Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Macedonian User Groups/2021

SAPG approved in the amount of 49,785 EUR

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 49,785 EUR, with a grant term starting 1 January 2021 and ending 31 December 2021.

Shared Knowledge and GLAM Macedonia (Macedonian User Groups) have developed a wide array of programs in the past year, and their current annual plan is building upon the same programs as in 2020. The annual plan is consolidated from Community, Education, Partnerships, and GLAM programs. While two User Groups share the activities in terms of the Community and Education Programs, they are leading the Partnerships and GLAM programs separately. We think that the last two programs could be combined with each other because they are alike in their goals and activities.

We appreciate close and productive collaboration of Shared Knowledge and GLAM Macedonia in the last year, and would like to learn more on how they are going to develop their mutual collaboration further. Shared Knowledge and GLAM Macedonia are currently separate organizations based in Skopje submitting a single application with a degree of shared activities, operations, and goals. The committee does not support this arrangement in the long-term as it is not a good use of movement funds to support separate affiliate structures working in the same locality with programmatic overlap. The committee requests that the affiliates make efforts in 2021 towards fully consolidating your collaborative work into a single organizational structure and strategy that incorporates your organizations’ unique strengths and benefits for the movement and North Macedonia. We agree both with this assessment and request.

In terms of staffing, Macedonian User Groups request another staff position for 1.0 FTE, to split the responsibilities of the shared Administration and Logistic Manager in 2021. We do not welcome this decision, but recommend hiring another shared staff member with 0.5 FTE. For the current annual plan, we approve expenses only for this shared staff member with 0.5 FTE, also considering the limitations of our budget. We hope that this new staff member will contribute to further rapprochement of Macedonian User Groups and will reduce work overload in general.

Regarding the set metrics target, we would also recommend the User Groups to work towards a common metrics framework which would include the targets of GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge and work for both of them. We think that with the shared and more comprehensive metrics, the User Groups can achieve wider impact. The targeted metrics for 2021 are somewhat similar to last year’s targets, and reflect programmatic activities in different areas.

GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge have jointly requested a 54,448 EUR grant with this shared sAPG application. However, considering the recommendations and the fact that we are working with a limited budget, we cannot fully fund this request. We are funding this grant in the amount of 49,785 EUR, allowing a 15% increase in the budget compared to last year.

The recommended budget breakdown is as follows:

• Operations: 4,869 EUR (fully funded)
• Staff: 19,329 EUR, new 0.5 FTE staff member approved with the provided compensation rate (partially approved)
• Programs: 25,587 EUR (partially funded).

We are looking forward to the next steps in the User Groups' mutual development and look forward to working with you and learning more from your achievements in North Macedonia.

Best regards on behalf of the SAPG Committee and Staff, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 18:42, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): Dear Chris, thank you. Firstly, Recommended budget breakdown is not the same with total approved amount, which causes mainly request from GLAM Macedonia about new employee, and I`m not sure that I really understand this. Additionally, part of fully consolidation of both groups cannot happen overnight and should be broadly discussed with more participants of both groups and Foundation, and not just to mention in one line during approval of the grant. --Ehrlich91 (talk) 20:31, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): I wonder about the new employee, why do you say that we are asking 1.0 FTE? In the staffing plan there is clearly said that all employees are 0.5 FTE, i.e. employees scheduled to work 20 hours per week (4 paid hours per day). Are the final grant funds cut because of this misunderstanding? Regards, - Violetova (talk) 10:17, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Hello Ehrlich91, thanks for noticing the discrepancy. I just updated the outdated budget breakdown with the new numbers. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 10:34, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Per our misunderstanding around the FTE for the relevant staff, and our subsequent discussions around this point, we have amended the funding amount to the original request of 54,448 EUR with the following breakdown:

• Shared Knowledge: 32,784 EUR
• GLAM Macedonia: 21,664 EUR

With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:57, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Reallocation request for 1Lib1Ref

Dear Colleagues DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), Shared Knowledge plans to organize localized contest of 1Lib1Ref that will take place from January 15th to February 5th with main goal of editing articles with unsourced statements. In order to stimulate active participation, we plan to invite all Macedonian Community, and we expect at least 10 editors and at least 1.000 edits during 20 days. We plan to have rewards for first 5 editors with total budget of 300 EUR. We know that is too early for reallocation from current grant, but idea came up during December when we were closing grant for 2020 and we cannot place this budget point into grant for 2021. As we have unforeseen costs in point Office maintenance and we did not expect changes into our office arrangement, we would like to request 300 EUR from that point (in total amount 600 EUR) for this contest. All the best --Ehrlich91 (talk) 20:38, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

