Wikimania 2021/Scholarships/Art+Feminism/Report

Goals

Our goal was to make funds available to the Art+Feminism community to be able to participate in the virtual event of Wikimania 2021.

Outcome

Since our community is diverse and global, it was hard for us to predict what types of needs there will be specifically. We designed the form so that folx can select more than one reason (if necessary) to request funding to enable them to participate in Wikimania 2021. In all we received 25 applications, with 22 applicants (88%) based in the Global South.

• 10 applicants (40%) applied for funds to support childcare support.
• 17 applicants (68%) applied to buy data packages
• 17 applicants (68%) applied to purchase small hardware
• 6 applicants (24%) applied for translation support
• 5 applicants (20%) applied for video production support
• 7 applicants (28%) applied to organise an in-person meet-up
• 10 applicants (40%) applied to organise a post-Wikimedia meet-up
• 1 applicant (4%) applied to rent a space

Learning

With the restraints of the grant, we were unable to provide 100% funding for all applicants, but was able to provide partial funding to all applicants. Our hope was that community members could secure funding from other affiliates/resources. It wasn't until very late in the process that new guidelines around the grant were shared, including the fact that individuals could only apply to one affiliate for funding.

If the goal was to have one list of recipients, then the committee has made a mistake in asking affiliates to do their work of scholarship distribution. It's not feasible for affiliates to know what other affiliates are receiving and distributing scholarships especially when funds are being allocated and distributed on a rolling basis. And on the flip side, it's not feasible to expect Wkimedians who are involved with multiple affiliates to also keep track of this and nor was it clearly communicated that they're only eligible to apply to one.

In the end, Art+Feminism offered a compromise to fund the individuals that applied to funding from more than one source (a restriction that was not made clear by the organizers). We've shared this feedback in detail with the feedback form provided.

Finances

Grant funds spent

$2,252 was granted directly to members of the Art+Feminism community to attend Wikimania.

Remaining funds

All funds have been dispersed to applicants accordingly. There are no leftover funds.

Anything else

Ultimately, conference scholarships are a great thing and we were happy that this enabled members of the Art+Feminism community to participate, but we strongly encourage WMF to oversee individual scholarships for Wikimania in the future and to not repeat this process going forward.

Here is some of the feedback provided from Art+Feminism scholarship recipients:

• This was my first time attending Wikimania and I am glad that the A+F community has provided support for their volunteers and members. There was a lot of learnings and take-aways all throughout the sessions and it is really hard to absorb them in one sitting, lucky enough that they’re also uploaded on youtube. It gives me a boost having to partake in an international event as a volunteer situated here in a far-flung area in the Philippines, with limited resources, fluctuating data connections, and unstable electric supply. I felt that no one was left out within the movement. And I am looking forward to being able to attend the next Wikimania when it’s already possible for an in-person event, especially that the ESEAP region will be hosting the next event.
• Thank you so much for given me the opportunity to be part of this year virtual #Wikimania2021 conference. Infact, I actually enjoyed and learnt a lot through my participation which will go a long way to impact on Art + Feminism.
• Through my participation, it encourages me to do more research, share my ideas with the whole world, learn and unlearn from the whole world through editing and creating of articles and participating in training sessions to improve upon my knowledge on Wikipedia.
• I would use these lessons to further enhance topics discussed and shared during the next A+F event I'd organize, I am certain that incorporating other interesting activities like this would enhance participation from more youths within the community I work with and would also awaken their interest to learn more about what WMF does to enhance youth participation for sustainability.