Grants:Project/Rapid/MurielMary/Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand Strategy Workshop

Briefly explain what are you trying to accomplish with this project, or what do you expect will change as a result of this grant. Example goals include, "recruit new editors", "add high quality content", or "train existing editors on a specific skill".

To form a strategic plan for the next 12 months for the newly formed incorporated society (Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand Inc.)

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing?

All 7 committee members of the incorporated society will meet in person in Wellington for a weekend in May 2022. We will have a professional facilitator to assist us in our discussions.

The aim of the workshop is to produce a strategic plan for the incorporated society, including identifying priority areas for action, standard operating procedures and policies and confirming the respective roles, responsibilities and portfolios of each of the committee members.

How will you let others in your community know about your project (please provide links to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions)? Why are you targeting a specific audience?

Will be announced at the April online meet-up of the Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand user group and notice posted on the WikiProject NZ noticeboard.

What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?

We will have a strategic plan which we can share with members of the society and the editing community at large (both in Aotearoa New Zealand and offshore) and the Wikimedia Foundation. This will be shared through our usual comms channels of the WikiProject NZ page on-wiki, and on our website which we plan to create as part of our establishment work.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more specific to your project:

A formal strategic plan will be published on the Wikimedia User Group of Aotearoa's meta page
The committee members will use the strategy to formulate a business plan for the year and are actively working on the goals of the business plan
A communication plan will be decided at the workshop and enacted in the months following to ensure that New Zealand editors of Wikimedia Foundation projects are aware of the strategic goals, business plan objectives, and associated impact tracking

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is the organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

A sub-committee of the committee is working on the project: locating the facilitator, a function centre and accommodation, flights and catering. No other support is being sought.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense:

Facilitator: NZ$200 per hour for 10 hours: $2, 000
Flights and airport transfers for 3 committee members who live outside Wellington: $1,700
Catering: for Saturday lunch and dinner for 7; Sunday breakfast for 3 out-of-town visitors; Sunday lunch for 7; coffee/tea/morning/afternoon teas: $900
Accommodation for 2 of the 3 committee members who live outside Wellington: NZ$200 per night per person; NZ$400 in total
Venue hire: $NZ500 per day; $1000 in total
NZ$6,000 total or US$3,965

Endorsements

New Zealand Wikipedia's and content will be more supported with a user group and it is important time is taken to consider directions the group can go in. Facilitation is key in this. Pakoire (talk) 07:52, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
Support I believe this workshop will be pivotal for the establishment and ongoing effectiveness of the Aotearoa New Zealand User group. An in person strategy meeting will ensure that policies, procedures, planning and strategies for this newly incorporated society are formally established and that working relationships of the newly formed committee are created and maintained. - Ambrosia10 (talk) 22:08, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
Support Coming together at the inception of a new entity is invaluable in establishing the culture, values, and underpinning philosophy of the organisation as well as doing the important work of developing policies and strategy. An external facilitator will enable the whole group to focus on the content of the meeting rather than one of the group having to pay attention to the process. This particular work takes time and is much better carried out in person rather than online.Noracrentiss (talk) 23:09, 2 April 2022 (UTC)
Support As New Zealand is now entering a period in which in-person meetings are now possible, it makes sense for the committee forming Wikipedia Aotearoa NZ to meet in person for this critical foundation meeting Meitner109 (talk) 09:41, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
Support This seems like an excellent way the WMF can support the establishment of an organised New Zealand chapter. A face-to-face planning meeting like this, when some of the committee members are geographically dispersed, is far more productive than trying to run sessions over Zoom. —Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 02:07, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
Support This activity will build on and consolidate the understanding of this group not only of each other but also of our common vision for the Wikimedia movement in New Zealand. While we know each other and have all been contributing to the Wikimedia movement for some years, it's this type of session that will draw out and allow room for discussion on assumptions about strategic goals and prioritisation of those goals. Without this activity and without professional facilitation miscommunication and misunderstandings could emerge to derail our progress. We are likely to each hold stong views on the way forward. We need to professionalise ourselves and our approach to ensure successful prioritisation and long term planning. This type of formalisation of goal setting is required so that we can engage with New Zealand society and the Wikimedia Foundation from a position of certainty. Einebillion (talk) 06:07, 5 April 2022 (UTC)
Support This meetup is an essential step towards mobilising the newly Incorporated Society. It will lay the groundwork for the way of working, the priorities and the next steps required to become a vital and active group supporting development of the Wikimedia movement in New Zealand. The work required to develop a strategic plan and other key planning documents for the society will be much more effective with a face-to-face meeting in a suitable venue.Marshelec (talk) 23:00, 10 April 2022 (UTC)