WMUA board member here. We usually award three scholarships per year, we run the program since 2016.

Out of 9 people having received a scholarship, we had 1 board member and 0 staff members. We do not have any priority to board members, they have to apply in the same way as others. At least one applicant each year attended Wikimania for the first time.

I am not sure if this is a perfect solution but it is feasible. The fact that all our board members are active Wikimedians themselves probably helps to make it feasible.

Best regards

Mykola (NickK)

Wikimedia Ukraine

2018-05-31 21:31 GMT+02:00 Harry Mitchell <hjmwiki@gmail.com>:
> Since you raise chapter scholarships, it would be nice to see some of the
> other big chapters (and to some extent the WMF) spending more on
> scholarships for rank-and-file Wikimedians rather than staff and board
> members. That might help with the perception that Wikimania is the same old
> faces year in, year out.

Former WM-IT Board member here. Actually, Wikimedia Italia does host a
scholarship programme since 2011, open to both WM-IT associates and
Italian wikimedians. Depending on the destination, we always granted
every year 6 to 8 scholarships (plus up to 2 places for Board members,
and depending on staff availability, up to 2 places for them). In
2016, we actually handed out 10 full scholarships and 10 partial
scholarships ('cause travel expenses were more easy to cover).

From my experience, it's difficult to fill up the ranks sometimes with
new people. Our internal rules actually give preference to people who
never attended Wikimania, as well as to women - still, we were
"forced" to award scholarships to the same people sometimes, because
we were lacking other eligible people. In particular, most of the most
active Italian wikipedians DO NOT apply for a WM-IT scholarship (or
WMF, AFAIK).

This is yet another variable we're not considering enough, I think: if
new people do not apply, it's harder to award them a scholarship.

L.

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