Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Amical Wikimedia 2023 Grant/Final Report
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 31 January 2025
Funding program: Wikimedia Community Fund
Report type: Final
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General information
[edit]This form is for organizations, groups, or individuals receiving Wikimedia Community Funds or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their final results.
- Name of Organization: Associació Amical Wikimedia
- Title of Proposal: Amical Wikimedia 2023 Grant
- Amount awarded: 60912.88 USD, 56000 EUR
- Amount spent: 13723.86 EUR
Part 1 Understanding your work
[edit]1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented.
1. Following the 2019-2024 strategic plan, Amical Wikimedia works on five significant axes. The first of these axes is community, and we clearly desire to grow it in several directions and not only in a strictly numerical sense. We are interested, for example, in the fact that the community grows in its representativeness in the different territories of the Catalan language. We also want a community in which the participation of women, young people, and minority groups increases. The second axis is communication, both internal and external. Internally, it promotes associates' participation in activities and governance. Externally, it aims to better educate society in general about Wikipedia and its sister projects, not only as products but as projects that represent certain values. The third axis is the content, which we approach from two angles: quantity and, more importantly, quality. In recent years, we have placed significant emphasis on qualitative growth, with projects specifically designed to enhance the reliability of our articles through the incorporation of references. We are also actively working to address existing biases in content, such as gender. Additionally, we strive to incorporate open content from institutions. The fourth axis is accessibility, especially in terms of people and groups with different capacities and adapting to possible technological changes. It is also necessary to consider the work done to guarantee the presence of the Catalan language on the Internet within the framework of the Alliance for the Digital Presence of the Catalan language, of which Amical Wikimedia is part. Finally, the fifth axis is reading. Increasing and diversifying these readings is a logical goal for any group or organization of Wikipedians. Still, in the case of Amical Wikimedia, it is reinforced by what it means to contribute to increasing the presence and visibility of the Catalan language on the internet.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals?
2. The Viquimarató de la Llengua Catalana, which reached its tenth edition in 2023, stands as a testament to our collective success. This project, closely aligned with the mission of Amical Wikimedia, is a testament to our shared commitment to the preservation and promotion of Wikipedia in Catalan. It is a project that unites Amical with a diverse range of stakeholders, including the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Government of Andorra, the Institute of Balearic Studies, the Public Office of the Catalan Language (Catalunya Nord), and the Alghero office of the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to Italy. Likewise, for years, the Viquimarató de la Llengua Catalana has been proposed as a decentralized activity that takes place over a couple of days in different populations and formats. In 2023, there were in-person activities in El Prat de Llobregat, Girona, Tarragona, and Reus (in Catalonia), in Palma (Balearic Islands), in Benavarri (Aragon), and Andorra. And outside the Catalan-speaking territories of Paris, Lisbon, and Porto. This makes it possible to multiply the participation and, simultaneously, the diversity of these participants, representing the different territories. It is a way for Amical to become present in these same territories. Another successful project in recent years and this 2023 is the one regarding the 10,000 articles considered essential in any Wikipedia. Amical has managed to mobilize a significant group of highly motivated volunteers who work hard to improve the quality index of Wikipedia in Catalan and its position in the international ranking. Thus, between July 2023 and January 2024, the score went from 80.34 to 84.08, and a position advanced, positioning itself as number 8 worldwide.
3. Would you say that your project had any innovations? Are there things that you did very differently than you have seen them done by others?
Although these are not innovations proper within the wiki movement, it should be noted that the Viquimarató de la Llengua Catalana is one of the activities done in more cities and moves more people from all over the wiki environment, also internationally. At the same time, this last year, we are trying to resume and generate new international links from Amical. We seek to be part of the movement and learn from other chapters to apply the strategies and experiences seen in our context.
4. Please describe how different communities participated and/or were informed about your work.
4. The dissemination of the different activities and projects has been carried out in various ways: the Amical Wikimedia blog, social networks, the agenda space, and the internal discussion spaces (La Taverna). The situation of the association and the lack of staff have prevented the weekly newsletter from working during the second half of 2023. However, as it is a relatively small community, information usually flows easily. In this sense, priority was given to dynamizing the entity's mailing list to disseminate specific news, encouraging the rest of the people associated with participating. On the other hand, the Viquitrobada, held at the end of November in El Prat de Llobregat, served as a space for information exchange and in-person debate.
5. Documentation of your impact. Please use the two spaces below to share files and links that help tell your story and impact. This can be documentation that shows your results through testimonies, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, etc.) social media posts, dashboards, etc.
