Hi all, We realized we had shared the wrong date for the Equity Fund Office Hours. Lisa's email initially said these would be Monday, June 13 - that should be Monday, June 14. Sorry for any confusion - Updated times below. You can also find these details and more information on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Fund
- Monday, June 14 at 0100-0200 UTC meet.google.com/myf-zcaw-ubg - Monday, June 14 at 1500-1600 UTC meet.google.com/dzu-edej-wva ᐧ On Wed, Jun 9, 2021 at 10:15 AM Lisa Gruwell <lgruw...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I’m excited to share more information about the Wikimedia Foundation’s > Knowledge Equity Fund. > > The Equity Fund is a pilot initiative that came out of the commitment the > Foundation’s leadership team made in June 2020 [1] in the wake of global > protests against racial injustice. Our goal was to create a grant-making > fund with an explicit focus on addressing barriers to free knowledge > experienced by Black, indigenous and communities of color around the world. > > This is a $4.5 million USD fund to address racial inequities that impact > the work of free knowledge. It was created to provide focused grants to > organizations that are advancing knowledge equity, one of two key pillars > of our 2030 strategic direction of becoming the essential infrastructure of > free knowledge. Specifically, the fund is meant to support organizations > working to address the racial injustices and barriers that prevent > participation in free knowledge. > > We allocated funds for the Equity Fund at the end of the Foundation’s > fiscal year last June. [2] It took more time than we expected to share our > plans for this pilot program, as we’ve been navigating the operational > and logistical issues of creating a new type of fund. Over the past > several months since the Equity Fund was first announced, Foundation staff > and volunteers have been meeting to discuss the goals and the details of > the Equity Fund, and we finally have more to share. > > The Equity Fund will be used to support local and international > organizations that don’t currently qualify for grants funding from the > Foundation, such as external organizations that can help advance our > mission and are not working directly on wikiprojects. We recognize that the > work of knowledge equity is work that we as a movement cannot do alone. Our > projects can only do so much when, for example, academic and mass media > representation of marginalized communities remains insufficient, which in > turn limits citations and primary sources for us to build from. Through > Equity Fund investments, we wish to create an ecosystem of partners, > collaborators, and grantees working on knowledge equity that will benefit > the movement. This could include journalism projects to increase content > about underrepresented regions of the world, or scholarship and research > initiatives that are focused on expanding academic understanding of > structural barriers to knowledge and potential solutions. > > The Equity Fund is separate from the grants that are available for > community groups and the ongoing Grants Relaunch [3]. It is a new pool of > funds that we can use to directly impact knowledge equity, and specifically > barriers due to race that prevent access and participation in free > knowledge. > > We are currently working to identify the first grant recipients for the > Equity Fund. The Meta page for the Equity Fund [4] includes more > information (the members of the Equity Fund Committee, the five specific > focus areas we will be investing in) and next steps. We are also currently > looking for recommendations on organizations for grants - you can visit > Meta or fill out this survey [5] if you have organizations that are already > doing this work and would be a good fit. > > Lastly, we do want to emphasize that this is a pilot. There are a lot of > open questions that have been raised by community members that we are still > figuring out, on topics such as ensuring investment in global organizations > and inclusive definitions of racial equity. We welcome additional questions > as the project evolves from this early stage. We’re answering questions on > Meta, so please join us there. We will also be hosting Office Hours in the > coming week: > > - > > Monday, June 13 at 0100-0200 UTC meet.google.com/myf-zcaw-ubg > - > > Monday, June 13 at 1500-1600 UTC meet.google.com/dzu-edej-wva > > > This is an active step towards addressing the barriers that perpetuate > knowledge gaps on our projects and prevent participation in free knowledge. > We’re excited to try this new pilot and share our progress. > > Thank you, > > Lisa Gruwell, Janeen Uzzell, Tony Sebro and the Equity Fund Committee > > > [1] > https://medium.com/freely-sharing-the-sum-of-all-knowledge/we-stand-for-racial-justice-49c31afbabca?source=collection_home---4------6----------------------- > > > [2] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2020-December/096022.html > > > [3] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunch_2020-2021 > > > [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Fund > > [5] https://forms.gle/gzqRH7yMFEGgZb4e6 > > > -- > > Lisa Seitz Gruwell > > Chief Advancement Officer > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org -- *Nadee Gunasena* Executive Communications Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
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