Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Wikimedia Poland Accelerated Service Growth
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Applicant details
editWikimedia username(s):
- n/a since this is an affiliate application
Organization:
- Stowarzyszenie Wikimedia Polska
Have you received grants from the Wikimedia Foundation before?
- Applied previously and did receive a grant
Have you received grants from any non-wiki organization before?
- No
Which organization(s) did you receive grants from?
- N/A
Organization details
editWhat is your organization or group's mission?
- The mission was created in 2018 as a result of the internal audit process. It reflects the earliest phase of our maturing process. Due to its length we’re only sharing the link here: https://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Misja/en
If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has. (optional)
- N/A
Grant proposal
editPlease state the title of your proposal. This will also be a title for the Meta-Wiki page.
- Wikimedia Poland Accelerated Service Growth
Where will this proposal be implemented?
- Poland
Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries? (optional)
- Local
If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.
What are the main challenges you are trying to solve and your proposed solution?
- The Polish Wikipedia is a community with a very high barrier of entry, with over 97% of newly registered accounts not coming back to edit after the first 7 days (7 day retention).
This stems from very high quality requirements (rightly so), but also a lack of people dedicated to ensuring newbie success, patrolling Recent Changes, etc. – this lack of capacity has led the few community members to prioritize expediency over emphatic human-to-human interactions, in order to keep up. Hence we now have an increasingly stagnant, overworked, burned out and frustrated group of volunteers, with very slim chances of the group being joined by new community members.
What is the main objective of your proposal?
- We aim to to grow our Community Support team in order to better serve the needs of our editing community, while at the same time expanding our educational activities in order to raise the next generation of Wikimedians.
Through a combination of trainings, organizational support and integration-oriented events, we hope to open up and strengthen the community, while preserving our commitment to high quality.
Describe your main strategies to achieve this objective and the main activities you will be developing as part of these strategies.
- We aim to lower the overall stress level within the community, decrease the number of interpersonal conflicts, and speed up conflict resolution when they do happen. This is a continuation of our work in 2021, which was focused on training mediators to support the Polish version of the ArbCom Process.
We also aim to start embedding a Wikipedia-friendly presence in each school, by working with school librarians, a highly underappreciated and underdeveloped role within the Polish educational system. Through building a network of contacts and a set of trainings and resources, we aim to transform these spaces into a safe haven helping equip young people with media analysis tools to combat fake news, learn how to judge sources, and more.
Please state if you will be carrying out any of these activities within your programs? Select all that apply.
- Wikimedian-in-Residence, Organizing Meet-up online, Organizing Meet-up offline, Train-the-Trainer, Contest, Photo/Media campaign, Wiki Loves campaign, Conference/Event Organizing
Are you running any in-person events or activities?
- Yes
Please state if your proposal aims to work on any of the identified content knowledge gaps?
- Content Gender gap
Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or thematic focus.
- Education, Culture, heritage or GLAM
Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select all categories that apply.
- Disabilities
Please tell us more about your target participants.
- There are no specific requirements to participate in most of our planned activities other than (a) be a part of a Wikimedia project community or be willing to join and contribute and (b) be a librarian or teacher in a Polish public school (for the Wiki Library Spaces program). Some events, trainings or services conducted by staff hired as part of this grant may be addressed to specific group (e.g. Wikipedia admins), which will mean more selective participation criteria.
We are working with the Polish communities of Wikipedia, Wikisource and Wiktionary. This has been a continued partnership over the last 15 years, based around contest organization event management and general support. This has been expanded in 2021 through the creation of an on-wiki service center and support services catalog.
Do you have plans to work with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates in your country, or in other countries, to implement this proposal?
- Yes
Please tell us about these connections online and offline and how you have let Wikimedia communities know about this proposal.
- We will conduct community consultations with our members and the Polish Wikimedia projects' communities. The consultations will be for the entirety of our annual plan, of which this grant request is about 33% (in financial terms).
The consultations happen at pl.wikimedia.org and are announced on Wikipedia and other projects, mailing lists, Discord and Facebook.
Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedian partners to implement this proposal?
- Yes
Please describe these partnerships.
- As part of our Wiki Library Spaces program we will be working with school libraries all over Poland. We will be supported by the Polish Librarians' Association, which we have a working relationship with and we organize #1Lib1Ref every year.
How do you hope to sustain or expand the work carried out in this proposal after the grant?
- The work detailed in this grant request is part of a 3-year strategic development plan for Wikimedia Poland and is a continuation of the organization's evolution. Thanks to our work on improving fundraising, continued close collaboration with our community, and a board composed of active Wikimedians, we are confident that the work completed within 2022 will serve as a foundation for our next strategic development plan, and the learnings are incorporated into our processes and institutional memory.
Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?
- Yes.
Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska, Community Support Officer (User:Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska (WMPL) & User:Magalia) Paulina Studniczka, Junior Community Support Officer (User:Paulina Studniczka (WMPL)) Klara Sielicka-Baryłka, Educational Projects Specialist (User:Klarqa & User:Klara Sielicka-Baryłka (WMPL)) Wioletta Matusiak, Educational Trainer Kamila Neuman, Open Culture Specialist Nina Gabryś, Social Media Specialist & Spokesperson Grzegorz Kopaczewski, Office Manager & Admin Support Łukasz Garczewski, Chief Operating Officer (User:TOR)
The team also includes a group of ~10 volunteers trained as mediators in 2021.
In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of three options that most apply.
- Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Improve User Experience
Please state if your organization or group has a Strategic Plan that can help us further understand your proposal. You can also upload it here. (optional)
- Yes
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation
editWhat do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?
- We expect to come out of 2022 with two key learnings and new or improved capabilities:
(1) How to best work alongside the community, helping members achieve meaningful needed changes to improve key processes within Wikipedia. This includes, but is not limited to, various touch points between new editors and established community members (first edits, sandbox, early conflicts around process), as well as Articles for Deletion and other community-driven processes.
(2) How to run an education-focused project pilot in a way as to prepare for scaling (regional or national) in the following year. This relates to our wiki with school libraries and transforming them into true knowledge resources (as opposed to a storage space for books).
Core Metrics
editEnter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Core metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | New participants: 250
Returning participants: 200 |
450 |
| Number of editors | This will be measured via the growth of the median of active editors in Q4 as compared to Q4 2021. Target number is TBD once we have full date for 2021. We will be targeting a 2.5% growth year over year. | |
| Number of organizers | We understand "organizers" as community leaders, self-organizing volunteers, and people who can animate the community in line with community needs and Wikimedia Poland's mission. Currently we have a small number of such volunteers, working on a variety of working groups. We intend to make these people more effective and engaged, rather than expanding it too quickly.
However, our hope is to also develop several people who would be able to organize editing contests with minimal support (see section d. below. |
6 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Wikimedia Poland's community animation work has resulted in a large array of editing contests and great engagement (5000 pages created or significantly improved as part of contests in 2021 so far). However, a negative result of our work in this area was the gradual retreat of wikipedians from the tasks surrounding the organization and running of contests. In 2021, we have started to reverse this by gradually giving more power and responsibilities back to volunteers, and we would want to continue this trend with the help of additional staff in 2022.
This is a crucial change since we see organizational work (of which on-wiki contests are the easiest form) to be the beginning of a path towards leadership and coordination roles within the Wikimedia movement, both locally and internationally. And we desperately need fresh blood in these more "meta" roles, to enable succession and ensure sustainability. |
3000 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.
Additional Metrics
editEnter a description of the metric and a number in the target field. If the metric does not apply to you, enter N/A for not applicable.
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | 20 |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | N/A | N/A |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | N/A | N/A |
| Number of activities developed | Activities within the Wiki Library Spaces project, to be run by librarians after being developed by our team. | 3 |
| Number of volunteer hours | N/A | 100 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
What other information will you be collecting to learn about the impact of your work? (optional)
What tools would you use to measure each metric selected?
- We a use a combination of Salesforce and a Google Spreadsheets to record metrics and volunteer activities.
The most tricky part is measuring retention, since it's very difficult to gauge impact of retention-related activities, based on an event (leaving the project) that did not happen. For this reason we would like to spend the first part of 2022 to define a way of measuring "continued participation" affected by us.
How do you hope to share these results so that others can learn from them?
- Share results on social media, Participate in one on one peer sharing session with other grantees, I would like to receive support from the Foundation to discover how I can share my learning, Share results with our communities, Share it on Meta-Wiki
Financial Proposal
editWhat is the amount you are requesting from WMF? Please provide this amount in your local currency. If you are thinking about a multi-year fund, please provide the amount for the first year.
- 825000 PLN
What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?
- 202882 USD
Do you want to apply for multi-year funding?
- Yes
If you have calculated it, please provide an estimate of the year 2 or year 3 request.
- N/A
Please share your budget for this proposal.
- See attached budget file
What do you do to make sure there is a good management of funds?
- Finance
(1) Wikimedia Poland's org structure includes an elected audit committee independent and separate from the board. (2) Board memebrs and one member of the audit committee can view bank account statements and provide oversight. (3) Monthly financial reports are shared with the board and the audit committee. (4) We publish annual financial statements & conduct an independent financial audit each year, compliant with local & international standards.
Programs and projects (1) We have a 3-year plan with clear directions of growth. Our annual plans are in line with this plan and are iterative steps for the execution of the directions. (2) Our main activities are scalable. We use metrics across our program teams. We invest in project and program management skills of our staff. (3) We are inspired by the strategic recommendations and the existing institutional memory accumulated across Wikimedia organizations. (4) We balance the ambitions with the capacity of our staff and volunteers.
