based communities. This culture of experimentation and innovation yields thoughtful risk-taking, a willingness to make mistakes, and meaningful learning. At the Wikimedia Foundation, all grant proposals, committee and staff assessments of proposals, and grant reports are public. All of these discussions, decisions, and outcomes are available to inform the ongoing movement learning process and program evolution. Asaf Bartov, Head of Wikimedia Grants Program and Global South Partnerships, explained that often committee members will point to prior discussions and ask questions about how a current proposal differs from the ideas that have already been tried, saying "This seemed reasonable at the time, it turned out not to work for reasons A, B, C. We have learned and won't do it again."
Siko Bouterse, Head of Individual Engagement Grants, discussed her intention to encourage openmindedness in the Individual Engagement Grant Committee, noting that committee members take their roles as stewards of the funds very seriously. "It's safer to say no, to take on a gatekeeping or policing role, when you think of yourself as risk management," says Bouterse, adding that she intentionally counteracts that impulse, encouraging IEG Committee members to be "experimental and bold."
Innovation, flexibility, and experimentation are core features of WMF grantmaking, including the organization's ever-evolving infrastructure.
IdeaLab is one key example, an incubator on MetaWiki for people to turn ideas into projects to improve Wikimedia projects, websites, and communities.[1] Users with a new idea fill out a simple form that populates a page with content describing the problem they are trying to solve, their proposed solution, and other information about their goals and challenges. Collaborators can contribute feedback through the discussion page and through an Endorsements section, collaboratively developing ideas into plans and grant proposals. The |deaLab also hosts workshops and hangouts to help participants turn their ideas into grant proposals.[2]
This doesn't mean that every application gets funded; for instance out of 66 PEG proposals in FY 2013-14, 12% (8) were not funded and 6% (4) were withdrawn.[3] Sometimes a proposal is just not ready to be approved. In this case there are a few options:
- A committee may offer partial funding, for instance funding the first phase of a project, with possibility of support for future phases.
- A committee may turn down a proposal, offering clear, honest, and detailed information about the decision.
"The message we want you to hear in a rejection is: You're awesome. Come back," says Bouterse.
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