Hello members of the Funds Dissemination Advisory Group!
I hope this finds you well, wherever you are, enjoying a lovely weekend. I
wanted to share a draft version of the paragraphs for the FD Advisory Group
in the FDC Annual Report which should be published next week. As a base, I
used Richard's text from the summary of the call (thanks so much for
writing it up, Richard!). From there, I added more text from the minutes of
the meeting to add a bit more depth and context to share a bit more
perspective in the report.
I propose the text below as a draft for you to edit/correct/revise. I have
also put it on the top of the minutes from the etherpad. [1] *Please make
any suggestions and edits by end of day UTC Tuesday Sept 24,* so that we
can move forward with this piece completed. If you use the etherpad, it
would be ideal if you could note your initials by your comments so we can
follow up with you if we have any questions about the content created.
Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions. And thank you,
Advisory Group, for your input and feedback on this section of the report!
Warmly,
Katy Love
--
[1]
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/bUK9d3SRUd
*
The Funds Dissemination Advisory Group
[[
LINK]]<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FDC_…
an important role for the first two years of the FDC’s existence. The
Advisory Group helped to develop the FDC process, and now provides guidance
and feedback to help refine the process. The Group is comprised of
interested community members, current FDC grantees, external grantmakers,
and WMF Board members. Two members of the Advisory Group joined the FDC,
and they therefore resigned from the Advisory Group.
As a whole, the Advisory Group felt that the FDC Year 1 Process Review [[
LINK<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/FDC_Process_Rev…
accurately covered the current state of the FDC process. They strongly
emphasized a need for increased communication between applicants and FDC
staff. The Advisory Group noted that communication is the most challenging
aspect of the relationship, as new and inexperienced entities have a
difficult time meeting the requirements. The Advisory Group therefore
recommended that the FDC staff work more closely with applicants,
particularly the new applicants.
The Advisory Group noted concern around the fact that smaller entities
faced the same rigorous review treatment as larger entities, even when the
smaller entities were all or mostly volunteer-run. They also noted that
some entities may not be ready for annual plan grants with unrestricted
funds. They recommended to the FDC staff to help to steer smaller (possibly
less developed) entities to simpler Wikimedia grant programs, like the
Project and Events grants program.
Another concern is the lack of overall community involvement. One member
noted that only the applicants seemed to be paying significant attention to
the process.
The Advisory Group noted many positive aspects of the FDC. First, they feel
that the FDC Framework has been useful and well utilized as a foundational
document for the process. In addition, they were impressed with the
thoughtfulness of the FDC’s work and decisions. Furthermore, despite a
range of personalities, all viewpoints were respected and recommendations
are agreed jointly. Finally, they were also impressed with the maturity of
the applicants from the first round, including those that were rejected
from funding. *
On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 3:24 PM, Katy Love <klove(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hello again FD Advisory Group,
It was wonderful to speak with you all last week and hear your
perspectives on the progress of the FDC. Thank you, again, to Richard, for
both co-facilitating the call and for providing a good summary of the
meeting, too.
At this point, as mentioned before, we'd like to suggest that the Advisory
Group share some perspective on the first year of the FDC's existence
through some brief inputs for the annual FDC report.
Would one of you be willing to take what Richard has started with the
meeting summary and turn it into a few paragraphs for the AG's input to the
FDC report? Anasuya posed two questions that could be a useful starting
point for your reflection:
* Is the FDC proceeding in the right direction for the movement, both in
terms of process as well as building up learning around impact?
* Are there critical challenges or gaps that the FDC should be mindful
about for the coming year?
Kindly let me know if one of you is able and interested to lead this
effort. We are hoping to have a few paragraphs in the next few days to get
input from the other AG members to then include in the FDC Annual Report.
Of course, Anasuya and I would be happy to support you.
Many thanks!
Katy
On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 9:45 AM, Pavel Richter <pavel.richter(a)wikimedia.de
wrote:
+1
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Pavel Richter
Vorstand
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Tel.: +49 - 30 - 219 158 260
Twitter: @pavel
2013/7/11 Richard Ames <richard(a)ames.id.au>
Funds Distribution Comittee (FDC) Advisory Group (AG) teleconference of
11 July 2013
The group met to review the FDC process to date; the FDC AG members
present were Richard, Osmar, Pavel, Kathy, Jan-Bart. Wikimedia Foundation
(WMF) FDC staff present were Katy, Winifred, Anasuya. An etherpad summary
of the discussion is at [1].
The FDC Year 1 Process Review, 2012-13 [2] formed the basis of the
discussion and the group felt the survey covered the current state of the
FDC effort correctly. There was universal agreement regarding
communication between applicants and foundation staff - that this is the
most challenging aspect of the relationship; new and inexperienced entities
have a difficult time meeting the requirements and communication is the
solution. Steering smaller (possibly less mature) entities to simpler
grant possibilities may be part of the solution.
The group agreed we were making good progress using the 'framework' [3].
The 2014 review scheduled for March will be delayed to May to better fit
the FDC staff workload.
1.
http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/**bUK9d3SRUd<http://etherpad.wikimedia.org…
2.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/**wiki/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_**
continuous_improvement_of_the_**FDC_process/Process_Survey/**
2012-13_Year_Review<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Feedback_a…
3.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/**wiki/Funds_Dissemination_**
Committee/Framework_for_the_**Creation_and_Initial_**
Operation_of_the_FDC<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_…
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