Dear all, just a brief update from Wikimedia Deutschland on our current fundraising campaign. It's been running since November 13, involving variations of facts banners in combination with personal appeals. We're on track to reaching our campaign goal of around € 5 m. by the end of this year. The personal appeals appear as drop-down messages along our donation form, once readers click on the sticking facts banners.The appeals include messages from Wikipedians, donors, readers and WMDE staff. In short, we're combining facts with changing elements. As in past years, a personal message by Jimmy is one of the personal appeals. Unlike past years, various other appeals are performing well enough for us to be able to significantly reduce Jimmy's presence, favoring a more diverserepresentation of the people behind Wikipedia. Note, however, that these observations are to be evaluated in the context of thefacts bannersattracting attention first. More detailed information will follow as soon as reliable figures are available. One more thing: We created a short video clip as a further means todiversifying our campaign approach. It's a 2 min. piece that we produced with a small team while the campaign got off the ground in late November. It features Wikipedia readers who talk about their favorite Wikipedia word, capped off by our CEO Pavel Richter. In essence, he points to the fact that we've come to take Wikipedia for granted and why we all should support it. We've been using the video since last Wednesday, interchangeably with text appeals. Again, no in-depth evaluation (not while the campaign is in full swing), but the video seems to be at a performance level with the most effective of our personal appeals. Find the video here. It's in German, though! https://vimeo.com/55612721 Facts and figures to follow. Regards, Michael -- Michael Jahn Public Relations Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Obentrautstraße 72 | 10963 Berlin Tel. (030) 219 158 260 http://wikimedia.de <http://www.wikimedia.de> Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch freien Zugang zu der Gesamtheit des Wissens der Menschheit hat. Helfen Sie uns dabei! *Helfen Sie mit, dass WIKIPEDIA von der UNESCO als erstes digitales Weltkulturerbe anerkannt wird. Unterzeichnen Sie die Online-Petition:* http://wikipedia.de/wke/Main_Page?setlang=de Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.

Thank you for this update. You seem to be taking a significantly more aggressive (for want of a better word) approach than the foundation. You are running for much longer and it sounds like you are making much more use of the sticky banners that people have found so annoying. Can you explain your reasons for that?