Dear members of the FDC Advisory Group,
Thank you so much for your work over the last two years in setting up the
FDC Framework, and working on the review of the pilot two years of the FDC
process. I much appreciate your thoughtful recommendations.
As you know, over the last few months I’ve been learning about the work of
the movement organizations we fund through the many grantmaking programs
here at WMF. I’ve been particularly focusing on the impact analysis for the
Annual Plan Grants that was done with the first round of Impact Reports. I
expect I will learn more from you, the FDC and from our grantees in the
coming months and I will be creating opportunities to do so.
With the Board of Trustees, I’ve carefully reviewed your recommendations,
and I will be publishing my response to them on Meta in a few hours.
However, I wanted to give you a copy of this memo [1] in advance, which is
why I am sharing it with you now.
I would like to offer some time for any feedback you, the FDC, APG
organizations and other community members have on my response to the
recommendations. To that end, I’ll be holding a Google Hangout [2] on Monday
Nov 3 at 17:00 UTC. Since we are limited to 10 spots to convene a Hangout,
it will be first come, first-served. It will also be streamed [3] and
recorded so that people who are not on the hangout can ask questions via
IRC on #Wikimedia-office or message Katy (klove(a)wikimedia.org on Gchat or
KatyLove on IRC) directly.
I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Lila
[1]
https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/document/d/1PgzpKbvYpJIuU9A6z2Si5Tb…
[2] https://plus.google.com/events/cpvk7t3gm1gma466ufhvlb8s1jc
[3] http://youtu.be/J-RYwNFXBfg
Clearly intended for "all of you" .....
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fd-advisorygroup] FDC AG meeting, May 2014
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 23:57:21 -0800
From: Anasuya Sengupta <asengupta(a)wikimedia.org>
To: Katy Love <klove(a)wikimedia.org>
CC: richard(a)ames.id.au
Hi Richard,
Yes, thanks very much for asking! We are trying to finalise our next
year's schedule asap, so this is a helpful question.
As Katy said, we're trying to figure out a few key pieces, including
when the next *FDC* meeting will be held and where :-) - but I can tell
you that the FDC AG meeting is unlikely to be held before the middle of
May, given all other balls in the air. I will hopefully be able to
confirm all this by next week, so my apologies for not being as
definitive as I'd like to be.
More very soon for all of you,
Anasuya
On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 10:55 AM, Katy Love <klove(a)wikimedia.org
<mailto:klove@wikimedia.org>> wrote:
Hi Richard!
Great to hear from you. I am glad to hear you are thinking about
this right now as well. There have been a number of conversations
about this important event, but there are a few key pieces that are
being decided now that will affect the AG meeting. We hoped to have
those decided and resolved very soon so we can begin planning this
event.
Also, Anasuya is out of the office until Thursday, I believe, so she
may be delayed in responding.
More from our team soon!
Cheers,
Katy
On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 3:20 AM, Richard Ames <richard(a)ames.id.au
<mailto:richard@ames.id.au>> wrote:
Anasuya -
Congratulations on (almost) completing another round!!
Could you assign some dates to the next AG meeting??? Sue and I
are planning a holiday in April - and it would be good to know
when / if I am expected in SF.
Thanks, Richard.
On 01/07/13 15:59, Anasuya Sengupta wrote:
Dear FDC Advisory Group,
Greetings from San Francisco! It has been a very busy past
few months
<snip>
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.
<cut>
_________________________________________________
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<mailto:Fd-advisorygroup@lists.wikimedia.org>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/__mailman/listinfo/fd-__advisorygroup
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fd-advisorygroup>
--
///Anasuya Sengupta
Senior Director of Grantmaking
Wikimedia Foundation/
/
/
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
Dear FDC Advisory Group (including Pavel :-)),
Here's the message I just sent Pavel and WMDE re the recent message about
the FDC process (thanks, Richard, for flagging it to the group). As a
reminder, we are still waiting to hear from you on your availability for
the May meeting, and as you can see, it's more important than ever that we
schedule this quickly, and plan it effectively. I'm very much hoping for
enthusiastic signing up for a small sub-committee that will help me plan
and facilitate the meeting. :-)
Katy will, unfortunately, be missing this as she's on maternity leave from
March to June. But we look forward to another Wikimedia baby!
