Hi folks,

As announced at Wikimania, the Foundation plans to launch our 2007 fundraiser this fall. Currently we’re targeting September 23 to November 22, although those dates may change.

Our goal is to paint a compelling and accessible picture of the work we do, and why it’s important. In doing that, we hope to persuade new people to support us – those who don’t know much about us, but would be sympathetic if they did.

Here are some areas where we anticipate needing your help:

- We need people to help collect compelling human stories that show why the projects matter. We know we’re making a major impact on real people’s lives, and we want to collect together some of those stories, and make sure they get told. If you can help with this, please contact Cary Bass at cbass@wikimedia.org, or put your stories here http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communication_Projects_Group/Success_stories_.... Please note though we’re not necessarily looking for stories about how the projects have changed *your* life; we want stories that demonstrate all kinds of impact –e.g., on schools, language groups, countries, communities of interest, etc.–, not just impact on individual people.

- We will need translation help. That will happen through the translation committee – http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Translations.

- We will need lots of help designing and implementing the message. That will happen through the WMF Communications Committee (AKA ComCom).

- And we will need lots of people to help us plan and carry out the plans as they're developed. If you can help us with that, please let Cary know.

Please feel free to distribute this note to anyone who should see it.

Thanks, Sue