On 12 Jan 2015, at 11:25 pm, Liam Wyatt liamwyatt@gmail.com wrote: Now that the 2014 Fundraising campaign has finished and which, according
to
a WMF blogpost from a week ago, "surpassed our goal of $20 million"
According to the data provided at https://frdata.wikimedia.org/ the Foundation seems to have taken $30.6 million over the period from December 2 2014 to December 31 2014.
This is $10.6 million more than the $20 million fundraising goal indicated in the blog post. (At any rate, that's the sum I get; I'd welcome anyone double-checking my math.)
(receiving donations from 2.5 million people in 4 weeks) [1], I hope that
the fundraising team has had the time to get some well-earned rest and relaxation over the new-year period.
But there were also more fundamental/theoretical questions, including:
- what degree of 'urgency' is morally acceptable in a donation request,
especially when the financial situation of the WMF has never been healthier/stable? (e.g. threatening phrases like "keep us online and ad-free for another year")
This is my main concern too.
- Is the practice of "finishing the fundraiser period as fast as possible
by any means" the correct interpretation of the the official fundraising principle of "minimal disruption"?
As for the fundraiser's duration, I believe the 2014 fundraiser ran for 30 days (December 2 to December 31, 2014). This is longer than last year, and at any rate much longer than 2012, right?
Because according to https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2013 –
"In 2012, we were able to shorten the fundraiser down to nine full days, the shortest fundraiser we've had."
Andreas
- Is the official fundraising principle of "maximal participation" being
adhered to? That principle calls for "empowering individuals to constructively contribute to direct messaging, public outreach..." Does
the
WMF Board believe this has happened?
- Is the current "we don't like asking for money so just give it to us
and
we'll stop annoying you" approach to fundraising (implied by the final phrase in the final 2014 campaign email "Please help us forget
fundraising and
get back to improving Wikipedia.") potentially damaging to the Wikimedia brand value, even if it does raise the money in the short term? Lila said that there has been "sentiment analysis" done about this, what was the result?
-Liam
[1] http://blog.wikimedia .org/2015/01/05/thank-you-for-keeping-knowledge-free-and-accessible/ [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_principles