Dear FDC Advisory Group,
Greetings from San Francisco! It has been a very busy past few months for
us here as FDC support staff, and I am glad to share the progress of the
FDC with you. A quick recap of the second round of recommendations: the FDC
met in Milan in late April; after extensive analysis and intense
deliberations, they recommended that two of the four submitted proposals be
funded. Their recommendations were followed by an official complaint and
appeal which were handled by the Board Representatives and Ombudsperson
respectively. The Board published their decision about the FDC's
recommendations and endorsed the recommendations in full.[1]
In the meantime, and over the next few months, we are learning from this
year's experience and using the feedback to improve our systems and
procedures. In addition, we are planning for Round 1 in the fall by
instituting a new Letter of Intent process and having conversations with
interested applicants. We have received 17 Letters of Intent. In addition,
with the FDC community elections, we have two new members on the FDC (which
brings the FDC up to its final size of 9 members). The Ombudsperson was
also re-elected for her second term.[2] Finally, we've been delighted to
welcome a new staff member - Katy Love, the Senior Program Officer for the
FDC - and she's had an exciting onboarding with the second round of the
FDC, after joining us in January. :-)
As you will remember, the Advisory Group was scheduled to review the
progress of the FDC both in its inaugural year and finally, to re-convene
in March 2014 to make a recommendation to the Board on the continuance of
the FDC. While the initial review was originally scheduled for March 2013,
it seemed prudent to wait till both rounds were over so that we would learn
from the whole inaugural year of the FDC. I'm glad we did so, since Round 2
tested some of our processes as Round 1 didn't, including the critical ones
of appeals to the Ombudsperson and complaints to the Board representatives.
For the overall review process, what I'd like to suggest is this: that you
offer your perspectives and insights on the inaugural year of grants, and
that we hold a face-to-face convening of the Advisory Group in *May 2014*
in order to make your final recommendation to the Board. The reason for
this is that we find it is extremely labour-intensive working on each round
of FDC proposals, and it would be helpful to meet post the FDC
deliberations for Round 2. Please let us know if you're comfortable with
moving the face-to-face meeting originally intended to be for March 2014 to
May 2014.
*Re the Advisory Group's review of Year 1:* *we'd like to suggest that a
brief report is finalised by end July (so we can present it at Wikimania),
with a draft completed by mid-July*. In order to support you in this as
best as possible, we will shortly share with you the feedback we've
gathered through
surveys conducted with FDC members, AG members, applicants and others for
both rounds. As you know, we most recently asked you to complete a survey
for Round 2, and are currently conducting some initial analysis for you.
We believe the most critical framing questions the FDC Advisory Group can
support the FDC and the movement in answering are:
* Is the FDC proceeding in the right direction for the movement, both in
terms of process as well as building up learning around impact?
* Are there critical challenges or gaps that the FDC should be mindful
about for the coming year?
You may well feel there are other key issues that need addressing, of
course. We felt that after we share with you all the feedback, it would be
useful to do a call with you that will help you all in discussing the
inaugural year. The notes from this call can form the basis for your
report. Would this be the best way to proceed? If so, *i**t would be very
helpful if 2-3 of you would volunteer to design the agenda for this call
with Katy and me, so that it is most useful to all of you**.* Please let
Katy and me know if you'd be interested in helping us with this. Katy will
then also follow up to schedule the call with the entire FDC Advisory
Group.
It's been a tremendous pleasure and privilege to work with the FDC members
over the last year, and I've been inspired by the level of commitment and
integrity they bring to this process. As someone who joined WMF after the
creation of the FDC Framework, I've also been hugely impressed with the
thoughtfulness of design in the FDC process itself: so thank you all for
the wisdom and insight that you brought to its creation! We have now tested
most if not all of the FDC systems and believe we have come out stronger
because of it. The experiences have not always been easy, but I believe we
are learning from them and improving as we go. We look forward to
continuing to improve and refine the process with your support and
suggestions.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to me should you have any questions
about the Advisory Group or the FDC process itself. I look forward to
speaking with you all. Katy will be in touch with more information very
shortly.
Warmly,
Anasuya
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Board_decisions/2012-2013_round2
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2013/Results
--
***Anasuya Sengupta
Senior Director of Grantmaking
Wikimedia Foundation*
*
*
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Funds Distribution Comittee (FDC) Advisory Group (AG) teleconference of
11 July 2013
The group met to review the FDC process to date; the FDC AG members
present were Richard, Osmar, Pavel, Kathy, Jan-Bart. Wikimedia
Foundation (WMF) FDC staff present were Katy, Winifred, Anasuya. An
etherpad summary of the discussion is at [1].
The FDC Year 1 Process Review, 2012-13 [2] formed the basis of the
discussion and the group felt the survey covered the current state of
the FDC effort correctly. There was universal agreement regarding
communication between applicants and foundation staff - that this is the
most challenging aspect of the relationship; new and inexperienced
entities have a difficult time meeting the requirements and
communication is the solution. Steering smaller (possibly less mature)
entities to simpler grant possibilities may be part of the solution.
The group agreed we were making good progress using the 'framework' [3].
The 2014 review scheduled for March will be delayed to May to better
fit the FDC staff workload.
1. http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/bUK9d3SRUd
2.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuous_improveme…
3.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_…