I support the idea that "translation" also needs to happen between cultures within the same language. I made the example of the Italian because it is my own, but of course there are other English-speaking cultures other the American one, and they would deserve the same attention. Of course it is difficult, and of course it would be a burden for the Fundraising team to have different messages for different nations [1], but I think it's worth a real effort. The Wikimedia movement is multicultural and multilanguage. We need to keep it that way, also in delicate but fundamental aspects as the fundraising. As the WMF feels entitled to fundraise for the whole movement, she would feel the responsibility of speaking the movement language (meaning, all of them :-D).
I really don't want to give the impression of *trashing* everything the WMF does: I already said it, but I 'll repeat here that the Edit 2014 video is passionate, clear, moving, inspiring and *honest*. I made me feel proud of being part of the movement, and I think it is a great result for a 2 minutes video :-) [2]
Aubrey
[1] I'm still assuming a centralised, WMF-driven fundraising, please don't we start with chapters fundraising in this very moment, although it could be part of the solution).
[2] On a totally unrelated matter, I thought the same for the other Victor's video about the kids from South Africa. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j-ktiYTTds) He also set a crowdfunding for actually buying the laptops ( http://www.gofundme.com/74kx3g). It's maybe me, but I don't really understand why we don't use the sitenotice to spread these messages.
On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 1:43 PM, Peter Southwood < peter.southwood@telkomsa.net> wrote:
Not even slightly, even though I speak English. Cheers, Peter
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Chris Keating Sent: 19 December 2014 02:41 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
Are you American? On 19 Dec 2014 12:35, "Peter Southwood" peter.southwood@telkomsa.net wrote:
I can only assume this is intended as some form of humour, but I don’t get it. Cheers, Peter
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of David Gerard Sent: 19 December 2014 02:25 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
Everyone who speaks English is American, particularly the English.
On 19 December 2014 at 12:21, Peter Southwood < peter.southwood@telkomsa.net> wrote:
Are you by any chance American? Cheers, peter
-----Original Message----- From: wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Chris Keating Sent: 19 December 2014 01:47 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
I have to say, I don't see anything remotely objectionable in that
email.
Bold italicised text on a yellow background might not win any design awards but effective fundraising often doesn't win design awards.*
I am not 100% sure how much donors care how soon our fundraiser ends
(these days at least, a few years ago they did get fed up with the perpetual Jimmy banners). However talking about that does give a sense of urgency to the copy, which again is a key part of fundraising that actually raises money.
It is of course a reasonable point of view that the WMF and Wikimedia
movement have too much money and shouldn't really try to raise any more. If you hold that view then I suppose it's reasonable to ask the fundraising team to make their emails more inept. However, I don't think that is a sensible view to take at the moment (or, probably, ever).
Chris
*(Actually, the only fundraising industry award I've ever been involved in winning were for things that looked very nice, but that doesn't disprove the general principle)
On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 11:08 PM, Liam Wyatt liamwyatt@gmail.com
wrote:
This email was sent by WMF fundraising today. I'm embarrassed. Read the email first, then I'll tell you why, below.
*Da:* "Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia" donate@wikimedia.org *Data:* 17 December 2014 10:15:56 pm GMT+1 *A: [email address removed]* *Oggetto:* *Our final email* *Rispondi a:* donate@wikimedia.org
*If all our past donors simply gave again today, we wouldn't have to worry about fundraising for the rest of the year.*
Dear [name removed],
This is the last email reminder you'll receive. We hope the response to today's email will let us end the fundraiser. Please take one minute to keep Wikipedia online and ad-free another year < http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r =N z U3Mzc1MDY0NjcS1&b=0&j=NTgzMzA0NDgwS0&mt=1&rt=0
.
To protect our independence, we'll never run ads. We receive no government funds. We survive on donations from our readers. If all our past donors simply gave again today, we could end the fundraiser. Please help us forget fundraising and get back to improving Wikipedia.
