Grants talk:PEG/WM CZ/Mediagrant/Report/2013/05

Thank you for this clear and concise report. The new table format makes sense.

Having spent ~$250 this quarter (see total in the previous report), it is time to start thinking about the total size of the grant (EUR 21000) versus the total spending so far (a little under EUR 6000), more than two years into the grant.

We would not like to see the grant continue indefinitely. I would therefore propose that we cap the grant at EUR 10000, and that WMCZ return the remainder to WMF. I welcome your thoughts on this. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 18:11, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

I'd just like to note that current arrangements we have take Mediagrant and P&O together, with current spending totalling 17916 EUR of 34000 EUR, so P&O kind of "makes up" in this. If the negotiated slide digitization effort gets approved in its current form, it's going to cut off another 4500 EUR off the balance, so we might be able to use significant portion of the remainder by the end of 2014. Personally I would quite like to see this grant continuing indefinitely, considering the quality media we get per euro spent. In any way, I agree that money sitting in a bank account don't quite fulfill the idea of "impact".

One idea that that springed to my mind: as I read our chapter did not get stellar recommendations for our FDC proposal, because it focused on covering administration, and ignored programmatic work. Would it perhaps be possible to reassign part of the grant money to cover administration programs similar to those our chapter proposed to the FDC? I (quite non-suprisingly) think that our programmatic work in MG and P&O grants makes sense, and think it's unfortunate we got into situation where we have problems reaching administration funding because our proposal lacked plans for what we're already doing in the grants. I have no idea who would have to approve such transfer, so I'd just like to ask about your opinion on such possibility.

--che 09:08, 16 May 2013 (UTC) (This post does not in any way represent position of the chapter, its board, or any of our grant committees.)

We are currently considering your suggestions and consulting them and will answer as soon as possible. Thank you for patience --Vojtech.dostal (talk) 09:56, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

(I apologize for the delay in responding to che's comments above; I have been on an unplanned personal leave.)

Thank you for these comments! I'm afraid grants with no end date are not a good practice, and we would therefore still like to conclude this grant some time in the near future. Regarding administrative expenses, I would be the person to approve those in this case, and you are welcome to make a request with some supporting rationale as explained here, using the button. Cheers! Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 23:18, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Dear Asaf, thank you for patience. We are planning a joint meeting of grant "eyes", board and other interested parties next week and will release a statement after this. An important factor in our considerations is that the grant money would be subjected to tax, if not returned and then relocated.--Vojtech.dostal (talk) 16:12, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

I just sent you an e-mail with the statement of our chapter (for others: generally we would like to continue with Mediagrant and Presentation&Outreach but is seems reasonable to create an end date for the grants). Looking forward to the following discussion, cheers, --Vojtech.dostal (talk) 08:54, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Report accepted

Report is accepted. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (Grants Administrator) talk 18:11, 15 May 2013 (UTC)