Wikipedia talk:Meetup/NYC/Committees/Travel

Process clarification
The only concern I would have is that this process is organized and there is a clear communication of intention by WM NYC to prefer to support communities and representatives of communities that are under-represented and under-served as a priority over others -- although of course including all constructive applications where there is a benefit in supporting the work of Wikipedia editors. But yes to diversity...! -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 07:36, 8 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Considerations
 * This committee page and micro-grant process is a work in progress especially as it relates to a public announcements of this process
 * The person(s) receiving the grant should at minimum write a short statement of the benefit of this grant

Scope and depth of process
This page is a local NYC policy page for making micro-grants for travel. The situation is that meta:Wikimedia New York City is a regional chapter of the Wikimedia community with its own budget to use to promote local Wikimedia engagement.

The limit of the complexity of WM NYC's application, review, and documentation process should not be beyond that of the Wikimedia Foundations own competing "rapid grants" process at meta:Grants:Project/Rapid. That process routinely provides travel sponsorship for active Wikimedia community members to attend Wikimedia events, and gives funding up to $2000. This local NYC process has a limit of $200, and is intended to be even simpler than the WMF process because the community in the region is closer and because the amount of money managed is at most 1/10 of what the WMF will grant in similar circumstances.

Here is a working proposal of what should be asked when applying for a travel grant and some context on how this information is considered
 * Name: - used to confirm the applicant's identity and check their involvement in Wikimedia community projects. There may be circumstances when someone needs privacy and shares their name confidentially with the grants committee.
 * Travel: - origin and destination city, to confirm that travel will be in WM NYC's field of outreach
 * Mode: - the answer to this is usually going to be "bus", just because these are small grants for inexpensive public transportation
 * Stipend and accommodations: - travel is the primary motivation for this grant, but additional costs including a hostel stay and a meal may be included
 * Associated event(s) / Wiki-based project(s): - this is the motivation for travel, and will typically be a conference or wiki event
 * Amount: - $200 is the cap. It is expected that grant recipients will provide receipts, perhaps by photographing them and emailing them to the contact managing the grant

Grants can be awarded based on only filling out this information. Beyond this form, there may be discussion in-person, by phone, email, video chat, or any other method with WM NYC appointed travel grant reviewers. The grant reviewers by default are the "WM NYC travel grant committee", but as these are small fast grants which do not require more review than the comparable WMF "rapid grant", other members of the WM NYC board may collectively decide to form an ad hoc committee to award grant funding if they still document the process on this travel page.

Overall, the application ideally will not take the applicant more than 20 minutes to make and the application can be reviewed in 5 minutes by each member of the grant committee. Typically, granting an application will also included a voice conversation, which may be undocumented.

If there is every any dispute about the management of this process, or if this process ever needs to be made more strict for clarity, then this local process will change to be more like the WMF rapid grants program. As of July 2016, judgement criteria for the WMF rapid grants process is concisely documented, and already the WM NYC process is more documented. The intent is to keep the WM NYC process quick and easy and such as things are, here is where the process is starting.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  16:09, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

About wiki travel grants generally
The WMF already awarded WM NYC $1000 to be spent on 5 instances of travel grants to or from Boston or DC, or other nearby cities. This funding is in the budget in section 1.4.1, "Travel grants (local) Bus trips to regional cities (e.g., Boston, DC)" -- see WM NYC APG Budget

This page documents the process WM NYC has for awarding grants. There are several Wikimedia chapter policies in circulation but WM NYC has not adopted any of them, and none of them quite match WM NYC's intent to provide quick and easy travel support for local Wikimedia contributors.


 * The WMF's own comparable travel grants program is this as of July 2016 and the latest updated version is at meta:Grants:Project/Rapid.
 * meta:Wikim%C3%A9dia_France/Politique_de_voyage/en
 * meta:Grants:Learning_patterns/Arranging_travel
 * meta:Grants:Learning_patterns/Travel_policy_%E2%88%92_defining_travel_support_conditions_to_further_volunteer_involvement
 * Wikimedia DC travel policy

 Blue Rasberry  (talk)  16:09, 8 July 2016 (UTC)