Hi there, Wikimedians,
I am writing to let you know that the WMF Community Resources team is closing one of our smaller funding programs, Travel and Participation Support (TPS) [1]. *TPS will no longer accept applications as of May 1, 2018.*
Some background: TPS was created in 2011 as a movement outreach program. It reimburses travel expenses for Wikimedian volunteers who present about Wikimedia at non-Wikimedia events. Its closure comes as a consequence of the grants restructure following our 2015 Reimagining Grants consultation. [2] As we have redesigned our grant programs to better meet the needs of our stakeholders, we are no longer resourced to support TPS as a separate program.
*We will continue to* *support travel requests as part of our other grant programs*, as follows:
*Rapid Grants* will now fund travel requests for non-Wikimedia events from individuals for up to $2,000 USD, prioritizing applications that include all of the following: * Wikimedian presenters who have a special area of expertise in relation to their target audience (for example, a psychology professor who is sharing about Wikimedia projects at an academic conference for other psychology professionals) * outreach activity with a training component and a plan for online follow-up providing ongoing mentorship and support (editing training, editathon, etc.) * regional travel requests under $2,000 USD
*Rapid Grants* will continue to fund travel expenses for local Wikimedia events. Learn more here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid
*Conference and Events Grants* will continue to support travel scholarships for Wikimedia events. Note that this funding is awarded to conference organizers who then manage requirements for participants. Requests for more than $10,000 USD are required to start the application process 6 months before the date of the proposed event. Learn more here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference
*Wikimania Scholarships* will continue to support travel scholarships for Wikimania. Learn more here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Grants:TPS/Wikimania_scholars
You can contact me directly if you have any questions.
Warmly, Katy Love
*[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Reimagining_WMF_grants/Implem... https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Reimagining_WMF_grants/Implementation *