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[Florence Devouard]

Waerth wrote:
> Erik Moeller wrote:
>>  We want to pursue grants that help our projects &
>> our mission. 
> This is actually the one point that I am disappointed in. For years (I 
> have been with the projects since 2003) there has been talk about 
> grants. Yet apart from a few rare and between cases nothing seems to 
> have been done. Now I know talk is easy as I am standing on the 
> sideline. But I really feel that the foundation should either look at 
> grants seriously or not spend money on keeping on trying! Currently I 
> feel that it is looked at half-half and someone pulls the word grant out 
> if the closet every now and then when it is needed. I really hope the 
> foundation does something one way or the other ... be serious about it, 
> or do not spend money on it.
> 
> Waerth

Yup.
Let us be realistic a moment here Waerth.

Very few volunteers are willing to write grants themselves. It is tough 
work. It takes time. It is better to be a professional in that area if 
you want your grant to be accepted. It is just not something you do on 
sunday morning between 8 am and 9 am.

So, the WMF intends to hire a couple of professionals to precisely take 
care of such things. Help writing grants. Help organizing fundraising. 
Help do a little bit of business to collect funds. Hiring means "need 
money". Hence the current fundraising.

Currently, the WMF is not applying for ANY grant (no, there is no half 
and half) because we do not have the human resources to do so.

If you are interested in a job, please apply: 
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings

If you are interested in applying grants for free (entirely writing it, 
not merely giving an idea of what would really be cool to do), please 
contact us with a completed proposition.

Thanks

Ant