Grants:PEG/WM PH/Chapter startup 2/Report

Report accepted

This report for a Project and Event grant approved in FY 2011-12 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

To read the approved grant submission describing the plan for this project, please visit Grants:PEG/WM PH/Chapter startup 2.

You may still comment on this report on its discussion page, or visit the discussion page to read the discussion about this report.
You are welcome to Email grants at wikimedia dot org at any time if you have questions or concerns about this report.

Did you comply with the requirements specified by WMF in the grant agreement?

Please see answers here.

Activities

Category	Description	Result after completion date of the grant
Regulatory requirements	Mayor's permit, Barangay clearance, permit to issue receipt from BIR, and NGO registration	As a duly registered non-profit corporation in the Philippines, WMPH is required comply with several regulations. (In parenthesis are the periods covered by this grant) Renew the following requirements annually: Business clearance (2012) Business permit (2012) It is also required to annually to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): General information sheet, containing information about the officers and members of the Board (2012) Audited Financial Statements (FY 2011) Submit for compliance certification by the SEC any changes in the By-laws or its Articles of Incorporation of WMPH (amendments in 2012), with it comes Compliance Monitoring before permanent changes to the By-laws or its Articles of Incorporation could be effected. Compliance with the Bureau of Internal Revenue Monthly tax returns of income payments withheld (i.e. rental payments, accountant professional fees, etc.) (Oct 2011 to Dec 2012) Annual summary of income payments withheld (2011, 2012) Annual registration fee (2012) Annual Income tax return (FY 2011) and audited financial statements (FY 2011) Documentary taxes (when necessary)
Printer/Scanner	A3 scanbed - it will be used primarily to scan old photographs, books and other materials released through free licenses that will be uploaded on Wikimedia projects. It can also be used to scan documents of the organization for archiving purposes.	The chapter didn't pursue acquiring a scanner as, its intended purpose could not be implemented yet due to stalled plans for a Wikimedian in Residence. Instead a laser printer was bought, which was badly needed as more and more documents, records, correspondence had to be printed.
Pocket Wifi Router	It will be used primarily for internet connectivity during meetings and events. This will be most useful during events like Wikipedia Takes the City where internet connectivity is a must when uploading pictures.	The chapter purchased the Pocket WiFi router and it was used in some of the events and meetings of the organization. Take note that the Wikipedia Takes the City didn't push through during the course of the grant to make way for Wiki Loves Monuments.
Wikipedia Promotions/caravans	The Wikipedia Promotions/caravans will be mostly school-based activities that will be designed to promote Wikipedia. The caravan will be going around campuses in and out of Metro Manila.	This amount was used to acquire promotional equipment (WMPH-Wikipedia collapsible backdrop and rolled-up banners), orientation and seminar at the University of the City of Manila in 2011, and WikiProject Pangasinan in an attempt to revive the fledgling Pangasinan Wikipedia.
Meetings	Meetings include the four quarterly membership meetings, annual membership meeting, board meetings, and meetings with the government (like the KWF or Commission on Filipino Languages), the Wikipedia community and other organizations.	In the course of this grant, the chapter conducted two quarterly meetings, three Board meetings, and the annual membership meetings. Quarterly meetings served as a venue to update the general membership of developments in the chapter, but it has increasingly become burdensome to "require" members to attend the meetings, even when they will just practically serve as an audience as most issues are within the authority of the Board to decide. It was decided to utilize social media, through a Facebook group to update them of chapter developments.
Virtual office rental and maintenance	One year contract for the use of business center services and facilities in Makati City. Services includes secretarial services such as receiving of correspondence, relaying of messages, calls and facsimile (converted to email), right to use business center address for annual business registration purposes, specified number of hours of use of conference room facilities.	The chapter renewed its rental contract with the virtual office for 2012 and 2013.
Office supplies	It includes a lateral filing cabinet and other usual office supplies such as pen, papers, etc.	The chapter acquired a filing cabinet similar and placed it in the co-working space it leases.
Professional services	Professional services of a certified public accountant for auditing our finances and lawyer for consulting about the "Freedom of Panorama" issue in Wikimedia Commons	We were able to get the service of a certified public account to audit our finances. For the lawyer, Atty. Berne Guerero of Creative Commons Philippines volunteered himself to be our legal adviser on a pro bono service. We also had exploratory talks with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and they are also willing to help with the problem about the "Freedom of Panorama". The WMPH Board approved Atty. Berne's offer to be WMPH's legal adviser and acknowledged IPO's help but still there are plans to get a different lawyer to consult about the "Freedom of Panaroma" issue in Wikimedia Commons.
Website development	This includes development of a separate website (currently www.wikimedia.org.ph redirects to our meta site), hosting, and domain name renewal.	The chapter was able to develop the website.
Books and reference materials	Considerable amount of this will be used to purchase local language dictionaries which will be used to help enhance the writers in Philippine language Wikipedias.	The chapter acquired books regarding language studies, dictionaries in local languages which will be used once the chapter rolls-out it's quarterly edithon by the time Tagalog Wikipedia celebrates its tenth anniversary at the end of 2013.
Training and seminars	For attending seminars and training for the benefit of the organization	Roel Balingit, project lead and Chapter treasurer attended attended a seminar about the process of NGO accreditation by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC). The PCNC is an agency granted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, under the "National Internal Revenue Code" to accredit NGOs before donations to them can be tax deductible. The process is very tedious, and requires a lot of documentation which the chapter has already started working on. Several changes to its By-laws had to be made in order for it to be compliant. It also requires among others to limit administrative cost to just 30 percent of the annual expenditures of an NGO, which the Treasurer closely monitors.
Microgrants	The microgrants will provide financial assistance for activities of Wikipedia communities that will result in the continuous and active promotion of Wikimedia projects, to entice active contribution and development of Wikimedia projects.	The fund was used for projects of Bikol Wikipedia of the Naga City-based community of Wikipedians. With it they were able to hold meet-ups, editathons and a Wikipedia Takes Naga event.
Fundraising permit	Fundraising permit from DSWD that is renewable every year.	The chapter shifted its focus to obtain PCNC accreditation before it would fundraise.

