Hello again,

The 24-hour test came down earlier today. Overall, the test went really well and helped us prepare even better for the full launch.

We raised nearly $2 million USD from more than 130,000 donors. (FYI, our best day last year was $1.2 million.)

We plan to run short tests next week and then launch 100% on Monday, November 26.

Two main goals this year (other than raising the budget), are to shorten the length of the fundraiser and to educate our readers about Wikipedia. These new banners with the facts will help us reach these goals. The personal appeal banners from previous years are not working as well anymore, and the facts banners are bringing in a lot more donations. We're still testing new variations, so you'll be seeing different versions over the next weeks.

Thank you to everyone who helped us identify improvements to make on translations, form elements, and the overall user experience in different countries. We got a lot of good feedback yesterday on improvements to make over the next week before launching 100%. Please keep sending in suggestions or fixes if you spot something in the short tests next week: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_2012

And now for my favorite part, check out some comments from our donors who want to thank you:

** Um, thanks for everything? Whenever I've needed to know anything for work, school, or a sudden interest in the French Revolution at 2am, BOOM, Wikipedia, knowledge gained. I'm probably 17 IQ points smarter because of Wiki at my fingertips. You're "le best," as the French revolutionaries would say.* ** There is nothing more important than the freedom of knowledge.* ** this site helps my creativity* ** about 80% of my knowledgebase is thanks to you guys. Without your work I'd be dumb as a post. :) -Anonymous genetic engineer* ** ** Thank you for being 50% responsible for my college learning experience.* *You guys are bringing such a huge gift to society. I know you guys probably work like dogs to cite everything, but it is all worth it! Be proud of what you do and how you give the greatest gift anyone could have : knowledge* **A haiku for you: Wikipedia, what a team you are, stay fly Wikipedia.* ** I trust Wikipedia. I assume your volunteer editors are competent, learned, well-educated, and strongly devoted to their work. I salute them.* ** I love Wiki! Need it in my life!* ** BRAVO!!!* ** my creativity has been able to flourish due to the information available and references by wiki. thank you* ** To the Wikipedia editors and contributors: I want to thank you for your hard work and dedication to providing reliable, clearly organized, and well written information on a wide variety of topics. You make a world of information available to anyone with computer internet access. You are greatly appreciated (especially by students like me). Keep up the good work and high standards for information and references.* ** I don't know if this message will reach anybody but: I have immense respect for what you do. The temptation to monetize on what is clearly a multibillion dollar product must be immense. The fact that Wikipedia recognizes its value to society and chooses to provide such a wonderful service to everyone, solely because the organization believes that it is the right thing to do, is inspiring. I tip my hat to the founders and all of its employees. (yes, this guy got a response from us:) * ** You wikiplete me.* *I have used Wikipedia every day for the past... Decade, perhaps. It has helped infinitely in making me a successful person, and not just in business. I will always be grateful for this wonderful resource, and for the people behind it.*

* And here's donor feedback on the banners: *

**You did it the right way, I think most people realize what a treasure trove of information Wikipedia has and your message was simple and honest, no tug-at-the-heartstrings kind of stuff. Appeals to smart people.* ** "This big, plain blue banner really caught my eye, and its message was simple yet powerful. So I gave my 5$."* **I liked the non-intrusive but catchy banner and the quick payment option.* **Really like the philosophy, the information and the layout.* ** The banner I clicked on felt simple and honest, and it reminded me that Wikipedia is a global resource which needs funding to pay for its resource usage* ** when put very straight-forwardly, honestly, and especially factually, I felt a bigger obligation to donate* ** "I've seen requests for donations before,but never as grabbing as this one. The blue and white, the boldness, made me pay attention."* ** i clicked b/c for once the fund-drive banner was green instead of dismal gray. * ** " Being blue they aren't too invasive. They also made me chill a little and think about how great Wiki is."*

Thank you & have a great weekend!

Megan

On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 8:07 AM, Megan Hernandez mhernandez@wikimedia.orgwrote:

Hi all,

We're running a 24-hour fundraising test today, Thursday, Nov. 15. We're using today to test out our tech systems with 100% of our traffic, as well as to refine our estimate on the money we'll raise. The results of this full-day test will determine when and how we run the full fundraising campaign. A big goal for the fundraising team is to reduce the total number of fundraising days this year. We'll learn more about how much we can reduce the fundraiser with the results of this 1-day test.

We're planning to take the banners down after 24 hours running, and then to bring them back up after a few days.

We will adjust that launch date, depending on how the 24 hour test goes. We'll update you as we get more information.

A couple notes about the banners that are running today:

• The banners look different from previous years. We are putting key

facts from the fundraising appeal directly into the banner to educate all our readers about who we are and how we work. This could maybe make it possible to run much smaller banners next year.

• We're testing a variety of messages, donation forms, banner colors and

styles throughout the day.

• Banners will run worldwide from Thursday 17:00 UTC to Friday 17:00 UTC.
• We're only running to anonymous users today.

We're collecting feedback and comments on the Fundraiser 2012 meta discussion page: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_2012 If you spot an error or something we can improve for the donor experience, please leave us a note there.

We'll be sending around more information as we learn more over the next days and weeks.

Thanks,

Megan

--

Megan Hernandez

Head of Annual Fundraiser Wikimedia Foundation