This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_to…
And as a blog post here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/12/01/wikimedia-foundation-annual-campaign/
Wikimedia Foundation to begin annual year-end contribution campaign
Non-profit appeals to readers ahead of Wikipedia’s 15th anniversary
San Francisco, CA. December 1, 2015 -- Today, Giving Tuesday, the Wikimedia
Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home> kicks off its annual
contribution campaign on English Wikipedia
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page> to support Wikipedia and its
sister projects. Wikipedia is supported predominantly by small individual
donations averaging $15. Ahead of Wikipedia’s 15th anniversary, we are
asking readers who value Wikipedia to help keep it online, ad-free, and
growing for years to come.
Wikipedia launched on January 15, 2001 with a bold vision: to create a
world in which every person could freely access the sum of all knowledge.
Written entirely by volunteers, Wikipedia has since grown to be one of the
most popular websites in the world. It offers more than 35 million articles
across nearly 300 languages, and its articles are viewed each month more
than 15 billion times. Together with its sister projects like Wikimedia
Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>, which includes more
than 29 million free images, videos, and audio files, Wikipedia helps
people everywhere discover and understand the world around them.
For nearly 15 years, people have experienced the joy of knowledge through
Wikipedia and its sister projects. Here are just a few recent examples:
-
Volunteer contributor and naturalist Jeevan Jose
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/06/25/biological-diversity-jeevan-jose/>
from Kerala, India helped identify a new species of crane fly
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly> with his freely licensed
images on Wikimedia Commons.
-
Inventor Jack Andraka <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Andraka> used
Wikipedia’s science articles to develop a prototype for a potential
breakthrough method of cancer screening before his 17th birthday.
-
Emily Temple-Wood
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/08/31/funding-projects-pizza-grants/>
has been editing Wikipedia since she was 12. A budding scientist
herself, she started WikiProject Women Scientists
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_scientists>--estimated
to have doubled coverage of women scientists on English Wikipedia.
-
Computer science graduate student Owen Cornec created WikiGalaxy
<http://wiki.polyfra.me/>, a 3D visualization that turns Wikipedia into a
galactic network of knowledge.
-
Volunteer editor Lourdes Cardenal, at the age of 75, is the
longest-running active editor on Spanish Wikipedia and a mentor to
Wikipedians around the world.
-
The Goodall family from Tierra del Fuego
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierra_del_Fuego> sailed the Pacific
Ocean for a year, using Wikipedia
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/11/14/sailing-south-pacific-with-wikipedia-o…>
to discover the world -- from classification systems to civilizations.
Small donations allow the Wikimedia Foundation to keep Wikipedia and the
other websites fast, secure, and available, putting this knowledge in the
hands of people around the world for free. These contributions not only
help maintain critical systems, but enable improvements in technology to
keep Wikipedia relevant and easy to use.
The Foundation also uses donations to support the work of volunteer editors
who write and maintain Wikipedia. We offer resources to people and
organizations with great ideas that support the Wikimedia mission. We
defend editors when they are threatened. We stand against censorship, and
support open source, open licenses, and open access. We have programs that
make Wikipedia freely available for people with limited access to expensive
mobile data plans, believing they should have the same, unrestricted access
to Wikipedia that others have enjoyed over the last 15 years. Donor
contributions support these efforts.
As with previous campaigns, this year the Wikimedia Foundation will use a
variety of banner formats to reach the movement’s diverse global audience. This
year, the Wikimedia Foundation aims to raise $25 million in December
through the annual campaign on English Wikipedia. The remainder of the
Wikimedia Foundation’s funding comes from individuals gifts given outside
the year-end campaign, and from a handful of foundation grants.
To make a donation, click the fundraising appeal on Wikipedia, or go
directly to donate.wikimedia.org.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and
operates Wikipedia. Wikipedia attracts more than 15 billion page views each
month. Every month roughly 75,000 people edit Wikipedia, collectively
creating, improving, and maintaining its more than 35 million articles
across nearly 300 languages -- this all makes Wikipedia one of the most
popular web properties in the world. Based in San Francisco, California,
the Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily
through donations and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation Press Contact
Katherine Maher
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6633
press(a)wikimedia.org
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications | Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(To be unsubscribed from this press release distribution list, please reply to communications(a)wikimedia.org with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line)
Dear all,
The next WMF metrics and activities meeting will take place on Thursday,
December 3, 2015, at 7:00 PM UTC (11 AM PST). The IRC channel is
#wikimedia-office on irc.freenode.net, and the meeting will be broadcast as
a live YouTube stream.
Meeting agenda:
* Welcomes
* Strategy update
* Community update
* Research showcase
** The impact of the Teahouse on user retention
* Product demo
* Questions/discussions
Please review
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings for further
information about the meeting and how to participate.
We’ll post the video recording publicly after the meeting.
