Mailing List Archive

2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2
Hey All--

I appreciate all the feedback and comments that I've received both on
this list and from other sources regarding the fundraiser. As you will
see below, we're listening - and we're working to implement some changes
right away. I appreciate the time and energy the community has given
towards making it better.

The fundraiser has been a substantial learning process and I try to
merge my years of fundraising experience into this very different, very
remarkable, global community. There definitely has been a steep learning
curve...but it's been a wonderful experience.

We are currently working on the following immediate items for this week:

1) Updating the site notices with project specific site notices.
("Wikibooks is a non-profit project: please donate today.")
2) Implementing the plain text "collapsed" banner for logged-in users.
3) Translation of non-Core pages into more languages. Our volunteers are
already hard at work translating the Questions?, Stories, and "Ways to
give" pages.

To review, our current donations can be found here:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:ContributionStatistics

Shortly, we will be moving towards Phase II of the Annual Fundraiser. It
will have another round of updates and look to highlight again the
donation link and our needs as a non-profit. We've gotten positive
feedback and comments on and offline from new donors, and as Brion
pointed out earlier - donations are up from previous years - so I think
the direct request for funds and support has been working. We're going
to continue that and attempt to shake things up to get some donors to
think again about donating.

Quick comparison 2007 vs 2008:
a) First week of data only: 10/22/07-10/28/07 vs 11/03/08-11/09/08
b) Only including donations UNDER $10,000

2007 Donors: 7547
2008 Donors: 14825

2007 Dollars: $203,605.40 (ave. gift $26.98)
2008 Dollars: $406,126.06 (ave. gift $27.39)

Phase II items, by the end of November, if not sooner:

1) Improved contribution statistics & shared contribution data with the
community.
2) A new set of site notices. We'll be updating these in a few
weeks...and I'll post them on Meta wiki for comment.
3) Minimum donations set to $1 or reasonable equivalent.
4) Additional currency: the shekel (ILS). We are also looking to add the
rupee.
5) Additional features to the Live Comments page.
6) Other changes to the look and feel that highlight our value to the
community and or fundraising needs.
7) Enhanced Chapter visibility and promotion.

As always, I welcome your questions or comments. I read this list
regularly - it's a fantastic way to see rapid feedback and commentary.

-Rand

--
Rand Montoya
Head of Community Giving
Wikimedia Foundation
www.wikimedia.org
Email: rand@wikimedia.org
Phone: 415.839.6885 x615
Fax: 415.882.0495
Cell: 510.685.7030

“At some future time, I hope to have something witty,
intelligent, or funny in this space.”


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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
2008/11/12 Rand Montoya <rmontoya@wikimedia.org>:
> To review, our current donations can be found here:
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:ContributionStatistics

For those who haven't seen it yet:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics

This is a side-by-side comparison of daily totals with last year's
fundraiser. It synchronizes the launch dates, i.e., Oct 22 is compared
against November 4, and so on. Note that the bars represent the number
of donations, not the totals.

We've also implemented tracking of the success rates for different
sitenotices. Some preliminary results indicate that the "Wikipedia is
a non-profit project: please donate today." banner performed very
poorly, so we took it out of rotation last Friday. We'll hopefully
have some new designs up for feedback soon, and we'll also make some
further tweaks and do some more A/B testing on the current notices to
find out e.g. if specifically the thermometer helps to get more people
to donate.

More data to come :-)
--
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
> For those who haven't seen it yet:
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics

Very neat!

Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
doubled.
Is it known why that happened? Just curious.

Erik Zachte



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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 11:58 PM, Erik Zachte <erikzachte@infodisiac.com> wrote:
>> For those who haven't seen it yet:
>> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
>
> Very neat!
>
> Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
> In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
> doubled.
> Is it known why that happened? Just curious.

That is the transition from the "ugly pink box" to the "people meter".
Donations doubled because a much better donation banner was put in
place at that time.

-Robert Rohde

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phas e 2 [ In reply to ]
> > For those who haven't seen it yet:
> > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
>
> Very neat!
>
> Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
> In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
> doubled.
> Is it known why that happened? Just curious.
>
> Erik Zachte
>

So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism

they can't pay to Obama and find other ways to pay for this (their) victory. If you are happy you are able to give more.

