[Wikimediauk-l] Funding: WMF and expert feedback on WMUK's $707, 000 bid

Chapter members and UK volunteers may be interested in the feedback from WMF staff and independent experts review of WMUK's funding proposal to the Funds Dissemination Committee. The top 3 concerns were reported as: ** Potential for impact on Wikimedia projects is too low in proportion to funds requested* Programmatic strategy is diffused and unfocused in the context of WMUK’s size and history* Plan lacks clear metrics or a feasible plan to evaluate work* This is an interim stage of assessment (round 1) but will strongly influence the FDC recommendation and the final WMF board decision on annual funding for WMUK. This has been published at [1]. The scores average below 3/5, making WMUK's evaluation as "weak" or below "moderate" alignment with the evaluation criteria. As well as the numbers and summary, there are a number of well explained concerns in the review that would be valuable for the board and CEO to respond to with new plans and commitments in the December board meeting. Picking one smaller and one large chapter from the list [2] to compare, gives the following results: WMUK's proposal appears a close comparison with WMCH's proposal for $500,000,[3] though WMCH scored slightly higher in almost all areas. The main differences appear to relate to the quality of planning and clearer measures of success than WMUK were able to put forward. WMDE's proposal was for $2.4m, three times larger than WMUK's, and scored higher in all areas and significantly higher with their quality of measurement. There are interesting aspects of community feedback highlighted, including a key risk of "Relationships among board, staff, and community have been challenging." Links 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/WMUK/… 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/Wikim… 4. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/Wikim… Posted on the WMUK Water cooler at < https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler#WMF_and_expert_feedback_on_WMUK.… Thanks Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm