February 24 - March 3, 2025
Committee review: March 3 - March 17, 2025
Decisions announced: March 28, 2025
Event dates: June - December 2025

Conference Fund

Round 1 (2025-2026)

Submission deadline: September 1, 2025
Eligibility check: September 1 - September 22, 2025
Staff review and feedback: September 1 - September 22, 2025
Community review: September 1 - September 22, 2025
Engaging with feedback: September 22 - September 29, 2025
Committee review: September 29 - October 13, 2025
Decisions announced: October 27, 2025
Event dates: January - June 2026

Plan a conference or event

These are the best practices for creating a successful conference grant proposal. Find all resources on the Events Portal in the Events Team Portal – Community space section.

Step 1: Send out community engagement survey

The Community Engagement survey is used to show the importance of this event for your community. It will help to show the topics your community finds important.

Open the community engagement survey template and make a copy. This is a master file, please do not edit but make a Copy.
Do not remove any questions. You are welcome to add more questions. You can also translate the survey.
Send the survey out to people of interest in your community. Set a deadline for survey responses and send out reminders.
You will add the results in the application form.

Important note: The community engagement survey is required.

Step 2: Learn from similar events and best practices

The Wikimedia community is a resource of knowledge! Make sure you review applications and reports from similar events. Here are some things to consider.

Partnerships & scholarships:

Active and experienced editors and volunteers should be engaged in the group. These are also the best participants for travel scholarships.
Conferences can be an expensive and ineffective way to do outreach.
Consider offering partial scholarships. Or asking applicants how much funding they need to attend the event.

Location & Timing:

Choose a central location for participants. This will keep travel costs lower and allow you to give more travel scholarships to those who need them.
Keep conference and working group meetings to two or three days.
Limit sightseeing trips to evenings, after the conference program has ended.

Step 3: Plan your budget

Venue & Materials:

Partnering with like-minded institutions with free or discounted spaces can be beneficial.
If a venue does have a few, do offer reasons around why you've selected it. Is it low cost, located centrally?
Limit merchandise to low-cost items like stickers.
Keep printed banners and signs general enough for use at later events.

Travel & Meals:

Scholarships can include round-trip travel, shared accommodations, conference registration, and visa fees.
Funding for food should be limited to lunches during the conference. Coffee breaks and one group dinner can also be included.

Event Planning & Support: You may request for funding to pay for the following:

Travel agent fees
Administrative support, eg. processing visa application letters and reimbursements.
Paid facilitators or trainers. Do discuss this with your program officer early in the application process.
Planning costs, eg. meeting space and local transportation.
Up to 10% unforeseen expenses can be included in the request.

Alternate sources of funding:

In-kind donations can open doors to interesting partner organisations. These donations include goods and services rather than money, eg. free use of venues, reduced costs for meals or services.
Get in touch with organisations who support your work in the region, they may be valuable partners.

Step 4: Gather a strong organising team

Understanding the size of your conference will help you decide the number of volunteers necessary. The roles below can act as a guide. Additional roles can be added. Conference experience is not necessary, but can assist with momentum in planning.

Grant coordinators act as your main contact for grant support.

Ensure plans are on track, and provide updates grant program officers from the team.
Tracks the budget and collects expense documentation.

The logistics team coordinates research and confirmation of event details.

Including event venue, timelines, official documentation, contracts, with experience of negotiating vendors.

The conference program team coordinates the planning survey, proposal, and develops the program.

Collects documentation of outcomes and action items from each session.

Communications team keeps the event page updated and coordinate community engagement. The scholarship committee manages the scholarship application process. They send a list of selected recipients to the program officer before notifying recipients.

Volunteer coordinator checks in on volunteers and keeps notes on all sessions.

Submit report

If your Conference and Event Fund is approved, you will need to send a report. Send the report within 60 days after you complete the project.

Go to Wikimedia Foundation Grantee Portal (Fluxx) and log in.
Find the Reports section on the left sidebar. Select the Upcoming link and you will see all upcoming reports.
Select the report and click Edit. Answer the questions in the form. You can write it in any preferred language.
When your report is complete, click Submit to send it for review.