Summary

The Community Resources team distributes funds and other resources via several participatorygrantmaking programs, aimed at supporting mission-aligned organizations, groups, and individuals around the world. These programs support a variety of inspiring community-driven experiments, projects and programs, from outreach and events to research and tool-building.

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) seeks a Program Officer to support WMF’s Annual Plan Grants program. The WMF has two participatory funding streams in the Annual Plan Grants program.  The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee are volunteer committees that make recommendations to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees or WMF staff on how funds should be allocated to advance the movement’s mission and vision. This Program Officer will help coordinate and support the people and processes that lead to decisions.

Description

This Program Officer will support both funding streams included in the Annual Plan Grants program, including Simple Annual Plan Grants and Annual Plan Grants recommended by the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), with a focus on the FDC process. She/he will work together with  committee members, grant applicants and grantees, and members of the Community Resources team, including the Program Officer, Organizations.

Responsibilities

Grant cycle

• Oversee full annual plan grant proposal process from start to finish, and support the Simple Annual Plan grants process as needed
• Oversee launch of online proposal and reporting forms
• Manage communications related to the grants cycle
• Work closely with grant applicants in the preparation of their proposals and reports
• Support due diligence and eligibility reviews for interested organizations
• Manage the full process APG space on Meta wiki, including ensuring all relevant pages are operational, accessible, and up-to-date
• Coordinate WMF staff and community inputs, and ensure timely creation of expert materials in preparation for FDC proposal review
• Work together with the Grants Administrator and the Finance & Administration team to obtain approvals, to disburse and track grant funds, and to ensure that accurate data is maintained in the Fluxx grants database
• Evaluate the annual plan grant process after each round, summarize feedback and implement recommendations for process improvements
• Review mid-term and final grant reports, provide feedback to grantee, and share findings with committee, fellow staff, and the community at large
• Conduct analysis
• Support grant analysis on impact of funds, share results publicly
• Hold regular meetings with grantees, share learning publicly
• Conduct site visits by traveling to all APG grantees every 2-3 years, perform on-site financial review, and document and share learning with relevant stakeholders    

Facilitate the grants committees’ participatory decision-making  

• Recruit and orient new Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) members, supporting the Board of Trustees in their appointments of new members, or overseeing community elections.
• Facilitate regular committee meetings, including logistics for conference calls and in-person meetings as well as virtual and face-to-face events throughout the year
• Create and analyze the results of surveys and other assessment tools at all stages of the review process
• Co-create and publish detailed public staff assessments of each proposal
• Create or coordinate analysis, including detailed financial analysis, and oversee all expert material in preparation for deliberations, and be prepared to field detailed questions about proposals and analysis from the committee during the deliberations
• Facilitate 3-4 day in-person, consensus-oriented deliberations twice a year
• Support the Simple Annual Plan Grants committee, as needed

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• 3+ years experience with program and process management that preferably includes project planning, evaluation, budgeting, workflow management, contracts management, grant monitoring and reporting, and document management
• Proven ability that would translate to creating constructive partnerships with the Wikimedia community, stakeholders, and fund-seekers: skills in facilitating engaging, motivating, coordinating and supporting volunteer communities, and in negotiating the sometimes chaotic and contentious nature of free-thinking communities
• Work and life experience in more than one country; comfort working with organizations and entities from diverse cultures and communication styles
• A reflexive tendency to communicate in an open, public and transparent fashion; ability to engage and have dialog (verbal and in text) with individuals in a public setting and in a non-polarizing way
• Willingness to accommodate scheduling requirements of frequent interactions across time zones, with chapters and entities across the world
• Proficiency in English; proficiency in a language other than English would be a distinct advantage
• Proven proficiency in written and spoken communication, including speaking in front of large groups and reacting publicly in high pressure situations, and comfort in producing widely distributed written material
• This position will occasionally require working weekends.
• This position may require 3-6 international trips each year. Applicants not located in San Francisco, may also need to travel to San Francisco regularly.

Preferred attributes:

• Some demonstrated technical proficiency, including the ability to learn new technologies, including light coding (e.g. wikitext or html)
• Experience working with volunteer/non-staff decision making or advisory committee, demonstrated commitment to volunteer service
• Experience contributing to Wikimedia projects and/or editing on wiki and comfort communicating in wiki environment
• Mission-driven: a passion for, belief in and commitment to the societal benefits of freely-available knowledge as articulated in Wikimedia's vision and mission
• Excellent process manager: A hard worker with a high energy level with high quality standards, ability to effectively prioritize and adjust expectations, attention to detail; willingness to work hands-on with other staff, community members and members of the FDC
• Emotionally mature, independent, and self-reliant: someone who will thrive while working in a small team with a strong community focus and truly collaborative spirit, with an ability to tolerate a high degree of ambiguity, and to negotiate with people having sharply defined opinions while maintaining positive, respectful relationships
• Experience in grantmaking, particularly in international grantmaking
• Experience in program evaluation and financial analysis

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 431 million unique visitors per month, making them the 5th most popular web property worldwide. Available in more than 287 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 32 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 100,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants. The Wikimedia Foundation was created in 2003 to manage the operation of Wikipedia and its sister projects. It currently employs over 240 staff members. Wikimedia is supported by local chapter organizations in 40 countries or regions.

Benefits & Perks *

• Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and their eligible families (yes, fully paid premiums!)
• The Wellness Program provides reimbursement for mind, body and soul activities such as fitness memberships, massages, cooking classes and much more
• The 401(k) retirement plan offers matched contributions at 4% of annual salary
• Flexible and generous time off - vacation, sick and volunteer days
• Pre-tax savings plans for health care, child care, elder care, public transportation and parking expenses
• For those emergency moments - long and short term disability, life insurance (2x salary) and an employee assistance program
• Telecommuting and flexible work schedules available
• Appropriate fuel for thinking and coding (aka, a pantry full of treats) and monthly massages to help staff relax
• Great colleagues - international staff speaking dozens of languages from around the world, fantastic intellectual discourse, mission-driven and intensely passionate people

* for benefits eligible staff, benefits may vary by location

More Information

http://wikimediafoundation.org

http://blog.wikimedia.org

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG