Organizational Growth & Development Network/Progress report (May - October 2011)

Wikimedia Chapter Development Pilot Project

May - October 2011 Report

State of the Project as of 14 October 2011:

Chapter reports

WMHU

After discussions at Wikimania, it had been decided that the board would hold a planning workshop for their 2012 activities during the weekend of 17/18 September 2011. Specific topics on the agenda were: completing the chapter's self-assessment, determine objectives for 2012, figure out specific activities to fulfill these objectives, and create a rough budget for the full fiscal year. The workshop with the WMHU board and a few non-board members was very constructive with great participation throughout. One of the more critical discussions was whether and how WMHU should engage in the fundraising campaign or, alternatively, focus on setting up the foundation for their planned 2012 work. I emphasized the new grants approach the Foundation has created and encouraged them to take it as an opportunity for better managing their own growth.

As an outcome of the workshop, WMHU has finished its program plan and published it online at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9dia_Magyarorsz%C3%A1g/2012_Programme_Plan. The notes from the workshop can be found at http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/WMHU-workshop201109

WMNL

Following discussions at Wikimania with Siebrand, one of the board members, it was decided to continue the strategy development started in Zeist in February. Building on those results, a 2012 planning workshop was held in Utrecht on the weekend of 24/25 September 2011 at the new chapter office in Utrecht. One of the most important points of discussion was personnel strategy. At the end of 2010, the consensus had been to hire a small number of part-time employees to be directly managed by the board. After having hired one person in April, it has since become clear to them that this model is not very practical as board members are volunteers and typically do not have the time or resources to sufficiently manage employees on an individual level. During the September weekend it was decided that hiring a chapter "director" would be a better approach, following the model of WMDE and WMUK. To move forward, a job description was created during the workshop, based on the one recently published by WMUK and used there to hire Jon Davies.

Aside from the staff question, the board members attending the workshop spent most of the time discussing objectives for 2012 and specific activities to fulfill these objectives. This was a very fruitful discussion, particularly made constructive by the outcome of the February workshop upon which next year's objectives were built. As a result, WMNL was able to create a 2012 budget based on high priority activities and they published their program plan a month after the meeting and submitted it to the Foundation for approval in preparation for this year's fundraising campaign. The plan can be found at http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programma_en_begroting_2012/en.

They have already requested that I assist them again in February in continuing their strategy development.

WMSE

The WMSE board met with me on 3/4 September 2011 to continue the work done at the previous workshop as well as completing the planning for their 2012 activities. Key topics on the agenda were: stakeholder analysis, vision development, a discussion on board/staff governance models, objectives and activities for 2012, and a rough budget outline for these activities. The notes from the workshop can be found here: http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/WMSE-workshop2

Next steps

The pilot project is almost complete. Next steps are evaluation and drafting the final report summarizing all the findings. This should be done by the end of the year.