How will you contribute towards creating a supportive environment for participants using the UCOC and Friendly Space Policy?
- (1) We have adapted the Friendly Space Policy and adjusted it to online spaces. Information of these rules is made known and easily accessible to all attendees. At each event, there are a few FSP experts whose names are made known to all attendees. Other related processes are in place.
(2) When the global UCoC enforcement rules are established, we will develop and adapt local rules. We have begun the collaboration between the board, the audit committee, and the peer tribunal members, as well as the community support staff on that matter. We will ask the General Assembly to make the compliance with the UCoC a statutory requirement for each member.
(3) In order to go past the minimal norms, we invest financially in the psychological resilience of Wikimedians. We collaborate with a professional psychotherapist. We also organize professional mental health and soft skills-related trainings for the community functionaries.
Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.
- Staffing plan or organogram:
- Other public document(s):
Final Message
editBy submitting your proposal/funding request you agree that you are in agreement with the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and the Universal Code of Conduct.
We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
- Yes
Year 2 Plan
Annual Plan for Year 2
1.1. Please upload or indicate a link for Year 2 Annual Plan. (required)
1.2. Please describe any major changes in your Annual Plan. If there are changes that require a budget change, please specify. (required)
There were few changes we had to make. Due to the long-lasting vacancies in the positions of executive director, communication coordinator, junior community support officer and junior education officer and the process of onboarding a new board, we had to postpone some activities to 2023. Filling these positions at the end of the year brought big change to our budged. Postponing some programs to 2023 made them more costly due to inflation.
In December 2022 we created a new three-year strategy. The board adopted the document in January 2023. All actions planned were reviewed and assessed in terms of the implementation of strategic objectives. In January 2023 the board accepted the plan for 2023, budget and the employment plan. Live events are the major positions in our 2023 plan. Community missed them, and looking forward to participating. Therefore, we planned more such opportunities in the Year 2. A major change was filling all the vacant positions and adjusting the team to new challenges. First - having settled a new, solid organizational structure (full planned employment of 11 people working in a matrix non-hierarchical structure) we can now fully implement planned initiatives. Secondly, we can add new elements which will make the new structure more resilient in the future. Therefore, we are planning to spend the amount that is left together with the funds for the Year 2. Our main inner organizational goal for the year 2023 is to enhance our capacity by strengthening our structure, employee wellbeing and overall management standards. We see those pillars as crucial for Wikimedia Polska to become a resilient partner within the Wikimedia Movement in the long term.
Budget for Year 2
2.1. Do you request an increase or decrease from what has been approved for Year 2? (required)
- No, my budget request for Year 2 has not changed
2.2. Please upload a detailed budget file or indicate a link to it for the Year 2 proposal. The revised budget should show your anticipated yearly budget from the beginning of Year 2 through the end date of the grant. (required)
- Link:
Metrics for Year 2
3.1. Main open metrics (required)
| Metrics Name | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Safe community | We aim to lower the number of conflicts within the community | We want to train 20 volunteers on conflict response and improve general atmosphere in community |
| Open community | Introducing new methodology of training the trainers and lower the entry barriers for newcomers. We want to train 10 wiki-trainers to deliver knowledge to newcomers in a new, attractive and more efficient way and deliver a gamification platform for newcomers. | 10 |
| Inclusive community | Attracting new participants from underrepresented groups; keeping whose already engaged with special needs. Women - at least half of participants in our actions. Improve user experience for the blind
and visually impaired. Include whose with special needs and financially disadvantaged. Tagret: % of female participants. |
50 |
| Resilient team and board | Providing anti-burnout program for employees and board members. Short term goal: lower the number of sick-leave. Long term goal: keep at least a middle level of engagement in Wikimedia Projects among board members when they leave the board. Tagret: number of anti-burnour programs implemented. | 1 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
3.2. Core metrics (required)
| Core metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | General number of participants of planned events in 2023 | 1400 |
| Number of editors | Editors with more than one edtis/month | 14000 |
| Number of organizers | Community leaders, self-organizing volunteers, and people who can animate the community in line with community needs and Wikimedia Poland's mission | 5 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
3.4. If you are introducing new metrics related to a major change in your budget or programmatic plans, please describe them below. (optional)
Improved or new articles in Polish Wikipedia - target for 2023: 4640
Additional information for Year 2
4.2. If there are additional links, files, or information you would like to share related to Year 2 planning, please add them here. (optional)
Additional funding request: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FnfajlhpTN55yzAtBbiQMC0NFzgVI5ePTdgVNhP6x9k/edit#gid=0
Feedback
edit- Please add any feedback to the grant discussion page only. Any feedback added here will be removed.