Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013 round1/Wikimedia Österreich/Staff proposal assessment
Wikimedia Österreich received a funds allocation in the amount of 220,000 in 2012-2013 Round 1.
This funds allocation was recommended by the Funds Dissemination Committee on 15 November 2012 and approved by the WMF Board of Trustees on 1 December 2012.
This staff proposal assessment for Wikimedia Österreich's proposal to the FDC for 2012-2013 Round 1 may be viewed in tab view or standard view. To discuss this aspect of the proposal to the FDC, please visit the discussion page.
Applicants should read this document to familiarise themselves with the assessment criteria; however, it should be edited only by FDC-related staff. The staff will use the document to set out their objective assessment of each funding request from eligible entities – specifically, to determine the extent to which plans align with the mission goals of the Wikimedia movement, and the extent to which the entity is well-placed to execute those plans effectively. The staff will base this report on proposals from entities and input from the community and other stakeholders (including, where required, deeper due-diligence on the entity's previous track record within the Wikimedia movement). The staff will provide completed reports to the FDC, which will then make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees on funding allocations.
Proposal overview
| Wikimedia Österreich | [Responses] |
| Date of submission [mm/dd/yy] | 10/2/2012 |
| Adherence to proposal process [yes/no] | yes |
| Adherence to legal, regulatory, and policy regulations [yes/no] | yes |
| Adherence to US anti-terrorism laws [yes/no] | yes |
| Currency requested (e.g., EUR, GBP, INR) | EUR |
| Exchange rate used (currency requested to $US) and date accessed (mm/dd/yy) | 1.29 |
| Total amount proposed to the FDC for the upcoming year annual plan [in $US] | 241,088.10 |
| Total amount proposed to the FDC for the upcoming year annual plan [in currency requested] | 186,890.00 |
| Summary staff assessment [substantial concerns: none/some/many] | some |
Annual plan
Table I: Financial summary
| FDC funds allocated last year ($US) | FDC funds proposed this year ($US) | Change from what was allocated last year (as a +/− %) | Proposed change in staff costs (USD and % increase or decrease) |
| USD 0 | 241,088.10 | NA | NA |
Strategic alignment
To what extent does the plan address the strategic goals and priorities of the movement (one to two paragraphs)?
- WMAT’s plan is aligned with the strategic priority areas Improve quality and Increase participation. WMAT’s plan is aligned with their own strategic priorities and with those of the Wikimedia movement: it emphasizes quality of content and increasing volunteer participation through both events and project activities. The bulk of program funding is devoted to volunteer support and content-focused initiatives.
Context of the entity and community
- To what extent does the context of the entity (e.g., community participation, fundraising context, sociopolitical environment) enable or inhibit the entity's potential for impact?
- To what extent does the entity's experience or maturity enable or inhibit the entity's potential for impact?
- WMAT has focused on collaboration with other affiliated entities, such as WMCH and WMDE with whom it shares a language link. The geographical and linguistic orientation of Austria seems to naturally encourage these types of collaborative initiatives. They have achieved success through joint initiatives such as the German-speaking WikiConference in 2012. They have also been supporting the development of new European chapters, including Wikimedia Espana and the prospective “Wikimedia Slovakia”.
- WMAT has a mixed history of reporting within the movement and compliance with WMF grants. WMAT tends to meet minimum standards for documentation and planning rather than exceed them. Reports and plans are not adequately detailed, which may be a sign that WMAT is not yet mature enough to execute a large annual plan. However, WMAT has been responsive to requests for clarification and details.
Feasibility and risks for the annual plan
How feasible is the annual plan (one to four paragraphs)? Specifically:
- To what extent are the budget, staffing, availability of volunteers, and other resources realistic for achieving the anticipated outcomes?
- Are the timelines realistic for the proposed initiatives and associated activities?
- Are there acknowledged and/or unacknowledged risks in the proposal?
