Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2022-09-30/Special report

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I was glad for some of the discussion about this at the Summit, and surprised to hear some attendees suggest, using this as a jumping off point, that affiliates should be expected to do their own fundraising in some part. The idea of a volunteer organization (as most affiliates are), or even those with a small staff, competing with the fundraising behemoth that is the Wikimedia Foundation is... intimidating. The big challenge, of course, is that so much of affiliates' labor is to support activities which improve Wikipedia and its sister projects -- centralized projects which already have a donation banner going to the WMF. Sharing the responsibility for fundraising would necessitate sharing e.g. banner time, and that would get messy. Something I'd love to see the foundation do, however, is to provide training, resources, and access to funder networks for those affiliates that want to do their own fundraising. WMF has a skilled fundraising team that could really empower smaller organizations to tackle projects that might get overlooked in the WMF grantsmaking process. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 04:22, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
- WMF staff have been compiling a report on the Wikimedia Summit on Meta. A pdf file was also uploaded to Commons on September 29 – too late for this issue, unfortunately (we'll cover it next month). But the report contains a write-up of the relevant presentation, which I copy below:

Money, Where is the Movement now?

The Wikimedia Movement operates under a system of mostly centralised fundraising, combined with central grantmaking. Over the years, the Wikimedia Foundation has added participatory features to the grantmaking processes. Still, there are large inequities in terms of how and where funds are spent. The Movement Strategy states:

In our current setting, the vast majority of funds and staff are located in the Global North, causing an inequitable distribution of resources. We are missing the potential that comes with a diversified global approach, technological advances, and various revenue possibilities related to the use of our platform and product. With almost all revenue streams passing through few Movement organisations, there are missed opportunities and continuation of inequity.

Movement Strategy recommendations on revenues and resources

What do the Movement Strategy recommendations say?

Distribute the responsibility of revenue generation across Movement entities and develop local fundraising skills to increase sustainability. Increase revenue and diversify revenue streams across the Movement, while ensuring funds are raised and spent in a transparent and accountable manner. (Recommendation 1) In the near future, the Movement should play a guiding role in resource allocation. The processes for allocation should be designed through consultation and described in the Movement Charter. This transition to Movement-led guidance should occur in a timely fashion. (Recommendation 4)

The following principles should guide the work along the way and have strong implications in how resources—not only financial—are obtained and allocated.

Equity & Empowerment
Inclusivity and Participatory Decision-Making
Subsidiarity and Self-Management
Contextualization
Collaboration and Cooperation
Transparency and Accountability

Where do we go from here?

Nikki mentioned some pathways explored by other Movements are doing that can offer guidance in implementing the recommendations in the Movement Strategy:

Looking at existing practices, good and bad
Understanding the interconnectedness of funding systems with movement governance
Deliberation
Drafting, discussing and completing the Movement Charter and the Fundraising Policy, as well as other agreements like, for example, policies on redistribution and grantmaking

Learnings from a Wikimedia Deutschland research of how other similar global movements deal with revenues and resources indicate:

International NGO confederations practice decentralized fundraising.
But not all affiliates fundraise from the same positions in terms of their home markets and their capacity.
In response, some INGOs redistribute funds for equity in a centralized manner, based on policies agreed upon by the democratic governance bodies of the confederation.
The affiliates that fundraise in strong markets thus support the affiliates in smaller markets.

Some helpful concepts

Allocation - any decision to move movement financial resources from one entity to another, or from one region to another
Fundraising - any activity designed to generate resources for a member or a confederation, includes all revenue sources.
Grantmaking - an impermanent, transactional transfer of funds between a giving entity and a receiving entity based on a process that includes a proposal/application, a review/decision, as well as accountability through financial and impact reporting.
Home Donor Rule - a policy assuring that an affiliate has the first right of fundraising in its geographic area or country.
Redistribution - any permanent, policy-based mechanism designed to move financial resources from entities or geographic regions with high revenues to entities or geographic regions with lower revenues.

The one thing that is missing from the report on Meta so far is the event budget. But overall, the event, with about 150 people attending on site in Berlin and another 200 or so online, seems to have been a lot more successful than the recent hybrid Wikimania (see "Wikimania 2022: No show, no show up?" in last month's Signpost). What did you think of it, Rhododendrites? --Andreas JN 466 13:31, 2 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The WMF's foreign-language fundraising banners on Wikipedia are often very ineptly done. Time and again they feature elementary grammar mistakes. Added to this comes a very pushy, very American writing style that does not go over well when translated literally (witness discussions at m:Talk:Fundraising and nl:Wikipedia:De_kroeg in recent months).

The precise look and feel of the banners ought to be a minor issue in the overall scheme of things. But because of the WMF's decade-long refusal to involve communities more in foreign-language messaging design before the start of a campaign, they're a frequent flashpoint. Andreas JN 466 13:00, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]