Warmly,
Anasuya
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anasuya Sengupta <asengupta(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Extensive feedback from WMDE to the FDC process
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi Pavel,
Thanks very much for the thoughtful feedback from WMDE on the FDC. We
certainly want to be (and hope we are) wiki in nature: a work in progress,
with continued room for improvement. So I think the FDC, the FDC Advisory
Group (of which you are a member, of course), the Board and the staff will
all be considering these comments as we move forward.
I want to be equally thoughtful of the fact that we already have a number
of processes in place that are part of the FDC Framework - and that the FDC
and staff have expanded upon in the past year and a half - and that are
designed to incorporate feedback of this kind. I'm also conscious that the
FDC will be in the middle of reviewing Round 2 applications in April, and
it would be difficult on them - and the applicants - if we were to do an
intensive process of consultation with all 9 members and 2 Board
representatives at the time. Most significantly, we have a meeting with the
FDC Advisory Group (FDC AG) planned, as you know, for end May, in which we
are scheduling a time to overlap with the FDC members, so that feedback in
both directions can then be incorporated into the FDC Advisory Group's
recommendations to the WMF ED and Board as per the FDC Framework.[1]
As a reminder, the FDC AG was meant to have had a meeting in March this
year, to recommend the continuance of the FDC or not. On consultation with
the AG late last year, we decided to move this meeting to May, so that it
would be at the end of two years and four rounds of the FDC, and could have
useful input from both FDC members and all participants. According to the
Framework, this counsel from the AG will then feed into the WMF ED's
recommendation to the Board, on the FDC's continued existence and its form
(due, according to the Framework, roughly in mid-August this year).
The current members of the AG are Richard Ames/Ariconte, Ting Chen (former
member of WMF Board), Jan-Bart de Vreede (WMF Board), Thomas d'Souza
Buckup/TSB, Peter Ekman/Smallbones, Sue Gardner (WMF ED), Crystal Hayling
(Philanthropy Advisor), Christophe Henner (WMFR), Kathy Reich (Packard
Foundation), Pavel Richter (WMDE), Osmar Valdebenito (WMAR) and Stu West
(WMF Board).[2] Since I replaced Barry Newstead, I will host and facilitate
this meeting as he did the original FDC Advisory Group, with support from a
small sub-committee of the AG.
I had originally planned to ask this sub-committee of the FDC AG if they
would be willing to lead an on-wiki conversation post the WM Conference
that would feed into the meeting in May, but this conversation pre-empts
that, somewhat, so here would be my suggestion for a practical and
constructive way to move forward:
* We have a full and frank conversation at the Wikimedia Conference - as we
did last year - with everyone interested, on the FDC process and
constructive suggestions for improvements. We do this with two FDC members
and staff present, and take detailed notes.
* This feedback will then be shared with the FDC Advisory Group when it
meets in May. We are planning to have the FDC members overlap with the FDC
AG for half a day so that there is collective sharing, after which the AG
will consider all the different inputs that we have collected so far:
feedback from the many F2F meetings, including site visits; the anonymised
surveys we have conducted after every round of the FDC recommendations; the
ongoing progress reports and program evaluations; and the many
on-wiki/email/phone/skype/IRC conversations we have had with each
organisation throughout the FDC process.
All of these suggestions could then usefully feed into the FDC Advisory
Group's recommendation to the WMF ED and Board, and in time for shaping the
next year of the FDC process. I'm hoping that the AG will be able to share
its recommendations publicly, soon after its meeting, which can then
continue this conversation much more constructively on-wiki.
It's worth all of us remembering that the FDC process - supporting the
annual plans of Wikimedia organisations - is ultimately meant to have
impact on our online Wikimedia projects. We are all shared stewards of
movement resources, and having the contributions and thinking of different
community members is therefore critical. I would rather not turn to
Wikimania as the only place to have this conversation however, instead
seeing it as the space at which we can perhaps present the recommendations
of the Advisory Group, and include a broader conversation about the
movement's goals and how all Wikimedia organisations can support achieving
those goals better.
I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on this, both as WMDE ED and as a member
of the FDC Advisory Group.
Warmly,
Anasuya
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FDC_Advisory_…
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Pavel Richter
<pavel.richter(a)wikimedia.de>wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I have just posted an extensive feedback from WMDE on the FDC process here
> on meta:
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Comments/Extensive_fe…
>
> The statement was drafted by WMDE's Supervisory Board and myself.
