Hi
I started writing some common thoughts on WMF fundraising, particularly the whole notion of advertising. I've always thought of evaluating WMF as just another advertiser that uses banners. I started this essay on Meta[1].
We certainly claim to be free from advertisement. How about we consider for a moment that WMF is our biggest client - utilizing banners on every project in any country, at any time, for as long as it wants - hypotheticals mostly ;). What standards would we hold ourselves up to? The truth, verifiability and neutrality of Wikipedia, or standards spurious enough to be brought in front of a judge for false and misleading advertisement.
Sponsors and advertisers, even agencies, do hold themselves up to certain standards in terms of their messaging. There are boundaries and legalities that ad campaigns tend to blur but they are open to be challenged in a court. What about those standards for our banners - Do we lie, mislead, do we make emotionally manipulative asks and form narratives that are really not connected with what we do. From establishing urgency through "urgent appeal from our founder", to stating that the funds are "needed" to keep wikipedia online, to all those fuzzy, warm donor stories from India and the developing world. In fact, there is a trend to use narratives from the east and developing countries, to make a personal ask accompanying pictures - making it all emotionally impactful. (If you look at fundraising by region - India, South Africa, make up around 5-10% of the revenues. So basically, it is about selling emotional narratives from developing countries to more affluent countries.)
How about we compare ourselves to the leaders of banner based ads. The spammers of the world, those peddling porn, viagra and gambling sites would be the king of banner clickthroughs, no? The biggest experts at banner design, placement and messaging. Would their teams be solely focused on data and making incremental changes to maximize their revenue - does the underlying message/product matter to them? does it matter to us? I wonder if they A/B test everything too.
Anyway, some thoughts to ponder over the weekend for me. I say all that without focusing on anyone and realizing well, that there have been a lot of changes in leadership during this time. But I see the fundraising campaign itself, as if it is on a rail track headed one-way faster and faster - to what end I wonder.
Regards Theo