Wikidata:Tenth Birthday/Run an event/Funding
If you are planning an event for Wikidata’s 10th birthday, you may need some financial support in order to run the event smoothly, to help your participants join or to provide equipment or refreshments. On this page, you will find all the necessary information to request funding through WMF’s Rapid Fund program.
Quick check-list[edit]
Here’s a summary of the sections below and a check-list of what you need to prepare in order to get funding for your event:
- Check your eligibility for the Rapid Fund program
- Check which activities can be funded
- Prepare the description of your event and the activities you want to organise (see a list of ideas here)
- Create an account on Fluxx
- Submit your application at least 45 days before the start of your activities, mentioning that it is in the frame of Wikidata’s 10th birthday
- A program officer will be in touch with you shortly after your application to guide you through the next steps
- Don’t forget to add your event/activity to the schedule and join the Wikidata events Telegram group
- After your event takes place, you will be required to provide a report
About the Rapid Fund program[edit]
The Rapid Fund program funds Wikimedia community members – individuals, groups, or organizations contributing to Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia or Commons – to organize projects throughout the year with a budget of 500 USD up to 5,000 USD. You can read more about the program here.
For Wikidata’s 10th birthday, WMF and Wikimedia Deutschland are setting up a funding campaign through the Rapid Fund program to support affiliates and individuals from all around the world to organize onsite and online gatherings, workshops, meetups and other Wikidata-related events to celebrate the birthday.
Eligibility[edit]
- The Rapid Fund program can welcome applications between 500 USD and up to 5,000 USD (or its equivalent in another currency at the time of the application).
- The activities funded must be organized in the frame of the Wikidata’s 10th birthday, and must have a direct connection with Wikidata (see a list of ideas here)
- Individuals, groups, and organizations may apply. Some restrictions due to other parallel funding in place may apply (see the details of the eligibility criteria).
- The applicant commits to follow the Universal Code of Conduct and Friendly Space Policies.
- The applicant is within a country that can legally receive funding for the described activities and expenses based on laws on sending and receiving funds in the United States and their country.
- The program can fund onsite as well as online events. If you’re organizing an onsite event, please carefully follow your local regulations regarding the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and prepare a plan B in case the onsite event must be cancelled.
- Applications are accepted in any language. We will support translation for applications and discussions as needed.
You can find the details of the eligibility criteria here. If you have any questions or if something is unclear, feel free to get in touch (see “Get advice and support” section below).
Notes:
- Affiliates receiving General Support Funding can also decide to redirect some of their budget to organize an activity for Wikidata’s 10th birthday, even if it was not planned in their yearly budget, and without asking their grant officer for approval.
- If your budget is less than 500 USD, we suggest you to reach out to your local affiliate for support, to talk to other groups in order to combine your needs in one common application, or to increase your budget with other useful activities or equipment for your local group.
Activities that can be funded[edit]
The Rapid Fund program covers a wide range of costs that can be funded. This include for example (but not limited to):
- Rent a space to organize an onsite event
- Rent the necessary equipment to run a presentation or a workshop (laptops and other devices, screen, furniture, etc. (Equipment can also be bought if you provide an explanation on how you plan to use and maintain this equipment beyond the grant period)
- Provide the internet connection needed for an onsite event
- Provide other services needed for an onsite event
- Cover for the transport and accommodation costs of organizers, speakers and participants
- Provide food and refreshments during an onsite event
- Cover for other needs of participants to an onsite event: childcare, etc.
- Cover for the needs of participants during an online event: data plan, childcare, food, etc.
- Communication costs: design, print, advertisement
- Merchandising for participants and organizers: printing stickers, T-shirts, etc.
- Prizes for contests (up to 800 USD)
- Compensation for well-defined roles that do not replace volunteer activities, including (but not limited to) graphic design, training, speaker fees, translation, project management, administrative tasks.
Do you have an idea or a specific need that is not in the list? Feel free to get in touch with us! (see “Get advice and support” section below)
If your project for Wikidata’s 10th birthday includes several separate activities (for example, an online editathon, an onsite meetup and an online Wikidata workshop), please send only one application: you will be able to list your different activities in the application form.