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- Viquitrobada: https://wikimedia.cat/2023/12/05/una-quarentena-de-viquipedistes-participen-a-la-viquitrobada-celebrada-al-prat-de-llobregat/
X Viquimarató de la Llengua Catalana: https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:X_Viquimarat%C3%B3_de_la_Llengua_Catalana https://llengua.gencat.cat/ca/detalls/noticia/Viquillengua-sobre-vocabulari-esportiu IV Viquimarató de Cultura Popular: https://cultura.gencat.cat/ca/detall/Noticies/Balanc-de-la-Viquimarato-de-cultura-popular-especial-Pessebres Alliance for the Digital Presence of the Catalan (results): https://llengua.gencat.cat/ca/detalls/noticia/visibilitat-als-resultats-de-Google
6. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement. | Agree |
7. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
We have sought the collaboration of editors, Amical members, and Wikipedians to participate in challenges and marathons in Wikiprojects that focus on people and areas underrepresented in our Wikipedia. For example, the Wikiproject of non-binary people was promoted by one of the young people, and more than twenty people participated throughout the year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquiproject:Personeseno-bin%C3%A0ries
In this link, a marathon of Women in Design promoted by an associated person: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquimarat%C3%B3:Somaaqu%C3%AD!a(MuseuadelaDissenyadeaBarcelona)
At the Viquitrobada, our focus was on promoting women's active participation. We successfully ensured that every presentation had a gender perspective, addressing both statistical imbalances (such as the low number of biographies) and content biases. This year's keynote speaker, the Dones tech collective, provided valuable insight into women's roles within the system and network security, furthering our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
User retention is undoubtedly one of the significant challenges we are trying to work on.
Part 2: Your main learning
[edit]8. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
Recently, we have become part of the Alliance for the Digital Presence of the Catalan language, a work table to maintain and promote the Catalan language in all areas. At the same time, we are also part of the Fundacio.cat, an entity of language promotion agents. In these spaces, we disseminate free knowledge and weave community with other key agents of the territory. In this sense, we are consciously working to create new bridges with society by promoting the foundational values of the wiki community.
In recent months, we have created working groups to boost the people who edit and foster the feeling of group and community work. It is worth saying, however, that we must continue to bet on achieving greater participation.
9. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?
Amical Wikimedia’s activity has been strongly marked throughout 2023 because the president and treasurer submitted their resignation in May (although the board had been elected at the beginning of the same year). The new board started in July, with significant difficulties. Because of that, some scheduled tasks, such as two newly hired people for June, were pulled back. We just hired one person part-time in December. As a result, Amical Wikimedia did not have staff for almost the whole year. We did rely exclusively on voluntary work. The transition was with great difficulties, but we are back on our feet already.
10. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
We seek to work more organized and cooperatively. In this way, if any voluntary support fails, it is not a setback for the entity. Likewise, as immediate objectives, we have to work on some of the initiatives provided by the volunteer community to create positive work dynamics. At the same time, some of these initiatives are focused on making new women editors and working with institutes, reinforcing the base of younger publishers, two of the pending subjects in our community.
11. If you were sitting with a friend to tell them one thing about your work during this fund, what would it be (think of inspiring or fascinating moments, tough challenges, interesting anecdotes, or anything that feels important to you)?
This last year has been challenging for the board. We have had to overcome many obstacles and headaches. However, we are also learning a lot, and that has strengthened us. Thinking positively and seeing how the Wikipedian community can benefit from the initiatives that come out of Amical helps us to continue.
12. Please share resources that would be useful to share with other Wikimedia organizations so that they can learn from, adapt or build upon your work. For instance, guides, training material, presentations, work processes, or any other material the team has created to document and transfer knowledge about your work and can be useful for others. Please share any specific resources that you are creating, adapting/contextualizing in ways that are unique to your context (i.e. training material).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- N/A
Part 3: Metrics
[edit]13a. Open and additional metrics data
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Amical Wikimedia members | It is important to know the number of members in order to know whether they are satisfied with our work and if what we do attracts new people. | 120 | 108 | Although the objective that had been set was not reached, there was a slight growth during the second half of 2023 since it increased from 104 to 108 partners. At the same time, it was decided to deregister associated people who were inactive and did not demonstrate the will to remain in the association and asked for it on several occasions. So, we think the community is being renewed. | Amical Wikimedia members' census. |
| Number of people organising projects | We have many partners, but it is good to know how many of them are willing to promote and help in the activities. | 15 | 18 | We have over 15 projects that run yearly on our Wikipedia, promoted by different volunteers. Furthermore, there are editathons almost every month focused on various topics. The on-person editathon seems to be getting old, so we always offer hybrid systems. We have More and more people editing from afar who are unable or willing to come to a particular place but are motivated to participate in activities. Also, online challenges are something that we particularly like in our community, so we emphasize those too. This year, we have been again the first Wikipedia version to complete all the 100 BBC Women challenge. Last, we are trying to bear in mind the quality of the articles over the numbers. In this sense, there is a weekly challenge where Wikipedians add references to preexisting articles that run every Sunday. | Wikipedia agenda and mailing list. |
