Hello, Wikimedians!

I want to share with you that the community review period for the Annual Plan Grants (APG) program is underway for eleven proposals. These organizations are requesting unrestricted funding to support their annual plans, including both programmatic and operational costs. These requests in Round 1 total just over US$4 million of US$6 million available in both rounds this year. In mid-November, Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), [1] a volunteer committee made up of members of the Wikimedia community, will convene. They will meet in San Francisco to discuss these proposals in detail and make a recommendation to the WMF Board of Trustees on use of these funds.

From now until 30 October, we invite everyone to review the proposals, and to provide thoughts and ask questions on the discussion pages of the proposals. You can begin your exploration of the proposals on the community review landing page here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016_round1/Community_review. 

About community review: Annual plan grant proposals are submitted to the FDC on 1 October. That is followed by a 30-day open comment period. During this community review, all are invited to provide input on and ask questions about specific proposals on the discussion pages of the proposal forms. Applicants are also asked to respond to input and questions during this period, although they are not able to change the proposal form itself after the submission date.

The FDC follows the discussion pages of the proposals in preparation for their deliberations in November. These questions, comments and responses are an input to their collaborative decision-making process. While anyone can comment on proposals after the open comment period closes on 30 October, the FDC may not be able to take comments made after this period into consideration when making its decisions about funding.

How to join in the review: Please visit the community review page [2] to view the proposals being considered and follow the instructions on that page. The proposals are only available in English, but your comments on the discussion pages do not need to be in English.

Why your feedback matters: We hope that this open comment period will add to an in-depth and robust review of each proposal. The community review process also helps make our grantmaking transparent and collaborative. The FDC and the WMF staff value feedback and insights from the Wikimedia community in making its funding recommendations.

You can find more information about the APG program, the FDC or the upcoming milestones on our portal. [3] Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about the process. You can reach the FDC support staff can be reached at FDCsupport@wikimedia.org

Warm regards,
Katy Love

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016_round1/Community_review
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Information