Dear all,
Julia Brungs this week kindly posted the wording of the emails for the impending email campaign in India on Meta.[1] I've typed out (copy/paste from the pdfs is blocked; could this be changed in future?) the wording of these emails on the Fundraising talk page, for people's reference.[2]
Two comments.
First, I note that the emails contain a number of phrases that were deprecated and discontinued on the fundraising banners years ago, following significant community criticism.[3]
For example, people are told that –
* the purpose of donations is "to keep Wikipedia online for yourself and millions of people around the world", * the WMF "choose not to charge a subscription fee" (doing so would break the commitment in the WMF mission statement), and * the Foundation needs money "to ensure that Wikipedia remains independent, ad-free, and growing for years to come", "to keep Wikipedia free and independent", and to "keep Wikipedia online, ad-free, and growing for years to come."
Secondly, the first email[4] tells donors at the top of page 2 that "32% of your gift will be used to support the volunteers who share their knowledge with you for free every day."
I wonder what exactly is meant by that? For reference, total revenue last year (excluding gifts to the Endowment) was $163 million (vs. expenses of $107 million, not counting the WMF's grant to its own Endowment).[5]
What does this year look like? After the first two quarters of the present 2021/2022 financial year, the Foundation was already more than $10 million up on last year.[6] Based on this data, the WMF is on course for at least $175 million in revenue this year.
32% of $175 million would be $56 million "used to support the volunteers". The total "thriving movement" budget this year, which I understand includes chapter funding (for hundreds of paid staff, not volunteers), is $36.7M (up from $14.3M in FY20-21),[7] so I am mystified by that claim.
An explanation here or on Meta would be very welcome.
Kind regards, Andreas
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fundraising&diff=23302086&a...
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising#Indian_email_texts [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-03-18/Op-ed and https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/12/02/wikipedia-ha... [4] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1psLXZRHYskalmf15lVUil_bqwMMktiG2/view [5] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWikimedia_Foundati... [6] https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikimedia_Foundation_2n... vs. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWikimedia_Foundation_...
[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/A...