| Number of participants in the activities | This data will help us to know how many people we have reached with our activities. | 200 | 300 | Specifying the exact number of participants in the activities is always tricky since registration is not always required. Furthermore, some people willingly choose not to enroll in the event publicly, but they take part in it too. The Viquimarató per la Llengua alone had ten in-person events with more than 120 participants (online and in-person). This is by far our most significant event. However, we have many small and middle-size events where people tend to come as a way to gather together and build community. | Participant registration for activities, in-person count. |
| Number of women participating in the activities | We have a few women and we think that there should be more women for the Wikimedia projects. | 30 | 35 | Women come to our events, but we are struggling to retain them. Even though we keep meeting new women, they usually come because of a thematic event. After the event is done, very few keep editing. However, we are reinforcing the link between Wikimedia and the public libraries. Among the librarians, the female percentage is relatively high. One of our future priorities will be strengthening those links. | Participant registration for activities (if the user name is gender identified), in-person count. |
| Number of participants under 20 years old in the activities | We have a few young people and we believe that more young people are needed for the Wikimedia projects. | 30 | 20 | Young editors mainly participate in online events like the Cinema Project, Comic Books, and the Non-binary People Challenge. This last one was led by one of our new young members. We have noticed they tend to avoid offline events, maybe because they do not feel attracted to them. We are thinking of retaking only the young editors' events, even if they are not editathons but gathering events. We have a wiki group for young people, but it has gone dormant lately. | Participant registration for activities (if the user is a know member in the community or reveals their age), in-person count. |
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of activities developed | Number of activities promoted by the entity | 20 | 22 | N/A | Amical Wikimedia Register of Activities |
| Number of volunteer hours | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
13b. Additional core metrics data.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | The number of participants in all the activities we organise. 200 participants, with at least 30 women and 30 participants under 20 years of age. | 200 | 250 | Specifying the exact number of participants in the activities is always tricky since registration is not always required. Furthermore, some people willingly choose not to publicly enroll in the event, but they take part in it too. The Viquimarató per la Llengua alone had ten in-person events with more than 120 participants (online and in-person). This is by far our most significant event. However, we have many small and middle-size events where people tend to come as a way to gather together and build community. We have been placing a massive effort into content related to women and diversity, and it is pretty rewarding to see how we are creating a more diverse community (even if it is little by little). Furthermore, we have been giving some funds to editors who want to travel to in-person conventions. | Participant registration for activities (if the user name is gender identified or show their age), in-person count. |
| Number of editors | The number of editors in all activities. 300, with at least 50 women and 50 participants under 20 years of age. | 300 | 325 | The volunteer activity has been chiefly on online events, so we are not always sure about the editor's profile. However, most edit challenges focus on biases, such as the gender gap. There has indeed been an effort made in this aspect. Most of the librarians are women, and an increased percentage of women editors attend our events when it is linked to their community.
When it comes to young editors, it is still quite challenging to reach them. We have the young editors group, and we try to support and help out any initiatives they might have, but the number is still relatively low. We are making new alliances with high schools and universities, so teachers and lecturers use Wikipedia as a learning tool at some point. We have over ten Viquiprojectes docents (Wikiprojects linked to a high school or university subject), some running yearly. Through these initiatives, the youngest realize that everybody can edit Wikipedia. So far, we estimate we have more than ten regular young editors, and thanks to these initiatives, more than 40 new young editors have been editing. However, the index of retention of the latter is shallow. |
Participant registration for activities (if the user name is gender identified or show their age), in-person count. |
| Number of organizers | 15 | 15 | It is difficult for new people to organize events, and the editor community usually guides them throughout the process. This is quite challenging because we aim to create new trainers (among professionals working for GLAM institutions, for example). This process, however, is quite tricky for us, and the retention of trainers is very low. However, we plan on continuing to try. | Participant registration for activities (if the user name is gender identified or show their age), in-person count. |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | New content contributions in several Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia, Commons, Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikidata,...), but mainly in Wikipedia. Create 300 articles of women to reach 20% biographies of women. | 300 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
14. Were there any metrics in your proposal that you could not collect or that you had to change?
Yes
15. If you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results, please describe and add any recommendations on how to address them in the future.
In the context of a specially difficult and challenging period for Amical Wikimedia, there was simply not enough effort put into collecting metrics. We acknowledge this as something we have to correct and improve in the future.
16. Use this space to link or upload any additional documents that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., dashboards, surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, etc).
