Grants talk:Project/Rapid/User Group Belarus/Wiki Loves Earth Belarus 2020

Comments from WMF

Hello W, thanks for this Rapid Grant submission. I am glad to see that the Belarusian community is also joining the Wiki Loves Earth contest! I have reviewed your proposal and have the following questions and comments:

• If this request is approved, please be aware that there may be a chance that the Belarusian government would see this grant as taxable income, even if there is no time compensation and the project is volunteer-run. Am I correct that the "Miscellaneous" budget item refers to this possible income tax?
• Are you a member of the Wikimedia Community User Group Belarus or organizing this project on its behalf?
• Could you please confirm that no offline (in-person) meetings and events will be organized in terms of this grant?
• You mentioned that you would also organize a writing contest. Could you please provide more details on when and how you are going to organize it?
• Please consider having at least three members in the jury. Here you can find more information on how to find jury members and organize the selection process.

I’m looking forward to your response! Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk)

Hello, DSaroyan (WMF)! How are you? Thank you for your review. Yes, "Miscellaneous" budget item refers to the income tax, which is 13% in Belarus. I am a member of the Wikimedia Community User Group Belarus with a voluntary role of "Translator (Interpreter) into English and Belarusian" there. I organize this project on my own, as the Meetup was not possible in a timely manner. I can confirm that no offline meetings & events will be organized in terms of this grant. I created a landing page for the Wiki Loves Earth contest in Belarusian Classical Wikipedia, that mentions a simultaneous writing contest (be-tarask:Вікіпэдыя:Праект:Вікі любіць Зямлю). Thank you for advice on the number of jury members. I invited more volunteers to be the jury through the local wiki-forum (be-tarask:Вікіпэдыя:Форум) & Belarusian wiki-groups in social networks ( Telegram + Facebook). Best wishes,--W (talk) 06:48, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Approved

Hello W, thanks for responding to my questions. We have approved your grant request! Best regards, DSaroyan (WMF) (talk) 07:31, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

May I prolong the contest period from June 30th till July 31st, if the target of 300 photos, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, will be seen as unreachable in the last 5 days of June? After over 15 days of contest, we have 132 images in commons:Category:Images from Wiki Loves Earth 2020 in Belarus. The positive example of a contest, which is 2 months long, is commons:Commons:Wiki Loves Earth 2020 in Germany.--W (talk) 14:43, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

@W: Thanks for this request. Because this extension still falls within the grant period, you do not need to seek permission from the Wikimedia Foundation to extend or prolong the contest. If you need more time to prepare a report for your WLE activities (currently due 31 September 2020), please let us know. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 21:08, 16 June 2020 (UTC)