>
> We are very much looking forward to a discussion and I would like to
> encourage everybody to share their thoughts. At the same it would be great
> if we could keep the discussion on meta so that we have everything in one
> place.
>
> All the Best,
>
> Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
>
> Pavel Richter
> Vorstand
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
> Tel.: +49 - 30 - 219 158 260
> Twitter: @pavel
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
--
*Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
--
*Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
FYI, with threaded archive here:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/69918
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Extensive feedback from WMDE to the FDC process
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 17:36:47 +0100
From: Pavel Richter <pavel.richter(a)wikimedia.de>
Reply-To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello everybody,
I have just posted an extensive feedback from WMDE on the FDC process here
on meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Comments/Extensive_fe…
The statement was drafted by WMDE's Supervisory Board and myself.
We are very much looking forward to a discussion and I would like to
encourage everybody to share their thoughts. At the same it would be great
if we could keep the discussion on meta so that we have everything in one
place.
All the Best,
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Pavel Richter
Vorstand
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Tel.: +49 - 30 - 219 158 260
Twitter: @pavel
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list
Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
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*
*
*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
Hello members of the Funds Dissemination Advisory Group!
I hope this finds you well, wherever you are, enjoying a lovely weekend. I
wanted to share a draft version of the paragraphs for the FD Advisory Group
in the FDC Annual Report which should be published next week. As a base, I
used Richard's text from the summary of the call (thanks so much for
writing it up, Richard!). From there, I added more text from the minutes of
the meeting to add a bit more depth and context to share a bit more
perspective in the report.
I propose the text below as a draft for you to edit/correct/revise. I have
also put it on the top of the minutes from the etherpad. [1] *Please make
any suggestions and edits by end of day UTC Tuesday Sept 24,* so that we
can move forward with this piece completed. If you use the etherpad, it
would be ideal if you could note your initials by your comments so we can
follow up with you if we have any questions about the content created.
Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions. And thank you,
Advisory Group, for your input and feedback on this section of the report!
Warmly,
Katy Love
--
[1] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/bUK9d3SRUd
*
The Funds Dissemination Advisory Group
[[LINK]]<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FDC_Advisory_G…>plays
an important role for the first two years of the FDC’s existence. The
Advisory Group helped to develop the FDC process, and now provides guidance
and feedback to help refine the process. The Group is comprised of
interested community members, current FDC grantees, external grantmakers,
and WMF Board members. Two members of the Advisory Group joined the FDC,
and they therefore resigned from the Advisory Group.
As a whole, the Advisory Group felt that the FDC Year 1 Process Review [[
LINK<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/FDC_Process_Review%2C_2…>]]
accurately covered the current state of the FDC process. They strongly
emphasized a need for increased communication between applicants and FDC
staff. The Advisory Group noted that communication is the most challenging
aspect of the relationship, as new and inexperienced entities have a
difficult time meeting the requirements. The Advisory Group therefore
recommended that the FDC staff work more closely with applicants,
particularly the new applicants.
The Advisory Group noted concern around the fact that smaller entities
faced the same rigorous review treatment as larger entities, even when the
smaller entities were all or mostly volunteer-run. They also noted that
some entities may not be ready for annual plan grants with unrestricted
funds. They recommended to the FDC staff to help to steer smaller (possibly
less developed) entities to simpler Wikimedia grant programs, like the
Project and Events grants program.
Another concern is the lack of overall community involvement. One member
noted that only the applicants seemed to be paying significant attention to
the process.
The Advisory Group noted many positive aspects of the FDC. First, they feel
that the FDC Framework has been useful and well utilized as a foundational
document for the process. In addition, they were impressed with the
thoughtfulness of the FDC’s work and decisions. Furthermore, despite a
range of personalities, all viewpoints were respected and recommendations
are agreed jointly. Finally, they were also impressed with the maturity of
the applicants from the first round, including those that were rejected
from funding. *
On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 3:24 PM, Katy Love <klove(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Hello again FD Advisory Group,
>
> It was wonderful to speak with you all last week and hear your
> perspectives on the progress of the FDC. Thank you, again, to Richard, for
> both co-facilitating the call and for providing a good summary of the
> meeting, too.