Project goal and measures of success

Project goal

Similar to the first startup grant, the goal of this project is to build up WMPH's organizational base in order to allow it to be more capable of handling organizational requirements in the future, as well as to allow the organization's members to freely pursue both the aims of the organization and Wikimedia without placing undue burden upon them.

In addition though to our initial goals, we want to also make sure that the organization can expand both Filipinos' ideas of what Wikipedia is and what Wikipedians are, and ultimately, to attract new editors to the Wikimedia projects, especially as Filipinos are, in general, underrepresented in the Wikimedia community.

Goals that were met

After the completion of this project, Wikimedia Philippines (WMPH) was able to increase membership base. In October 15, 2011, the start date for this grant, Wikimedia Philippines had only 47 members. By the end of completion date of the grant in June 30, 2012, the membership reached 75, increasing by 60%. (Reference: WMPH Membership data) Some members were able to participate in various activities and projects that helped achieved the aim of the Wikimedia movement. Some were able to attend conferences and trainings in the Philippines and overseas, equipping them to their role in the chapter.

Administratively, the chapter was able to renew our contract on our virtual office and was able to comply with the annual government requirements. We were also able to develop a website that will help WMPH to communicate to our members, partners, media, and to the world.

Unmet goals

There is still more work to be done. For one, we still have to fulfill our goal to raise funds on our own: it was to this end that the Board of Trustees had decided to shift its focus on applying for certification as a donee institution (the Philippines' equivalent of charitable status) by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), deferring its application for a fundraising permit with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, a government agency, which would come after obtaining PCNC certification.

As far as projects are concerned, we were unable to determine with certainty if we were able to attract a significant number of new Filipino editors to the Wikimedia projects. However, there are other WMPH projects that can provide this new editor increase such as the Open Web Day project.

Measures of success

We will consider this project a success if we are able to launch meaningful projects and proclaim our advocacies to the public.

