Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at Dillon Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but besides that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major donors and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R.
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that the Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association, apart from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a chapter? Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any evidence that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at Dillon Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but besides that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major donors and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
To quickly respond such that people are not terribly confused -- our major gifts team is hosting a fundraising event at the Dillon Gallery in NY sometime in the future. I don't have any further details myself (not my area of what we do); but I'll direct the attention of that team to this thread/question.
~Matt Walker Wikimedia Foundation Fundraising Technology Team
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Dan Collins en.wp.st47@gmail.com wrote:
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that the Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association, apart from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a chapter? Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any evidence that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at
Dillon
Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but besides that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major
donors
and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list 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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Hi Renata St and Dan-
I just wanted to assure you that there is no change in fundraising strategy. WMF raises that great majority of its funds from online donations, with most of them being under USD $30.
We also raise approximately $6 million from foundations and major donors. The guidance for this comes from the Revenue Plan that was developed in the five year strategic plan (page 17):
“In addition to seeking increased support from community donations, Wikimedia will continue to raise limited but critical funds from foundations, major donors, and licensing and other business partnerships.”
Yes, the event at the Dillion Gallery is our. That said, we focus the lion’s share of our work on the online donation model.
Thank you,
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Dan Collins en.wp.st47@gmail.com wrote:
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that the Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association, apart from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a chapter? Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any evidence that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at
Dillon
Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but besides that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major
donors
and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list 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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Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the reply, I never doubted it's WM event -- it just majorly surprised me and I still have a bunch of questions:
1) is this the first fundraising event? I have never heard of them before... 2) what's going to happen at that event and why should I go? Invitation had not a peep about that... 3) why there is nothing about it anywhere? 4) when did this policy change come about? I know Sue was quite adamantly against it...
Thanks! Renata
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Lisa Gruwell lgruwell@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Hi Renata St and Dan-
I just wanted to assure you that there is no change in fundraising strategy. WMF raises that great majority of its funds from online donations, with most of them being under USD $30.
We also raise approximately $6 million from foundations and major donors. The guidance for this comes from the Revenue Plan that was developed in the five year strategic plan (page 17):
“In addition to seeking increased support from community donations, Wikimedia will continue to raise limited but critical funds from foundations, major donors, and licensing and other business partnerships.”
Yes, the event at the Dillion Gallery is our. That said, we focus the lion’s share of our work on the online donation model.
Thank you,
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Dan Collins en.wp.st47@gmail.com wrote:
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that the Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association, apart from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a
chapter?
Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any
evidence
that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at
Dillon
Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but
besides
that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails &
Hors
d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major
donors
and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list 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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2013/8/30 Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com:
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the reply, I never doubted it's WM event -- it just majorly surprised me and I still have a bunch of questions:
- is this the first fundraising event? I have never heard of them before...
FWIW, here is a Signpost article about a previous fundraising event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-10-18/News_a...
- what's going to happen at that event and why should I go? Invitation had
not a peep about that... 3) why there is nothing about it anywhere? 4) when did this policy change come about? I know Sue was quite adamantly against it...
Thanks! Renata
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Lisa Gruwell lgruwell@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Hi Renata St and Dan-
I just wanted to assure you that there is no change in fundraising strategy. WMF raises that great majority of its funds from online donations, with most of them being under USD $30.
We also raise approximately $6 million from foundations and major donors. The guidance for this comes from the Revenue Plan that was developed in the five year strategic plan (page 17):
“In addition to seeking increased support from community donations, Wikimedia will continue to raise limited but critical funds from foundations, major donors, and licensing and other business partnerships.”
Yes, the event at the Dillion Gallery is our. That said, we focus the lion’s share of our work on the online donation model.
Thank you,
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Dan Collins en.wp.st47@gmail.com wrote:
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that the Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association, apart from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a
chapter?
Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any
evidence
that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at
Dillon
Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left me confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not that I looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but
besides
that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails &
Hors
d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major
donors
and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list 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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As far as I know, WMF has done one or two small fundraising events most years. It is a minor part of overall fundraising strategy. We have some donors who like to give at social events, instead of online, and these events are for largely initiated and organized by them. They have all been held at fairly small (usually donated) venues. I don't see this as a change in policy. The revenue plan calls for us to have online fundraising as our primary strategy and major donors (who typically give through events), foundations, etc. as a secondary revenue stream. The fundraising team's work is in line with that direction.
On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 11:19 AM, HaeB haebwiki@gmail.com wrote:
2013/8/30 Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com:
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the reply, I never doubted it's WM event -- it just majorly surprised me and I still have a bunch of questions:
- is this the first fundraising event? I have never heard of them
before...
FWIW, here is a Signpost article about a previous fundraising event:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-10-18/News_a...
- what's going to happen at that event and why should I go? Invitation
had
not a peep about that... 3) why there is nothing about it anywhere? 4) when did this policy change come about? I know Sue was quite adamantly against it...
Thanks! Renata
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Lisa Gruwell <lgruwell@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi Renata St and Dan-
I just wanted to assure you that there is no change in fundraising strategy. WMF raises that great majority of its funds from online donations, with most of them being under USD $30.
We also raise approximately $6 million from foundations and major
donors.
The guidance for this comes from the Revenue Plan that was developed in
the
five year strategic plan (page 17):
“In addition to seeking increased support from community donations, Wikimedia will continue to raise limited but critical funds from foundations, major donors, and licensing and other business
partnerships.”
Yes, the event at the Dillion Gallery is our. That said, we focus the lion’s share of our work on the online donation model.
Thank you,
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Dan Collins en.wp.st47@gmail.com
wrote:
What are you talking about? A quick Google reveals no evidence that
the
Wikimedia Foundation and the Dillon Gallery have any association,
apart
from we have a wiki page on them. Who is the mail from - WMF or a
chapter?
Do you often receive snail mail from them? If not, do you have any
evidence
that you haven't fallen victim to an elaborate scam? What is an "invitation(?)" and how does it differ from an invitation?
To borrow your TL;DR, In short: huh???
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:09 PM, Renata St renatawiki@gmail.com
wrote:
Hi, so I got this snail mail with an invitation(?) to an event(?) at
Dillon
Gallery on Oct 1 for a suggested(?) donation of $500... and it left
me
confused more than anything else.
What's the event about? I can't find anything anywhere else (not
that I
looked very hard). I understand it's a fundraising function, but
besides
that? If I go there, what am I going to get (other than Cocktails &
Hors
d'oeuvres)?
What if I don't do the suggested donation?
On a whole different level, since when does Wikimedia do fundraising events? I thought it was a policy to abandon attempts to gain major
donors
and to focus on the $10 donations? When did that change?
In short: huh???
R. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
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?subject=unsubscribe>
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