Note about swag: For ecological and resources reasons, WMF and Wikimedia Deutschland will not send merchandising or other swag items to the event organizers, regardless of their location. Each event organizer should design their own swag according to their needs, using the Communication kit, print them locally, and can get this activity funded through the Rapid Fund program.
Timeline[edit]
The activities related to Wikidata’s 10th birthday are expected to take place between September 15 and November 20, 2022. Events may optionally be held after this period and are eligible for funding, but we encourage applicants to schedule their events in this time period if possible.
To make sure that your application is processed in time and that you receive the funding before your event, we kindly ask you to submit your application during the appropriate reviewing deadline for each month. These deadlines occur every 45 days. Late proposals may not be eligible for review until the next funding period, which may require you to change when your activities begin and end. Late proposals may be reviewed earlier at the discretion of the regional program officer depending on capacity for additional review work after the deadline. If proposals are accepted for review with less than 45 days before your start date, you may receive fund after the proposed start date for your events.
For example, if you are organizing a meetup on October 29, you should send your application by the application deadline on September 1st.
We are typically providing a reply to applications under 45 days. The time it takes to receive funds after approval depends on several factors, including the completion of the grant agreement, financial forms, and transfer processes.
The application phase is running until October 20th at 23:59 UTC: after this date, we will process the existing open applications, but we will not take new ones into consideration.
How to apply[edit]
The applications are taking place through the platform Fluxx, administered by WMF. The applications will also be published on Meta for transparency purposes. In order to prepare your application in advance, you can find a list of the questions here.
- Go to Wikimedia Foundation Funds Grantee portal on Fluxx or click on the Apply button below.
- If you do not yet have an account on Fluxx, please click Register Now and provide the requested information. Your registration will be confirmed within one working day. If you have an account, enter your login details and click Sign in.
- Click on the Apply for Rapid Funds button on the main page to start your application.
- Follow the instructions in the application and respond to the questions. You can always save and continue your application later. Click Save and Continue or Save and Close to save the application.
- In the application form, at question 3 (Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign?), make sure to select "Wikimedia birthday" or "other" and enter "Wikidata’s 10th birthday".
- When your application is complete click Submit to send it for review. Applications will be published to Meta-Wiki automatically within one day.
- We will reach out to you via email to confirm receipt of your application or if we have any questions.
If you need support or have questions, feel free to reach out to us (see “Get advice and support” section below).
Documentation and reporting[edit]
A WMF Program Officer will be in touch with you shortly after you submit your application to accompany you through the next steps. If you application is approved, you will need to submit a report once your activities took place.
In order to ensure a good documentation of the event, we encourage you to create a subpage of Wikidata:Tenth Birthday to describe your activities and what happened during the event. You should also make sure that your event is listed in the global schedule of Wikidata’s 10th birthday events.
Get advice and support[edit]
There are many people interested in Wikidata events or working on their own event for the birthday. In order to get answers to your questions and get inspiration from others, feel free to join the dedicated Telegram group Wikidata events or to use the talk page.
If you have general questions about the frame of the Wikidata birthday, how to enter an event in the calendar, or how to connect with organizers, feel free to contact Lea Lacroix (WMDE) at lea.lacroix_ext@wikimedia.de.
If you have questions about the Rapid Fund program, about the eligibility criteria or the activities that can be funded, or about an application that you sent through Fluxx, please contact your Regional Program Officer.
We are also running calls for organizers during which you can exchange ideas with other organizers and ask questions to the project coordinator and to one of the program officers. The calls take place in this Jitsi room, during 20 to 50min. Everyone is welcome to join!
Upcoming organizers calls
- Tuesday, August 23rd at 06:00 UTC
- Tuesday, August 23rd at 18:00 UTC
- Thursday, September 8th, at 07:00 UTC
- Thursday, September 8th, at 15:00 UTC
- Thursday, September 22nd, at 07:00 UTC
- Thursday, September 22nd, at 17:00 UTC
- Thursday, October 6th, at 10:00 UTC
- Monday, October 17th, at 06:00 UTC
- Monday, October 17th, at 17:00 UTC
See also[edit]
- Other types of funding available: If you are living in a country that has a Wikimedia affiliate, don’t hesitate to contact them to see if they have a specific program to fund Wikidata-related volunteer activities. If you're living in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, please check this page.
- Events and activities organized during the previous editions of the Wikidata birthday