Hello everyone!
Following our last update https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2020-August/095404.html regarding in-person gatherings, we wanted to share another update on the new dates for the upcoming Conference Grants program funding round.
As we want to allow more time for potential grantees to review and utilize the forthcoming September release of guidance for in-person gatherings, we have extended the upcoming deadline for new Conference Grants proposals until September 28, 2020. Please see all the specific dates on the conference grants meta page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference#Event_categories_and_dates. We will be accepting applications in September for events occurring between January - June 2021.
For this round we will also include Growth events https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference/EventCategories#Growth_Events and innovative ideas that will welcome more contributors to our movements and projects; and on gatherings that will support the implementation of the Wikimedia 2030 strategy recommendations.
We also wanted to take the opportunity to officially welcome the new member of our team, Rachel Farrand https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rfarrand_%28WMF%29, who probably many of you already know from managing our past Technical Events Ecosystem and who has been working at the Wikimedia Foundation on community events since 2011. She is now a Senior Program Officer and will be joining me in managing our Conference grants program.Rachel will be overseeing our Thematic https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference/EventCategories#Thematic_Eventsand Growth https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference/EventCategories#Growth_Eventsevents, and I will continue focusing on our Regional https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Conference/EventCategories#Regional_Eventsevents. We will also continue to support other projects related to Community Events.
If you have any questions as for the upcoming funding round, potential proposals or need feedback on draft proposals - please reach out to us at conferencegrants@wikimedia.org .
All the best,
Chen