Hi Adam, Thanks for the question. As you've noted, we haven't put in a funding request to this round's FDC process. This has largely come about because in discussions with members of the FDC and the Foundation staff supporting the FDC, we were 'encouraged' not to apply in this round for a variety of reasons. Chief among those was a desire to see a more substantial record of evaluation, impact, and value for money in the projects that we do.
To this end, we need to reposition the chapter from an organisation that attempts large, expensive, and complex projects to an organisation that sets goals that are more modest, measurable, and achievable. This is going to require a cultural shift in the way we administer the chapter, as our previous success in participating in the fundraiser means that we have not developed the evaluation and project management mechanisms that we would have done if we'd continued to evolve without the sudden windfall injection of tens of thousands of dollars. In relation to the actual figures and numbers, I'm happy to share those. Please note that the figures I'm quoting here are only approximate, I'm sure that John Vandenberg can come and give more precise figures if they're needed. The commitment for the first round of the Paralympic project is in the realm of $25,000. This payment has not yet been made, while we continue to work with UQ and APC to determine how this will work administratively. As you've noted, this money is quarantined and locked in, subject to the necessary paperwork with UQ and APC being agreed to. At the moment, I'm expecting the actual payment will probably not occur until early in calendar year 2014 (but I might be pleasantly surprised). Kerry is handling the direct negotiation with APC and UQ and may be able to provide further context. Year two and three come to about $50k a pop, but this money is *not* guaranteed. We have been extremely upfront with everyone involved that we will only be able to fund the second and third years if we get the money from the Foundation (or from elsewhere). So at some point we're going to need to ask for this money, but not for quite some time. Obviously, we've been firm that the best way to actually guarantee that we'll get the funding is for the first year's investment to produce those measurable outcomes for the Wikimedia movement so we can make a good argument that it's a project worth investing further in. We currently have on the order of $80k in cash reserves, and if you subtract the $25k for the APC project that leaves us with about Subtract another $5k for essential running costs over the next year (financial software, office supplies, etc etc), and that leaves us with about $50k to play with. $50k is a lot of money and it should be possible to achieve a lot of impact with this, especially if we keep in mind that projects should be modest, measurable, and achievable. More generally speaking, I am wary of equating success for the chapter purely in terms of how many dollars we can squeeze out of the Foundation. Success needs to be measured in terms of our impact, whether that is the creation of new content, the recruitment of new editors, or encouraging diversity. I believe that by concentrating on smaller and simpler projects, we can have a measurable impact in those spaces within the next twelve months, without exhausting our reserve funds, which will put us in a much better position to request money for the Linkage Grant and other programmes in the future. Cheers, Craig Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2013 15:18:09 +0000 > From: Adam Jenkins <[email protected]> > To: Wikimedia-au <[email protected]> > Subject: [Wikimediaau-l] Funding query > Message-ID: > < > cabrrgoa3eyqtkpilw42asfhw0qsvnns5ri_hrhxa+25icoc...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hi! > > I was surprised to see that WMAU didn't put in an application for funding > with the FDC in the October round. As a result, we won't be getting any > funds from that route in 2013, especially as we didn't apply in the earlier > round. As near as I can figure, we currently have commitments of at least > $54k in 2014 as part of the ARC Linkage grant, along with the $29k > commitment for 2013 (which was quarantined and covered), but it seems that > meeting these commitments will drain us of remaining funds unless something > has changed with the Linkage grant or we have an alternative revenue stream > in place. > > In light of comments about the possible changes to FDC funding, where does > this leave us? Do we have sufficient funds to see us out until June, 2014, > when the next FDC round is due to be decided? > > It seems that this may be worth discussing, especially if there's anything > that we can do to get alternative revenue sources in place. > > Regards, > > Adan, >
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