The real problem is that there have been "conferences for 3 or 4 years all around the world" but (a) no new empirical work on the actual size of the gender gap; and (b) whether that is changing over time; and (c) the underlying reasons for that gap; and (d) whether any past conference, program, or initiative has moved the needle even a whit.

Instead of hiring a couple statistics people and doing serious surveying and analysis to figure out what truly needs to be done, WMF is delighted to throw money at the problem. "Come one, come all, with your grant pitches! We've got the money, hurrah!"

Cart before horse.

Tim Davenport Carrite on WP Corvallis, OR

===old message=== Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 10:34:45 -0500 From: Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF is shutting down grantmaking for good projects for 3 months for no reason Message-ID: CAA6ZO2Q-_ZboFzZfCTF3ajXzY-5MzqmjbF3OC+GVuAy-rA8P4g@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

It appears to me that you are entirely missing the actual nature of the problem and the reason for having a campaign targeted at the gender gap.

The *problem* is that there have been a suboptimal number of grant requests for funds to address the gender gap even though it a listed priority of the WMF.

The purpose of the campaign is to invite requests for funding, have extra support available if people need mentoring or assistance of other kinds. To do this campaign well, the WMF staff needs to refocus the time of people toward this endeavor.

A wonderful response from people reading about this campaign would be to ask: what can I do to help bring in high quality grant requests?

Those of you who are familiar with making grant requests or using the IdeaLab, offer to help people who are newer to the process.

Those of you who are developers and see a way to improve an idea with technology, step in and make suggestion.

Over the past 3-4 years all around the world people have holding conferences and discussing the gender gap. Now is the time to expand on the work that has been done in these conference. Help spread the word. Assist with translations to help some who is less comfortable writing in English bring there ideas to meta.

The point of this targeted campaign is far more than reserving a specific amount of dollars for the gender gap issue.

The biggest obstacle to success will be the lack of human resources to refine and execute the projects.

Therefore is the reason that people and organizations are being asked to set aside other projects in order to help address this vital area of concern.

I hope everyone reading this email will do at least one small thing to help.

Warm regards,

Sydney