We are deeply grateful for your past support. This year, please consider making another donation to protect and sustain Wikipedia < http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r =N z U3Mzc1MDY0NjcS1&b=0&j=NTgzMzA0NDgwS0&mt=1&rt=0
.
https://donate.wikimedia.org < http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r =N z U3Mzc1MDY0NjcS1&b=0&j=NTgzMzA0NDgwS0&mt=1&rt=0
Thank you, Jimmy Wales Wikipedia Founder
PS: Less than 1% of our readers donate enough to keep Wikipedia
running.
Your contribution counts! *DONATE NOW »* < http://links.email.donate.wikimedia.org/ctt?kn=3&ms=NDc2NDYzOTUS1&r =N z U3Mzc1MDY0NjcS1&b=0&j=NTgzMzA0NDgwS0&mt=1&rt=0
"our final email"? This is the last email reminder you'll receive"? Surely that should be qualified with "... this year."?? If that weren't embarrassing, what about...
- Using *bold* AND *italics *AND yellow backgroud colouring all
at
the
same time in the heading.
- Sending an email on the 18th of December saying that if "ALL past
donors simply gave AGAIN today" [my emphasis] then you wouldn't need to do any more fundraising "for the rest of the year", i.e. for 2 weeks!!
- On the one had it says "we'll never run ads" but in the sentence
immediately beforehand pleads help to us stay "ad-free another
year".
- Does the phrase "Less than 1% of our readers donate enough to
keep
Wikipedia running" mean a) that less than 1% of readers donate,
which is
enough to keep us running, or b) that less than 1% of readers who
have
donated, donated enough to keep us running (implying that the other 99% of donors didn't donate enough)?
- Finally, this email is addressed from Jimmy, but when you
receive a
"thank you for donating" email, it's addressed from Lila. [I should
note
that the thank you for donating email IS very positive and mission-oriented].
*Effectiveness != Efficiency* One of the official WMF Fundraising principles https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_principles is "*minimal disruption*...aim to raise money from donors *effectively*" [emphasis is original]. I believe that this wording has been interpreted by the fundraising team to mean *"*do the fundraising as quickly as possible". However, I contest that "less disruption" and "more effective" is not the same as "shorter fundraiser". i.e.: Effectiveness !=
Efficiency.
I am sure that these desperate fundraising emails/banners are *efficient *at getting the most amount of money as fast as possible (they have been honed with excellent A/B testing), but, they achieve this by sacrificing the core WMF fundraising principle of being *minimally disruptive. *In fact, they actually appear to be following a principle of being "as *maximally *disruptive as they can get away with, for as short a time as required".
Can the WMF to say how "minimal disruption" and "effective fundraising" is defined in practice, and how they are measured?
*Shareable vs Desperate* On the same day that the WMF communications team release this inspiring and positive "year in review" video < https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/12/17/wikipedias-first-ever-annual- vi d eo-reflects-contributions-from-people-around-the-world/
,
this fundraising email sounds negative and desperate. It is all about not advertising and staying online for another year.
Couldn't the "year in review" video have been used in the fundraising email to tell a positive story about all we have achieved
this year?
That's the kind of thing Wikimedians will want to share and feel proud about, not something that almost bullies you to donate out of a sense of moral-obligation.
*Fundraising "operating principles"* I would like to reiterate my call to see us develop some practical "operating principles" for fundraising that would give some real-world guidelines for website-banners and emails. Board of Trustees member Phoebe has done an excellent job of summarising the fundraising conversations on this list from the last few weeks here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_principles I would like the Board to ask the Fundraising team (once this fundraiser is finished) to develop these operating principles in a collaborative process with interested community members. This is in the hope that in the future, the community can help spread the word and feel empowered to join the fundraising campaign for our movement, rather than simply hoping it will go away as quickly as possible.
After all, the final official WMF fundraising principle is: "Maximal participation: Consistent with the principles of empowerment underlying Wikimedia’s success, we should empower individuals and groups world-wide to constructively contribute to direct messaging, public outreach, and other activities that drive the success of Wikimedia’s fundraising efforts"
-Liam p.s. by the way, has anyone from the WMF talked the Russian community yet about why they aren't allowed to donate? _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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