Thanks Craig - Just wanted to second Chris' thoughts/questions on this. Tara
On 07/03/2013, at 1:04 PM, Chris Watkins wrote: > Thanks Craig, > > Your efforts and the efforts of others in moving this forward are much > appreciated. What can we, members and supporters, do to help? > > I don't want to make big promises (what with the cooking and the kids... > metaphorically speaking) but is it possible to chunk down the key parts of > the key projects and see where people are inspired to contribute? > > On 06/03/2013 10:25 PM, "Craig Franklin" <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear All, > > As you may be aware, Wikimedia Australia has withdrawn its application > for funding from round two of the Funds Dissemination Committee’s > (FDC) application process. John Vandenberg and Steve Zhang spoke > about this at length during our public meeting last weekend, and I > encourage you to read the transcript of the meeting below for their > thoughts on the matter: > > http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Meeting:Public_(2013-03-03)/Transcript > > This email is a summary of some of my thoughts on why we did this, and > what direction the organisation should take from here. These are my > thoughts only and not the official position of the chapter. > > The nature of the FDC’s application process is that they have two > major grantmaking rounds every year, with the most recent round > closing on March 1. It had been the intention of the management > committee to apply for annual funding for the 2013 calendar year > through this process. As March 1 came closer, it became apparent to > me and the rest of the committee that we simply weren’t going to be > ready for this date. The reasons for this were: > > * We were still in the early stages of planning the World War One WiR > programme, a major initiative of the chapter that is tentatively > budgeted at over $150,000. However, we felt that it was unlikely we > would be successful in getting funding for this initiative until we > had a more concrete idea of which institutions would be participating, > how many Wikimedians in Residence we could realistically support, and > what the overhead costs of running the program would be. > > * Other programmes that the chapter has on the table need further > detail and costing to be performed before they’re ready to go. The > outcomes of these programmes are positive, and they align with the > strategic plans of both the chapter and the Wikimedia Foundation, but > we need to get better at articulating how we’ll get from vision to > implementation, and how much money we’ll spend, and what we’ll spend > it on. > > * The FDC in the last round recommended that we establish a more > consistent record of programme success, and while we have had > successful programmes in that time (our presence at the New > Librarian’s Symposium and ALIA Information On Line events, workshops > in Toowoomba and Bendigo, and the beginning of a relationship with the > State Library of New South Wales), another six months of solid > achievement will give us a better foundation upon which to ask for > further funding. > > The other major factor in making this decision is the significant > amount of administrative overhead that is involved in preparing and > submitting an application to the FDC. As you are probably aware, > Wikimedia Australia has no paid staff, and the bulk of the work is > done by members of the management committee, whose time is taken up > with their own jobs, families, and other commitments. Our limited and > precious Wikimedia time is usually best served advancing the interests > of the community and the movement by doing the things that we are good > at – running workshops, talking to GLAMs, and bringing the community > together, rather than filling out paperwork for the Foundation. I > have observed that most if not all of the entities who have thus far > been successful in obtaining funds from the FDC have been those > entities who already have paid staff and other resources who can write > a quality application without having to worry about looking after the > kids and cooking dinner at the same time. > > My other observation would be that lodging an FDC application > effectively bars an organisation from requesting funding from the > Wikimedia Foundation through their other funding processes. I do not > see any logical reason for this; surely a request for funding ought to > be judged on its merits and positive impact on the movement, rather > than on decisions made in a separate programme by a separate body. If > we applied to the FDC and got another disappointing offer, it would > more or less preclude the chapter from being able to take advantage of > any other opportunities that presented themselves for a whole year. > Having been on the committee of management for over two years now, it > has been my experience that such opportunities often present > themselves at very short notice, and tying ourselves to an annual > funding model with no opportunity to make supplementary applications > would not be in the best interests of the movement. > > So, where to from here? At the moment, the plan is to apply for > funding on a per-project basis from the WMF Grants Program (a separate > avenue to the FDC). This will be done when the planning for each > project is ready, and has a reasonable prospect of success. I hope > that the Foundation will also be willing to come to the party and > provide meaningful technical advice on the grant applications we make > this way, not only so that we are successful in getting the > applications improved, but also to try and spot any potential flaws or > opportunities that we haven’t seen, and make sure that our programmes > are the best that they can be. > > That’s all from me for now, I’m very happy to answer any questions > that you might have on this topic. In the interests of transparency > and openness, I would prefer if these questions are asked on the > public wikimediaau-l mailing list > (https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l) rather > than the private WMAU members list, and I will provide my responses > there. > > Regards, > Craig Frankin > Treasurer – Wikimedia Australia > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaau-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaau-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
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