2012 Activity Plan/Travel grants
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This document is a work in progress that will evolve over the course of the year. Please suggest improvements on the talk page, or make changes to this page directly. |
Description
The 2012 Activity Plan includes £15,000 for travel grants, with budget responsibility being with Mike Peel with office support. The description of the budget reads:
This page sets out the breakdown of the budget for the specific projects it supports. It is a working document that will evolve over time.
Note that board and staff travel is not covered under this budget - that falls under 'staff travel' and 'board costs'. Additional travel support for projects not listed here may also be covered by other budgets.
Finance Meeting
The Finance Meeting is a semi-annual meeting to discuss the Wikimedia fundraising activities, and also other finance-related issues such as financial policies and funds dissemination within the Wikimedia movement. This year it will take place in Paris, France, on 18-19 February 2012. Given the global nature of this debate, this meeting needs global representation in order to result in global solutions. We will support the attendance of board members from other Wikimedia organisations that were not able to participate in the global Wikimania Fundraiser last year.
We will provide support of up to £2,000. This will be implemented either by reimbursing costs already incurred to/by Wikimedia France, or by booking flights for individuals via the office. Costs per flight will vary depending on the origin country. This sponsorship was provided by transferring £2,000 (with an £8 transfer fee) to Wikimedia France in May 2012; this converted to €2,437.
Chapters Meeting
The annual Chapters Meeting brings together all of the Wikimedia chapters, along with the Wikimedia Foundation, to discuss the global Wikimedia movement, recent activities, and future strategies, opportunities and possibilities. This year it will take place in Berlin on 30 March-1 April 2012. We will provide sponsorship either to enable other chapters to attend the chapters meeting, or to provide general support for the meeting (e.g. last year we funded the facilitators).
We will provide support of up to £3,000 (TBC). If we provide travel sponsorship then we will offer to book flights directly via the office, and pay for accommodation via invoice from WMDE. If we provide general support, it will be by invoice from WMDE only. Although the plan was for us to pay for flights directly, the WMUK office was ultimately unable to enact this and WMDE booked the flights instead. As such, we transferred £3,000 (with an £8 transfer fee) to WMDE in April 2012; This converted to €3,598.50
Wikimania 2012
Wikimania 2012 is the global Wikimedia conference that takes place once per year. In 2012 it will be located in Washington D.C., USA, on 12-14 July 2012. We will provide scholarships for UK Wikimedia contributors and individuals from partner organisations.
We will provide scholarships totaling £5,000. At around £1k total costs per person for flight, accommodation, etc., as well as partial scholarships, we will be funding at least 5 scholarships. We will provide these scholarships via the central Wikimania scholarships system, with input into the selection of the relevant candidates. The office will organise their travel (using our supplier) and accommodation (at the conference hostel) directly. We would not be contributing to scholarships for people from other countries, as the WMF is doing this (and hence we are indirectly contributing to those via our grant to the WMF).
We ended up sponsoring:
- 4 full scholarships
- 1 full scholarship with 0.5 carer allowance (the carer allowance was deliberately not taken into account during the decision-making process
- 2 partial (0.5) scholarships
The decision was recorded on the office wiki, and was agreed by the board at the April 2012 board meeting.
It was originally estimated that a full scholarship will be £750. A later estimate based on actual costs increased this to £1,000 for a full scholarship, and £500 for a partial scholarship. This increases the estimated expenditure on this budget to £6.5k.
GLAMCamp
There was a GLAMcamp in 2012 in London, which happened in place of the postponed GLAM WIKI conference. There was £3,000 spent on the event, however, that was funded from the GLAM Conference budget.
Wikisym
- NB - this is currently a draft proposal.
Wikisym is an annual meeting of those carrying out scholarly research on or about Wikimedia. Wikisym 2012 will take place in Austria on 27-29 August 2012.
We will provide up to £1,500 (TBC) to cover the full costs for two UK attendees, which are either to be selected via an open call or selected via a Wikisym-organised scholarship process (if one exists).
Other projects
Given the above, £1,500 remains unallocated, which will be used to support other projects. This could include Wiki Loves Monuments.
Amount
| Project | Month | Budget | Expenditure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance Meeting | February | £2,000 | £2,008 | Extra £8 from international transfer costs. Final amount €2,437.00 |
| Chapters Meeting | March/April | £3,000 | £3,008 | Extra £8 from international transfer costs. Final amount €3,598.50 |
| Wikimania 2012 | May/June/July | £5,000 | £6,500 (TBC) | Breakdown above |
| GLAMCamp | TBC | £2,000 (TBC) | ?? | |
| Wikisym | August | £1,500 (TBC) | TBC | |
| Other projects | TBC | £1,500 (TBC) | ?? | |
| Total: | £15,000 | TBC | ||
Budget responsibility
- Mike Peel
Timetable for activities
Covered above.
Success Criteria
- Sponsorship goes according to plan
- Reports are filed by participants on time
Risks
- Office is not able to provide logistical support for the sponsorship (e.g. not being able to book flights, or organise quick reimbursement of expenditure (medium)
- Not enough high quality candidates request sponsorship before the deadline (low)
- Expenditure for sponsorships exceeds budget (medium)
- Post-event criteria are not fulfiled (medium)