Template:Rapid/eligibility guidelines
Funding guidelines
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Please check with your local Wikimedia affiliate to see if they offer a local grant program!
General guidelines
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Projects aimed at improving one or more of Wikimedia's existing websites | Projects aimed at improving third-party applications
(Click here if you're interested in creating a new wiki instead.) |
| Projects that foster conditions to encourage editing by volunteers (e.g. editor recruitment campaigns) | Projects that replace volunteer action by directly funding someone to create content (e.g. editing articles, uploading photos) |
| Production of code, research, materials that are published and released as free and open-source. Licensing should be compatible with current Wikimedia and MediaWiki practices | Production of code, research, materials that are created on a closed source platform or published in such a way that access is not freely available |
| Projects up to 12 months long | Projects more than 12 months long |
| Requests from individuals, groups and organizations | Requests from groups and organizations that already have a current Annual Plan Grant or Simple Annual Plan Grant |
| Requests from affiliates (including User Groups) that have announced grant requests on their official user group page on Meta and a local language forum that is recognized by each group, to allow adequate space for objections and support to be voiced. | Requests from affiliates (including User Groups) that have not announced their grant requests to the user group and received feedback and support from the group. |
| One project per proposal, up to a year in duration. | Multiple projects per proposal. If you would like to submit a multi-project proposal, please apply through our Annual Plan Grants program. |
| Funds for direct expenses | Compensation for people’s time (for example: project management or coordination) |
| Requests between USD $500 and up to USD $2000 for Rapid Grants
Requests from $2001 up to $100,000 for Project Grants
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Requests of more than $2,000 for Rapid Grants, and more than $100,000 for Project Grants |
| Applicants/grantees that adhere to Friendly Space expectations | Applicants with a history of violating Friendly Space expectations |
| Applicants who (i) agree to the reporting requirements, and (ii) are willing to sign a grant agreement, and (iii) provide the Wikimedia Foundation with information needed to process their funding. | Applicants who can't comply with the requirements and contractual terms of the program |
Fiscal sponsor administrative fees of no more than 20% of the requested grant amount. Must be included as an explicit budget line item in the finance section of the grant proposal.
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Contingency fees.
Administrative fees above 20% of the requested grant amount. |
| Applicants in good community standing. | Applicants who are blocked or banned on any Wikimedia spaces, or who have a demonstrated history of not complying with Friendly Space expectations. If applicants have been in good community standing for three years, but have previous history of censure, proposals will be reviewed on a case by case basis. |
Facilities, equipment and materials
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Temporary working space for short-term project organization | Ongoing office space rent |
| Rental equipment to be used for specific projects, such as cameras, wifi hotspot/dongle, etc. | Any equipment for purchase such as laptops, book scanners, cameras, and projectors. |
| Offline (hard-copy) publishing for targeted networking or training (ie: Wiki Love Monuments photo brochure to give your local GLAM partner) | Offline publishing of general outreach materials |
| Merchandise (swag) to recognize exceptional volunteer contributions (i.e: for help organizing an event, as a contest prize, for the best contributions during an editathon, etc.) | Merchandise giveaways for all participants in an event or for general outreach, including t-shirts. (exception: low-cost stickers and pins). Please see this article ("It's time to stop spending billions on cheap conference swag" for more info on the environmental and human impact of swag.) |
| Certificates, gift cards, books, photo equipment, etc. to recognize achievements or contest winners for their contributions | Cash prizes for contest or other competition winners |
| Up to 10% of total budget for unforeseen expenses, such as when items cost more than initially estimated. However, total project budget cannot exceed $2,000 USD. | Expenses already accounted for or estimated in other parts of budget. Budgeting for miscellaneous or unforeseen expenses greater than 10% of total budget. |
Wikipedians-in-Residence
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Wikipedian-in-Residence to collect resources, train/engage GLAM and Wikimedian community, and organize events around integrating content | Wikipedian-in-Residence whose sole focus is to digitize resources and/or personally create content |
Software Projects
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Software projects (including templates, gadgets, bots, and standalone applications) that can be fully completed by the Project Team | Software projects that would depend on WMF staff for code review and integration or other technical support (unless those staff are part of the Project Team) |
| Software projects requiring code review and integration, if there is demonstrated commitment from the related maintainers | Software projects requiring code review and integration that do not have the support of related maintainers |
Digitization Projects
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Digitization of materials as part of a program, at the request of the community, with a plan for how digitized content will be integrated into Wikimedia projects. | Paying individuals to digitize materials as the primary focus of the project |
Events
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| In-person events with a Friendly space policy | In-person events without a Friendly space policy |
| Series of events all focused on a specific theme
Single-instance events with a budget less than $2,000 (via Rapid Grants) |
Large, single-instance events over $2,000 are funded through the Conference & Event Grants program |
| Edit-a-thons | Meetups |
| Local travel for participants in relation to an edit-a-thon, photowalk, contest, or other approved event or program. | Long-distance travel for participants for an approved event or program
Travel to events funded through Conference & Event Grants, where travel scholarships are already available Travel to non-Wikimedia events |
General promotion campaigns for awareness
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Volunteers promoting Wikimedia projects/campaigns online or offline. | Hiring an ad agency to promote Wikimedia projects |
| Renting equipment that will only be used for the promotion campaign (e.g. laptop, tablets, video cameras, microphones, etc.) | Buying equipment that will only be for used the promotion campaign |
| Budget for paid ads for social media promotion
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Video campaigns
edit| Eligible for funding | Not eligible for funding |
| Volunteers producing videos for promotion of Wikimedia projects/campaigns
Longer distance travel for activities that cannot be done online or by local volunteers |
Producing videos with no promotion plan in place |
| Renting equipment that will only be used for the promotion campaign (e.g. laptop, tablets, video cameras, microphones, etc.) | Buying equipment that will only be used for the promotion campaign |