Dear all
I would like to share, somewhat belatedly, Wikimedia UK's reports from the
last financial year. These include:
Our Strategic Report
<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/File:Wikimedia_UK_Strategic_Report_2019-20.pdf>
which
provides a narrative overview of our work and a brief snapshot of our
finances
Our Impact Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2018-2019_round_1/Wiki…>
to the Wikimedia Foundation, uploaded to Meta in March
Our Audited Accounts are also available to download here
<https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/File:Annual_Accounts_2019-20.pdf>.
I hope you enjoy reading about the UK Chapter and community's many
successful projects and initiatives in 2019/20!
With best wishes
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 203 372 0762
*Wikimedia UK* is the national chapter for the global Wikimedia open
knowledge movement, and a registered charity. We rely on donations from
individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you
considered supporting Wikimedia? https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk
Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered
No. 6741827
Registered Charity No.1144513
Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London
SE1 0NZ
The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). Wikimedia UK is an independent
non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility
for its contents.
Hi everyone,
The Wikimedia Foundation would like to announce that our final FY20-21
Annual Plan is now available on Meta[1]. The Annual Plan was approved by
the Board of Trustees on September 28th, 2020.
As you know, we finalized the plan several months further into the year
than we normally would, and into a world full of uncertainty: the COVID-19
pandemic, a global economic downturn, and a changing political landscape
marked both by inspiring civic protests for racial justice and by rising
threats to freedom of information. In light of these circumstances, we
built this plan with one thing at the forefront: our responsibility to the
stability and continuity of our projects, and the commitment to secure the
resources to steward free knowledge and to serve our global communities.
Much of our work will focus on securing these fundamentals.
At the same time, we want to continue our progress towards our strategic
direction as an organization serving our movement and vision. Thus, this
Annual Plan represents an important balance between both the current needs
of our movement and the aspirational goals that we all share. The projects
outlined in the Annual Plan align with the two goals, and five priorities,
of our 2019 medium-term plan[2], which is the Foundation’s three-year
roadmap of work to help move us toward the overall movement strategic
direction.
These projects include work as varied and adventurous as exploring new
knowledge formats through our newest Wikimedia project, Abstract Wikipedia;
introducing new improvements to our tech stack and new tools for editors,
and investing to close knowledge gaps through a pilot fund for knowledge
equity.
As a movement, we are now in the exciting phase of the movement strategy
process where we begin the implementation of the final recommendations.
Over the past three years, the movement strategy process highlighted the
long-term impact we can have when we come together as a movement. In that
same spirit, implementing these recommendations will be a collaborative
effort.
The projects that we have prioritized in this year’s Annual Plan will allow
us to improve our capacity to support the global communities as we enter
this implementation phase, together, and lay the groundwork for greater
investment in the coming years as the movement builds out the initiatives
prioritized in the strategy. Thank you to all the work of everyone,
especially the Annual Plan team, for making this possible.
In this year’s Annual Plan, we increased community funding through the
grants program, safeguarded APG funds through a fiscal set-aside, and
developed new resources for community events. We are also investing in
improving our staff capacity to support the communities more
systematically, through improved consultation practices, multilingual
communication, Trust & Safety support, and online events, among other areas.
The Annual Plan also includes one of the most significant milestones for
our movement, Wikipedia’s 20th birthday this January. We’re devastated that
this birthday comes amidst a pandemic that is keeping us apart, but it’s
all the more reason for us to celebrate the strength and breadth of our
global movement.
As in previous years, this marks the start of an open community discussion
period, where we invite your reflections (comments and clarifying
questions) on how the Annual Plan aligns with our movement strategy and
Strategic Direction. In the past, we’ve called this process a consultation.
This year, we want to be more precise: this is an invitation to provide
comments and ask questions, but it is not a consultation in the traditional
Wikimedia sense, as we will not be able to make changes to the entire plan,
as it has already been approved by the Board of Trustees.
Instead of asking for consultation on *what* we are planning to do, we are
asking for your feedback on how to improve and strengthen the planned work
itself. This means that we will look for your feedback on this document, as
well as continue to engage with communities throughout the year on specific
projects within the plan. We want to be more intentional about your time,
in order to get deeper, more meaningful consultation on our work to support
you and the projects, and create more chances for input and collaboration
across the movement.
Finally, a personal apology: the delay in sharing this plan is squarely on
me. My colleagues in the Foundation finished planning and the Board
approved the budget in September. However, every year we deliver the Annual
Plan with a note from the ED to explain our goals, intentions, and why we
made certain decisions. As we have been working to deliver the movement
strategy implementation plan, recalibrate program work based on community
and staff capacity in the pandemic, and as I have had to be available for
my own family, I found it difficult to find the time until now to sit down
to write this note. I hope you will accept my apologies for this delay.
(On that note: although we didn’t plan it this way, I know that we are
heading into a quiet period to allow people to step back from movement
activities and take a break. This quiet period is meant to run from today
through January 5th, 2021, so if you are posting this month, please know
that we will be monitoring the talk page and share responses starting in
January.)
I’m looking forward to the year ahead and what we can achieve together.
Thank you for all you do!
Take care, stay safe, wear a mask,
Katherine Maher
Executive Director,
Wikimedia Foundation
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019
--
Katherine Maher (she/her)
CEO
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear all,
In addition to our standard practice of documenting and publishing the
Audit Committee meeting minutes regarding the review and approval of
the *Wikimedia
Foundation’s Independent Auditors’ Report* by the Audit Committee - a board
subcommittee, we want to inform you that The Independent Auditors’ Report
for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2020 is now published and available
at: https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/
We have also posted on Meta-Wiki answers to frequently asked questions
(“FAQ”) about the Independent Auditors’ Report:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_reports/Financial/Audi…
The external audit is conducted annually by an independent third-party
audit firm (KPMG) as a part of our financial oversight, and provides an
overview of basic information about the organization's financial position
and its financial activities.
Please contact me or (Tony Le <tle(a)wikimedia.org>) via email if you have
any questions.
Best regards,
Jaime
Jaime Villagomez (jvillagomez(a)wikimedia.org)
Chief Financial Officer
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.Donate.
<https://donate.wikimedia.org/>*