Community Resources

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The Community Resources team increases the quantity, quality, diversity, and reach of free knowledge by providing funding and other resources to mission-allied organizations and people around the world. We support communities (individuals, groups and organizations) to:

• Build healthy communities and effective organizations that deliver on impactful, mission-aligned programs
• Innovate new ideas for programs and technology in the service of Wikimedia’s content and communities
• Grow, sustain and scale the most successful ideas

Members of the Community Resources team in San Francisco, March 2014

Goals

The Community Resources team supports the IdeaLab, a place for ideas that benefit the Wikimedia movement.

We want to empower our grant recipients and other community members to,

• plan and execute effective and innovative initiatives focused on Wikimedia projects
• share ideas, strategies and innovations with the wider movement
• have strong and effective governance, including fiscal accountability
• increase and diversify participation in free knowledge within their communities.

Programs

These are our current grants programs, but we're doing a consultation right now about restructuring them. Visit Grants:IdeaLab/Reimagining WMF grants for more information

Travel and Participation Support Travel funding to participate in mission-aligned events.

Individual Engagement Grants Comprehensive support for individual and small team projects focused on online impact.

Project and Event Grants Expenses related to organizing events and running projects. For individuals, groups and organizations.

Annual Plan Grants Funding the annual budgets and mission objectives of affiliated organizations.

Our resource offerings also include:

• Capacity development for emerging communities
• Open innovation support to grow ideas into project plans via IdeaLab

What we do

Support volunteers and organizations with grants to grow projects, programs, and leaders

Our grantmaking work involves the following key activities:

• Development of prospective projects, programs and leaders - We work with prospective grant applicants, emerging movement leaders, and other organizations to develop ideas, network within the WMF and the broader movement to identify potential grantees, and provide support for achieving and measuring impact through program work.

• Grantee support and mentorship - We work closely with applicants and grantees throughout the grants process. This includes giving early input on proposal drafts or ideas, posting assessments and decisions about each request, meeting with grantees on a regular or as-needed basis to provide advice and support, and reviewing grant reports. In 2014/15, we handled 1,390 funding requests.

Facilitate community representation in movement decisions through committees

We work with 5 grants committees (FDC, IEGCom, GAC, TPS and Wikimania Scholarship Committee), as well as 2 others (AffCom, LangCom). These 70+ people make or inform recommendations or decisions, or perform specific community functions. Our work with them includes:

• Committee recruitment and training - We recruit candidates for 3 committees (FDC, IEGCom and GAC). We also oversee orientation and training for new committee members, which may involve in-person trainings or online modules.

• Supporting participatory decision-making for grants - We work with committees to ensure their review of applications and make recommendations or decisions. We design and steward the process and timelines to support effective action from volunteer groups, create and coordinate inputs to committee decision-making, facilitate discussions to make recommendations, and regularly share relevant updates and information about grantees and WMF.

Support communities and affiliates in growing their capacities

Key areas of capacity development we focus on include:

• Relationship-building and mentorship in emerging communities - We are developing a framework for emerging communities to grow their capacities. We stay informed of developments in emerging communities and support their healthy growth and capacity building.
• Supporting Wikimedia organizations through grants - We support Wikimedia organizations, including chapters, user groups, and thematic organizations, through grants, and connect them with resources to build their capacities to support Wikimedia communities.

Our team

• 

  Siko Bouterse
  Director of Community Resources

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  Katy Love
  Senior Program Officer, FDC

• 

  Alex Wang
  Program Officer, Project and Event Grants

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  Winifred Olliff
  Program Officer, Organizations

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  Marti Johnson
  Program Officer, Individual Engagement Grants

• 

  Asaf Bartov
  Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities

• 

  Ellie Young
  Events Manager

• 

  Chris Schilling
  Community Organizer

• 

  Janice Tud
  Grants Administrator

See also

• IdeaLab
• Inspire campaign
• Grants start page
• Community Resources on Phabricator