Not bad. I don't think all of it is good, but generally not bad. (I'd especially question some of the esoteric stuff in phase one, which gives no indication that this is a fundraiser, and simply assaults the visitor with platitudes in large font. I would suggest that the marketing instinct to build mind-share around slogans and the like is actually counter-productive during a fundraiser for a project that is already a household name.)

Altogether I think the organized state of things seems like movement in the right direction. I'll be especially pleased if people monitor the reactions in near real time and are prepared to pull or change messages that perform poorly after a few days because there certainly will be some poor performers if my instincts are right.

It is easy to forget that most potential donors don't really understand Wikipedia despite using it regularly, so it is good to remind them of the mission and our volunteer nature. Some of the messages do that, which is good.

I would also hope we remember the biggest lesson of 2008. The personal appeal, http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Letter/en , worked REALLY, REALLY well. Like a similar effort in 2005, and contrary to some conventional wisdom, a somewhat longer form appeal can be really effective at telling Wikimedia's story and connecting with potential donors. The two most successful fundraising campaigns in Wikimedia's history (in a dollars raised per visitor sense) both used that general format, and I hope we aim to replicate that again this year.

-Robert Rohde

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 9:22 AM, Cary Bass cary@wikimedia.org wrote:

Trying one more time.  Seems to have disconnected from my previous message.

-------- Original Message -------- Subject:        Annual Fundraiser starts November 10th, UTC Date:   Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:42:00 -0800 From:   Rand Montoya rmontoya@wikimedia.org To:     foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org

Wikimedians--

As some of you know, the 2009 Annual Fundraiser has a projected start date of November 10th, 2009 UTC.   You can find a general time line here (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Timeline).

This fundraiser has messaging and tone that is part of an overarching public relations plan that was approved by the Board and WMF management, and was developed with a reputable non-profit/cause-focused marketing and PR firm, Fenton Communications. You can read more about the partnership with Fenton here: http://www.fenton.com/intelligence-report/2009/08/wikimedia-selects-fenton-f....

You can see some of the designs for this year's fundraiser at the following:

http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Donate http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Donate-Chapter/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Donate/Thankyou/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Donate/Support/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Donate/WaysToGive/en

Banners and Site Notices (a sampling):

http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice1/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice2/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice3/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice11/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice12/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice22/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice23/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice27/en http://dev.donate.wikimedia.org/index.php/2009/Notice28/en

And see parts of the messaging and phases through the translation process:  http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/core_messages/en

There is currently lots of valuable feedback at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_2009/Website_Design from the community.   I appreciate that feedback and encourage more.    I will be monitoring feedback there and on this list.

It's worth keeping in mind that there is no single message for this campaign.  As you can see we're going to test a number of new messages that, backed with some valuable research by the contractor we're working with, we feel will engage a new audience of donors to the Wikimedia cause.

We are currently working several ambitious technical upgrades to this year's campaign:  GEO IP localization for chapter messaging, local processing of credit cards, and project specific integration of the donation pages.    Like all other fundraisers, we appreciate your patience as we work to bring these pieces together.

I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

-Rand

-- Rand Montoya Head of Community Giving Wikimedia Foundation www.wikimedia.org Email: rand@wikimedia.org Phone: 415.839.6885 x615 Fax: 415.882.0495 Cell: 510.685.7030

“At some future time, I hope to have something witty, intelligent, or funny in this space.”

-- Cary Bass Volunteer Coordinator, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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