Hi all,
I'm writing to inquire about the status of the Knowledge Equity Fund.
Meta (1) suggests 6 grants were made in September 2021 and that a second
more community-focused round of grants would be made in 2022. No details of
a second round have been published that I'm aware of; is this still active?
Are there any public details of impact or progress reporting from the
September 2021 grants ?
There is also a somewhat-viral Twitter thread which focuses, alongside some
general criticisms of Wikimedia fundraising, on two grants specifically
from this fund and the WMF making itself a participant in US 'culture
wars'. (2) I wonder if there is any response from the WMF to that?
(For what it's worth, my perception is that the Knowledge Equity Fund was
initially a deliberate attempt led by US-based staff to have the WMF 'do
something' to align itself with a broader progressive movement in the USA.
I believe the main advocates for this have now departed, that it was never
a particularly good fit with the WMF's overall approach to grantmaking,
that the evolution of the WMF's approach to this fund was positive, but
still if the whole thing is now forgotten about that's probably no bad
thing).
Thanks,
Chris
(1)
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Fund
(2)
https://twitter.com/echetus/status/1579776106034757633