- WMAT proposes to increase its budget significantly. At the same time, WMAT is not requesting an increase in staff. While this shows a strong emphasis on programming, feasibility concerns may arise over how realistic it is for WMAT to increase its budget this much without significantly increasing its staff.
- At the same time, WMAT has not produced a detailed annual plan to accompany its proposal to the FDC, as other entities requesting funds in this range have done. WMAT also submitted its proposal to the FDC after the deadline. Accompanied by a mixed track record with reporting, this leads to questions about WMAT’s organizational maturity.
Summary of expert opinions and/or community commentary
- Summary of the opinions of subject-matter experts on the plan
- Summary of community commentary on the plan
- Please see the proposal discussion page.
Table II: Scores, comments and feedback
Scores provide only a preliminary assessment for consideration by the FDC. The rubric for scoring is in table III.
| Dimensions | Criteria | Score (1–5) | Comments and feedback |
| Potential for impact against strategic priorities | (A) The plan addresses the Wikimedia movement global targets | 4 | The plan addresses some global targets. |
|---|---|---|---|
| (B) The initiatives in the plan have the potential to lead to the global targets, if executed well | 3 | While some initiatives have the potential to lead to the global targets, there are questions about the ability of other initiatives to successfully lead to global targets. | |
| (C) The initiatives in the plan have the potential to lead to significant impact, given context and amount of funds proposed | 4 | The initiatives have relative likelihood of achieving the global targets, given funds requested | |
| Ability to execute | (D) The entity has the resources, skills, and capacity (staff, volunteer, non-staff) for the plan to succeed | 3 | Some amount of staff capacity to execute proposed plan. |
| (E) The entity has a record of success in similar initiatives | 3 | WMAT has a fair record of success in similar initiatives. | |
| (F) The entity's leadership is effective, committed, and relatively stable | 3 | Leadership is relatively committed and stable. | |
| Efficient use of funds | (G) The funding requested is reasonable given the proposed initiatives | 4 | Funding request is reasonable for activities proposed in the plan. |
| (H) The entity has a record of using funds efficiently and staying on budget | 3 | WMAT is relatively on-budget; past funds reports have been timely, but brief. | |
| Quality of proposed measures of success | (I) Clear indicators of success are outlined in the plan | 3 | Some indicators of success outlined in the plan |
| (J) A plan is in place to track the proposed metrics | 3 | For some indicators and initiatives, there is a plan to track metrics; however, these plans are ambiguous. | |
| (K) The entity has a feasible plan in place to track the proposed metrics | 3 | There is some staff capacity overall; it is unclear if these staff are allocated to evaluation activities. | |
| Potential to add knowledge and/or other benefits to the movement | (L) The initiatives in the plan, if successful, could be helpful and/or productively replicated elsewhere in the movement | 3 | Initiatives are not necessarily innovative, and therefore may not lead to much replication. |
| (M) The entity is ready to share with the movement the lessons learned from the initiatives | 3 | Effective at collaborating but brief when reporting and evaluating activities. |
Table III: Scoring rubric
| Dimensions | Evaluation criteria | 1 = Weak or no alignment with criterion | 3 = Moderate alignment with criterion | 5 = Strong alignment with criterion |
| Potential for impact against strategic priorities | (A) The plan addresses the Wikimedia movement global targets | The plan will not directly address any global targets | The plan will partially address global targets or other goals that are closely related to the global targets | The plan will directly address several global targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (B) The initiatives have the potential to lead to the targets, if executed well | The initiatives have no clear connection to global targets | Some or all of the initiatives have an unclear relationship to global targets | The initiatives have been shown (by the entity or the movement) to lead to global targets | |
| (C) The initiatives have the potential to lead to significant impact, given context and amount of funds proposed | The initiatives will have marginal impact in the local community and the broader Wikimedia community, given context and amount of funds proposed | The initiatives proposed may have a significant impact in the local community, given context and amount of funds proposed | The initiatives could have significant impact at scale, both in the entity's local community and in the broader movement, given context and amount of funds proposed | |
