Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Community Brazilian Group of Education and Research/2016

Bridge funding to sustain Wiki Loves Earth during the application period

While eligibility is being evaluated, we have agreed to provide Wikimedia Community Brazilian Group of Education and Research with bridge funding for prizes and facebook ads for the annual Wiki Loves Earth Brazil competition. This competition requires coordination with the global wiki loves earth efforts, and so delaying it until the full grant request can be approved will not be possible. Based on the achievements of the user group in the last competition, as documented in the final report, we would like to see the contest continue this year. The total amount of bridge funding will be $3,200 and the duration of the grant will be 1 May to 1 June 2016. The reporting for this bridge grant will be included as part of the Simple APG report, if a grant is approved. The grantee has agreed to provide SMART objectives for the contest here (including goals for content and participation) as a condition of receiving this funding. Sincerely, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:27, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Noting here that there is still a compliance issue with outstanding bank statements that need to be reviewed. We won't be able to send any bridge funding until that issue is resolved. Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 00:47, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Bank statements received by fax today and sent to WMF with comments and all information connected to the grant reports and receipts sent. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 15:54, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Many thanks, we have received them and will need to review them before sending any funds. Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:15, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Bank statements approved. See official grant approval here.

WLE Bridge Grant

SMART objectives

The Wiki Loves Earth project will result in high quality content(photos and videos) uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, and will attract new contributors to the Wikimedia projects.

From May to July the campaign system will be open for photos and videos uploading. During that year we will be doing an experiment including videos in that competition, trying to motivate video-makers to upload high quality videos to help illustrate and improve Wikipedia articles.

Measures of success

The success of the project will be measured through the following measures:

• at least 1000 participants uploading one photograph/video or more;
• at least 6,000 photos uploaded;
• at least 100 videos uploaded;
• at least 10% of photos used on Wikipedia;
• at least 60% of new users engagement during the contest;
• at least 10 new articles about natural heritage sites in Brasil;
• at least 10 high quality videos regarding natural heritage sites in Brasil;

@Wolliff: check if the objectives and measures of success are ok. Best regards Rodrigo Padula (talk) PS: If possible, we would like to request extra USD200,00 to promote/organize presencial meetings/edit-a-thons to guarantee the photos usage, articles improvement and monuments lists during the contest. Since the contest will be open for submission from May/June and we will need 10-15 days for picture evaluation/judgement and plus some days to contact the winners and provide the payments, it's important to have a grant time frame from may-july. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 21:35, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

These SMART objectives look good. Please hold off on announcing the contest, though, until we can resolve the issue with your backlog of bank statements. We won't be able to approve disbursing any additional funds until those are reviewed and approved, and given the number of statements that may take some time. Can you tell me what the 200 US dollars will be used for? Thanks! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 00:46, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, the bank statements was received and sent to WMF for evaluation. The 200 US is for food/beverage for our off-line activities to improve the pictures usage and contest pages, including marketing and contest planning and final resulst evaluation. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 15:57, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Hello, Rodrigo! Thanks for these additional details. We are going to cap bridge funding at $3200 for facebook ads and prizes, and not include additional funding for events. We want to keep the amount of the bridge funding low and the expenses simple and easy to track, since this amount is not scrutinized by committee and because expenses and bank statements will need to be reviewed by me personally in order to make sending the funding possible. I hope we can make the contest work this way anyway. Best, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:19, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Great!! I will move forward with our planning and the WLE campaign will be published on-line during the next Saturday. Thanks for your support. I will try to organize the local meetings using my own resources to move forward with that important project for our community and user group. The WLE will be running from 7 May to 30 June with the winners announced in July, so we will need to have the grant period from May-August Rodrigo Padula (talk)

Eligibility

Hello, Wikimedia Community Brazilian Group of Education and Research colleagues:

Thank you for submitting your request for an application on 17 February. After reviewing your past grants and working with you to get your required documentation for these grants submitted, we've determined that you are eligible to apply for a Simple Process Annual Plan Grant for $21,000 for a period of 6 months. We appreciate your work to prepare your application and your engagement in the application process so far!