- Upload Documents and Files
- Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
- N/A
Part 4: Organizational capacities & partnerships
[edit]17. Organizational Capacity
| A. Financial capacity and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| B. Conflict management or transformation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| C. Leadership (i.e growing in potential leaders, leadership that fit organizational needs and values) | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| D. Partnership building | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| E. Strategic planning | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| F. Program design, implementation, and management | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| G. Scoping and testing new approaches, innovation | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| H. Recruiting new contributors (volunteer) | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| I. Support and growth path for different types of contributors (volunteers) | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| J. Governance | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| K. Communications, marketing, and social media | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| L. Staffing - hiring, monitoring, supporting in the areas needed for program implementation and sustainability | This capacity is low, and we should prioritise developing it |
| M. On-wiki technical skills | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| N. Accessing and using data | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| O. Evaluating and learning from our work | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| P. Communicating and sharing what we learn with our peers and other stakeholders | This capacity has grown but it should be further developed |
| N/A | |
| N/A |
17a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Peer to peer learning with other community members in conferences/events, Using capacity building/training resources online from sources WITHIN the Wikimedia Movement
17b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build capacities? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Lack of staff time to participate in capacity building/training, Lack of awareness of capacity building needs, Lack of training that fits contextual needs and interests
18. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your organizational capacity has grown, and areas where you require support?
Opcional
19. Partnerships over the funding period.
| A. We built strategic partnerships with other institutions or groups that will help us grow in the medium term (3 year time frame) | Agree |
| B. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to bring in more contributors from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| C. The partnerships we built with other institutions or groups helped to build out more content on underrepresented topics/groups | Agree |
19a. Which of the following factors most helped you to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Volunteers from our communities, Partners proactive interest
19b. Which of the following factors hindered your ability to build partnerships? Please pick a MAXIMUM of the three most relevant factors.
Difficulties specific to our context that hindered partnerships, Local policies or other legal factors, Lack of staff to conduct outreach to new strategic partners
20. Please share your learning about strategies to build partnerships with other institutions and groups and any other learning about working with partners?
We are learning from other chapters experiences, trying to be update through the international mailing list, but also relying on other Wikipedians shared knowledge.
Part 5: Sense of belonging and collaboration
[edit]21. What would it mean for your organization to feel a sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement?
As an organization, Amical Wikimedia is very aware of belonging to a global movement and values the opportunity to work locally (promoting the Catalan language) and globally (promoting free knowledge) simultaneously. We feel that the majority of the entity's members also share this feeling.
22. How has your (for individual grantees) or your group/organization’s (for organizational grantees) sense of belonging to the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Stayed the same
23. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
24. How has your group/organization’s sense of personal investment in the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement changed over the fund period?
Stayed the same
25. If you would like to, please share why it has changed in this way.
---
26. Are there other movements besides the Wikimedia or free knowledge movement that play a central role in your motivation to contribute to Wikimedia projects? (for example, Black Lives Matter, Feminist movement, Climate Justice, or other activism spaces) If so, please describe it below.
As we have already stated, Amical Wikimedia is strongly committed to promoting the Catalan language, which could be considered a commitment to promoting cultural and linguistic diversity worldwide. At the same time, the current board is committed to feminism, LGTBIQ+, diversity empowerment, and human rights.
Supporting Peer Learning and Collaboration
[edit]We are interested in better supporting peer learning and collaboration in the movement.
27. Have you shared these results with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?
Yes
27a. Please describe how you have already shared them. Would you like to do more sharing, and if so how?
We have two general assemblies a year, plus other in-person events. Furthermore, we try to communicate from time to time with the community.
28. How often do you currently share what you have learned with other Wikimedia Foundation grantees, and learn from them?
We do this rarely (less than twice a year)
29. How does your organization currently share mutual learning with other grantees?
We share our experience occasionally with other organizations linked to the wikipedia in other languages that are official in Spain, but also Wikipedians in the broader context. We value also the latter, that is why we are promoting that our volunteer community assist to in-person events.
Part 6: Financial reporting and compliance
[edit]30. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
13723.86
31. Local currency type
EUR
32. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Report funds received and spent, if template not used.
33. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
N/A
34. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
34a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
EUR 42 276,14. There is a significant shift between the initial budget and the final effective expenditure, in the sense that much less money has been spent than planned. The main reason for this was that the budget included heavy personnel expenditure, which accounted for up to 60% of the money requested. As previously explained, this staff incorporation was not finally made during 2023 and the personnel cost was zero. A significant expenditure was also planned for the production of a documentary, which has not yet been carried out.
34b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
A. Propose to use the underspent funds within this Fund period with PO approval
34c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
Amical Wikimedia has not applied for any grant from the Wikimedia Foundation for 2024. We believe that the underspend funds we are now reporting can be used to finance Amical’s activity throughout the year 2024.
35. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
36. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
37. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
38. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.
Opcional