Internal:Activities of the chapter
4 of 13 Part IV - Your Activities See instructions for more information: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1023.pdf#page=8
1. Describe completely and in detail your past, present, and planned activities. Do not refer to or repeat the purposes in your organizing document. For each past, present, or planned activity, include information that answers the following questions:
- a. What is the activity?
- b. Who conducts the activity?
- c. Where is the activity conducted?
- d. What percentage of your total time is allocated to the activity?
- e. How is the activity funded (for example, donations, fees, etc.) and what percentage of your overall expenses is allocated to this activity?
- f. How does the activity further your exempt purposes?
- 1. Institutional partnerships
(a) Our main effort is our institutional partnerships program. Our main activity is to hold collaborative editing events to improve online Wikimedia content, in partnership with a broad spectrum of cultural, academic, and government institutions, professional associations, and non-governmental and other organizations that have collections, interest, or knowledge in particular areas. We run 25-30 of these each year. Many are oriented to expanding participation or coverage of historically under-represented groups. The partners are listed in our annual reports on our public web site: https://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Category:Annual_reports .
We have have also engaged in other projects. We partnered with the Smithsonian Institution to develop the Wiki Art Depiction Explorer project, a user-friendly interface to add depiction information to the Wikidata items of artworks, which was launched in the summer of 2019. Since 2022, we have partnered with Hacks/Hackers to ________.
(b-c) This activity is conducted by our staff, officers, and volunteers, mainly in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 75% of our total time and 25% of our overall expenses on these activities, which were funded through grants from the Wikimedia Foundation, a grant from the Knight Foundation, contracts from Hacks/Hackers, and donations from individuals.
(f) These activities provide awareness, training, and resources for attendees to allow them to develop and disseminate Wikipedia articles, media, data, and other educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
- 2. Conferences and training events
(a) This activity includes training and support events and conferences that WMDC has organized ourselves. Many of these were focused on the community in the galleries, libraries, archives, and libraries (GLAM) sectors. The largest such event was the 2012 edition of Wikimania, the main annual international conference for the Wikimedia community, which was held in Washington, DC. We also organized a GLAM-Wiki U.S. Consortium meeting in 2015 in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration, and a Wikimedia Diversity Conference in 2016.
We have also organized a series of training workshops for Wikimedia program leadership: two GLAM Boot Camps in 2013 and 2016, a Workshop Facilitator Training in 2014, and a Leadership Boot Camp in 2018. These events each included a small number of invited trainee participants, including chapter leadership, Wikimedia Foundation staff, and community program organizers, for sessions across a spectrum of topics including train-the-trainer, community leadership, event organizing and planning, institutional outreach, grants, online tools, risk management, and safe space policies.
(b-c) This activity is conducted by our staff, officers, and volunteers, mainly in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 20% of our total time and 45% of our overall expenses on these activities, which were funded through grants from the Wikimedia Foundation and a contract from the National Archives Trust Fund Board.
(f) These activities facilitate communication between and training of individuals in the Wikimedia community, allowing them to further the development and dissemination of Wikipedia articles, media, data, and other educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
- 3. Photography competitions
(a) Wikimedia DC has organized the U.S. branch of the biennial Wiki Science Competition since 2017, has also provided volunteer support for Wiki Loves Monuments in the U.S. since 2013. These are both international photography competitions that solicit photography and other media of scientific subjects and historic sites, respectively. Wikimedia DC assembled the U.S. jury for these competitions to select national finalists to advance to the international competition, and in some cases designated winners for prizes funded by Wikimedia DC. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Science_Competition_in_the_United_States and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2021_in_the_United_States .
(b-c) This activity is conducted by our officers and volunteers across the United States.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 2% of our total time and 2% of our overall expenses on these activities, which were funded through grants from the Wikimedia Foundation and donations from individuals.
(f) These activities facilitate individuals uploading and thereby disseminating media and other educational content under a free license.
- 4. Fiscal sponsorships
(a) We have acted as fiscal sponsor for many large efforts by others in the Wikimedia community receiving large grants from the Wikimedia Foundation. In this capacity, we hold and disburse funds for the grantees, but do not actively direct their activities, as stipulated by the sponsorship agreement. Our largest fiscal sponsorships were WikiConference North America in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021, and Art+Feminism in 2015, 2016, and 2017. WikiConference North America is the main annual Wikimedia conference for North America. Art+Feminism is an international campaign to improve coverage of women, gender, and the arts on Wikipedia through organizing in-person training and editing events, mainly taking place in March each year.
(b-c) This activity is conducted by our officers, mainly in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. The sponsored activities occur across the United States.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 1% of our total time and 20% of our overall expenses on these activities, which were funded through grants from the Wikimedia Foundation.
(f) These activities facilitate the administration of large grants from the Wikimedia Foundation, allowing the grantees to further the development and dissemination of Wikipedia articles, media, data, and other educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
- 5. Grantmaking
(a) Between 2012 and 2016, we provided small grants to individuals, community groups, and nonprofit organizations to fund activities that align with our mission. In 2015-2016, we ran a book grant program to provide editors with funding to buy books to use as resources for improving Wikipedia articles. These activities have been discontinued, and we currently have no plans to reinstate them.
(b-c) This activity was conducted by our officers, mainly in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. The sponsored activities occurred across the United States.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 1% of our total time and 0.5% of our overall expenses on these activities, which were funded through grants from the Wikimedia Foundation and donations from individuals.
(f) These activities provided financial resources to allow grantees to develop and disseminate Wikipedia articles, media, data, and other educational content under a free license or in the public domain.
- 6. Public policy
(a) Wikimedia DC undertakes policy work to present the unique perspectives and needs of Wikimedians to the various government agencies that make decisions on issues affecting the Wikimedia movement. In 2014, we submitted official written comments and participated in a roundtable panel convened by the U.S. Copyright Office on legislative proposals to handle orphan works. Also in 2014, volunteers met with House and Senate staffers on Capitol Hill for briefings on subjects of mutual interest, including copyright rules and support for making cultural content freely available online. We also co-hosted a panel on Wikipedia editing for Congressional staff with the the Cato Institute. In 2016, we submitted comments to the California Senate Committee on the Judiciary on a state intellectual property bill that would have changed the public domain domain status of some California government works.
(b-c) This activity is conducted by our officers and volunteers, mainly in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia.
(d-e) Since our inception in 2011, we estimate that we have spent 1% of our total time on these activities. No expenses were incurred for these activities.
(f) These activities facilitate lawmakers and the public to have awareness of policy implications that affect the development and dissemination of Wikipedia articles, media, data, and other educational content under a free license or in the public domain.