Activities/Kick-start grant
- Legal name of chapter
- Wiki UK Limited, operating as Wikimedia UK
- Grant contact name
- Andrew Turvey
- Grant contact user-name or e-mail
- secretary@wikimedia.org.uk
- Grant contact title (position)
- Secretary
- Project lead name
- Tom Holden
- Project lead user-name or e-mail
- treasurer@wikimedia.org.uk
- Project lead title (position), if any
- Treasurer
- Full project name
- Kick start funding
- Amount requested (in USD)
- 8,150 (= GBP 5,000)[1]
- Provisional target start date
- 1 June 2009
- Provisional completion date
- 1 June 2010
Budget breakdown
The bid is for start up funding to kickstart the chapter's work across a number of projects. This is broken down as follows:
Project | Expense | Value (GBP) | Value (USD) |
---|---|---|---|
Encouraging Wikipedia use in schools | Computer | 1,000 | 1,630 |
Travel | 1,000 | 1,630 | |
Content access projects | Travel, refreshments | 1,000 | 1,630 |
Content generation projects | Advertising | 1,000 | 1,630 |
Attending the chapters conference | Travel, accommodation | 500 | 815 |
Attending free content conferences | Travel | 500 | 815 |
Total | 5,000 | 8,150 |
Note: The actual amounts received in GBP were slightly lower than set out above. The Foundation later agreed to reallocate some of the funding as follows:
Project | Expense | Value (GBP) |
---|---|---|
Encouraging Wikipedia use in schools | Computer | 714.87 |
Travel | 714.87 | |
Statutory checks | 476.58 | |
Content access projects | Travel, refreshments | 953.16 |
Content generation projects | Advertising | 953.16 |
Attending the chapters conference | Travel, accommodation | 476.58 |
Attending free content conferences | Travel | 476.58 |
Total | 4,765.80 |
Project scope
This project provides start up funding for Wikimedia UK so that we can kick-start a number of items we would like to work on. Because the income from this grant takes us over the £5,000 level it also allows us to register with the UK Charity Commission - which helps us to book cheaper rooms and gain various tax benefits associated with charitable recognition sooner than would be otherwise possible. The funding will be used in the following five items - further details of which are on our wiki.
1. Encouraging Wikipedia use in schools
This funding will support volunteers to go into educational venues and give talks and demonstrations to encourage students to positively contribute to Wikipedia. It will part-fund the purchase of a computer to help demonstrations and will pay for volunteers to travel to and from the venues.
2. Content access projects
This item focuses efforts on identifying and developing partnerships with organisations that control archive material that could be of benefit to Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects. The objective is to achieve similar content-release arrangements to the one that Wikimedia Germany has recently managed with the Saxony State Library.
We have several leads we are currently pursuing; the funding for this item will pay for chapter representatives to travel to meetings with content owners and for entertainment costs.
3. Content generation projects
This funding will pay for advertising supporting the proposed “London Loves Wikipedia” project, which is to be organised by the chapter, the Victoria & Albert Museum and seven other cultural institutions in London. Pencilled in for spring 2010, this project is similar in scope to the “Wikipedia Loves Art” project organised by the Brooklyn Museum in February 2009. The project enables participants to take high quality photographs of museum exhibits and upload them for use in the Wikimedia projects.
4. Attending the chapters conference
Each year a conference is arranged bringing together all the Wikimedia chapters, the Foundation and the developers conference. This is a valuable event where we can share ideas on potential projects and best practice and can co-ordinate activities.
In 2009, the chapter had to apply for financial assistance from other chapters and without this assistance we would not have been able to participate. In 2010 we are likely to be in a similar situation. Funding will help pay for travel and accommodation for two delegates from the chapter.
5. Attending free content conferences
In early 2009 we were invited to attend the Open Knowledge Conference, an event that brings together leading organisations in the free content movement in the UK, including the owners of http://www.theyworkforyou.com and the Open Knowledge Foundation. We were unable to attend this year because we didn't have the available funds. Funding for this will enable chapter delegates to attend future conferences like, paying for travel and conference fees.
Project goal
The overall goal of the project is to establish the chapter by kick-starting these projects and enabling the chapter to gain recognition as a charity from the UK Charity Commission. This recognition will improve the effectiveness of the chapter by reducing costs and increasing our credibility.
The individual goals of the five items are:
- Encouraging Wikipedia use in schools : encourage participation in Wikimedia projects
- Content access projects: to make content available to the Wikimedia projects
- Content generation projects: to make content available to the Wikimedia projects
- Attending the chapters conference: to identify new ways to achieve our goals
- Attending free content conference: to identify new ways to achieve our goals
Non-financial requirements
We would appreciate any introductions you could give us to help us achieve our goals for item 2 (content access projects).
Fit to strategy
The individual elements in this project work in different ways to support the key objectives of the Foundation:
- Increasing participation, by encouraging people in schools to participate in the projects
- Increasing quality, by generating content through access partnerships and content generation projects
- increasing credibility, by engaging with free content organisations and getting charity status in the UK
- organizational maturity and sustainability, by getting charity status in the UK, extending the chapter's experience with projects, learning from other chapters and raising our profile among Wikimedia's supporters in the UK, encouraging them to join the chapter, donate and get involved.
Other benefits
These projects will be available as a template for future opportunities by both our chapter and others.
Measures of success
Overall
1. Costs saved and income generated through having charitable status
Encouraging Wikipedia use in schools
2. Number of students attending talks on Wikipedia
3. Number of editors recruited to Wikipedia
Content access projects
4. Number of usable items uploaded to Wikimedia
Content generation projects
5. Number of usable items uploaded to Wikimedia
Attending the chapters conference
6. New initiatives or concrete improvements to the chapter's activities resulting from attendance
Attending free content conference
7. New initiatives or concrete improvements to the chapter's activities resulting from attendance
Footnotes
- ↑ All amounts converted from GBP at 1.63 to protect against adverse exchange movements of 10% from 1.48 rate as at 20 April