[Osmf-talk] Seeking your input on the Microgrant program

Mikel Maron, OSM mikel at osmfoundation.org
Wed Oct 24 15:15:18 UTC 2018


Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their feedback and ideas for the Microgrants program. It’s really helpful to see where more clarity is needed, where our thinking is confirmed and where we need to think more, assess the scope of areas where microgrants could be useful, and how to operationalize. There’s a lot of relevant experience in our community to draw on.


>From the feedback, I’ve taken a pass at organizing the essential ideas into topic areas. Sharing this so you can get a sense of where the community is at. Note, that inclusion in this list does not mean a decision on how microgrants will operate. 


>From here, we are going to continue meeting in a small group to work further on the structure of the program. If you’d like to be part of that, please let me know directly (several of you have already offered, thank you).


-Mikel

Topics

Scope
   
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Be clear that we are funding OSMF members, mappers and communities -- focus on enabling volunteers to do more by overcoming financial barriers.

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Specifically -- what problem the initiative is trying to solve or what barrier it's trying to remove?

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Start small and grow. Microgrants OSMF board, the voting members and the wider OSM community, to learn in a low risk / low cost environment. 

   
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Idea: Start small-ish then make a Round 2 with larger amounts available for scaling/taking a solution live to production? 

   
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Be as prescriptive as possible to match the call for applications as closely to the OSMF mandate as possible

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Applicants must have 6 months involvement in OSMF already


Not in Scope
   
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Working group and SotM are a structural part of OSMF --  "operational" budget -- don’t put in the scope of microgrants

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OSMF should take active role in improving large core infrastructure, budgeting £20 '000-50 '000 annually for such work

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Funds are not used for personal profit. For example, pay my consulting company to develop software x, or host a conference at my restaurant. 

   
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Paying to develop software may make sense, but general point of self benefit taken -Mikel


Examples
   
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Small-medium tech projects (multiple view points)

   
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Counter Stalled projects (for example groups) that would likely take a couple of man months to production, that is not large, it might be mid-sized. 

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EUR 5k isn't going to cover a large software project, but what can it cover? Break an idea into smaller chunks and go after the first chunk in this year's micro grant scheme. Rinse, repeat, etc. In time the trust built may lead to bigger funds being made available. :-)

   
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List specific type of projects envisioned for funding, to help applicants and the review board.

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Starting a local chapter, outreach to local schools, training programs with a local tech meetup.

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So in locations where there is no local chapter, these funds could help (maybe help develop a local chapter?).

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Education

   
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Program for students -> prize awards or scholarship for tuition fees for their mapping impact, using campus community mapping competitions. using OSM training and mapping projects with microgrant funded prize awards 

   
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I am not sure this is a good example -- prizes for mapping -Mikel

   
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Grant program to support individual post-graduate research on OSM from developing countries

   
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I am not sure this should be in scope -- there are lots of other routes available for academic scholarship?? -Mikel

   
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Some kind of focus on education could be good think OSMF supporting education is a good idea -- how about small amounts of funding for a school or university to integrate mapping in their curriculum, run projects mapping their local area and working with local stakeholders to use their data?


Relation to other programs and local chapters

   
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If local chapters are doing one thing, it doesn’t make sense to fund a local individual to do the same/opposite project. Might just increase local tensions

   
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Funded projects would need to be separate/distinct from what local chapters are doing o supported by the local chapter 

   
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For local activities, getting an opinion from a local group is very important. Ideas that work one place may fail in another

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Coordinate with other microgrant schemes -- funding is from “the movement”, and grantees should not be exploited systematic inefficiencies in how funds are managed across organizations

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Travel funding could continue to come from SotM corporate sponsorship and support for mapping projects and community development from HOT Microgrants (at least in developing countries).



Committee
   
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>From Wikimedia: Board is not involved in direct decisions, but have one or two board liaisons or advisors - e.g., board members appointed to follow the activities of the committee

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In those selection discussions, the 'softer' aims of the fund are not forgotten (democratisation of opportunity, cultural change, etc) --  the committee and the selection process need to be designed to meet the objectives of the initiative.


Reporting
   
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Ensure transparency, and also to ensure some type of record of where the money went (wiki posts, reports, sites, news items etc. as outcomes).

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Anyway, people will always complain that reporting is excessive, bureaucratic, and so on, even when it's really simple. I'm afraid that making people happy about reporting is likely to be an hopeless goal.

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On the admin side, I would suggest a simple template for recording expenses to make sure there is transparency around where the money is spent (this maybe just shared back with the committee)

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In terms of sharing outcomes, lessons learnt, etc, more  benefit more when communication happens throughout the process rather than just at the end, usually done through blogs [2]. Maybe an OSM diary at the start by each grantee to set the scene?



Budget
   
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Possibly go with a lower allocation for the pilot, with possibility to increase it in future rounds. WMF rapid grants program disbursed 265.000 $ last year, after several years. 50.000 € for the first six months there is risk to approve low-impact proposals.



* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron 

    On Thursday, September 20, 2018, 4:54:20 PM EDT, Mikel Maron <mikel.maron at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 
Hello

 

The OSM Foundation Board has been exploring a new Microgrant program, and we are seeking your feedback on the design of this new initiative.


The overall objective is to enable individuals and teams with actionable ideas for moving OpenStreetMap forward, but need financial support to fully execute those ideas. Grants could cover events, travel, development, teaching, outreach, community engagement, documentation, to give just a few examples. We are looking at programs like Wikimedia RapidGrants [1] and HOT Microgrants [2] as a model: a quick, transparent process with low barriers to entry, open to OSMF members. We are targeting a €50k total budget for the inaugural round.  


We have written up some of our thinking at this time on the OSMF wiki [3]. Some topics that have generated a lot of thinking and could use more input are:
   
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What is the composition of the selection committee? What criteria and process should we use to form it?

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What criteria and process should we use to rate and select proposals?

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Is there a role for Local Chapters in the selection process?

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What shapes can reporting on microgrants take, that is not overly laborious but informative for the OSM Community.



Look forward to reading your thoughts and ideas. The Board will be collecting feedback over the next couple weeks, and working to finalize guidelines over the next month. We plan to launch microgrants applications next month. Applications would be open for 1-2 months (tbd). Our aim would be to complete selection process and begin dispersals before the end of 2018.


Thank you

Mikel and OSMF Board of Directors
1) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid2) https://www.hotosm.org/projects/microgrants_and_community_development3) https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Microgrants_Consultation_document

* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
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