Strategy/Archive/Overview of strategy

This is a draft policy that is open for community consultation until 29th February 2014. If you have comments or suggestions for improvements, please make them on the talk page. The board intends to adopt a finalised strategic plan 2014-2019 at its meeting in March 2014.

This page sets out WMUK's strategic plan. The plan covers the period 2014 to 2019, but will be subject to regular review during that time to ensure that it remains relevant.

Introduction

Before reading further, please review the strategic and operational models we are using, as some of the terms used below are intended to have specific meanings.

Strategic level

The purpose of our strategic plan is to guide us in the activities and programmes we undertake to achieve our Misson to help people and organisations create and preserve educational Open Knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. The plan sets out our high-level Strategic Goals, and the type of impact we aim to achieve with each of those goals (the Aims). This allows us to ensure that our actual range of activities and programmes is directly aligned with our Strategic Goals.

Each Strategic Goal has an associated series of Outcomes which define the specific types of impact that we will be tracking for that Goal. These Outcomes are not measurements in themselves, but rather the 'scales of measurement' against which we can apply specific measures or targets.

To achieve our plan, we will undertake activities and programmes that maximize progress on each of the stated Outcomes, and we will report progress separately against each Outcome. To ensure balance, each of the Outcomes is expected to be covered within each financial year, but of course the relative priorities and extent of progress on each will vary over the course of the year.

The Strategic Plan - at this level - deliberately does not require the charity as a matter of policy to work on any specific programme, as we want the flexibility to be able to start promising new programmes and to expand existing ones as opportunities arise. Likewise, we need the freedom to close down or reduce the scope of failing programmes or those that are not generating sufficient impact. This flexibility will allow us to be not only ambitious but also innovative in the type of programmes that we take on, without fearing that we will be obliged to continue with a programme that turns out not to perform as intended.

The Strategic Plan is intended to be a long-term document to cover the period 2014-2019. It will however be reviewed at least annually, and can be amended should the need arise.

Operational level

The specific activities and programmes currently undertaken by the charity are set out in our Activity Plan. This is an operational document that will be updated in the light of experience at least on an annual basis, and will evolve as programmes are started, developed and dropped.

Measures, metrics and targets

Our Activity Measures Table lists, for each Outcome, not only the activities and programmes that support that Outcome but also the applicable measures and targets. So that we can determine 'distance travelled' most measures are expressed in annual terms, with the cumulative totals being expected to build up over the 5 year term of the plan. These are our 5 year targets.

The Activity Measures Table will be updated as required to match changes to the Activity Plan. Measures, metrics and targets may need to evolve to remain aligned with day to day activities, but we will try to be as consistent as possible to ensure that our 'distance travelled' measures remain meaningful.

By bundling the multiple measures within each Output we can get a series of Outcome Measures which indicate progress on the Outcomes.

Since each Strategic Goal has its own group of Outcomes, we can bundle those Outcome Measures to provide us with a set of Strategic Goal Measures indicating how we are doing against each of the Strategic Goals. Finally, the Strategic Goal Measures taken together tell us about our overall charitable Impact.

Where at all possible the targets we use are SMART, and are measured against Outcomes rather than Outputs. Where direct measurement of Outcome is not currently possible we may reluctantly have to opt for Output measures as proxies for Outcomes, but we will actively work to minimise those.

Some existing limits on our ability to use Outcome measures throughout include:

• The costs and difficulties of acquiring reliable direct Outcome information (sometimes, expensive surveys of public opinion would be needed)
• The relevant data is not available to us (eg user data held in confidence by the Foundation)
• There is a lack of software tools that allow us to extract and analyse the data

We recognise that WMUK’s overall effectiveness and the contribution we make to our overall Mission cannot be measured entirely numerically, and that narratives have an important role to play as well. We are not ideologically wedded to the use of numerical or SMART targets for their own sake, and although we use them extensively we do not shy away from using narrative measures where they are more appropriate.

Strategic Goals

We have five Strategic Goals that fall within our Mission:

• G1 Develop educational Open Content
• G2 As a volunteer-led organisation, ensuring effective use of the resources available to us:
  • G2.1 Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers
  • G2.2 Use best practice governance and resource management processes
• G3 Reduce barriers to accessing educational Open Content
• G4 Encourage and support technological innovation
• G5 Develop, support, and engage with other Wikimedia communities

G1 Develop educational Open Content

This goal relates to the uploading of new content, the improvement of existing content, and our relationships with content-holding organisations that might be persuaded to release educational material. Potential editors and uploaders are the focus here.