Thank you,
Praveena
--
Praveena Maharaj
Executive Assistant to the VP of Product
Wikimedia Foundation \\ www.wikimediafoundation.org
Hello Wikimedians,
tl;dr: The FDC’s recommendations for this round of the APG grant
requests have now been published at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2…
The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) meets twice a year to help
make decisions about how to effectively allocate movement funds to
achieve the Wikimedia movement's mission, vision, and strategy. [1] We
met for four days last week in San Francisco to review 11 proposals
submitted for this round of funding. [2]
The committee has now posted our Round 1 2015-2016 recommendations on
the annual plan grants (APG) to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees. [3] The WMF Board representatives to the FDC (Denny
Vrandecic, Jan-Bart de Vreede and Dariusz Jemielniak) will lead the
Board in its review of these recommendations. The WMF Board will
review the recommendations and then make their decision on them before
1 January 2016.
This round, the eleven proposals came from ten chapters and one
thematic organisation, totaling requests of approximately $3.8 million
USD. Ten affiliates were returning to the APG program, and one was a
new applicant. This round, one organisation requested a restricted
grant to support one particular program. All other grant requests were
for general funding.
Before we met for our face-to-face deliberations, the FDC carefully
reviewed all proposals and supporting documentation (e.g., budgets,
plans, strategies) in detail, aided by staff assessments and analysis
on impact, finances, and programs, as well as community comments on
the proposals. The committee had long and intense conversations about
the proposals submitted this round. By listening and carefully
considering all available data, the committee achieved consensus on
all proposal deliberations.
In addition to the above, the FDC has also included a recommendation
about the WMF itself to improve its own level of planning transparency
and budget detail. The WMF staff were not involved in the conception
or writing of this additional recommendation.
For your reference, there is a formal process to submit appeals about
these recommendations or complaints about the FDC process. The
processes for both are outlined below.
Any applicant that wants to appeal the FDC’s recommendation about
their proposal this round should submit it by 23:59 UTC on 8 December
2015 in accordance with the appeal process outlined in the FDC
Framework. A formal appeal to challenge the FDC’s recommendation
should be in the form of a 500-or-fewer word summary. The appeal
should be submitted on-wiki, [4] and must be submitted by the Board
Chair of a funding-seeking applicant.
Complaints about the process can be filed by anyone with the
Ombudsperson, and can be made any time. The complaint should be
submitted on wiki, as well. [5] The ombudsperson will publicly
document the complaint, and investigate as needed.
Please take a look at the upcoming calendar [6] to learn about other
upcoming milestones in the APG program.
Again, we offer our sincere thanks to the 11 organisations who
submitted annual plan grant proposals to the FDC this round.
On behalf of the FDC,
Matanya Moses (FDC chair), User:Matanya
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016_round1
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2…
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Appeals_to_the_Board_on_the_reco…
[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Complaints_about_the_FDC_process
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Calendar
Dear Wikimedia friends,
Following Christian’s invitation, I will now provide you with
information regarding program and next steps of the Wikimedia
Conference. A more detailed version of this email can be found on
Meta. Please use the talk pages for your questions and comments.[1]
== One core theme: Movement Impact ==
Wikimedia Conference 2016 will focus on the core theme of “Movement
Impact”. All sessions and contributions will have to add to this
theme. Throughout the conference, we will work together on the
following core questions:
How do we define common impact of the movement? What does impact mean
on a global and on a local level?
How do we measure impact? How can impact measurement help us to
prioritize our actions?
What programs have proven to be successful in terms of generating
impact? How can they be replicated and how do we scale them up?
How do other nonprofit organizations define and measure impact? What
can we learn from them?
Cornelius (Program and Engagement Coordinator, PEC) and I will work
with the Program Advisors, the Thematic Ambassadors, the facilitators
as well as the participants to create the conference program.
== How to select the delegates ==
WMCON is all about participation. To make the conference a success it
will be essential for the invited affiliates to deliberately select
their delegates. Participants should come to Berlin to learn and to
share, but also to bring the information and learnings back home. We
are seeking delegates who will be actively engaged before, during and
after the conference and can represent their affiliates. Ideal
delegates are those who are involved in the decision making processes
in the organization, evaluation specialists, or program leaders.
== Eligibility criteria and number of delegates ==
To be eligible to attend WMCON16, affiliates must have shown signs of
recent activity and be up-to-date on their reporting[2] by January 1.
Moreover, affiliates need to have been officially recognized by the
Wikimedia Foundation before December 1, 2015. An eligibility criteria
overview will be published next week. Chapters and Thematic
Organizations can send two delegates, or up to four, if they have paid
staff; User Groups can send one delegate.
== How to prepare for the registration ==
Registration opens December 1 and closes on January 15. Please note
that this is a sharp deadline. In the months between the registration
and WMCON, the PEC will work with the registered participants on
elaborating the program of the Wikimedia Conference. Because we want
to build the program to fit participant needs and experiences, we
would like to learn a little more about your interests in advance. We
have published an overview of questions[3] that we will use in the
registration form. Please make yourself familiar with these questions
already, as they can also help you to select the delegates.
== What’s next ==
We will open the registration on December 1 and send out further
information on logistical matters such as travel and accommodation
booking. Daniela Gentner will be the main contact for all questions
regarding the logistics, you can reach out to her via
wmcon(a)wikimedia.de.
I am looking forward to welcoming many of you in Berlin in April next year.
Nicole
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2016/Program_Design_Pr…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reports
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2016/Program_Design_Pr…
--
Nicole Ebber
Referentin Internationale Beziehungen
Adviser to the ED, International Relations
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 26-0 | http://wikimedia.de
Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch an der Menge allen
Wissens frei teilhaben kann. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.
V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts
Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig
anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin,
Steuernummer 27/681/51985.