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

Your user group has been receiving grants from the Wikimedia Foundation since 2014:

• Wiki Loves Monuments Brasil 2015
• Wiki Loves Earth Brasil 2015

In addition to your successful online contests, you have been pursuing several projects not funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, in Rio and beyond, including:

• Arariwiki, a partnership with the local government in Niterói including trainings and edit-a-thons.
• Lectures, talks, and workshops at conferences and other venues throughout Brazil
• Several edit-a-thons, including events for international women’s day and a recent event on a hacker boat in the north of Brazil
• Annual user group meetings, including a Wikipedia 15 event

The user group was recognized in April 2015, and aims to develop more Wikimedia-related work in Brazil, with a focus on Rio, where the group is headquartered. Specifically, the group aims “to support the participation of teachers, researchers and employees of several national institutions that participate in the Education Program of Wikimedia in Brazil, aiming to integrate the academic community to the Wikimedia movement, creating a more friendly and responsive environment for the development of projects, research, contests, events and other activities.” Another user group also exists in Brazil, the Wikimedia Community User Group Brasil. The idea of having a national chapter or user group has been controversial in the Brazilian communities, as has the idea of having significant funding for Wikimedia programs in Brazil. This community dynamic has been significantly affected by the Wikimedia Foundation’s interventions in Brazil in 2011 as part of the Brazil Catalyst program, which included a team of paid staff on the ground in Brazil, and subsequent large grant to Ação Educativa. As a result, we have asked the applicant to provide extensive documentation of community discussion for each of its programs along with the other information requested in the application form. We will want to continuously monitor community engagement over the course of this grant.

Despite good impact from past grants, we have some concerns related to compliance with past grants. This is a special challenge considering the difficult regulatory environment in Brazil, which prevents the user group from establishing a joint bank account and requires additional review of bank statements by the WMF or other group members. Required bank statements were not submitted on time, which created significant delays in determining eligibility for this grant. In the past, grant funds were also spent prior to approval, which raises some concerns around management of grant funds.

Due to past issues around compliance, we have requested that the applicant significantly lower the original grant amount and staff request. We have encouraged the applicant to apply for a 6-month grant to establish a better track record with respect to compliance, and to give the grantee time to gain more community involvement in program work. The grantee will likely apply for a 12-month grant for 2017 this November. Due to past compliance issues and regulatory challenges, any grant approved by the committee will be subject to approval by the Wikimedia finance team, who will determine whether or not it is possible to send the funds granted.

The user group is requesting funding for a part-time work on its programs, and the primary contact for this application (Rodrigo Padula) is likely to apply for one of these contract positions. Since the user group is not a formal organization and cannot establish its own bank account with multiple signatories, a fiscal sponsor or an alternative payment arrangement may be needed to pay both contractors and make other expenses. If contractor expenses are improved, a mechanism for contractor performance and management will have to be put in place. This grant is likely to require additional oversight by the Wikimedia Foundation if any expenses for contractors are approved.

Success of this grant will also require increased engagement from other members of the user group, which will be essential to achieve in the coming months.

Best regards, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 13:53, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

Some questions from WMF staff about your detailed budget, as it relates to your program plan

Hello, Rodrigo!

Thanks for the work you've done on this detailed budget. I have a few questions here, to help the committee better understand your budget in the context of your program plan.

