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Talk: 2014 Annual Plan

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==A few comments==
==A few comments from Nick-D==


This looks pretty good to me, and seems quite realistic. I have the following comments and suggestions:
This looks pretty good to me, and seems quite realistic. I have the following comments and suggestions:
*Should "Grants: $10,000 (to cover Wiki loves...my town and QR codes)" be listed as expenditure instead of income? If it's income, could you please provide some background on what this involves?  
*Should "Grants: $10,000 (to cover Wiki loves...my town and QR codes)" be listed as expenditure instead of income? If it's income, could you please provide some background on what this involves?  
*What will the $2,500 in funding for possible state coordinators cover? It's noted here that the coordinators will also be able to use the VSP and meetup program as sources of funding. Is this intended to cover their travel costs or something? I'd suggest including something specific in the plan or a relevant link given that this is the kind of thing the WMF worries about and the community has become sensitive to in recent months (though the amount of money in question here obviously isn't terribly large)
*It would be good to explicitly link the two Improve Quality programs with the "Increase reach; increase participation" programs - I don't think that there's much awareness among Australian Wikipedia/Commons contributors that WMAU can help fund research projects and support photography. A program to raise awareness of WMAU might be a good idea!  
*It would be good to explicitly link the two Improve Quality programs with the "Increase reach; increase participation" programs - I don't think that there's much awareness among Australian Wikipedia/Commons contributors that WMAU can help fund research projects and support photography. A program to raise awareness of WMAU might be a good idea!  
*I have to say that I'm a bit concerned that this plan doesn't include an emphasis on preparing for a grant application from the WMF. The organisation's finances are obviously fine to support this year's planned (and modest) expenditure and probably a similar level of activity next year as well, but am I right in thinking that it's been a few years since WMAU received a significant inflow of funds?
*I have to say that I'm a bit concerned that this plan doesn't include an emphasis on preparing for a grant application from the WMF. The organisation's finances are obviously fine to support this year's planned (and modest) expenditure and probably a similar level of activity next year as well, but am I right in thinking that it's been a few years since WMAU received a significant inflow of funds?
*On that topic, is there also scope for people to propose good ideas which, if approved, would receive funding after the plan is adopted? If so, should an explicit provision (and possibly a "bucket" of funds) be identified for this in the plan? [[User:Nick-D|Nick-D]] ([[User talk:Nick-D|talk]]) 21:35, 30 March 2014 (EST)
*On that topic, is there also scope for people to propose good ideas which, if approved, would receive funding after the plan is adopted? If so, should an explicit provision (and possibly a "bucket" of funds) be identified for this in the plan? [[User:Nick-D|Nick-D]] ([[User talk:Nick-D|talk]]) 21:35, 30 March 2014 (EST)
:Hi Nick, thanks for your comments. I hope I can answer your questions:
::Grants of $10,000 is projected income from the Project and Events Program (aka GAC) to fund the two projects listed in the plan as seeking funding from the PEG. If we don't receive the total amount of funding we need, we can fund the difference from our reserve.
::The state coordinators is still an item we are working on, essentially the $2,500 is for expenses that can't be covered by the VSP or the meetups funding. Travel might be a part of it, but at this stage that amount is a tentative holding amount. the details of the state coordinator proposal will be written up this week.
::As you mention, we haven't had some funding from the WMF for some time, nor have we applied for funds in a while too. We feel that previous annual plans have at times not had clear measures of success, and deliverables, so we decided that for this year we would have a modest annual plan where we can measure the successes of our projects, giving us a platform to apply for funding next year.
::We discussed the option of having a bucket with a pool of funds for future projects proposed later in the year, but decided it was superfluous. If a project is proposed, is great for the movement and the goals of WMAU and has clear deliverables/measures of success, we would not reject it solely because it's not in the annual plan, and would fund it through either our reserve, or a PEG application. This is the reason we left a spare bucket of funds out.
:I hope that answers some of your questions :) [[User:Steven Zhang|Steven Zhang]] ([[User talk:Steven Zhang|talk]]) 07:14, 31 March 2014 (EST)
::Thanks a lot for those responses Steven. Those approaches all sound sensible to me. [[User:Nick-D|Nick-D]] ([[User talk:Nick-D|talk]]) 21:31, 1 April 2014 (EST)
== Issue with dates in Budget Summary ==
Fixed an error in the dates within the Budget Summary [http://www.wikimedia.org.au/w/index.php?title=2014_Annual_Plan&diff=11397&oldid=11379 here]. &mdash; [[User:JamesR|<span style="color:#003366;font-weight:bold">JamesR</span>]] ([[User talk:JamesR|<span style="color:#ED9121">talk</span>]]) 22:59, 30 March 2014 (EST)
== Editing Training / Public Lectures ==
Hi, as a quick question, there is a "public lectures" component in the "2014 Education and Outreach programmes" (referred to as "editing training" in the plan, probably not a good description as it's intended to be wider than that), and also a separate item with a separate budget for lectures.  Is there some overlap here, or am I just dense?
Also, the "2014 Education and Outreach programmes" proposal calls for $2300 budget in my proposal, but has a $2500 budget in the annual plan.  For what is the additional $200?  [[User:Lankiveil|Lankiveil]] ([[User talk:Lankiveil|talk]]) 19:29, 31 March 2014 (EST).
:Hi Craig, if you can think of a better term for your proposal, please do change it (editing training is the best I could come up with). The reason the lectures was separate is because my idea is to do as many of the lectures as possible, to get the message of Wikimedia out there, but we could bundle them into the main education and outreach proposal and up the budget to allow for more lectures. The $2,500 in the annual plan, the extra $200 is essentially a buffer, but may be made redundant if the two proposals are merged. Cheers! [[User:Steven Zhang|Steven Zhang]] ([[User talk:Steven Zhang|talk]]) 21:16, 2 April 2014 (EST)

