[Wikimedia-l] Extensive feedback from WMDE to the FDC process

[Anasuya Sengupta]

Hi Pavel,

Thanks very much for the thoughtful feedback from WMDE on the FDC. We
certainly want to be (and hope we are) wiki in nature: a work in progress,
with continued room for improvement. So I think the FDC, the FDC Advisory
Group (of which you are a member, of course), the Board and the staff will
all be considering these comments as we move forward.

I want to be equally thoughtful of the fact that we already have a number
of processes in place that are part of the FDC Framework - and that the FDC
and staff have expanded upon in the past year and a half - and that are
designed to incorporate feedback of this kind. I'm also conscious that the
FDC will be in the middle of reviewing Round 2 applications in April, and
it would be difficult on them - and the applicants - if we were to do an
intensive process of consultation with all 9 members and 2 Board
representatives at the time. Most significantly, we have a meeting with the
FDC Advisory Group (FDC AG) planned, as you know, for end May, in which we
are scheduling a time to overlap with the FDC members, so that feedback in
both directions can then be incorporated into the FDC Advisory Group's
recommendations to the WMF ED and Board as per the FDC Framework.[1]

As a reminder, the FDC AG was meant to have had a meeting in March this
year, to recommend the continuance of the FDC or not. On consultation with
the AG late last year, we decided to move this meeting to May, so that it
would be at the end of two years and four rounds of the FDC, and could have
useful input from both FDC members and all participants. According to the
Framework, this counsel from the AG will then feed into the WMF ED's
recommendation to the Board, on the FDC's continued existence and its form
(due, according to the Framework, roughly in mid-August this year).

The current members of the AG are Richard Ames/Ariconte, Ting Chen (former
member of WMF Board), Jan-Bart de Vreede (WMF Board), Thomas d'Souza
Buckup/TSB, Peter Ekman/Smallbones, Sue Gardner (WMF ED), Crystal Hayling
(Philanthropy Advisor), Christophe Henner (WMFR), Kathy Reich (Packard
Foundation), Pavel Richter (WMDE), Osmar Valdebenito (WMAR) and Stu West
(WMF Board).[2] Since I replaced Barry Newstead, I will host and facilitate
this meeting as he did the original FDC Advisory Group, with support from a
small sub-committee of the AG.

I had originally planned to ask this sub-committee of the FDC AG if they
would be willing to lead an on-wiki conversation post the WM Conference
that would feed into the meeting in May, but this conversation pre-empts
that, somewhat, so here would be my suggestion for a practical and
constructive way to move forward:

* We have a full and frank conversation at the Wikimedia Conference - as we
did last year - with everyone interested, on the FDC process and
constructive suggestions for improvements. We do this with two FDC members
and staff present, and take detailed notes.
* This feedback will then be shared with the FDC Advisory Group when it
meets in May. We are planning to have the FDC members overlap with the FDC
AG for half a day so that there is collective sharing, after which the AG
will consider all the different inputs that we have collected so far:
feedback from the many F2F meetings, including site visits; the anonymised
surveys we have conducted after every round of the FDC recommendations; the
ongoing progress reports and program evaluations; and the many
on-wiki/email/phone/skype/IRC conversations we have had with each
organisation throughout the FDC process.

All of these suggestions could then usefully feed into the FDC Advisory
Group's recommendation to the WMF ED and Board, and in time for shaping the
next year of the FDC process. I'm hoping that the AG will be able to share
its recommendations publicly, soon after its meeting, which can then
continue this conversation much more constructively on-wiki.

It's worth all of us remembering that the FDC process - supporting the
annual plans of Wikimedia organisations - is ultimately meant to have
impact on our online Wikimedia projects. We are all shared stewards of
movement resources, and having the contributions and thinking of different
community members is therefore critical. I would rather not turn to
Wikimania as the only place to have this conversation however, instead
seeing it as the space at which we can perhaps present the recommendations
of the Advisory Group, and include a broader conversation about the
movement's goals and how all Wikimedia organisations can support achieving
those goals better.

I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on this, both as WMDE ED and as a member
of the FDC Advisory Group.

Warmly,
Anasuya

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_the_Creation_and_Initial_Operation_of_the_FDC#Assessment_and_continuous_improvement_of_the_funds_dissemination_process

[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FDC_Advisory_Group



On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Pavel Richter
<pavel.richter at wikimedia.de>wrote:

> Hello everybody,
>
> I have just posted an extensive feedback from WMDE on the FDC process here
> on meta:
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Comments/Extensive_feedback_from_WMDE_to_the_FDC_process
>
> The statement was drafted by WMDE's Supervisory Board and myself.
>
> We are very much looking forward to a discussion and I would like to
> encourage everybody to share their thoughts. At the same it would be great
> if we could keep the discussion on meta so that we have everything in one
> place.
>
> All the Best,
>
> Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
>
> Pavel Richter
> Vorstand
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
> Tel.: +49 - 30 - 219 158 260
> Twitter: @pavel
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request at lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>




-- 


*Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation*

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>