Grants:IdeaLab/Reimagining WMF grants/Consultation

Reimagining WMF Grants

About the Consultation

Thank you for reimagining grants with us!

The purpose of this consultation is to gather feedback and suggestions so we can work together to change the way Wikimedia Foundation supports ideas through grants and other resources. If you would like to learn more about what we are doing and why, you can read the idea, learn about the overall consultation on this page, and then visit the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for more background.

It’s important to know that final decisions about how the Wikimedia Foundation make grants still rest with the Wikimedia Foundation. We are looking forward to learning from you and incorporating your input where we can, but we may not use every idea or every piece of feedback.

Goals of this consultation

Communicate proposed changes with Wikimedia communities before action is taken.
Gather input widely from community stakeholders across all grants programs.
Make improvements to the reimagined idea based on community input.

Why do we need to reimagine grants?

We understand that to support Wikimedia communities better, we need to simplify our processes, make it easier to apply for support and develop ideas that work, and improve community participation in grant review. Learn more about the problems and solutions we see, as part of the Idea.

What we have now	Reimagined
People don’t know how to request what they need	Clear ways to apply for support
Processes are complicated and rigid	Processes are simpler
Committees are overwhelmed	Committees are more focused

How you can participate

The Community Resources Team at Wikimedia Foundation has drafted this idea for how we can reimagine the way we make grants. We need your feedback about this idea to help us improve it before we move forward.

We are requesting feedback about Wikimedia Foundation grants in a few ways.

Idea. We have described the changes we want to make in the IdeaLab, and have put a list of questions on the discussion page. Getting feedback about this idea is the main focus of the consultation. To participate, please visit the talk page for the Reimagining Grants idea.
Survey. We are sending a survey to grantees, committee members, applicants, and others who edit in the Grants namespace on Meta-Wiki. We realize not everyone likes to give feedback publicly, and there are some questions that are more specific to people who have been very involved with grants. This survey will help bring in some additional voices and data points.
Office hours. We are having a few small group conversations in Google Hangouts and IRC. This avenue for feedback is something we are experimenting with. If you are interested in participating in a small group conversation, please join an event. Conversations will not be recorded, but notes from the discussions will be published.
Visioning. Finally, while it’s not the main focus of this consultation, we have included some questions about our broader vision for Wikimedia Foundation grants, for those who want to discuss how we think about grants, beyond the next two years. To participate in the visioning discussion, please visit the Visioning discussion page.

Timeline

10 August	Consultation preview with grants committees
17 August	Consultation launches for public input from all communities in multiple languages
7 September	Consultation ends
21 September	WMF reports back findings and next steps from the the consultation
31 October	Annual plan grants simpler process pilot begins
Throughout 2016	Changes gradually made to other programs

More information

The Reimagining WMF Grants Idea.
Visioning discussion.
Visit the FAQ, which answers some common questions. If you have a question that’s not yet included there, please add it it to the consultation talk page.
Learn more about the work of the Community Resources Team, which is part of Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Engagement Department.