Allow me to throw in some perspective here, since I think I stand somewhere between midway and the opposite end of the spectrum vis-à-vis this discussion.
> Wiadomość napisana przez Romaine Wiki <romaine.w...@gmail.com> w dniu 4 sty > 2015, o godz. 05:21: > > Hi Ilario, > > As said before, that certain grant requests are submitted late, it doesn't > mean it is a good idea. > > I was also not speaking about WLM organizers alone, but about all > organizers in general. > Shutting down the grantmaking for them is highly demotivating. Also when it > does not effect them directly. Wikimedia Philippines is still planning its 2015 annual plan, so for us, we don’t have a lot to lose from grantmaking opportunities lost due to the Grantmaking team’s focus on the gender gap. And while I disagree with the method by which it was done—that we were only informed three weeks in advance—I’m inclined to believe that this makes affiliates more innovative with their programs. If it means securing funding through doing programs that address the gender gap, then so be it if means expanding our skill set and helping woman participation in the process. In addition, we’re exaggerating the impact of the gender gap focus here: note that Alex’s announcement said that they will focus on other grants either before February 1 or after April 30. Them not accepting requests during that window need not mean that you can’t have a grant request already sitting pretty on Meta waiting for consideration; I think they were wrong in wording it, but I’m disinclined to believe that they will simply shoot requests down just because it fell during that window. > It is effectively shutting down all projects that should start or are to be > started in these three months. The Grants page says > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start : "Supporting mission-allied > people and organizations around the world." > This is not supporting, but demotivating, demolishing, discouraging, and > frustrating the organizing volunteers. > > Shutting down the grantmaking gives a strong negative signal to every > organiser. "Your project is not important enough for the movement", that is > what this campaign says. I disagree. There’s nothing in the grant process that prevents you from keeping the proposal as a draft until the window lapses, and projects need not be derailed just because funding can’t be secured between February 1 and April 30. While I agree that it’s a big inconvenience for affiliates to see their calendars pushed back because they can’t get funding, I am also disinclined to believe that the signal this sends is as strong as you think it is. I’ve organized projects for WMPH, and ultimately since we’re dependent on the Foundation for our funding, we’ve had to find ways to meet halfway with respect to when projects ought to be implemented. For me, so long as the project is implemented, that’s fine with me regardless of when the project was implemented. The important thing here is that we’re forwarding the movement nonetheless. Thanks, Josh JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM Bachelor of Arts in Political Science Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com <mailto:jamesjoshua...@yahoo.com> | +63 (915) 321-7582 Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor http://about.me/josh.lim <http://about.me/josh.lim> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