Launch meaningful projects

In the course of Chapter Startup 2, we had the following projects and events:

Two membership meetings, three Board meetings, and the 2nd Annual Membership meeting
Asaf Bartov's visit, where Mr. Bartov helped us get contacts with schools and organizations. Follow-up on these partnerships were limited, however
Talks about free culture and Wikipedia to partners and their audience

The chapter’s main projects from October 15, 2011 to June 30, 2012 that were funded by grants independent on the Chapter Startup 2 grant were the following:

Proclaim advocacies to the public

We had released an official statement on the English Wikipedia blackout last January 2012. We supported the blackout because WMPH believes that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) will weaken freedom in the Internet. Our message was heard on a wider audience after it was picked up by GMA News, a major television network in the Philippines. (References: GMAnews.tv Youtube video and news article)

Aside from bringing our advocacies through local media, we partnered to like-minded organizations and proclaimed our advocacy through giving talks about free content and free culture; and conducting workshops about Wikipedia. Last January 2012, Jojit Ballesteros gave a talk about free content at the Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) office in Quezon City for their interns. Last May 2012, Ballesteros went also to an event organized by CPU at Iligan City in Southern Philippines. He gave a talk about Free Culture and demonstrated how Wikipedia works. We partnered with Creative Commons Philippines and Atty. Berne Guerrero, its Deputy Project Lead, helped us in announcing our advocacies to the public. He gave a talk about free licenses during the launch of the Wiki Loves Monuments at the University of the Philippines. Our partnership with Mozilla Philippines brought about the creation of the Open Web Day, where Wikipedia newbies are able to learn on how to create an account and start editing an article. They were also able to localize the Mozilla interface to Tagalog. Open Web Day started last February 2012 and funded by the Wikimedia Foundation on a separate grant.

We were also able to gather members and some Wikipedians during the WikiCon 2012, an event that gave the organization an opportunity to inspire members and Wikipedians to fulfill our mission in spreading free knowledge to everyone. During WikiCon 2012, we had various talks and a Wikipedia editing workshop and the organization conducted its Annual Membership meeting. WikiCon2012 was also funded on a separate grant.

Impact

Impact to Wikimedia Movement

This Grant is primarily for funding the administrative expenses of WMPH. As such, this grant does not primarily target WMF's mission and the strategic goals. That said, a few components of the Grant, Wikipedia Promotions/caravans, and Microgrants, are related to WMF's goals.

Our Microgrants project was primarily targeted to the Bikol Community, which WMPH recognized in early 2012 and was the only community as of the end of 2012. The Bikol Community had 2 major activities in 2012: (1) Open Web Day (which was funded by a separate Grant), and Bikol Wikipedia Day.

Increased Participation: Increase of participation in the Bikol Wikimedia-related projects was very limited. The goal of having at least 20 participants Wikipedia Takes Naga, and 10 participants in the Bikol Editathon was not reached.; For Wikipedia Promotions/caravans, we had a Wikicaravan in the northern province of Pangasinan which eventually led to the recognition of the Pangasinan Wikimedia Community in 2013. This has not directly resulted to significantly increased participation in the Pangasinan Wikipedia, but we hope to work with the community in the future to start projects related to Pangasinan Wikipedia.
Increased Quality: Increase of quality in the Wikimedia Projects as a result of this Grant was not measured. WMPH's current focus is to increase participation.
Increased Reach: The Bikol Wikimedia-related projects and the Pangasinan Wikicaravan generated some interest in the Wikimedia projects including media coverage for Bikol Wikipedia Day. However, we have no quantifiable figures to measure increased reach.

Impact to WMPH

Increased Reach: Membership was increased from 48 members before the approval of the grant, to 85 at the end of 2012. Smaller project initiatives like Pangasinan Outreach Report and Bikol Wikipedia Day helped in spreading the activities of WMPH, beyond Manila where WMPH is based.
Increased Activity: There were participants who pursued membership in the chapter. The strategic planning activity of the Board allowed it to resolve several backlogs and issues that have long been pending for resolution. The 2-day strategic planning allowed the Board to meet and discuss in a less tense atmosphere that allowed it to go on breaks whenever discussions gets tense. This period also saw bigger projects like Wiki Loves Monuments and WikiConference to be held.
Increased and Diversified Participation: At the beginning of the grant period there were 9 out of 47 female members, or just about 19%, by the end of the grant period female members number to 20, or 24% of the members. Median age of members was from 31 at the start of the grant period to 30. Average age was from 32.3 at the beginning of the grant period to 31.8. In various activities it was observed that participation was practically across age groups, but college students make up a good number of participants.

Conclusion

While we acknowledge that some of the chapter's projects have separate grant requests and they have or will be having separate measures of success, we consider Chapter Startup 2 successful because the chapter has launched meaningful projects and proclaimed its advocacies to the public as stated above. Furthermore, the funds coming from Chapter Startup 2, specifically the budget for Wikipedia promotions/caravans, facilitated these separate projects.

