Wikimedia Grants 101

What to Know Before You Apply

2025-11-10

LUCY IWUALA

A language professional and community engagement strategist with expertise in language localisation, digital content management, and multilingual project coordination.

Member of the Regional Grant Committee.

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Find me on Twitter at @LucyIwuala or at LinkedIn/LucyIwuala

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Contents

First

• Overview of the WMF Community Fund

Second

• Different types of WMF Community Fund

Third

• Mock Grant Application Writing

Learning Objectives

There is a simple three part formula to create a good learning objective

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1. Participants will be able to understand the WMF Community Fund.
2. Participants will be able to identify the different types of WMF community Fund
3. At the end of this session, the participant will be able to learn how to access the Fluxx tool for easy grant application

WMF Community Funds

Learning about the funding opportunities in the WMF Community

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Wikimedia Community Fund

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The Community Fund is a unified program with flexible support and funding for Wikimedians working on knowledge equity aligned with the Movement’s Strategic direction.

WMF Quick Facts

• The Wikimedia Foundation supports individuals and organizations around the world to increase the diversity, reach, quality, and quantity of free knowledge.
• Through this fund, WMF promote knowledge equity aligned with the strategic direction of the movement.
• WMF funding programs are focused on decentralized decision-making, regional committees, and reaching underrepresented communities.
• WMF people-centred approach is built on the principles of equity & empowerment, collaboration & cooperation
• The Community Fund is a unified program with flexible support and funding for Wikimedians working on knowledge equity aligned with the Movement’s Strategic direction.

Types of Community Funds

Identify the various types of fund accessible in the Wikimedia space

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Funding programs

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Wikimedia Foundation Funds has 6 funding programs. Select a funding program to learn more and apply.

WMF funding start here

• Rapid Fund
• General Support Fund
• Conference & Event Fund
• Wikimedia Research Fund
• Wikimedia Hub Fund
• Wikipedia 25 Birthday Funds (WP25 Grants)

Rapid Fund: Projects Funded

• Events related to a global campaign.
• Informal and formal community meetup
• Wikimedia editathons and workshops
• Strategic and annual plans from Wikimedia affiliates
• Education projects, for example, reading or editing training on Wikipedia, Wikidata or other Wikimedia projects
• Cultural and heritage projects that support contribution of content, curation of the content and promote accessibility of that content.
• Gender and diversity projects, for example

https://w.wiki/t8R

GSF: Projects Funded

https://w.wiki/6giN

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• General Support Fund can fund both annual plans and more narrow but distinct projects that require more funding than Rapid Funds can support.

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• Ideally, the minimum length of programming for a General Support Fund is 6 months of work implementation. Exceptions to this rule can be considered due to regional variances

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Conference & Event Fund

• Gives funding and planning support to organise local or regional conferences.

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• National conferences may be funded through the Conference Fund only if the applicant group or organization does not receive a General Support Fund or if the country’s size/diversity (e.g, Nigeria) justifies additional support.

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• Are from underrepresented communities that have capacity-building as a main goal.

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• Support implementation of the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy recommendations.

https://w.wiki/Adz

Wikimedia Research Fund

• Research Proposals
• Funding of between 2,000-50,000 USD per proposal.
• Work should be conducted for up to 1 year (12 months)

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• Extended Research Proposals:
• Funding of up to 50,000-150,000 USD (over all years of the grant period with up to USD 75,000 per year) per proposal.
• Work should be conducted for up to 2 years (24 months).

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• Event & Community-Building Proposals
• Funding of up to 50,000 USD per proposal.
• Work should be conducted for up to 1 year (12 months).
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https://w.wiki/6D9i

Wikimedia Hub Fund

The Hub Fund finances hub initiatives in their pre-pilot, pilot, and operation stages:

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Pre-pilot: This includes understanding audience needs, seeking endorsement to pilot the hub, identifying and involving stakeholders, and defining the hub’s pilot services, plan, and governance structure.

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Pilot: This is the experimentation period (e.g., 1 year) where the hub prioritizes a small number of well-scoped and feasible services to learn about their impact. Based on the outcomes, the hub decides whether to continue what works, adapt what doesn’t, or discontinue.

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Operation: Upon successful completion of the pilot, in which the hub pilot’s goals are achieved and impact is demonstrated, the hub can transition into stabilizing its operations.

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https://w.wiki/Fnaj

MOCK GRANT APPLICATION

This is a practical demo on WMF grant drafting and submission through the Fluxx site

Mock Grant Application

This is a practical demo on WMF grant drafting and submission through the Fluxx site

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Questions?

Fire away!�5 minutes ⏰

Ice Breaker session

Fire away!�5 minutes ⏰

Connect:

This presentation: https://tinyurl.com/435yxhds

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CfA: @Code4Africa