Latest revision as of 10:16, 2 April 2014

A few comments from Nick-D

This looks pretty good to me, and seems quite realistic. I have the following comments and suggestions:

  • Should "Grants: $10,000 (to cover Wiki loves...my town and QR codes)" be listed as expenditure instead of income? If it's income, could you please provide some background on what this involves?
  • What will the $2,500 in funding for possible state coordinators cover? It's noted here that the coordinators will also be able to use the VSP and meetup program as sources of funding. Is this intended to cover their travel costs or something? I'd suggest including something specific in the plan or a relevant link given that this is the kind of thing the WMF worries about and the community has become sensitive to in recent months (though the amount of money in question here obviously isn't terribly large)
  • It would be good to explicitly link the two Improve Quality programs with the "Increase reach; increase participation" programs - I don't think that there's much awareness among Australian Wikipedia/Commons contributors that WMAU can help fund research projects and support photography. A program to raise awareness of WMAU might be a good idea!
  • I have to say that I'm a bit concerned that this plan doesn't include an emphasis on preparing for a grant application from the WMF. The organisation's finances are obviously fine to support this year's planned (and modest) expenditure and probably a similar level of activity next year as well, but am I right in thinking that it's been a few years since WMAU received a significant inflow of funds?
  • On that topic, is there also scope for people to propose good ideas which, if approved, would receive funding after the plan is adopted? If so, should an explicit provision (and possibly a "bucket" of funds) be identified for this in the plan? Nick-D (talk) 21:35, 30 March 2014 (EST)
Hi Nick, thanks for your comments. I hope I can answer your questions:
Grants of $10,000 is projected income from the Project and Events Program (aka GAC) to fund the two projects listed in the plan as seeking funding from the PEG. If we don't receive the total amount of funding we need, we can fund the difference from our reserve.
The state coordinators is still an item we are working on, essentially the $2,500 is for expenses that can't be covered by the VSP or the meetups funding. Travel might be a part of it, but at this stage that amount is a tentative holding amount. the details of the state coordinator proposal will be written up this week.
As you mention, we haven't had some funding from the WMF for some time, nor have we applied for funds in a while too. We feel that previous annual plans have at times not had clear measures of success, and deliverables, so we decided that for this year we would have a modest annual plan where we can measure the successes of our projects, giving us a platform to apply for funding next year.
We discussed the option of having a bucket with a pool of funds for future projects proposed later in the year, but decided it was superfluous. If a project is proposed, is great for the movement and the goals of WMAU and has clear deliverables/measures of success, we would not reject it solely because it's not in the annual plan, and would fund it through either our reserve, or a PEG application. This is the reason we left a spare bucket of funds out.
I hope that answers some of your questions :) Steven Zhang (talk) 07:14, 31 March 2014 (EST)
Thanks a lot for those responses Steven. Those approaches all sound sensible to me. Nick-D (talk) 21:31, 1 April 2014 (EST)

Issue with dates in Budget Summary

Fixed an error in the dates within the Budget Summary here. — JamesR (talk) 22:59, 30 March 2014 (EST)

Editing Training / Public Lectures

Hi, as a quick question, there is a "public lectures" component in the "2014 Education and Outreach programmes" (referred to as "editing training" in the plan, probably not a good description as it's intended to be wider than that), and also a separate item with a separate budget for lectures. Is there some overlap here, or am I just dense?

Also, the "2014 Education and Outreach programmes" proposal calls for $2300 budget in my proposal, but has a $2500 budget in the annual plan. For what is the additional $200? Lankiveil (talk) 19:29, 31 March 2014 (EST).

Hi Craig, if you can think of a better term for your proposal, please do change it (editing training is the best I could come up with). The reason the lectures was separate is because my idea is to do as many of the lectures as possible, to get the message of Wikimedia out there, but we could bundle them into the main education and outreach proposal and up the budget to allow for more lectures. The $2,500 in the annual plan, the extra $200 is essentially a buffer, but may be made redundant if the two proposals are merged. Cheers! Steven Zhang (talk) 21:16, 2 April 2014 (EST)