Hello Ehrlich91, thanks for posting your request. I am adding my colleague Veronica Thamaini who is currently managing the sAPG program and will be your main contact in such cases. Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 07:25, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

@Ehrlich91, Thank you for your request. Would you clarify the line budget that the reallocation comes from and the program aligned to this activity as per your annual plan? --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 10:35, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

@VThamaini (WMF): Thanks for your questions. I hope it won't be a problem to answer them instead of Toni. Considering the nature of this campaign is very similar to our writing contests targetting every interested participant, this activity can be properly considered a part of the Community programme from the annual plan, notwithstanding that our external partners — in first place the National and University Library "St. Kliment Ohridski" — have been informed about the campaign and we reckon on their participation. The reallocation in the amount of 300 EUR is requested from the unforeseen costs for office maintenance that total to 600 EUR. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 11:45, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Thank you Ehrlich91 for the response and for the information provided. The reallocation request has been granted. We wish you the very best in the campaign activities. Thanks!--VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 19:01, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Reallocation request for funding award statuettes

Dear DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), the Macedonian Wikipedia community plans to make a reallocation to fund the production of award statuettes that will be handed to editors with lasting contributions to the Macedonian Wikipedia to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia. The names of the 12 awarded editors were announced publicly on 15 January 2021 but an award ceremony could not place because of the restrictions on in-person gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We plan to produce 12 statuettes for €50 per unit or €600 in total, which will be partly covered by the amount of €200 for the cancelled Wikipedia Day celebration and the rest of €400 through reallocation. Our plan is to reduce the amount of €1,000 for the localised campaign of Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos to €600, that is, remove four prizes per €100 and award five instead of nine because it seems that the contest is too expensive considering its value added. The unspent amount of €400 from this item will then be used to complete the financing needs for the award statuettes. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 22:17, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Dear Kiril Simeonovski, Thank you for your request and for the details on the funding resourcing and reallocation of the awards. Please find this request approved. We wish you well with the awarding process and hope this contributes to building a sense of community through recognition with the communities you serve. Thank you.--VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 13:52, 30 June 2021 (UTC)

@VThamaini (WMF): Thanks for the swift response. Best.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 14:08, 30 June 2021 (UTC)

Reallocation between items on editing challenges

Dear VThamaini (WMF), DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), Shared Knowledge has an underspent amount of about €160 from the first three editing contests that have taken place so far. We therefore would like to reallocate this amount for two purposes. Firstly, we intend to add €100 to the remainder of €50 for editing weeks so we can get to the amount of €150 as a standardised prize fund for an editing week (€65 for the first, €50 euros for the second and €35 for the third prize) that we have used for the other editing weeks that took place over the past year. The editing week is planned to cover topics related to fashion as part of a localised version of the Wiki Loves Fashion writing campaign, which this year will take place from 18 September to 17 October. Secondly, we plan to use the rest of €60 as a prize fund for small gifts that will be awarded to the best participants in a new type of editing challenge that we plan to introduce as a single-elimination tournament in which paired editors will compete in writing articles on a specified topic during a pre-determined time period in a three or four rounds until the winner is known. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 08:10, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

@Kiril Simeonovski: Hi Kiril, thanks for this reallocation request around these unspent funds from your contests towards these other campaigns. This reallocation request is approved. Also, I want to let you know that we will be preparing more guidance around reallocation requests in the future for our new funding programs and strategy, and my expectation is that reallocation requests that are relatively small like this will not be necessary. The need for a formal request and approval will likely be defined by reallocation requests that exceed a certain proportion of a grant budget (e.g. such as 10% or 20%). We'll provide more information about this when our team has made formal decisions. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 15:05, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): Thanks Chris. I strongly endorse your plans to necessitate a formal request only for reallocations above certain proportion of the total grant amount. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 17:36, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Request to use unforeseen costs for Wikiexpeditions

Dear VThamaini (WMF), DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), due to rising fuel and accommodation prices, as well as more kilometers traveled by visiting remote areas this year in the previous expeditions than planned, so we would like to ask you to use unforeseen costs in total amount of 300 EUR projects in the budget for expeditionary projects. If you need anything else about this request, please inform me. --Ehrlich91 (talk) 08:55, 20 September 2021 (UTC)

@Ehrlich91: Thanks for this reallocation request to address changes in fueling and acommodation prices. This reallocation is approved. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 18:45, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Request for reallocation of Wiki Camp costs

