Annual plan (2016–2017)

The Wikimedia DC Strategic Plan classifies Wikimedia DC programs into five principal program areas, each of which encompasses a range of programs that share similar goals or methodologies.


 * Institutional Partnership [ip]
 * Content Development [cd]
 * Training and Support [ts]
 * Grantmaking and Sponsorship [gs]
 * Public Policy [pp]

The Annual Plan for the 2016–17 fiscal year, which covers the period starting October 1, 2016 and ending September 30, 2017, defines the specific programs that are to be executed within each of these program areas, and identifies specific metrics to evaluate the execution of individual programs as well as program areas in the aggregate.

Measures of success for each program area are defined by the Strategic Plan, and include Wikimedia Foundation global impact metrics and additional Wikimedia DC-defined program objectives.

Institutional Partnership
The institutional partnership program area includes programs whose principal objective is to leverage the resources, holdings, and expertise of institutions in the cultural, academic, and government sectors to improve the Wikimedia projects and other free knowledge repositories. This is achieved both through the direct contribution of institutional records, collections, and other holdings to such repositories under suitable free licenses, and through the participation of institutional staff and other affiliated individuals in such projects.

Wikimedia DC aims to carry out two major institutional partnership programs, a series of collaborative editing events, and at least one mass content donation, during the 2016–17 fiscal year. Goals for these programs are listed in the table below.

Collaborative Editing Events
During the 2016–17 fiscal year, Wikimedia DC will continue to utilize collaborative editing events as our principal institutional partnership program. We aim to hold at least 50 events with institutional partners distributed across a spectrum of institutional categories, including GLAMs, academic institutions, government agencies, professional associations, and NGOs. This represents a 25% increase from the 2015-16 fiscal year. Of these 50 events, we plan to hold at least 15 events aimed at improving diversity, representing 30% of the total activity in this program.

Mass Content Donations
During the 2016–17 fiscal year, Wikimedia DC plans to facilitate at least one mass content donation, consisting of no less than 10,000 freely-licensed media files, from a suitable partner institution collection. The principal candidate institution for this program is the Library of Congress, where we have an established relationship, but we aim to continue evaluating potential partners during the early portion of the new fiscal year.

Content Development
The content development program area consists of programs whose principal objective is to directly facilitate the creation of high-quality content for the Wikimedia projects. Content development programs represent a new area of activity for Wikimedia DC. These programs have the potential to deliver significant impact at low cost.

Wikimedia DC aims to carry out one major content development program, a series of editing contests, during the 2016–17 fiscal year. The global impact metrics for this program are identified in the table below.

Editing Contests
During the 2016–17 fiscal year, Wikimedia DC plans to hold at least 2 editing contests focused on the development of high-quality articles on the English Wikipedia. Where possible, these contests will be carried out in collaboration with existing editor groups; the principal candidate groups for this program are WikiProject Military history and WikiProject Women in Red. We will consider other potential partners.

Training and Support
The training and support program area includes programs whose principal objectives consist of providing professional development opportunities and non-financial resources to volunteer contributors to the Wikimedia projects.

Wikimedia DC aims to carry out one major training and support program, a volunteer training workshop, during the 2016–17 fiscal year.

Volunteer Training Workshop
Wikimedia DC has a significant track record of effectively conducting volunteer training for both new and experienced Wikimedia project contributors. We will continue this program, with the aim of holding 1 training workshop over the course of the fiscal year. The principal aim of the workshop will be to share best practices on event facilitation; to reduce costs, the workshop will primarily involve attendees from the DC area rather than a national or international audience.

Grantmaking and Sponsorship
The grantmaking and sponsorship program area includes programs whose principal objective is to provide direct financial support to individuals, groups, and organizations within the Wikimedia movement. These programs include both direct grantmaking activities, where Wikimedia DC evaluates and selects grantees, as well as fiscal sponsorships, where Wikimedia DC acts as a financial administrator for Wikimedia Foundation or third-party grants to eligible groups or organizations.

Wikimedia DC aims to carry out three major grantmaking and sponsorship programs programs, including small grants, book grants, and fiscal sponsorships, during the 2016–17 fiscal year.

Small Grants
Our small grants program has proven to be an effective vehicle for supporting projects and events independently organized by individuals and groups both within and outside our region. We plan to continue this program, with a goal of funding a minimum of 5 small grants over the course of the fiscal year, including at least 3 grants outside the Wikimedia DC region.

Book Grants
The Wikimedia DC book grants program provides direct financial support to individual Wikipedia editors by funding the purchase of books to be used as sources for articles. The program provides an opportunity to achieve significant impact for each dollar spent through the careful selection of grant recipients based on prior editing history and demonstrated ability to effectively utilize print sources to create high-quality articles.

During the 2016–17 fiscal year, we will continue the book grants program, funding a minimum of 10 book grants, including grants to at least 5 first-time recipients who have never received funding through any Wikimedia DC grants program.

Fiscal Sponsorships
Wikimedia DC continued to provide a significant level fiscal sponsorship support during the prior fiscal year, serving as an administrator of the principal grant funding for the 2016 Art+Feminism campaign as well as WikiConference North America 2016. During the 2015–16 fiscal year, we aim to continue and further expand the range of fiscal sponsorships, administering a minimum of 2 grants under fiscal sponsorship with an aggregate grant value of at least $100,000.

Public Policy
The public policy program area includes programs whose principal objective is to encourage regulatory and legislative changes that will benefit the Wikimedia projects and the broader free knowledge and culture movement. During the 2016–17 fiscal year, our public policy efforts will continue to take a primarily exploratory form as we seek to better define our long-term direction in this area. To the extent possible, we will coordinate our efforts with those of the Wikimedia Foundation's public policy department.

Wikimedia DC will begin exploring potential public policy positions, partnerships, and areas of activity relative to the subject of online harassment. We will engage with existing groups and organizations in this space, with an aim to create a working group that will serve as a forum for further discussion of this topic and a vehicle for collaboration on and coordination of future activity. We aim to host at least 1 public policy forum on a topic relevant to our mission during the fiscal year.

Wikimedia DC has previously engaged in advocacy on copyright matters. We aim to continue this during the 2016–17 fiscal year, and will submit further comments on this topic to regulatory agencies as suitable opportunities arise. We will additionally monitor other potential areas of public policy activity, including questions of mass digitization, copyright reform, and public domain, for suitable opportunities to comment.