Maybe :)

In 2007 after 2 weeks banner has been changed.

przykuta

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 3:54 AM, Przykuta <przykuta@o2.pl> wrote:

> > > For those who haven't seen it yet:
> > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
> >
> > Very neat!
> >
> > Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
> > In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
> > doubled.
> > Is it known why that happened? Just curious.
> >
> > Erik Zachte
> >
>
> So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not
> only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism
>
> they can't pay to Obama and find other ways to pay for this (their)
> victory. If you are happy you are able to give more.
>
> Maybe :)
>
> In 2007 after 2 weeks banner has been changed.
>
> przykuta
>

Great theory for 2008, except for the whole economy is screwed,
high employment, mortgage foreclosure and general "nobody has
any money to spare" thing.

-Chad
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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Chad <innocentkiller@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Great theory for 2008, except for the whole economy is screwed,
> high employment, mortgage foreclosure and general "nobody has
> any money to spare" thing.
>
> -Chad


I'm completely speculating here, but maybe the reason we're doing so well so
far is that, I'd imagine, a significant portion of our readers are in the
tech sector (at least compared to most non-profits), where job cuts haven't
yet become as widespread as they are in other sectors like manufacturing and
housing. I don't have much for hard statistics to back up either of these
claims, so obviously, take them with a grain of salt.

I would imagine, however, that if my point is true, that future fundraisers
might not be so lucky, as the tech sector will probably experience a similar
decline over the next 18 months.

--
[[User:Ral315]]
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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
> I'm completely speculating here, but maybe the reason we're doing so well so
> far is that, I'd imagine, a significant portion of our readers are in the
> tech sector (at least compared to most non-profits)

That may be so for writers, but probably not readers (at least, not to
a significant degree), though our tech readers may be more interested
in donating (since they appreciate the cause of free content rather
than just the convenient source of information).

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
Can we borrow the Obama fundraising model?( Sell branded merchandise, $5 donations, Believe signs everywhere)?




________________________________
From: Przykuta <przykuta@o2.pl>
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:54:56 AM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2

> > For those who haven't seen it yet:
> > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
>
> Very neat!
>
> Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
> In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
> doubled.
> Is it known why that happened? Just curious.
>
> Erik Zachte
>

So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism

they can't pay to Obama and find other ways to pay for this (their) victory. If you are happy you are able to give more.

Maybe :)

In 2007 after 2 weeks banner has been changed.

przykuta

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Ral315 <wiki.ral315@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm completely speculating here, but maybe the reason we're doing so well so
> far is that, I'd imagine, a significant portion of our readers are in the
> tech sector (at least compared to most non-profits), where job cuts haven't
> yet become as widespread as they are in other sectors like manufacturing and
> housing. I don't have much for hard statistics to back up either of these
> claims, so obviously, take them with a grain of salt.
>
> I would imagine, however, that if my point is true, that future fundraisers
> might not be so lucky, as the tech sector will probably experience a similar
> decline over the next 18 months.

Then again, everyone hurting might be another reason to donate: "er,
what if Wikipedia is hurting too? ohnoes, I don't want to lose that
too!" We seem to try to evoke that feeling in people by "Wikipedia:
Making Life Easier" and "Wikipedia is there when you need it -- now it
needs you".

--
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Casey Brown <cbrown1023.ml@gmail.com>wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Ral315 <wiki.ral315@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm completely speculating here, but maybe the reason we're doing so well
> so
> > far is that, I'd imagine, a significant portion of our readers are in the
> > tech sector (at least compared to most non-profits), where job cuts
> haven't
> > yet become as widespread as they are in other sectors like manufacturing
> and
> > housing. I don't have much for hard statistics to back up either of
> these
> > claims, so obviously, take them with a grain of salt.
> >
> > I would imagine, however, that if my point is true, that future
> fundraisers
> > might not be so lucky, as the tech sector will probably experience a
> similar
> > decline over the next 18 months.
>
> Then again, everyone hurting might be another reason to donate: "er,
> what if Wikipedia is hurting too? ohnoes, I don't want to lose that
> too!" We seem to try to evoke that feeling in people by "Wikipedia:
> Making Life Easier" and "Wikipedia is there when you need it -- now it
> needs you".
>
> --
> Casey Brown
> Cbrown1023
>

Perhaps this is just me--if I'm hurting financially, an ad saying
Wikipedia is too might hit home with me, but it probably wouldn't
motivate me to donate. Putting bread on the table and making bill
payments on time is a bit higher priority that helping sustain
Wikipedia. Again, this is just based on the kind of person I am
and pretty much every person I know.

No statistics to support it of course (and no reasonable way to
get it), but it would be interesting to see both the average income
of donors, both as a whole and as a comparison to how much was
donated (remove USD5,000+ donations as they're rare and would
skew the scale).

-Chad
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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
I think it's good that this started after the election.

We would lose if we competed with Obama donations...

As it is, I think some of the donors may be looking for new places to give.

Thanks,
Pharos

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Chad <innocentkiller@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 3:54 AM, Przykuta <przykuta@o2.pl> wrote:
>
>> > > For those who haven't seen it yet:
>> > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
>> >
>> > Very neat!
>> >
>> > Looking at tab 2 (Number of contributions):
>> > In 2007 from day 14 and onwards the number of gifts per day more than
>> > doubled.
>> > Is it known why that happened? Just curious.
>> >
>> > Erik Zachte
>> >
>>
>> So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not
>> only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism
>>
>> they can't pay to Obama and find other ways to pay for this (their)
>> victory. If you are happy you are able to give more.
>>
>> Maybe :)
>>
>> In 2007 after 2 weeks banner has been changed.
>>
>> przykuta
>>
>
> Great theory for 2008, except for the whole economy is screwed,
> high employment, mortgage foreclosure and general "nobody has
> any money to spare" thing.
>
> -Chad
> _______________________________________________
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> foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org
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>

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 23:59, Geoffrey Plourde <geo.plrd@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Can we borrow the Obama fundraising model?( Sell branded merchandise, $5 donations, Believe signs everywhere)?

Yes we can.

(sorry, I had to do it)

Delphine
--
~notafish

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Ceci n'est pas une endive - http://blog.notanendive.org

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
2008/11/26 Pharos <pharosofalexandria@gmail.com>:

> I think it's good that this started after the election.
> We would lose if we competed with Obama donations...
> As it is, I think some of the donors may be looking for new places to give.


Thousands of Obama volunteers, who've spent the last year working hard
for many hours a day, suddenly at a loose end. They know lots about
American politics and society and their local communities.

Let's see if we can get them editing!


- d.

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phase 2 [ In reply to ]
Hi lists,

Does anybody know whether there is a plan of matching donation for this
fundraising season?

--Takashi

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phas e 2 [ In reply to ]
>
> So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism

Just simple behaviors :)

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics

~everyone wants to be Santa Claus ;) Jimbo's appeal is a good move. ("yes we can"? - a god meme to use in acknowledgement, "yes, we can" + "be bold" = ?)

So, be bold during Christmas and all next days

przykuta

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phas e 2 [ In reply to ]
Hm, btw, where was again that list with all incoming donations?

Lodewijk

2008/12/24 Przykuta <przykuta@o2.pl>

>
> >
> > So, Obama has won election in the USA, people are more happy (maybe not
> only part of people in USA) - they want to pay for that ;)
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_altruism
>
> Just simple behaviors :)
>
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics
>
> ~everyone wants to be Santa Claus ;) Jimbo's appeal is a good move. ("yes
> we can"? - a god meme to use in acknowledgement, "yes, we can" + "be bold" =
> ?)
>
> So, be bold during Christmas and all next days
>
> przykuta
>
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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phas e 2 [ In reply to ]
On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 8:57 PM, effe iets anders
<effeietsanders@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hm, btw, where was again that list with all incoming donations?
>
> Lodewijk
>

There are many statistics pages, see the "Contributions/Fundraiser"
section on <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:SpecialPages>.

--
Casey Brown
Cbrown1023

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Re: 2008 Annual Fundraiser - Going into Phas e 2 [ In reply to ]
Casey Brown wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 8:57 PM, effe iets anders
> <effeietsanders@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hm, btw, where was again that list with all incoming donations?
>>
>> Lodewijk
>>
>>
>
> There are many statistics pages, see the "Contributions/Fundraiser"
> section on <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:SpecialPages>.
>

This is somewhat of a tangent, but from there I find
Special:ContributionStatistics, which seems to have some wonky stats in
its Currency Totals table. It says that the largest donation in any
currency was 5,000 USD, donated in USD. But the Monthly Totals table
shows lots over that, up to $262,000. The Currency Totals table also
shows a $740.64 average USD contribution, but if you divide its total by
its number of contributions, you get a more plausible $48.57 instead.

-Mark


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