Turn your idea into action

An idea is the start of what could be an useful project! Below are some ideas for how to take your idea to the next level.

Turn idea into a project plan

Make a basic project plan

You can add any other sections you want to your page. Some common sections that many project plans have include:

Scope - what you'll focus on vs what you'll leave out for the time being
Activities - what everyone will actually be doing
Timeline - when you aim to accomplish your activities
Budget - if funds are needed, how much you'll spend and on what
Measures of success - how you'll know if you've achieved your goals

Turn idea into a grant proposal

Some ideas need funding in order to reach their goals. If so, you have a few options.

Learn more about grants available from the Wikimedia Foundation
Find other funding opportunities in your country

Individual Engagement Grants

Want to put together a team to spend 6 months experimenting with your idea?

Consider proposing an Individual Engagement Grant.

Project and Event Grants

Need reimbursement for expenses related to your offline project?

Consider requesting a Project and Events Grant.

Share your idea

Sharing your idea with others can help you get more feedback and participants. Here are some ways to share...

Social media

Click on these to share your idea:

share on Facebook

share on Twitter

Wiki communication: a template for talk pages

Please check out the awesome idea I just created on the IdeaLab: WikiProject Mental Health. Please check out my idea and comment on it. If you would like to get involved, I am currently looking for people to help out in the following roles.

Project manager
Community coordinator
Translator (Catalán, Portugese)

Thanks!

Copy the text below, to let people know about your idea: You should change the message and link to your own project. ;)

<div style="width: 50%; margin: 1em 0; color: #000000; border-left: 1px solid #ddd; border-top: 1px solid #ddd; border-right: 1px solid #ddd; border-bottom: 3px solid #D0D0D0; border-radius: 1px; padding: 12px 20px 20px 20px"> [[File:IdeaLab space cat.svg|150px|right]] Please check out the awesome idea I just created on the [[m:Grants:IdeaLab|IdeaLab]]: [[Grants:IdeaLab/WikiProject_Mental_health|WikiProject Mental Health]]. Please check out my idea and comment on it. If you would like to get involved, I am currently looking for people to help out in the following roles. *Project manager *Community coordinator *Translator (Catalán, Portugese) Thanks! </div>

Add a userbox to your userpage

Check out my idea in the Idea Lab!

Copy this onto your userpage using the text below, to let people know about your idea:

{{IdeaLab/Infobox
| info = Check out my idea [[Your idea!]], in the Idea Lab!
}}

Find people to collaborate

Other people in IdeaLab may be good resources for helping with your idea. Browse profiles to find someone who looks interesting and send them a talk page message.

Learn from other project leaders

If you decide to turn this idea into a project, here are some learning patterns that might help you plan and execute your project. You can view more patterns here.

Community impact

You worked hard on a project you believe in, but no one seemed interested in what you made or wants to carry your work forward.

Expert involvement

You don't have all the skills or knowledge needed to accomplish your project alone.

Firm foundation

Projects that require a lot of preliminary work before they can start, or depend on many external factors, easily get bogged down and may fail to achieve their goals.

Let the community know

You have an awesome idea for a project or activity, but it will only succeed if enough of the right people participate.

Feedback cycle

Even promising ideas with detailed project plans and broad appeal can fail to achieve their goals if what they produce is not useful and relevant to the right people.

Achievable goals

Even impactful projects may look like failures if the project team sets unrealistic goals, or doesn't develop some way to measure their progress ahead of time.