Annual Report 2025/Story: Growth, project funding, and strategic capacity building
In this story, we describe how staff expansion, a high success rate in project applications, and strategic investments in fundraising together created the conditions for scaling up our programmatic work in 2026.
2025 was a pivotal year for the association's long-term development. For several years, our work had been growing in scope, complexity, and international reach, while staffing levels had remained relatively limited. This created a high workload and left little margin for implementation. During the year, a deliberate strategic decision was therefore made to strengthen our capacity. In total, nine new staff members were recruited during the year, and one additional person who had been hired at the end of 2024 started their position. Six of the new recruits began working during the year, while three took up their posts in the first half of January 2026.
During the year, two people ended their employment and two others reduced their working hours. In addition, contracts were signed with eight individual consultants and a law firm. The Executive Director's contract was also renewed during the year. This represented one of the largest capacity increases in our history and marked a clear shift from working reactively under conditions of limited resources to building structures for sustainable growth.
At the same time, parts of the year were still shaped by the effects of the previously limited staffing capacity. Recruitment processes take time, and new staff need onboarding and support before full capacity is reached. During the transition period, this meant that some projects were carried out with delays and that parts of the budget could not be used. The underspending compared with budgeted funds that arose was therefore mainly linked to capacity rather than to a lack of funding or ideas. In practice, this meant that the organisation was in the midst of a structural transition, in which investments in staffing and systems had not yet had time to produce their full effect.
At the same time as capacity was being built up, the year demonstrated a strong ability to attract external funding. During the year, Wikimedia Sverige applied for a total of 2,97 million SEK in external funding, of which SEK 1,96 million was granted. This corresponds to a success rate of 66% in terms of the amount applied for and 75% in terms of the number of applications submitted. In a highly competitive funding environment, this is a very strong result and a sign that the association's project ideas are well grounded, relevant, and strategically positioned. External funding is increasingly functioning as a strategic complement to the funding from the Wikimedia Foundation.
We also secured funding for our work on the international Content Partnerships Hub, which strengthens our international role and enables the continued development of structures that benefit the Wikimedia movement as a whole. Through the Hub, long-term collaborations are being established with international organi<ations, cultural heritage institutions, and Wikimedia organisations in several countries. At the same time, the work helps clarify the association's role as an expert in content partnerships, open licences, and how cultural heritage and knowledge institutions can collaborate with the Wikimedia platforms.
Our assessment is therefore that the launch of the Hub opens up new types of funding opportunities in the coming years. By building shared working methods, networks, and expertise, the association can take on a more central role in larger international projects and consortia, for example within EU programmes and other multilateral funding schemes. The increased visibility and expert role also make it easier for external actors to identify us as a natural partner in initiatives relating to digital cultural heritage, open data, access to knowledge, and international capacity building.
By broadening the funding base, the association reduces its financial vulnerability and gains greater room to initiate and shape work in new areas. At the same time, each new funder also brings new relationships, new collaborations, and new opportunities to influence how free knowledge can be developed and shared.
During the year, we also continued working on scaling our fundraising up. This is an area with mostly long-term effects and costs that can arise earlier in the process. Investments in systems, communication, and staff resources mean higher initial expenditure, but the purpose is to build a more stable and diversified revenue base over time. A growing membership base and more donors strengthen not only the finances but also the democratic anchoring and legitimacy of the work. Although the full effects are not yet visible in this year's results, the direction is clear and the work continues to develop.
All in all, 2025 can be described as a strategic, transitional year. Much of the organisation's energy was devoted to building capacity, establishing new structures, and securing long-term resources. With a strengthened staff team, broader consultancy expertise, a high success rate in project applications, and more diversified funding, the association is now in a significantly stronger position. The investments made during the year have created the conditions for the programmatic work to begin scaling up in earnest during 2026.
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