Lessons learned

What lessons were learned that may help others succeed in similar projects?

There was a long debate among the WMPH Board and lots of questions asked by the Wikimedia Foundation at the course of the grant request process. Lesson learned: The WMPH Board should carefully plan and discuss the things that we would put on a grant request to WMF before we submit it.

What impact did the project have on WMF mission goals of Increased Reach, Increased Quality, Increased Credibility, Increased and Diversified Participation?

Increased and diversified participation: Despite not meeting the participation goals for our regional projects, we feel that since these are first-time events, we were able to lay down the foundations for future endeavors in those areas and, to an extent, grow the communities that are present in the regions in question. In addition, the increase of our membership body's diversity in terms of both women and non-Manila based members bides well for the Foundation's long-term goal of bridging participation gaps between those who do participate in the projects and those who don't. While the impact of this still has to be examined in further detail as more projects are implemented, we believe we're off to a good start here given the circumstances.
Increased reach: The projects funded under this grant have spread awareness of what the chapter is and what the projects of the Wikimedia Foundation are in areas where the chapter's reach is insufficient, namely in more distant urban centers. Our continued experimentation with decentralizing chapter activities bides well for further increasing reach, but we will need to continue investing in these communities in order to assure better success.
Increased credibility: Execution of these projects allows Wikimedia Philippines to invest in its capabilities of becoming an organization which is not only accountable to its members, but is also responsive to the needs of its audience. We believe that although there are no quantitative measures by which increased credibility can be measured in the Philippine context, people are starting to see the organization as a viable partner in furthering open source in the Philippines.

Reporting and documentation of expenditures

Did you send WMF documentation of all expenses paid for with grant funds?

Yes

Details of expenditures:

File:WMPH-CS2-2011 Expenses.pdf (2011 Detailed expenses)
File:WMPH-CS2-2012 Expenses.pdf (2012 Detailed expenses) [unable to upload file, sent via e-mail]
Summary:

Category		Allotment (PHP)	Actual Expenses (PHP)			Actual Expenses (USD) ($1.00 = ₱43.45)
Category		Allotment (PHP)	CY 2011	CY 2012	Total	Actual Expenses (USD) ($1.00 = ₱43.45)
A.	Regulatory requirements	15,000	4,993.00	22,543.00	27,536.00	633.74
B.	Printer/Scanner	53,000	—	4,990.00	4,990.00	114.84
C.	Pocket Wifi Router	6,000	3,995.00	—	3,995.00	91.94
D.	Wikipedia Promotions/caravans	60,000	22,470.37	53,307.25	75,777.62	1,744.02
E.	Meetings	40,000	4,816.50	38,834.48	43,650.98	1,004.63
F.	Virtual office rental and maintenance	25,000	24,144.00	24,144.00	48,288.00	1,111.35
G.	Office supplies	20,000	3,519.00	30,177.50	33,696.50	775.52
H.	Professional services	15,000	8,731.67	8,232.06	16,963.73	390.42
I.	Website development	9,000	—	11,736.39	11,736.39	270.11
J.	Books and reference materials	15,000	23,758.50	7,640.01	31,398.51	722.64
K.	Training and seminars	20,000	9,500.00	—	9,500.00	218.64
L.	Microgrants	42,000	—	36,398.92	36,398.92	837.72
M.	Fundraising permit	15,000	—	—	—	—
N.	Participation expenses to international Wikimedia events/meets	—	—	43,216.59	43,216.59	994.63
O.	GLAM	—	—	495.00	495.00	11.39
Total		335,000	105,928.04	281,715.20	387,643.24	8,921.59

Note: Exchange rate used was at the time Grant was received last October 10, 2011.

Will you be requesting re-allocation of remaining grant funding?

The project has a deficit of ₱ 52,643.34 ($1,234.02).

Will you be returning unused funds to the Wikimedia Foundation?

There is no excess funds for this project.

Additional requests and related proposals

Will you be requesting an extension or were you granted an extension?

Extension was granted by Winifred Oliff to allow WMPH to synchronize the grant with its fiscal year.-- Roel (talk) 11:27, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Please link to related grant proposals here: