Grants:IEG

apply
for a grant

review
open proposals

engage
current grants

round 2 2015 schedule

Grants disbursed: December 2015 – January 2016

round 1 2016 schedule

Proposals should support the achievement of Wikimedia's mission and strategic priorities. We favor high-impact requests with an intended online impact.

Applications for Individual Engagement Grants are no longer accepted. Please consider reviewing our newer Rapid Grant and Project Grant programs for your application. Thanks!

Need help with your proposal? Visit the IdeaLab

Do you have an idea but not sure how to make it a complete proposal? Or perhaps you want to find other collaborators to work on the project. Get help turning your idea into action in the IdeaLab.

WMF grantmaking staff review proposals as they're submitted to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria. Those that do not meet the criteria are returned to draft status and applicants are notified. Those that are determined eligible are marked for committee review.

The Wikimedia community is invited to endorse proposals or discuss any concerns or questions they have on proposal talk pages.

Applicants are responsible for making relevant communities aware of their proposal as early as possible.

As soon as you draft your proposal, you should notify areas of the community (via village pump, mailing list, talk page, or other project-appropriate venues) that are most likely to be impacted or involved in your project. Community support is a factor in review, so please post a link to the notification and any relevant discussions in the section provided on your proposal, and encourage community members to post feedback on your proposal page.

The Individual Engagement Grants committee reviews proposals by scoring and providing feedback, and then recommends a shortlist of proposals for WMF to fund.

The staff complete due diligence on the committee's recommended shortlist of proposals and finalize the selection of grantees. If necessary, this step may include an interview of the applicant with the program head. If your proposal is selected, you'll be notified and asked to submit verifying documentation (legal name, address, etc) to WMF for final approval.

All applicants are notified of results on proposal talk pages. If your proposal is selected and approved for a grant, the WMF will contact you with a grant agreement, disbursement setup, and other details.

Grantees are announced via mailing lists, social media, and the Wikimedia blog.

Grantees submit brief monthly updates in a format of their choosing, as well as a midpoint report and final project report on-wiki.

The Wikimedia community's input helps WMF and the Individual Engagement Grants Committee understand if a project will be supported by the people it aims to serve.

You can get involved by reading through open proposals and posting feedback, questions, concerns, or suggestions on a proposal’s talk page. To recommend a proposal for selection, submit an endorsement in the space provided on the proposal page.

Some projects start from just the spark of an idea. Over time, they gather collaborators and can be turned into complete IEG proposals.

You can help grow ideas into action by getting involved in the IdeaLab.

We rely on a committee of volunteers from the Wikimedia community to recommend proposals for funding.

Mandatory:

1. Experience with the Wikimedia movement and at least one Wikimedia project.
2. Experience with some aspect of Wikimedia programmatic or project-based work, e.g. editor engagement, WikiProjects or other on-wiki organizing processes, outreach, events, partnerships, research, education, gadget or bot-building, etc.
3. Ability to edit basic wiki-markup (grant proposal discussions are largely conducted on meta-wiki).
4. Reasonable facility with English, for reviewing and discussing grant proposals.
5. In good community- and legal- standing (not currently blocked or banned, involved in allegations of unethical financial behavior, etc).
6. Availability to actively engage in the selection process during the published schedule for that round (time commitment is about 3 hours per week, plus 1 extra day for scoring).

Preferable:

1. Experience leading, coordinating, or managing projects with an intended on-wiki or online impact.
2. Experience handling externally provided money and working within budgets, preferably in a non-profit context.
3. Experience applying for grants or working in grants programs (in the Wikimedia, academic, or wider non-profit world).
4. Ability to read and write in multiple languages.

Acceptable:

1. Members may apply for an Individual Engagement Grant themselves, but they will recuse themselves from reviewing proposals in the same category as their own during that round.
2. Membership does not conflict with membership in other Wikimedia committees, including the Grant Advisory Committee or the Wikimania Scholarships Committee.

round 1 2016 schedule

round 2 2015 schedule

Grants disbursed: December 2015 – January 2016

Welcome, new grantees! Please read everything below to learn how to launch your project, learn how payments work, become familiar with your reporting responsibilities, and what to do if you need more time. Please review the program rules. Then follow the instructions to get your project started!

Step 1 - Grant agreement

Before the grant can be approved, grantees must confirm the terms of the grant and provide their full legal name, address and date of birth for everyone listed on the bank account to which the grant will be disbursed. A request for this information will be emailed to you by WMF staff.

Step 2 - Project page setup

Your grant proposal will now become a living plan for your project. Staff will update your proposal page with navigation to additional pages you'll need for documenting your project once it begins. Please visit your proposal and use the buttons to create all of your project pages. You should keep these pages up-to-date as much as possible as your project progresses. This documentation will help everyone to share in your progress and experiences over the course of the grant.

Our focus with reporting is to share lessons and insights gained from the project and to measure impact. Lessons learned through these reports will be used to share best practices with the broader Wikimedia community. Reports must be published on Meta-Wiki as part of the grantee's project pages. They will be reviewed by IEG staff within 30 days of submission, and may be commented on by staff, committee members, and the community. To be accepted, reports must be complete and accurate.

A brief project update is requested each month to share your progress and lessons learned along the way. These updates should be created and linked from your project's progress page on Meta-Wiki at the end of each month.

The format these updates take is up to you. Aim for something suited to your project that you’ll enjoy doing!

Monthly update formats:

• on-wiki newsletter or journal
• blog post
• YouTube video
• podcast
• annotated product demos
• suggest something else, we're likely to approve it as long as it shares what you're doing or learning along the way!

The Head of Individual Engagement Grants will schedule a monthly check-in with each project team, to assess and support needs as a project progresses.

A midpoint report demonstrating progress and lessons learned thus far must be submitted on Meta-Wiki. This report is is due within 15 days after three months of the grant's start date.

To create your midpoint report, use the "Start your Midpoint" button from your IEGrant project page.

A final report on the project’s outcomes, lessons, and impact assessment as measured against the project's targets and goals, must be submitted on Meta-Wiki. This report is is due within 30 days after the grant's end date.

To create your final report, use the "Start your Final" button from your IEGrant project page.

Grantees are encouraged to attend Wikimania or other movement gatherings to present findings to the community, in addition to providing the above written documentation.

To help the WMF learn about and improve its grantmaking programs, grantees are asked to complete occasional surveys during and after the grant period and to participate in longer-term follow-up interviews.

We know that occasionally something happens and more time may be needed to complete your project than expected. That is ok, as long as you keep us updated and request approval for significant changes.

If your final report is due but you need more time, please use the button provided on your timeline page to request an extension. Staff will reply there to confirm approval or request additional information.

Projects that demonstrate strong potential for impact and need for further funding may be considered for a renewal grant of six additional months.

• If you see need for continued funding, discuss this with the your program officer or other advisors during project check-ins.
• In the final grant report, you'll find a button to submit a renewal request. This should be created as soon after you submit the final report as possible.
• Renewals should include a plan for the second six months, with clear scope, budget, and measures of success.
• Staff will reply on the renewal request to confirm approval or request additional information.