• You have budgeted US$700 for printing brochures. Can you please explain (1) how many brochures you will be printing; (2) what the purpose of the brochures will be; and (3) why you believe printing these brochures will lead to more impact.
  • During the Brazilian Catalyst Program many potential partners, teachers and students requested printed content to help in edit-a-thons, training and classes. This kind of resource is very important here since great part of them don't like to study or learn just using on-line documentation. The catalyst program, supported by WMF produced many materials, but it was finished only after the end of the contract with Ação Educativa/WMF, so the production and distribution was very complicated. Our idea is to reprint some copies and produce new brochures about GLAM, Education and commons/photo contest. Based on past printings the value estimated is US$0,70 per unit, printing near 1.000 brochures. Detailed and focused brochures are very important to generate impact, mainly in off-line activities based on our past experiences.Rodrigo Padula (talk)
    • 1,000 brochures seems like a lot! How will you be distributing them and to whom? How will you know if the brochures are useful? Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • During the last 6 months I distributed something like 600 brochures in our edit-a-thons, trainings, events and inside local universities to teachers and students. Including the other members of our group for sure we distributed more than 1400 copies of 4 different brochures that were produced by Ação Educativa/Catalyst program after the end of the contract with WMF. My plan is to print and produce mode brochures during the next semester to share with our members and partners. Brochures helped us a lot during training and edit-a-thons and to promote the wikimedia projects and initiatives. We cant only share links all the time. People like to have something in hands. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 20:40, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• You have requested US$600 for coffee breaks for 6 meetings. That works out to US$100 per meeting. Can you give an idea of how many people you expect to attend each meeting, so we have a better sense of what that cost is covering?
  • Our plan is to organize at least 1 meeting by month(more than one when necessary). We are planning meetings for Saturdays from 9:00AM - 18:00 PM including coffee, meals and beverage for 10-15 people. Rodrigo Padula (talk)
    • This works out to about US$7-10 per person for each meeting, so knowing that meals are included for an all day meeting makes more sense! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • Yes, our plan is to organize entire day meetings/user group activities, that's why I'm requesting grant for food and beverage. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 20:40, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
• You have included contract expenses for a web designed in the total amount of US$1500 for two programs (US$1000 for two contests and US$500 for the education program). Can you offer more details about the work that designer will be doing? For example, how many hours will they spend and what will they be producing, how will this investment in design work lead to increased impact.
  • Following your recommendation we removed that staff position to reduce the staff time/expenses. Discussing it with our group we decided to reduce the amount of grants of some programs to have a person to help with webdesign/design activities just in some projects, like we did for WLE and WLM in 2015. During that projects will be very important to generate images to publish on the wiki, social networks and our website. Good design is crucial to increase impact and better promotion of our content and the promotion of our contests and programs. We are proposing to develop brochures and online material, so the designer help in that activities will be very important. During the last years we did many paid adds on facebook and posts on social network. Good images always generate more clicks, shares and direct results than pure textual posts. We started a new project inside pt.wiki called Graphic Studio, to identify potential contributors and needs. We noted that the number of contributors with that skills is very limited, so will be important to have paid people to help us during that grant, mainly for projects like WLE , WLM and WLTO where we have an international defined schedule and we cant wait by external/internal contributions. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 15:38, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
    • Thanks! Can you provide some details about exactly what they will produce for each project, how many hours they will spend, and the rate per hour? Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • Social network pictures, hot site pictures, A3 and A4 flyers, banners, contest certificates, brochures illustration. I planned a dedication of 40 hours(12,50/hour) in each project/program.Rodrigo Padula (talk)
• Please provide some details for how you will select the GLAM fellow, budgeted at US$600 for three months. I couldn't find any details about the GLAM fellowship currently in the application, so it might also be good to explain why this is an important part of your GLAM work.
  • OpenGLAM is a new possibility for the local organizations. Creative Commons Brasil started to promote that "new" word to Brazilian institutions mainly this year and many organizations are starting to discuss OpenGLAM projects. We are developing the first brazilian GLAM project in partnership with Creative Commons Brasil and Immigration Museum - São Paulo. Since we don't have experience in that field and we have a small number of contributors interested in that area, will be important to develop training and GLAM documentation for current and new partners. Though that new glam project we are starting new contacts with 2 universities, one from São Paulo and another from Rio de Janeiro. We are in touch with museology and librarianship teachers to discuss new projects and cooperations. So, our plan is to training and select GLAM fellows from that institutions from Rio/São Paulo. We are creating a GLAM work group inside our user group to move forward with that projects and initiatives. That GLAM fellow will support local institutions and the GLAM work group to organize, produce and upload content, including GLAM brochures, guides and etc Rodrigo Padula (talk)
    • Thanks for the additional details. I think it will be important not to stretch your work too far beyond Rio at this stage, since taking on work in additional geographies will be complicated, expensive, and time-consuming and your group has limited resources. The formation of a GLAM working group sounds like a great idea. I still have some questions about this budget item.
      1. I am not sure I fully understand the role of the GLAM fellow yet. Can you tell us more about what you mean by "producing and uploading content"? Do you specifically mean content about the GLAM program (e.g. documentation, training guides)? This is an important distinction since we can't pay somebody to make content contributions to any of the Wikimedia projects.
      2. Can you tell us a bit more about the role of the GLAM fellow's role? How is this distinct from an additional staff position for GLAM? How many hours will this person work over the course of three months? Who will supervise the GLAM fellow's work?
      3. Can you explain how the GLAM fellow will be selected?
    • Thanks for the additional details in this area. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • The GLAM fellow will be responsible to help the GLAM partner to select and organize the content to be loaded in the wikimedia projects, help in the content upload process, organize and categorize the content uploaded, document and create guides about the entire process, report and provide information about the status of the partnership to our group. The GLAM fellow will me managed by the program manager and supervised locally by the GLAM partner. We are in touch with 2 universities to provide trainning for students, the idea is to select a GLAM fellow between the trained students. The selection process will be through interview and conversations during the trainings. We will try to keep it simple and transparent as possible. The scope of the job will be limited to the GLAM partnership in progress, that is why it is not a staff person compromised with the entire process and GLAM activities in other potential institutions Rodrigo Padula (talk)
• Please explain the purpose of the three staff trips budgeted at US$726 total.
  • We are invited frequently to attend many open knowledge and educational events. Last year I gave talks in 6 events/meetings, great part was supported by the organizers, other expenses was covered by me and some ones was added as part of our PEGs. So, it's important to go to important conferences to share our projects and get more external support. The Brazilian community don't organize/participate in off-line activities regularly like in other countries, that is why I added that request as part of our grant request.Rodrigo Padula (talk)
    • I think it would make more sense to keep the work focused in Rio as we discussed, rather than fund travel to do outreach in other regions. I recommend cutting this line item, since it doesn't seem tied closely enough with the specific program work you are proposing. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • Our planning and activities will be organized and focused on our user group members at Rio, but since we don't have any other active group spreading or working in Wikimedia projects around the country we are always invited and called to join events to talk about Wikimedia activities and programs. WLE, WLM and WLTO and etc are more general projects covering the entire country it's not focused on Rio, that's why we decided to keep that grant item. Rodrigo Padula (talk)
• Please explain the purpose the two non-staff trips budgeted at US$174 total.
  • I included that grant to allow the invitation of community or user group members from other cities/states to come to Rio de Janeiro(by bus) for meetings or local events. Pedro Napolitano that signed the User Group recognition with me is from São Paulo, it's important to have him around for some decisions and meetings by example.Rodrigo Padula (talk)
    • That makes sense, if the number of trips is limited. You may need Pedro to be more involved if he is the other signatory on the grant agreement. What does the $174 include besides bus fare? I can understand if you are including some other travel expenses, but I think it would be good to note that here for reasons of transparency. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
      • That grant item includes just his bus trips. Normally I personally cover other expenses and he stays in my home, like we did for Wikipedia 15 event and meetings here. Rodrigo Padula (talk)

