Grants talk:Conference/EvaRogers/Creative Commons 2017 Global Summit

Hi Evarogers, Thank you very much for the time and effort you have put in to this funding request. I am very sorry about the long delay in responding to your email, and in providing you with feedback and a decision on your grant request. We have been very busy in the last six weeks with annual planning and preparing for the Wikimedia Conference, which had nearly two times as many participants this year than ever before. During this time, I have been doing outreach to Wikimedia affiliates and thematic groups to develop a conference and events grant budget for the next fiscal year, and to find out about what priorities we should use to make funding decisions with that budget.

When I first suggested that you apply for a conference grant I thought we would have sufficient funding available to support the request as we have been able to fund travel scholarships for events hosted by likeminded organizations in the past. However, I recently learned about several events that our affiliates, chapters and volunteers are planning in the next few months. It is going to be a challenge to fit those events within the remaining conference grant budget this year. We absolutely see Creative Commons as important partners in the free knowledge movement, and we understand the value of helping more Wikimedians engage in the Creative Commons community. Unfortunately, with the high demand from our communities for the limited conference grant budget remaining this year, our priority is to fund events that are planned by and directly impact Wikimedia affiliates and projects.

Again, I am very sorry that I wasn't able to respond to this request sooner, especially with your event coming up so soon. I appreciate your understanding, and hope that we can find other ways to collaborate in the future. --KHarold (WMF) (talk) 14:53, 11 April 2017 (UTC)