Dear Wikimedians,

It is that time of year again (but earlier this year because we are making some changes based on your -- and FDC -- feedback :), the time when we all at the WMF work together to craft our plans and the budget for the upcoming fiscal year - July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2017. This year the initial draft of the Annual Plan will be submitted using the FDC Format and will be available on the April 1 FDC deadline date.

Why are we doing this? We want to give our communities more time and insight into the WMF budgetary and impact planning, hear feedback from the FDC, and to experience how our affiliates do this planning ourselves.

The 2016-17 Annual Plan Timeline, as currently composed, is posted here: 2016-17 Annual Plan Time Line https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys1JLDhpT93BrduEuA4jE3_RYOYHqakiyvR8LASgPCk/edit. As you would expect, there are typically minor changes that will occur in the timeline as we work through the process, so if you want to know where we are in the process at any given moment, please feel free to check in.

Based on Community and FDC input, we have scheduled the following review periods of the 2016-2017 Annual Plan and Budget which will be posted on Meta on April 1, 2016:

- April 1 - April 29 - Community review and recommendations - April 1 - May 16 FDC review and recommendations - June 6 - June 13 Audit Committee review and recommendations - April 1 - June 17 Board review, recommendations and consideration for approval

Input offered during the Community review period will be forwarded directly to the appropriate C-Level Team Member for response. The FDC will make their final recommendations as a group during their Spring meeting. The Audit Committee will review the second version of the 2016-17 Annual Plan once the Community and FDC input has been integrated into the first version; but they will also have access to the earlier version when it is posted online on April 1, 2016. The Board’s vote is expected on June 17. The final 2016-17 Annual Plan, Budget and FAQ are posted on July 1, 2016.

We look forward to working with everyone this year to build an Annual Plan and Budget that will support our mission, our staff, and our global Community of volunteers.

Lila