Grants talk:PEG/WM MX/Iberoconf 2013

GAC members who have read this request but had no comments

1. .

GAC members who have read, studied and concluded their assessment (of) the proposal

1. . I support this proposal. Polimerek (talk) 21:13, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
2. . Decent budget distribution, I endorse the proposal.--Mayur ^{(talk•Email)} 16:13, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
3. Support. Please, next time try to use a "standard tables" because it shows more information. --MikyM (talk) 16:23, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
4. I support this proposal. -- Roel (talk) 17:20, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
5. Support this. Also, as a general note, I think it's valuable for us to compare goals from last year and see if there's a progress between conferences.NLIGuy (talk) 21:52, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
6. Support, after more detailed budget --Packa (talk) 13:10, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

GAC members who abstain from comment/vote

1. I have discussed this grant extensively with the people involved prior to its publication, my comments/remarks have already been taken into account. notafish }<';> 09:19, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
2. As member of Iberocoop I am in a COI, so I would abstain. --Ilario (talk) 16:21, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
3. As member of Iberocoop I am in a COI, so I recuse.--3BRBS (talk) 16:32, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

Question about currencies

Hello, Iván and Salvador: Thank you for your request. I noticed that your project budget was in MXN but that you were requesting the grant in USD. Is there a reason why you are requesting the grant in USD? It seems like it would be simpler for accounting and reporting to request the total grant amount in MXN. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 15:06, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Oh, I see the flights costs are actually quoted from the travel agency in USD! Requesting the grant in USD might very well make the most sense if you will be invoiced for the flights in that way. Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 16:02, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Exactly. Besides, in that way we save the problem of updating some expenses because of inflation or vacation season. For example, some hostels update its prizes in USD during summer. Salvador (talk) 18:38, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Booking fee for travel

Have you considered other options for booking this travel beyond this travel agency or would the agency be providing some other essential services that are not clear here? We definitely understand that 18 flights may be overwhelming for volunteer organizers to book themselves, but have you considered options like pre-approving travel for each participant up to a certain amount and reimbursing participants for booking their own travel that could save this 20% booking fee?

Just at a quick glance, the prices quoted here from the agency are not particularly favourable (even considering that you have added the 20% increase which probably is not needed as it is perhaps more likely that prices may decrease between 6 months and 2 months prior to travel rather than increase). A 20% fee is probably not a very good deal unless the agency can offer you significantly reduced costs or some essential services that aren't yet made obvious in the proposal.

Cheers, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 15:21, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, we are considering other ways of booking. We are taking the prices of that travel agency as highest parameter to take at worst. Actually, we have a little team of volunteers that will focus in find cheapest prices and book flights by our own. Other option is like you say, but that way could be work only with people from chapters with enough budget.

The 20% extra is our personal financial cushion in case this grant procedure takes more time that calculated and considering that June is peak season in Mexico. Currently, prices are higher than how are calculated in text, for example, the round flight ARG-MEX costs 971 USD just now, while in the grant proposal is calculated 866 USD. Why are you saying that costs may decrease? At final, if part of that extra percentage is not spent we can give back to you. Salvador (talk) 19:17, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Most participants did not have resources to finance the reimbursement of their tickets. It is a better choice for all the buying for us previously. --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 03:13, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Chapters participation

As at least 2 chapters (WMAR and WMIT) are supported by FDC and also have some their own resources, are they wiling to participate financialy in the event? I guess - at least they can send their delegates on their own? Polimerek (talk) 18:20, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi Tomasz, I'm replying for Wikimedia Argentina. Indeed, we operate on an annual budget which is supported and almost entirely funded via FDC. That's why all of our foreseen domestic and international travel expenses appear in our budget as specific and separate items. Iberoconf isn't there, let me explain why. Last year, when discussing the provisions for our current budget, we agreed with the Iberoconf 2013 organizing team that financial logistics would be easier to handle and to track if all Iberoconf airfares were included in the same grant/budget, as the origin of the funds would be the same —centralized movement fundraising. In other words, had we wanted to support Iberoconf financially (either by booking our own travel or by taking care of associated expenses), the funds would have flown from centralized administration to WMAR to WMMX, creating in our understanding an unnecesary and avoidable series of bank transfers, taxes and currency exchanges. In that very line, please consider that current foreign exchange regulations in place in Argentina make it very hard for both individuals and small-scale organizations to transfer money internationally. That situation includes payments in foreign currency, such as those needed for buying airplane tickets, which are subject to an extra 20% tax that can be avoided if WMMX takes care of managing all travel costs in a centralized way. Having that said, Wikimedia Argentina is paying from its budget provisions for it's Executive Director's travel, which is a special situation/condition that in our opinion should not be funded by the standard, general Iberoconf grant. Best, Galio (talk) 22:09, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi Tomasz, regarding WMI:

• even if we could apply for FDC we didn't, so we are not supported by FDC
• our current budget (available only in italian, sorry) doesn't have a line for IberoConf
• at the moment we're unable to find an extra budget to self-financing WMI participation to IberoConf

If granted, WMI will send one rep to IberoConf, otherwise this year we can't be present.

Frieda (talk) 08:42, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Budget

Thanks for the submission. In general, the idea behind Iberoconf is good and I'd like to support this one with no doubt. The only thing that needs clarification is the budget. I see that you have detailed only the flight expenses and have put everything else as general estimates. Could you provide a budget with more details on the specific groups of expenses? I suppose that you came up with the figures by calculating different kind of expenses, and it would be great if you can deliberate them in more details. Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 11:08, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, Kiril. We will add detail in the groups, what are stationery, accommodation and catering. Regards, --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 18:51, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Now we have more detailed the budget. Regards, --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 05:29, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

Request funded

Congratulations! This request is funded. Thank you for documenting your progress and for your commitment to continuing to do so. We look forward to hearing more about your successful event in the grant report. Please contact us with questions at any time. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 01:48, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

Extension

We understand this project has been postponed due to logistical difficulties. Would you please provide an approximated start and completion date here, and request an extension? We can then update the start and completion dates once they are confirmed closer to the new event dates. Thank you, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 00:35, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Hello! Please do follow up here with the formal extension request. Thank you, 216.38.130.164 00:24, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Changes to Iberoconf 2013 budget

Due to facts don't atributable to WMMX's responsability, the purchase of flight tickets was delayed. That means that most of costs of flights has increased significantly. The first money from the budget was focused to cover those medium-price flights that were increasing quickly, as a result the budget for others has been cut back. For that reason is needed to request for extra money to buy the flights that were no possible to get for that lack. If we can't buy this flights promptly around three chapters won't have representatives in Iberoconf and the goals of the project won't be plenty reached.

Also, after the budget approbal Wikimedia Uruguay was recognized as chapter, for that reason is asking for the same representation that rest of chapters. Therefore, we are extending the budget to take to Mexico a second representative from that country. Besides, it is must be taking in consideration that the high taxes in Venezuela have increased hugely the price and currently is not affordable pay two tickets from that country but even with this reduction the one flight is too much high for the last budget. The italian representative is going to be just one, but she comes from Korea. Finnaly, the flight of a representative of Portugal currently is too much high and increases quickly.

If this funds are no approved this flights can't be paid for the chapter. The project can continue but with limitations.

Budget and resources

Only the subject of flights will be changed. The addition takes on account the new prices of the flights of the four representatives which couldn't pay: Italy, Venezuela, Portugal and Uruguay. That means an increasing for $6,716 dollars. The detail of this amount is explained in section "Flights added".

The new budget with the changes implemented would be:

Number	Category	Item description	Unit	Number of units	Cost per unit	Total cost	Currency	Notes
1	Flights	Round trip to Mexico City	1 round flight	18 round flights to Mexico City	*	20504	USD	See beneath
. . .	The rest remain the same.

Total submission

Now: 27,080 USD

Before: 19,711 USD

Added: 7369 USD

Flights added

City	Air line	USD (unidad)	Pp.	Total USD
Italy (From Korea)	Despegar	1,400	1	1,400
Venezuela (Caracas)	Aeroméxico	3,253	1	3,253
Uruguay (Montevideo)	Despegar	1,300	1	1.300
Porto	Despegar	1,416	1	1,416
Total			3	7369

These additional flight costs are now approved. Best regards, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 19:06, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

This update / increase to US$7369 is approved in light of actual flight costs. Best, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 18:11, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Report past due

This project was scheduled to complete in October 2013, and a final report was due 60 days after completion; therefore, this grant report is now past due and WMMX is out of compliance with program requirements. WMMX will not be eligible to receive funding from WMF until it submits all past due reports. We ask that WMMX contact grants at wikimedia dot org immediately with an update on the status of this report, or that they reply here on the discussion page. Sincerely, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 01:19, 4 January 2014 (UTC)