Staffing plan (2016–2017)

Introduction
Institutional Partnerships have historically been the most successful and high-impact of Wikimedia District of Columbia's five program areas, with sustained growth in program footprint, partnership quantity and quality, and program participation and impact to content over the past several years. The Annual Plan for Fiscal Year 2016–17 anticipates the continued expansion of this program area, including a 25% increase in the total number of collaborative editing events.

The sustained growth of institutional partnership programs has resulted in a capacity gap within Wikimedia DC. To date, programs in this area have been planned and executed exclusively by volunteers. However, a significant portion of Wikimedia DC's core volunteers are professionals with full-time jobs that make it difficult, if not impossible, for these volunteers to support events outside of weekend time slots.

At the same time, a significant portion of current and potential partner institutions prefer (or are only able) to hold activities, including both outreach/planning meetings and collaborative editing events, during "normal business hours" (which, for most institutions, roughly correlate to a 9 AM to 5 PM period on weekdays). Further, the increasing number of collaborative editing events requires that some events be held during normal business hours regardless of institutional preference, simply to avoid scheduling conflicts during weekend hours.

Wikimedia DC proposes to address this capacity gap by introducing a paid staff position, the Institutional Partnerships Manager. The Institutional Partnerships Manager will augment existing Wikimedia DC volunteer capacity by supporting collaborative editing events with institutional partners, as well as building a base for future growth by undertaking a systematic outreach program to potential partner institutions.

Staff responsibilities
The Institutional Partnerships Manager will be a full-time employee who will carry out activities in two principal areas:


 * Program sustainment activities, which are intended to augment the capacity of Wikimedia DC's existing institutional partnership program by providing support for event planning, execution, and reporting. These activities will principally target Strategic Objective IP-3 and Strategic Objective IP-4.


 * Program growth activities, which are intended to enable a significant expansion of Wikimedia DC's institutional partnership program by providing support for systematic, targeted outreach to potential partner institutions. These activities will principally target Strategic Objective IP-1.

A detailed estimate of the employee's weekly activity in each area is provided in Table 1.

Employment practices
Wikimedia DC has adopted several policies which govern employment practices or are otherwise applicable to a potential or actually employee. The principal policies in this area include:


 * The Employment Policy, which governs employment practices, hiring, compensation, employee conduct, employee relationships, termination, and employee grievances.
 * The Employee Attendance and Leave Policy, which governs employee attendance, timekeeping, paid leave, family and medical leave, and military leave.
 * The Non-Discrimination Policy, which governs discrimination in employment and accommodations for disabilities.
 * The Travel Policy, which governs employee travel.
 * The Whistleblower Policy, which governs reporting of illegal activity.

A comprehensive list of Wikimedia DC policies is available here.

Management and reporting
It is anticipated that the proposed staff position will report directly to the President. This arrangement is consistent with past Wikimedia DC practice regarding staff and contractors, and will allow a single management interface between the employee and the Board of Directors.

The employee will communicate with other Wikimedia DC personnel through several mechanisms, including written weekly status reports covering all completed and planned activities; daily timekeeping, including task-level timekeeping as required; and daily or near-daily communication with the President and other Wikimedia DC volunteers through email or phone.

Budget
The Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2016–17 includes a total of $56,327.00 to support the proposed staff position; this budgetary estimate is described in further detail below. In addition, two potential options for achieving budget reductions are presented; note that both options are likely to result in moderate to severe impairment of the proposed staff position's effectiveness, and are consequently not recommended.