Aim

• We will increase the quantity and quality of educational Open Content on the Wikimedia projects and other freely licensed resources.

Outcomes

• G1.1 The quantity of educational Open Content continues to increase
• G1.2 The quality of educational Open Content continues to improve
• G1.3 We are perceived as the go-to organisation by UK GLAM, educational, and other organisations who need support or advice for the release of educational Open Content.

G2 As a volunteer-led organisation, ensuring effective use of the resources available to us

In order to manage our resources, and ensure we support our volunteers effectively, we need a number of goals that relate specifically to WMUK and to those who volunteer to work with us.

G2a Develop, involve and engage WMUK volunteers

Volunteers are crucial to the effectiveness of Wikimedia UK. The WMUK volunteer community is a varying group of individuals that we do not need to define exactly, but by ‘WMUK volunteers’ we mean in this context people who are formally or informally associated with us in a volunteer capacity. Most but by no means all WMUK volunteers are UK based. For Wikimedia communities other than the WMUK volunteer community, see section 5 below.

Aim

• We will support our volunteers to allow them to contribute effectively and efficiently.

Outcomes

• G2a.1 We have a thriving community of WMUK volunteers.
• G2a.2 WMUK volunteers are highly diverse.
• G2a.3 WMUK volunteers are skilled and capable.

G2b Use best practice governance and resource management processes.

Aim

• We are seen as an organisation that uses best practice governance and resource management processes.

Outcomes

• G2b.1 We have best practice governance and resource management processes, and are recognised for such within the Wikimedia movement and the UK charity sector.
• G2b.2 We have a high level of openness and transparency.
• G2b.3 We have high quality systems to measure our impact as an organisation.
• G2b.4 We ensure a stable, sustainable and diverse funding stream.

G3 Reduce barriers to accessing Open Content

This goal addresses the various barriers that prevent readers and re-users from easily accessing Open Content. It covers ‘soft’ barriers such as lack of awareness and lack of organisational will as well as ‘hard’ barriers such as legal constraints and physical access difficulties. Potential readers and consumers of content are the focus here.

Aim

• We will work to reduce barriers by education, campaigning, and the elimination of physical access difficulties.

Outcomes

• G3.1 Access to Wikimedia projects is increasingly available to all, irrespective of personal characteristics, background or situation.
• G3.2 There is increased awareness of the benefits of Open Content.
• G3.3 Legislative and institutional changes favour the release of Open Content.

G4 Encourage and support technological innovation

This goal relates to our use of and support for technology, particularly software.

Aim

• We understand that with efficient use of technology we can significantly increase our own impact. But we want to go beyond that by supporting technical innovation more broadly to allow others in the Wikimedia movement and the Open Content sector to benefit as well.

Outcomes

• G4.1 Technical communities with missions similar to our own are thriving.
• G4.2 There are robust and efficient tools readily available to enable the creation, curation and dissemination of Open Content.
• G4.3 There are robust and efficient tools readily available to allow WMUK - and related organisations - to support our own programmes and to enable us to effectively record impact measures.

G5 Develop, support, and engage with other Wikimedia communities

This Goal relates to our support for communities other than our own community of WMUK volunteers (for which, see 2.1 above). Some of these other communities are outside the UK - such as other Wikimedia chapters and organisations - while others are UK-based but separate from WMUK (some local Wikimeets, special interest, language-based and ad hoc groupings). Finally, some communities are Wikimedia project-based (Wikipedia WikiProjects, Commons photographic competitions).

Aim

• We will work with other Wikimedia communities and organisations in an open way to facilitate shared learning across the entire movement. We will encourage and provide support to other communities to help them develop, diversify and thrive. We will play a leading role in sharing good practice and acting as a focus for debate.

Outcomes

• G5.1 A thriving set of other Wikimedia communities
• G5.2 An increased diversity of Wikimedia contributors
• G5.3 Wikimedia communities are skilled and capable.

Resources we have used

In developing our strategy we have drawn on a variety of Wikimedia and external sources in addition to our own experiences and ambitions. Some of those we have found useful are:

• http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program_evaluation_basics:_the_program_impact_model

• The CES Planning Triangle

• Assessing Change: Developing and Using Outcomes Monitoring Tools (Parkinson and Wadia (CES))

• The Vision of the Wikimedia Foundation

• The Values of the Wikimedia Foundation

• The Mission Statement of the Wikimedia Foundation

• Open Knowledge Foundation

See also

• Our charitable objects. These define the limits of what we are allowed to do. As a charity, all our actions must as a matter of law fall within our charitable objects.