Grants talk:APG/Simple/Applications/Wikimedia India/2016

Eligibility[edit]

Latest comment: 8 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Hello, Wikimedia India colleagues:

Thank you for submitting your eligibility form on 16 October 2015. After reviewing your past grants we've determined that you are eligible to apply for a Simple Process Annual Plan Grant.

Here is some of the work we looked at while evaluating your eligibility for a Simple Annual Plan Grant.

Wikimedia India received a series of annual grants from WMF:

Wikimedia India is currently doing a number of programs to support contributors in India, including giving microgrants and lending equipments to contributors. Wikimedia India is currently focusing on GLAM work in West Bengal and an innovate education program focusing on new technical contributors to Mediawiki. Wikimedia India has some special opportunities to work with the government on digitizing and releasing important content in the Tamil language. As a result of this time-sensitive and important program activity, we think it makes sense for Wikimedia India to bring on part time temporary staff support during this limited period of program engagement in addition to their ongoing full time staff, despite concerns around governance outlined here. We would support this as a temporary measure, and not an ongoing increase in your staff. In addition to this program work, WMIN is launching a strategy process with your community this winter, which will guide your future work.

Wikimedia India has had some serious governance issues, which we have discussed together with you. WMIN also has a difficult history with WMF grants, as many past grant reports were submitted late (or not at all, in a few cases), and Wikimedia India has required a number of exceptions and extensions in order to maintain its funding. For example, Wikimedia India’s APG grant was extended to 18 months, and WMIN was provided with bridge funding between the end of your APG grant and the current funding period. WMIN has also had challenges with submitting grant requests in advance of the start of the funding period, and with requesting changes to the grant budget in advance.

In the past year, WMIN’s board and staff have worked together effectively to increase program activity, improve documented outcomes, and to increase engagement with WMF. WMIN has also been engaging with your communities and building momentum around this program work. While governance issues and late grant reports and requests are an ongoing challenge, WMIN has committed to improving in these areas and communicating about your progress regularly. We will continue to work together to monitor WMIN’s progress in meeting your goals for good governance.

In the midst of these exciting program opportunities, we encourage Wikimedia India to take a measured approach to budget growth and increase in program activity in the current application, especially with respect to the organization’s ongoing commitments outside of the current Tamil opportunity. WMIN will need time to focus on improving its governance track record during the course of this grant. We encourage WMIN to bring its budget more in line with the budgets of other groups and organizations achieving similar outcomes with similar staffing levels, and we will look at this more closely as part of the application process.

Best regards, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 04:22, 27 October 2015 (UTC)Reply