Thanks for your attention! The committee is meeting to discuss your proposal tomorrow, and so they may post some further questions then.

Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 06:27, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Additional funding or in-kind support during the grant period

Hello, Rodrigo!

Can you please let us know if you are expecting additional funding from another source or in-kind support (e.g. donations of services or items that are not cash) to support your work during the grant period?

Thank you, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 06:38, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Yes, for our group is very important to develop local partnerships and move forward with local funding. Since we are just an user group, we are not a registered organization, we have some barriers to collect and manage funding in cash(same challenges that we have to receive money from WMF + Brazilian regulations). So we are investing some time to get local support in other ways like free venues for meetings and events, printing discounts, support for contest's prizes, support to attend events and conferences. By example, for WLE Brasil 2016 we got support from 2 local companies that will provide additional prizes for our contest (one photo contract for the winner and 3 large printed photos+frames for the top 3 photographers). Since we did many cuts on the original SAPG proposal, will be very important to get local support to increase our impact Rodrigo Padula (talk) 13:41, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Please review the global metrics worksheet

Hi, Rodrigo:

Before we make a decision about the application, can you please review the information I've added to the global metrics worksheet here. I added the targets available in your application, but it's possible I missed some numbers that weren't included. I should have added this at the start of your application, so apologies for the omission.

