Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Black Lunch Table/2021

APG approved in the amount of 127,544 USD

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 127,544 USD with a grant term starting 1 January 2021 and ending 31 December 2021.

Black Lunch Table continues to be a leader in the movement, modeling good practices in engaging and supporting needs of marginalized communities in relation to their participation and representation in our movement. This is clearly demonstrated through BLT’s responsiveness in adapting its programmatic work in the face of multiple crises that have disproportionately harmed Black communities in the past year. Black Lunch Table’s leadership is also demonstrated through its reflective practices, such as facilitating discussions with your communities on fundamental questions that map onto key parts movement strategy (e.g. “how do you come to trust an organization?”) The responses to these questions from communities are ones that affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation itself must prepare to respond to, and we are grateful for Black Lunch Table’s leadership in elevating these needs.

We appreciate Black Lunch Table’s continued efforts to sustain its work through multiple funding sources, including Logan Foundation, Rubin Foundation, Threewalls, Chicago, and ALAANA Sustainable Arts. The leadership shift from the lead organizer to the Exec Director, BLT operations Manager, and the Project Assistant marks their strategic growth in management and overall growth as an organization. We congratulate you on forming an initial board, and are glad you will be continuing to develop strategic plans for engagement across different audiences in the coming year. In terms of programming, we are glad to see reliable programs being maintained such as the Photobooths events, as well as newer programs such as BLT Bingo and BLT:Live videos that feature and support artists.

Black Lunch seeks to expand its staffing in several areas this year, including a Wikimedia Director, a Communications Specialist, expanding the Web Developer / Digital Specialist role. The budget for Simple APG is not able to accommodate this degree of growth, but we want to support some staffing increases for your planned work this year. This budget increase of 40% from the previous grant will allow for some requested staff increases, such as new regional proxies, and a dedicated Web Developer + Digital Specialist. However, you have discretion in allocating this funding across the proposed staffing changes.

We also understand that these changes will affect your programmatic work, and so please review your metrics worksheet and make adjustments to your targets for the coming year as needed.

One additional budget request we have is to reduce your travel budget to Wikimania from four (4) to two (2) representatives, as this is consistent with how we fund other affiliates for attendance to major movement events.

We understand that reduction in funding will affect some of your proposed programs, we would request BLT to make adjustments as per the granted funding and reflect this on the programs, metrics and staffing plan accordingly.

We look forward to working with Black Lunch Table in 2021.

Best regards from the SAPG Committee and Staff, Siarus1074 (talk) 17:33, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Committee comments from Siarus1074

BLT,

First I want to say your work is incredible and so important. Your application is incredibly organized and annual plan is ambitious and inspiring. Even during two pandemic you are still doing a lot of good work. The budget has increased but it seems warranted and I like that you are looking to "retain our current hires, build momentum for the project, and increase cohesion and functionality across the team." With consistency in employees you can build more and do more. The BLT branded online events are delightful and seems effective in maintaining engagement with your community and editorship. All good work given the circumstances we are living through. Thank you and I look forward to seeing what you do in 2021. Siarus1074 (talk)

Looking forward and thanks

To the Simple APG team,

BLT is grateful to be supported once again, thank you. 2020 was unexpected, to say the least, and COVID-19 and The M4BL forced adaptations and many lessons. sAPG's support through the changes was important as it allowed us to attend to the needs of the team and to the changing nature of the work. These dual crises will still be with us as we begin 2021. Having made it through 2020 we continue to see the necessity of the work we have set out to and look forward to the continued support and guidance from the sAPG team.--Raggachampiongirl (talk) 05:56, 28 December 2020 (UTC)

Updated BLT Budget

BLT has posted a revised budget for our sAPG 2021 grant based on our actual WMF award. Links are posted in our budget section.

Percentage Line Change

VThamaini (WMF) (talk) Please see below for line change request.

2021 is charging right along and to meet our needs BLT would like to request and acknowledge a percentage line change within our sAPG 2021 grant that is greater than 20%.

In our revised budget, adjusted for the total amount awarded, we list $900 dollars for our bookkeeper(line 23). With the priorities of the organization focused as they are on a creating and implementing a solid organizational foundation, we need to expand this line to accommodate the additional work and oversight for the installation of payroll, healthcare, benefits, and similar bookkeeping systems. Increased to $4,900 and retitled as "finance and operations specialist", this line will draw additional funds from the Wiki project assistants(line 15). As before this amount reflects half of the total expenditure for the finance and operations specialist with the other half being paid by non-Wiki related BLT funding.

Thank you, Black Lunch Table and your team for sharing the request for re-allocation. We understand that we have had a usual year that needs us to remain flexible in addressing the emerging needs of our communities. The requested budget for the finance and operations specialist contributes to the user group's effort of being in good standing in terms of finances, operations and overall organizational health. The requested increase of $4000 to the existing $900 budget is reasonable since the scope of the role has been broadened and will not affect existing programming. Please find this request approved. We wish you the very best as you continue with the incredible work you do. --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 11:55, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Midpoint Reporting, line change

I JethroBT (WMF) please see below requested line changes and related submission of our midpoint report.

Having made an initial line change in April to accommodate the increased workload of our finance + operations specialist, with our midpoint report we have additional changes for approval, detailed below.

Line 26. additional increase for finance + operations specialist to a total of $11, 500. This was funded by reallocating funds from an additional Wiki assistant, line 17, that was zeroed out though still necessary and looking to be funded another way.

Line 41, 42. Funds that were to be used for our team retreat, specifically travel and accommodations, haven been scaled back. We will not be gathering all together at a specific site as planned, instead we will have small local gatherings/meals where possible in addition to online gathering to build team camaraderie. These funds were partially redirected to fund line 26 increases.

Line 36. To support some of the changes we would like to make to our edit-a-thons and training for new editors, we are investing in WikiEdu classes for some team members. This is a new expense included now under administration for $800.

Revised midpoint budget
Revised midpoint alternate, excel

@Raggachampiongirl: Thanks for your reallocation request for these needs around staffing, team gatherings, and adjustments to your programming through WikiEdu training. The request is formally approved. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 16:44, 28 July 2021 (UTC)