Commons:Wiki Loves Earth/WLE Resources Center/Partnership building

HOW TO BUILD PARTNERSHIPS FOR YOUR LOCAL CONTEST

🤝Partnering with organizations or entities that share an interest in natural heritage sites can be quite beneficial for your local WLE in different aspects. For example, help with promotion and engaging new uploaders, more awareness about the project, support with merch or prizes, providing the trainings, holding a special nomination, etc. You can have one partner who will cover all of your needs, or you can establish partnerships with several organizations.

Examples of potential PARTNERS

• National or State Parks: Local, national, or state parks often have an interest in promoting awareness and appreciation for natural heritage sites. They might provide support in terms of promotion, prizes, organizing photo walks, or hosting exhibitions of the winning photos;
• Environmental NGOs: Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Nature Conservancy, or local environmental groups may be interested in partnering to raise awareness about conservation efforts and natural heritage sites;
• Tourism Boards: Regional or national tourism boards might be interested in promoting natural heritage sites as tourist destinations. They could provide support in terms of promotion, prizes, or even travel opportunities for winners;
• Photography Associations or Clubs: Local or national photography associations can help promote the contest to their members and may offer expertise or resources related to photography;
• Educational Institutions: Universities, colleges, or schools with programs in environmental science, photography, or tourism might be interested in partnering to provide educational content, promote the contest to students, or even offer internships or scholarships as prizes;
• Media Partners: Local newspapers, magazines, radio stations, or television stations with a focus on nature, travel, or photography could help promote the contest and provide exposure for the winning entries;
• Corporate Sponsors: Companies with a focus on outdoor gear, travel, photography equipment, or environmental sustainability might be interested in sponsoring the contest in exchange for promotional opportunities;
• Online Platforms: Websites or social media platforms dedicated to photography, travel, or nature could help promote the contest to a wider audience and provide a platform for showcasing the winning entries.

When approaching potential partners, it's important to clearly communicate the benefits of partnering with your photo contest, such as exposure to a targeted audience, alignment with their mission or values, and opportunities for collaboration and promotion. Be prepared to outline what you're asking of them (e.g., promotional support, prizes, hosting an exhibition) and what you can offer in return (e.g., branding opportunities, exposure to your audience, collaboration on content or events). It might also be important to clearly set boundaries on what you cannot offer (for example, you shouldn’t offer to create or improve an article about your partner on Wikipedia in exchange for their support as that would create a conflict of interest and could cause community backlash on Wikipedia).

Useful GUIDES

• Kacie Harold: guide about partnerships for contests;
• The Partnership Building course from Asaf Bartov: guideline, course.

EXAMPLES from the local teams

• Ukraine:

One of the options for a successful partnership is organizing joint special nominations with partners devoted to their thematic expertise. The Ukrainian local team in 2021 had “Nature Monuments Protection” and “Best Photo of Wetlands” special nominations, each in partnership with a leading Ukrainian nature protection NGO.

• Portugal:

Local organizers collaborate with a research center at the University of Porto (CIIMAR), which mostly does research related to the ocean and the environment (their communication department and, more recently, their sustainability officer are the main collaborators). The partnership helps to spread the word about the competition through press releases and helps with jury selection. They have also curated a couple of photo exhibitions that have been exposed at the Botanical Gardens in Porto, the Cascais waterfront, the Leixões Harbour, and a tour across the country in FNAC media stores. The local teams also created a special category for ocean-protected areas in recognition of their collaboration.

• Cameroon:

In Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular, professional photographers take pictures for a living at weddings, birthdays, and other ceremonies. They market these photos during the various ceremonies. So very few are interested in anything that's free, and very few are prepared to 'give away' photos for nothing in return. During the editions of Wiki Loves Africa and Wiki Loves Earth, organizers approached them and raised their awareness to the point of working with several photographers and photographers' associations. As a result, several of them could participate in various competitions, so there was a prospect of setting up a project with the photographers related to photographic production in Cameroon. The project would cover the 10 regions of Cameroon (one region each year), with the following objectives: to train photographers, as many of them take photos without any basic training; following the training, to select photo-taking themes for each participant (this would be the practical aspect of the training); these photos would then be uploaded to Commons after the trainers had given their opinion on whether the modules learned during the training had been respected. The best photos would then be presented at a photo exhibition.

Comments and ideas

Good luck with your WLE partners!

If you have any more questions or need help, feel free to approach us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua.

If you want to add your suggestions, questions, or ideas for this instruction, please leave them here.