Hey folks -
This is a very quick note, officially updating everyone on the progress of the fundraiser. Many of you will already know this, but I wanted to make it official :-)
Currently, you will see that the sitenotice thermometer says we've reached 6.1 million dollars, which means we have exceeded our original goal of six million dollars! This is fantastic, and I'm really happy.
To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from Sloan, which will arrive this month.) Since its launch, the fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars. This means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.
Last year, by contrast, the fundraiser brought in a total of 1.6 million dollars.
For the Wikimedia Foundation to more than double donations during a time of major global financial crisis is an amazing accomplishment - and is testimony to the dedication and strength of our supporters. They believe in what we're doing and understand why it's important: I'm grateful to each and every one of them.
And I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this year's fundraiser. There are too many people to name individually, and even that makes me happy - I love the fact that so many staff members and volunteers came together to work to make the fundraiser such a success.
Tomorrow, the current sitenotices will be replaced with a thank you banner, which will stay up for an as-yet-undetermined period – probably a week or thereabouts. We will continue to solicit and accept donations during that period (we always accept donations!), but the messaging will be primarily about thanking people :-)
Thanks, and happy new year! Sue
2009/1/1 Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org:
To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from Sloan, which will arrive this month.) Since its launch, the fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars. This means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.
Isn't there still another $1.9m needed to meet this year's planned budget?
(This means: Keep going! Full steam ahead! All the way to January 10th!)
- d.
2009/1/1 David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com
2009/1/1 Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org:
To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from Sloan, which will arrive this month.) Since its launch, the fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars. This means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.
Isn't there still another $1.9m needed to meet this year's planned budget?
(This means: Keep going! Full steam ahead! All the way to January 10th!)
- d.
I thought it was supposed to end Jan 15th, to coincide with Wikipedia Day. Or is my memory wrong?
A thank you banner will be nice (I've already seen it, so I know ;-) ), and be a nice touch. (Also, is this the first time the fundraiser has reached its goal? AFAIR http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/AFAIR, it didn't last year (or the year before that?), so this is an improvement.)
On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 4:01 PM, Jon Harald Søby jhsoby@gmail.com wrote:
I thought it was supposed to end Jan 15th, to coincide with Wikipedia Day. Or is my memory wrong?
A thank you banner will be nice (I've already seen it, so I know ;-) ), and be a nice touch. (Also, is this the first time the fundraiser has reached its goal? AFAIR http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/AFAIR, it didn't last year (or the year before that?), so this is an improvement.)
We did meet a 2005 goal. But frankly, the declared "goals" during fundraisers have been historically inflated in silly ways. For example, using total income targets for an entire fiscal year rather than drive specific community donor targets.
-Robert Rohde
On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 3:53 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
2009/1/1 Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org:
To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from Sloan, which will arrive this month.) Since its launch, the fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars. This means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.
Isn't there still another $1.9m needed to meet this year's planned budget?
(This means: Keep going! Full steam ahead! All the way to January 10th!)
The total expense budget for 08-09 is only $6M, so we are already fully funded for fiscal 08-09. And that's not counting donor and non-donor income still expected during the rest of fiscal 08-09.
We are going to exceed the revenue targets by a significant margin. Moving to a thank you stance is an appropriate change.
-Robert Rohde
Lol, global recession and people give MORE to charity? It's a funny old world. That said, despite this general trend we definitely upgraded the sex appeal of the banner for this year's run...
CM
Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 13:49:08 -0800 From: sgardner@wikimedia.org To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Foundation-l] Good news! Fundraiser officially passes 6m mark!
Hey folks -
This is a very quick note, officially updating everyone on the progress of the fundraiser. Many of you will already know this, but I wanted to make it official :-)
Currently, you will see that the sitenotice thermometer says we've reached 6.1 million dollars, which means we have exceeded our original goal of six million dollars! This is fantastic, and I'm really happy.
To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from Sloan, which will arrive this month.) Since its launch, the fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars. This means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.
Last year, by contrast, the fundraiser brought in a total of 1.6 million dollars.
For the Wikimedia Foundation to more than double donations during a time of major global financial crisis is an amazing accomplishment - and is testimony to the dedication and strength of our supporters. They believe in what we're doing and understand why it's important: I'm grateful to each and every one of them.
And I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this year's fundraiser. There are too many people to name individually, and even that makes me happy - I love the fact that so many staff members and volunteers came together to work to make the fundraiser such a success.
Tomorrow, the current sitenotices will be replaced with a thank you banner, which will stay up for an as-yet-undetermined period – probably a week or thereabouts. We will continue to solicit and accept donations during that period (we always accept donations!), but the messaging will be primarily about thanking people :-)
Thanks, and happy new year! Sue
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On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 12:12 AM, Christiano Moreschi moreschiwikiman@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
Lol, global recession and people give MORE to charity? It's a funny old world. That said, despite this general trend we definitely upgraded the sex appeal of the banner for this year's run...
Actually, no. 2008 was the first year with ED working for the whole year. If I remember well, Sue was working just two-three months during 2007. The first recession year for WMF will be 2009, but I think that there are a lot of space for improving fundraising.
I remember an anecdotal situation from 2006 or so: WM DE gave some money to WMF and WMF didn't know what to do with that. I don't think that it would be the case now.
So, the whole situation is much less about the recession and much more about us. (Yes, not just about WMF, but about all of us.)
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org