Hello Gerard -
The recommended grant for Wikimedia Deutschland is larger than ever, and
represents a 42% increase from last year's grant. This is a massive
increase. Please don't confuse the fact that WMDE did not get everything
it wanted with whether or not Wikidata is underfunded. Remember, the
request was not just for Wikidata funding, and despite many attempts by the
FDC to get precise data on the actual planned expenses for Wikidata, the
committee was not provided with this information. While the funds provided
are restricted (in that they can only be spent on the projects WMDE applied
for), WMDE can spend the entire amount on Wikidata if it wants to. Perhaps
that is where you might want to turn your attention.
User:Risker - FDC member
On 24 November 2015 at 04:02, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Hoi,
So in essence one of the most relevant development project - Wikidata -
that is arguably already underfunded will be even more underfunded and we
have to say thank you for doing a good job? Ok.. I thank Wikimedia Germany
for doing a stellar job. It is an acknowledged source for inspiration and I
have been really happy in all the contacts that I have had with them over
the years.
It is not up to me to doubt the sincere efforts of the FDC but I am
saddened that while WMF has more cash than that it can spend important work
is curtailed .. for what? Other development projects are not treated in
this way and a great opportunity to do even more is missed as a result.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 24 November 2015 at 03:04, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you FDC.
Many of the small and midsized APG requests fared well in this round.
That
is nice to see.
I find it concerning that the larger the organization, the more problems
the FDC seemed to find with the org's budget and performance management
practices. One would expect the larger organizations to have mature and
robust practices in these areas. Regarding WMF in particular, my concerns
about its budget practices are well documented and I appreciate that the
FDC is also taking note of the persistence of the problems. I hope that
WMF
will get serious about its financial
transpatency.
A couple of questions about Wikidata:
I'm confused about the funding for Wikidata. In one place the FDC says
that
"Nonetheless, the FDC is exasperated by the
inability of WMDE to to
disaggregate the costs of Wikidata from other projects." and in another
place the FDC says that "We have recommended a reduced amount for WMDE in
this round with the expectation that WMDE will not cut Wikidata or their
other tech development work, but will instead find cost savings elsewhere
in its annual plan." If the FDC wants a disaggregated budget (which is
understandable) then why is the FDC expecting WMDE to dip into its other
funds and/or make cuts elsewhere in order to cover the work in this
proposal that the FDC is declining to fund in this proposal? This
expectation seems to be a bit of a contradiction.
I'm also wondering how WMDE is able to submit a dedicated request for
restricted funding for Wikidata if the Wikidata project is so integrated
into WMDE's other budgets that the FDC finds the integration to be
problematic. Can the FDC or our colleagues at WMDE explain this?
Wikidata is a high profile project with a good reputation, and I hope
that
the issues can be resolved soon.
Thanks,
Pine
On Nov 23, 2015 14:09, "matanya moses" <matanya(a)foss.co.il> wrote:
> 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…
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Appeals_to_the_Board_on_the_reco…
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Complaints_about_the_FDC_process
[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Calendar
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