| Ability to execute | (D) The entity has the resources, skills, and capacity (staff, volunteer, non-staff) for the plan to succeed | The entity has neither the number nor the amount of resources, skills, and capacity needed for success. | The entity has some relevant staff and volunteer capacity, but may be under-resourced for some initiatives | The entity is well-resourced with the relevant skills and capacity for success |
| (E) The entity has a record of success in similar initiatives | The entity has had trouble succeeding in similar initiatives | The entity has not engaged in similar initiatives in the past | The entity has conducted similar initiatives in the past and has been successful in achieving desired results | |
| (F) The entity's leadership is effective, committed, and relatively stable | Leadership has been unstable (e.g., changing on an annual basis) | Current leadership is committed to the entity; some concerns exist around stability or effectiveness of leadership | Current and past leaders have demonstrated the ability to develop and execute on strategic plans; leadership team has been stable and transitions have been smooth | |
| Efficient use of funds | (G) The funding requested is reasonable given the proposed initiatives | Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the plan contains significant over- or under-budgeting, and/or has not thoroughly accounted for costs | Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the budget is generally consistent with the initiatives; some initiatives are likely to be over- or under-budgeted | Based on FDC experience and relative to other proposals, the budget is reasonable, and rigorous cost projections have been presented |
| (H) The entity has a record of using funds efficiently and staying on budget | The entity has a poor record of budgetary management: e.g., consistently and significantly below budget (such as 50% underspending), and drawing on organizational reserves due to overspending | The entity has a middling record of budgetary management; e.g., generally on-budget for its biggest initiatives and cost items, properly recording any over- and under-spending, and with plans in place for improvements | The entity has consistently strong record of financial management; e.g., consistently staying on or below budget (within ~5% of budget), and putting surplus funds towards the entity's and/or movement's goals | |
| Quality of proposed measures of success | (I) Clear indicators of success are outlined in the plan | Initiatives have no associated indicators of success, or the proposed indicators are unrealistic and/or unmeasurable | Each initiative has indicators of success, but at least some indicators are unrealistic or are not clearly connected to the initiative | Each initiative has a realistic and carefully framed set of indicators of success associated with them, which are rigorous and time-bound |
| (J) A system is in place to track the proposed metrics | The plan does not include methodology or timing for tracking and collecting metrics to measure progress against proposed indicators of success | A proposal to track progress against indicators exists, but has flawed methodology or unrealistic timelines and initiatives | The plan includes timing and tracking of proposed metrics, and additional initiatives (e.g., surveys, research) to track indicators | |
| (K) The entity has a feasible system to track the proposed metrics | No systems are in place to track metrics, or staff or volunteer capacity to manage metrics tracking | There is some overall capacity (e.g., staff, volunteers) to track and monitor metrics, but the entity does not clearly have the relevant skills to do this | High-quality systems, and the necessary skills and capacity to manage these systems, are in place | |
| Potential to add knowledge and/or other benefits to the movement | (L) The initiatives, if successful, could be helpful and/or productively replicated elsewhere in the movement | The initiatives would not be relevant to other movement groups | Some initiatives may be relevant to other movement groups | Many initiatives proposed are new or have seldom been tried elsewhere in the movement; if successful, other movement entities would benefit from doing similar initiatives |
| (M) The entity is ready to share with the movement the lessons learned from the initiatives | The entity is isolated from other movement groups and rarely shares information; the entity's leaders and members seldom participate in movement-wide functions | The entity is somewhat active within the movement, and is developing more relationships with other movement entities with which it could share lessons learned | The entity has regular communication with other movement entities, is a regular participant in Wikimedia events, and has a track record of sharing with others |
This form was created by: Wolliff (talk) 05:04, 26 October 2012 (UTC)