Many thanks! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 08:43, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Done Global meetrics worksheet updated! Rodrigo Padula (talk) 18:11, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

User group renewal

We received good news today, our 2015 year report was evaluated and approved by AffCom and our group was renewed for more one year following all Wikimedia movement requirements and recommendations. Rodrigo Padula (talk) 00:45, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

Committee Recommendations

Committee recommendations

Funding recommendations: The Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee recommends that the Wikimedia Community Brazilian Group of Education and Research receive a grant of $20,274 for a period of 6 months (corresponding to full funding without the full budget for travel) for their 2016-2017 annual plan. We appreciate that this group has a good track record of achieving results through its photo competitions and plans to continue work in this area, as well as to begin work engaging partners in GLAM and education and recognizing key contributors. The committee believes that travel expenses may be an impactful use of program funds, but only if they are tied to clear program-related goals, and for this reason is reducing the total amount funded by the amount budgeted to cover staff travel outside of Rio de Janeiro to do general outreach work. While the committee is recommending significant funding for this proposal, it has some serious concerns which are outlined in detail below. Over the next six months, the committee expects the group to show that more volunteers are involved in leadership roles in the user group, and that the group is not dependent only on paid contract work. The committee also expects that the group will improve its track record with respect to financial reporting and compliance, including submitting all required reports and documents on time, in order to remain eligible for funding. Finally, the committee recommends that the group focus on prioritizing program work and finding a way of involving the community in its decisions in a more formal way (e.g. through a steering committee).

Strengths identified by the committee: Organizational effectiveness The applicant has done a good job of identifying potential risks and weaknesses and addressing those in the application. The applicant has linked to detailed community discussions about each program. The user group is led by an experienced leader who has good knowledge of these programs and is highly motivated to do the work proposed. Program effectiveness Wiki Loves initiatives have shown excellent results in the past, and the user group is building on this past success in the current plan. The applicant is making a deliberate effort to reach out to potential partners in the GLAM and education sectors. The Recognition program is an interesting idea with good potential. We encourage the applicant to document the program and share learnings with others. The applicant is taking advantage of time-sensitive opportunities, such as work on content about the Olympics.

Concerns identified by the committee: Organizational effectiveness This user group and plan relies on one person, creating the risk for a single point of failure, and raising questions about effective long-term community engagement. Since this group is an informal group, there is no governing body accountable for defining roles, managing contractors, or financial reporting. More generally, the lack of volunteers in leadership roles is a concern as this group begins to request more funding and funding for contractors. The committee would like to see volunteer leadership growing before investing further in paid contract work. It may be a good idea to set up an informal governing body, such as a steering committee of volunteers, to better manage the group’s priorities and responsibilities. While significant funding is requested for the project manager position, it is not well-defined in the job description. The committee recommends refining this job description. This user group has had a difficult relationship with some community members and other groups in the past, which could be a barrier to its work with the community. Financial reporting has been a problem in the past, and resources for this are not clearly allocated in the proposed plan. Program effectiveness While there are many good opportunities for program work in Brazil, the group will need to work on prioritizing program work in the future. This prioritization process should involve multiple stakeholders from the community.

For the Simple Annual Plan Grant Committee Sydney Poore/FloNight (talk) 15:13, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

WMF Approval

Decision from WMF

Funding decision: Thank you to Rodrigo and the WCBGER team for your work on this application. We approve the committee’s recommended amount of $20,274 for a six-month period from 1 July to 31 December 2016. Since this user group is not able to establish its own bank account, we require as a condition of funding that the user group submit bank statements monthly for WMF’s finance team to review, and have those statements reviewed by at least one other designated member of the user group in addition to the bank account holder. We will also require a month-by-month spending plan to be submitted by the 1st of each month of the grant period. It will be important for the user group to remain fully in compliance with its grant agreement over the course of the grant, in order to improve its compliance track record. As noted by the committee, increased participation from more members of the user group should be demonstrated in the grant period. Thank you for your engagement throughout the review period, and thanks also to the committee for their fine work on this recommendation. This has been a complex and challenging request to consider in several ways. We look forward to the results of your grant and are excited to support your activities in Brazil. Congratulations! -- MJue (WMF) (talk) 16:40, 21 June 2016 (UTC), on behalf of Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer)

Extension granted for midpoint report, until 21 October

We have approved an extension for the due date of this report until 21 October. This is to give the group time to complete the report after I added the midpoint reporting fields to the form, since I neglected to do this in advance of the deadline ;) Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 17:07, 18 October 2016 (UTC)