Hi all,
If you are organizing Wiki Loves Monuments in a country without existing funding structures for Wiki Loves Monuments, you have the possibility to request a 'Rapid Grant' at the Wikimedia Foundation. This is a low barrier program that should make it easy to request smaller grants with minimal effort. You can find more information about the program here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid
The requirements and documentation may seem a little overwhelming, but it's really not that impossible if you have a clear idea what you need the money for. Writing a proposal hopefully takes between 30 and 60 minutes, and the report about the same amount of time. You can use these funds for example to fund prizes for your national winners, to organize a prize ceremony, to organize a photo workshop and/or photo walk, etc. This is all optional, but a great opportunity to get more people involved in your group!
However, there is a deadline here. To maximize the chance that you actually get your funds before the start of the competition on 1 September, you must make your application *BEFORE 1 AUGUST*. That still leaves you plenty of time, but it does mean you should ideally start now. Please note that we did reach an agreement with the grants team that Wiki Loves Monuments grants can, by exception, also submit between 16 and 31 July. If you submit earlier, it can also be approved earlier.
If you need any help writing a grant request, you can ask me or someone from the grants team for support. If you want to meet at Wikimania to discuss or draft together, that is totally possible!
Best, Lodewijk