Submissions:2015/Funding for Wikipedia projects


 * Title: Funding for Wikipedia projects


 * Theme: Community


 * Type of submission: Open discussion, like a Birds of a Feather meeting.


 * Author: Gaurav Vaidya and Isarra


 * E-mail address: gaurav[at]ggvaidya[dot]com


 * Username: w:User:Gaurav and w:User:Isarra


 * Affiliation: University of Colorado Boulder and MediaWiki community


 * Abstract:

Wikipedia events like Wikimania, the MediaWiki Hackathon and WikiConference USA bring together Wikimedia users at every level of experience, from long-established community leaders to completely new editors, to build new collaborations and work together on projects. Conference scholarship programs and Wikimedia Participation Grants ensure that such opportunities are not available only to those who use Wikipedia as part of their day job, or to those well-off enough to be able to afford the travel and a place to stay by themselves. In this informal meeting, attendees will talk about:
 * their experiences with applying for grants from the Wikimedia Foundation and scholarships for Wikimedia project events,
 * information on other sources that may fund Wikipedia-related activities,
 * the criteria usually used to evaluate scholarship applications,
 * what conference organisers expect from funded attendees, and
 * what funded attendees can do to make the most of their opportunity.

We will also talk more broadly about the current status of funding opportunities for Wikipedians, from the Wikimedia Foundation and other sources, hopefully by encouraging someone from the Wikimedia Foundation Community Resources team or the WikiConference USA scholarship committee -- we'll ask them if this proposal is accepted!

More broadly, this is an opportunity to discuss or promote particular funding sources that other Wikipedians might not have heard about, with a particular focus on sources that can fund travel to the global meetings coming up in 2016: Wikimania 2016 in Esino Lario, Italy; the MediaWiki Developer Summit 2016 in San Francisco CA, and the MediaWiki Hackathon.


 * Length of presentation: 30 mins, but we might stretch it to 45 mins if we can get a Special Guest as described above or if we get a lot of participation interest below.

Gaurav would prefer not to organize this on Friday, as I'll probably be flying in that morning.
 * Special schedule requests:

If Gaurav gets the scholarship, and "Who knows" for Isarra
 * Will you attend WikiConference USA if your submission is not accepted?:

Interested attendees
'''If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with four tildes. ( ~ ).'''


 * 1) Add your username here.