>
> At this point, as mentioned before, we'd like to suggest that the Advisory
> Group share some perspective on the first year of the FDC's existence
> through some brief inputs for the annual FDC report.
>
> Would one of you be willing to take what Richard has started with the
> meeting summary and turn it into a few paragraphs for the AG's input to the
> FDC report? Anasuya posed two questions that could be a useful starting
> point for your reflection:
> * 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?
>
> Kindly let me know if one of you is able and interested to lead this
> effort. We are hoping to have a few paragraphs in the next few days to get
> input from the other AG members to then include in the FDC Annual Report.
> Of course, Anasuya and I would be happy to support you.
>
> Many thanks!
>
> Katy
>
> On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 9:45 AM, Pavel Richter <pavel.richter(a)wikimedia.de
> > wrote:
>
>> +1
>>
>>
>>
>> Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
>>
>> Pavel Richter
>> Vorstand
>>
>> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
>> Tel.: +49 - 30 - 219 158 260
>> Twitter: @pavel
>>
>>
>> 2013/7/11 Richard Ames <richard(a)ames.id.au>
>>
>>>
>>> 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<http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/bUK9d3SRUd>
>>>
>>> 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/**wiki/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_**
>>> continuous_improvement_of_the_**FDC_process/Process_Survey/**
>>> 2012-13_Year_Review<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuous_improveme…>
>>>
>>> 3. http://meta.wikimedia.org/**wiki/Funds_Dissemination_**
>>> Committee/Framework_for_the_**Creation_and_Initial_**
>>> Operation_of_the_FDC<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_…>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> Fd-advisorygroup mailing list
>>> Fd-advisorygroup(a)lists.**wikimedia.org<Fd-advisorygroup(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/fd-**advisorygroup<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fd-advisorygroup>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Fd-advisorygroup mailing list
>> Fd-advisorygroup(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fd-advisorygroup
>>
>>
>
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_…
Dear members of the Advisory Group,
I wanted to thank you all for your support and contributions throughout
this process of setting up the FDC, and with this last step of selecting
the first FDC! I know it cannot have been an easy task for any of you or
the Board - I was so impressed by the depth and commitment I heard from
everyone of the nominees I interviewed - but I am really pleased that we
were on schedule for the announcement, and are now ready for the next steps
of the FDC process.
As we move forward, knowing that two of your members are now on the FDC -
congratulations, Sydney and Ali! - you may want to decide whether you want
to make a formal announcement about their leaving the AG (given the AG's
role in assessing the performance of the FDC).
I would also be glad to hear from any of you if you feel this process could
have been improved in any way, so that we incorporate the learnings into
our future processes.
Warmly,
Anasuya
--
***Anasuya Sengupta
Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking
Wikimedia Foundation*
*
*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
Dear members of the FDC Advisory Group,
I'm happy to inform you that in a few hours, I will be sending out a
message to the larger Wikimedia community, announcing the launch of the
Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
portal<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal>!The
FDC Proposal form<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:FDC_proposal_form_v1>will
then be available for all eligible entities to use immediately. I ask
that you don't share this information with the wider community till I make
the announcement.
As all of you know, the Eligibility
Status<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/2012_Round_1_E…>and
Eligibility
Checklist<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/2012_Round_1_E…>tables
- laying out current eligibility and compliance requirements for the
FDC process - were shared with the community last week.
As we work through the teething stages of the portal - and the FDC process
over the next few weeks - I would very much appreciate your continued
guidance on our process. Please let me know what you feel about the content
and structure of the portal, and any suggestions you have for possible
changes. So that we minimise confusion for applying entities/chapters, I've
proposed that we collate everyone's comments/suggestions in one place (
Questions<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Questions_for_FDC_staff>to
FDC support staff), or on related Talk/Discussion pages.In addition,
we've set up an email address -
FDCsupport(a)wikimedia.org - that can be used to email all FDC related staff.
At this moment, it comprises Asaf, Winifred and I, but in the future I will
be supported by the Senior Program Officer, FDC and the Grants
Administrator, two new positions to be filled soon. Of course, I'm happy to
hear from you at my individual email address as well.
Thank you again for all your support throughout this complex process of
setting up a complex mechanism! I look forward to hearing from you.
Warmly,
Anasuya
(Director of Global Learning and Grantmaking, WMF; lead for the FDC support
team)