Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedians of the Levant/2020

simple APG Committee recommendation

We recommend that Wikimedians of the Levant receive 12,490 USD for one year. We recognize that the group has been making measurable strides in the MENA region and we are excited to support their work through this SAPG. One area we want to see the group explore through their reports and subsequent applications is how to bring the disparate activities they have presented in their Annual Plan for a strategic focus for their community. We are happy to see the capacity building component of their plan but would have liked to see more details about what capacity building will look like, and what exact purpose it will serve. We are really happy to see that there is thinking around Community Health and are looking forward to reading about the results and how other affiliates can learn from these experiences.

For the committee, Rohini (talk) 03:42, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you so much for this invaluable feedback. I do understand that our application can use more coherent planning: given it's our first ever APG, it was a bit hard to re-fit our usual set of independent Rapid Grants into a single, interconnected plan of activities. Although time didn't permit me to edit the application before the approval came in, I'll be working to add coherence to the Capacity Building program and add more focused goals, per your guidance. Still, I'm are really excited to see how we can best implement this plan and, hopefully, gain professional expertise as a group --Abbad (talk) 04:37, 22 March 2020 (UTC).

Wikimedians of the Levant’s grant is approved in the amount of 12,490 USD for 12 months

Congratulations! This grant is approved in the amount of 12,490 USD, with the grant term starting on April 1, 2020 and ending on March 31, 2021.

As a new applicant to the Simple Annual Plan Grants program this year, your group comes to our program having already accomplished success in a couple of different areas of programming. First your quarterly educational programs have contributed to increased participation from university students and content creation on both English and Arabic Wikipedias. Second, you’ve organized Wiki Loves Monuments competitions in four different countries in the region while exceeding your target outcome in both 2017 and 2018.

We recognize and appreciate as first year grantees that your programs are going to reflect the different activities you have been doing over the years; as the committee mentioned in their recommendation we hope you will use this first year to think about your long term goals and how these different activities contribute to that.

We commend you on your plans to not only continue the activities that have brought you much success in your programming but also looking around the movement and adding to your projects as you move forward. We were happy to read that you have a gender balance in your group and that you’re looking beyond that to see how you can reflect this representation in your content creation as well.

On March 12, 2020, the grants team shared a message from Katherine Maher, our Executive Director, regarding grant-funded programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As you know we’ve asked all grantees to cancel or postpone all offline (in-person) public events funded by WMF. We will reach out in the next few weeks to discuss what adjustments will be necessary to move forward without offline activities. We appreciate your hard work during this especially challenging time.

We are excited to welcome you into the Simple Annual Plan Grant program and look forward to working together this year. Best regards, WJifar (WMF) (talk) 00:00, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

Change in Wiki Loves Monument's budget 2020

Hello, we are canceling Wiki Loves Earth for this year, so freeing up 700 USD. We were participated in Wiki Loves Monuments for this year in November, and changed the original budget to be 1,400 USD instead of 700 USD.

Note: we did not use Wiki Loves Earth budget for the Levantine Photos Contest, and instead we have used external funding (non-Wikimedia foundation, because we ended up awarding cash prizes), so here we can use Wiki Loves Earth budget then Adding to Wiki Loves Monuments budget. and we received Approval for that. Thank You!

Best Regards براء (talk) 18:39, 26 October 2020 (UTC)

The Treasure of wikimedia Levant 2020,

@براء: Hi Barra. Thanks for this reallocation request toward Wiki Loves Monuments. This reallocation request is approved. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:02, 26 October 2020 (UTC)

Request for the additional funding to support the extension of current grant

Hello,

Here we are requesting additional funding of about $19,210 for this grant so that we can cover the expenses of our activities until the end of 2021, we desired to make the next grant along of 2022. We have prepared an integrated application for all activities in the extension period.

waiting for your approval.
Thank you for your efforts and continuous support.

Baraa,
Treasure of Wikimedia levant, براء (talk) 10:33, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

Dear Baraaبراء and Abbad,

I hope you are well together with the Wikimedians of the Levant community. After reviewing your request for additional funding and the budget the program has, we are pleased to inform you that we have approved your request in the amount of $16,000.

We hope the additional funding supports your continued programming on the change you seek with your community for the remaining part of the grant period.

Thank you and please reach out to us for any questions you may have. --VThamaini (WMF) (talk) 11:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)