Dear VThamaini (WMF), DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), GLAM Macedonia is planning to organize three days Wiki Team Building in October with Coordinators, Board members and active members, altogether around 24 adult persons. For this purpose, we would like to ask you to use Wiki Camp costs, i.e. reallocation of 3,601 euros, as this year there will be no possibility to gather underage students, due to pandemic. If you need more information about the Wiki Team Building, I will be happy to provide. Regards, Violetova (talk) 11:44, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

@Violetova: Thanks for this reallocation request to support this three-day team building event. The reallocation request is approved, and when you're able, would be able to provide some information here about the general goals you have for this event, or what you hope to accomplish by the end of the three day activities? I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 16:36, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

Hi I JethroBT (WMF), the general goals for the three days Wiki Team Building are: exchange the knowledge between the coordinators on how to work with students on Wikipedia projects, how to organize successful events, how to keep the students and newbies to be active Wikipedians, etc. Three hours of the program are planed for training on editing Wikipedia for teachers who still don't know how to edit. We plan at the end to have more confident coordinators with more skills, who will be able to work with students in Wiki Clubs successful. - Violetova (talk) 11:21, 1 October 2021 (UTC)

Reallocation request for Wikimedia CEE Online Meeting 2021

Dear VThamaini (WMF), DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), the Macedonian Wikipedia community would like to request reallocation of the amount of €3,200 from the fund for conference support to the Wikimedia CEE Online Meeting 2021 (given that Wikimania 2021 was a virtual event and all other in-person conferences were cancelled, this amount would otherwise remain unspent). A substantial portion of this amount will be used to cover the following expenses: 1) language interpretation, 2) access to conference software, and 3) memorable gifts. The number of submissions we have received for this year's conference is almost a double of the one we had last year, with many high-quality proposals submitted by many different Wikimedia affiliates, community members and external parties. In order to accommodate the higher number of sessions, we will have to introduce a parallel track, which increases the expenses for language interpretation and Zoom licences. Wikimedia Austria has already allocated finds to cover the expenses for language interpretation of the sessions in the main track, so this reallocation aims to pay for the excess number of hours that will be required as a result of the newly introduced track. Additionally, we plan to produce small branded gifts that will be given to organisers, speakers, safety team members and other people who help organise this year's conference. Thanks.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 11:26, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

@Kiril Simeonovski: Hi Kiril, thanks for this request to support language interpretation, conference software, and gifts for the conference. This request is approved. When you are able, can I ask how your organization(s) is/are reallocating funding from your current budget to support this change? Also, these kinds expenses can generally be supported through the Conference & Event Fund, so just want to encourage you to apply for more specific funding there in the future, even for remote/virtual conferences. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:56, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): Hi Chris, as members of the organising committee, we decided to look for potential funding from our affiliates through reallocation and not overburden the WMF with a new grant request when it became clear that our affiliates will have unspent amounts because of the extended effect of the pandemic.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 21:36, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

Reallocation request for WikiStreet (Wiki Village)

Dear Colleagues DSaroyan (WMF) and I JethroBT (WMF), Shared Knowledge wants to request a reallocation of funds from the Office maintenance item (unforeseen costs), in the amount of 200 euros, for the Wikistreet project, renamed as Wiki Village. The reason for the reallocation is that the costs have become higher after the analysis made with the external stakeholder related to the installation of the QR plates, visited by the members or employees of Shared Knowledge and that it is a place 100 km away from the capital. (Иван Ж (talk) 11:55, 20 October 2021 (UTC))

@Иван Ж: Thanks for this request to support the Wiki Village activities. This request is approved. I also wanted to briefly update you on a decision about future funding in the General Support Fund, which is that funding in this program will be unrestricted, which means that you will not need to obtain approval from Foundation staff to reallocate your budget in this manner as we are doing now. We'll provide more information about these changes later during this transition. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:37, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

I JethroBT (WMF) Thank you for your approval and information, looking forward to getting more info about these changes. (Иван Ж (talk) 15:31, 21 October 2021 (UTC))

Reallocation request for Unforeseen

Dear, I JethroBT (WMF). We, GLAM Macedonia, would like to request a reallocation of unforeseen costs in amount of 800 Euro from our current budget. We need a reallocation of the funds for covering logistics for GLAM activities and covering office supplies and IT accessories/ consumables costs.MacedonianBoy (talk) 12:53, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

@MacedonianBoy: Thanks, this reallocation is approved! I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:19, 10 December 2021 (UTC)