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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear All,</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Yes, a further microgrants round could
be useful to OSM. That said, some improvements may give
benefits. Previous contributions are noted. I reinforce others
before me and add my thoughts:</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Purpose - OSMF should be very clear
internally about the purpose of running a microgrants programme. <br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Microgrants should serve only two
purposes.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">1. Building the greater OSM
organisation, emphasising building leadership, building membership
and teaching mapping skills.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">2. Building the OSM IT infrastructure,
emphasising robust and resilient systems.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Note that:<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">1. Humanitarian purposes are out of
scope. HOT and many others cover that aspect pretty well.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">2. Building our database must be
voluntary. Paid data collection is against policy.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Like Simon suggested, I would separate
the two purposes above into two distinct funds and two separate
workflows - possibly even two committees.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">With regard to the
organisation-building microgrants, some thoughts:</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Conflicts of Interest: Yes, the
evaluation committee must strictly follow COI rules.</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Grant Application Support - There are
writers who may benefit from support in preparing a micro-grant
application. I believe we should try to offer such support, but
only prior to the formal submission of the application. <br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">M&E - I can't find out if our
micro-grants succeeded in doing anything of enduring value. We
need some monitoring and evaluation reporting. For micro-grants
I'd only want a few formal measures of progress during the process
and formal confirmation of the deliverables at the end. These
measures must be published.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Capital Goods - Last time, several
grant requests wanted expensive hardware. Drones, Computers,
Cameras etc. Where hardware can be very explicitly linked to
purpose 1 above, and where the hardware remains property of the
local structure after the project, then maybe a capital grant is
ok, otherwise no. In general, I would rather build human capital
then provide someone with a nice toy.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Rentals/Fees - Many grant requests
asked for consumable services, like catering, airtime, bus-fare,
room rental, use of the BBB server, swag etc. Where this is
proportional to the proposal I think it can be supported. I
suggest that we don't support stipends. <br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Communications - Yes, it is deeply
frustrating that the micro-grants programme failed to communicate
itself to membership and the greater public. However OSM doesn't
(yet) have a marketing strategy, so just hiring someone to "just
do something" will be an auto-fail event. In the interim, we
should patch over that gap by writing a blog post or two to keep
the membership informed. <br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">With regard to microgrants for building
a resilient robust IT infrastructure, I know little about those
dark arts. I believe that our greatest weakness is the depth of
our bench. If so, some courses to upskill willing and capable
members eg. Chef courses, and providing sandbox environments for
learning sysop work without destroying the sys, might be useful
micro-projects. Our Engineering members will need to guide us.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Craig Allan<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><font size="1">OSM: cRaIgalLAn</font></div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">
<h1><br>
</h1>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2021/10/23 17:24, Simon Poole wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:92c19ede-db13-3399-f390-939cbb54db49@poole.ch">
<br>
Am 22.10.2021 um 22:59 schrieb Amanda McCann:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Hello OSMers,
<br>
<br>
In 2020 (& onwards) the OSMF ran a microgrants programme (
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants</a> ) , and
distributed about €50,000 to 12 projects. You can read the
report from the Microgrants Committee here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/File:OSMF_Microgrants_report_2020-21.odt">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/File:OSMF_Microgrants_report_2020-21.odt</a></blockquote>
</blockquote>
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