Organizational effectiveness/Learning center
This learning center can accompany the Wikimedia Organizational Effectiveness Questionnaire and User Guide, or it can be used independently of those tools.
Introduction
This Learning Center accompanies the Organizational Effectiveness Questionnaire and User Guide. We recommend that organizations consider using the Questionnaire and User Guide to narrow their focus on the capacity building areas most relevant to their organizations. This Learning Center is a tool that can be built by Wikimedia Organizations over time.
These pages include capacity building recommendations and links to resources around the different strategies Wikimedia Organizations use to be effective. This Learning Center is a living document. We have provided some basic resources here, and we hope that Wikimedia Organizations will change and add to these resources over time, to build a repository of organizational effectiveness knowledge specific to the strengths and challenges of the organizations working in the Wikimedia movement. These initial recommendations are drawn from the TCC Group’s experience and knowledge working with many different types of organizations, and from research conducted to get to know the needs of Wikimedia Organizations specifically.
This Learning Center is a companion to the organizational effectiveness Questionnaire and User Guide, which are intended to be a tool to support Wikimedia Organizations in assessing their organizational strengths and capacity building challenges, and to apply this knowledge to creating a capacity building plan to focus on key areas they want to strengthen. Given the scope of this tool, which includes many strategies, we highly recommend that Wikimedia organizations consider using the Questionnaire and User Guide to focus on a few key areas at one time. Of course, this Learning Center can still be used by anyone interested in these topics.
The strategies in this Learning Center correlate with those in the Questionnaire. For each strategy we have included a brief list of concrete recommendations organizations may consider implementing, depending on their contexts. We realize that organizations are working in many different contexts and that, due to the location and expertise of the people developing this initial tool, recommendations may not be equally valid in all contexts. For each strategy, we have also included a place for organizations with strengths in that area to identify themselves in order to share skills with other organizations. In addition to this, we have included links to relevant learning patterns and links to community and external resources that we hope to build over time.
If your organization needs more support in implementing these recommendations and is willing to share your capacity building plans with the Wikimedia Foundation, we encourage you to reach out to <orgeffectiveness at wikimedia dot org>.
This Learning Center is not exhaustive. There may be important recommendations, or entire key strategies that are not yet included. Users of this Learning Center and the accompanying OE Questionnaire and User Guide, can improve them over time.
Specific strategies
Core strategies needed by all Wikimedia organizations:
- Volunteer engagement
- Being inclusive of people with diverse backgrounds
- Working with online contributors to build communities
- Learning and sharing
- Resource mobilization
Program strategies used by some Wikimedia organizations:
- Supporting online contributors with resources
- Advocacy work or outreach to policymakers
- Online contests with a focus on content or participation
- Workshops, edit-a-thons, and outreach events
- Partnerships (including GLAM, Wikimedia collaborations, education)
- Software development and technology work
Organization strategies used by many Wikimedia Organizations:
General organizational effectiveness resources (not specific to a strategy)
- Tools for transformation
- Packard Foundation's organizational effectiveness Wiki
- A list of other organizational assessment tools
- Effective capacity building for nonprofit organizations (McKinsey report)
Suggestions for strategies not yet included here!
- Please add your suggestions....
- Strategic communications and reporting
- Capacity-building for committees
- Board engagement
- Recommendations / tools for organizations just getting started: Advice from Idealist about starting a nonprofit organization, Affiliations Committee