Mid-December Fundraiser Update - Wikimedia-l

16 Dec 2015

Hi everyone,

The fundraising team is wrapping up the second week of the December
campaign and we’d like to share an update with you--where we are, what
we’ve changed, and what you can do to get involved.

WHERE WE ARE:

We’ve passed the halfway mark to the $25 million campaign goal.  So far,
we’ve raised roughly $18 million (a preliminary total that is quickly
changing and has not been reconciled with official totals from the finance
department).   Banners are running on desktop and mobile devices. We are
also sending emails to past donors asking if they would give again this
year.  We’re monitoring the trends daily and look forward to sharing a
post-campaign analysis with you.   We will post an update on when we will
be able to end the campaign when we have a clearer picture.

WHAT WE’VE CHANGED:

Over the past several months, staff members and volunteers have provided
both critical and generative feedback and new fundraising banner ideas.
Their help has been very valuable. Many of these new messages have been
tried in pre-campaign tests and in the last two weeks. Thank you to
everyone who has shared their time and ideas!  A few message highlights:

   -

   We are no longer using the line "keep Wikipedia online and ad-free." It
   has been changed to “keep our work going another year.”
   -

   New text in the current banner: “We believe that knowledge is a
   foundation. It is a foundation for human potential, for freedom, for
   opportunity. We believe everyone should have access to knowledge—for free,
   without restriction, without limitation.”
   -

   "We survive on donations" has been changed to "We're sustained by
   donations"
   -

   "Please help us end the fundraiser and get back to improving Wikipedia"
   has been changed to "Please help us end the fundraiser and improve
   Wikipedia."
   -

   We have removed the persistent reminder from large banners. The reminder
   is still included in the small banners, which is consistent with the same
   style banners from the 2013 and 2014 campaigns.
   -

   The coffee cup image has been removed from banners

We have also run some initial tests with new messaging that show
encouraging results. We're still working on more messages and sorting out
how we'll incorporate new ideas into the overall banner, but here are some
sentences we’re testing:

   -

   “Wikipedia has become nothing short of a global public library.”
   -

   “We don’t run ads. We respect your privacy. We don’t sell your data.”
   -

   “Wikipedia exists to verify, protect, and share the combined knowledge
   of humanity.”
   -

   "There is nothing else on the internet like Wikipedia. We are a global
   information hub with 15 billion page views a month, written by a community
   of volunteers with a passion for knowledge."
   -

   "The information in Wikipedia is constantly growing, but we need your
   help to keep up with rapidly changing technology. Wikipedia is like a
   library or public park created by a passionate community."
   -

   "Wikipedia changes every second of every day. We just hit 5 million
   English articles, but we need to continually grow to serve our readers."
   -

   "Please become a volunteer or a donor to help end us the fundraiser and
   improve Wikipedia. Thank you."

With just a couple weeks left to go in 2015, the team is working hard to
make improvements. We’d love your help.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

   -

   To file a bug report or technical issue, please create a phabricator
   ticket
   <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/task/create/?template=118862>
   or email problemsdonating(a)wikimedia.org
   -

   To get up-to-date on the the latest reader survey, read the full report
   on commons

<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Wikimedia_Reader_Survey_November_2015.pdf>
   -

   To read the latest news from the team, see the fundraising meta page
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising>
   -

   To suggest another banner idea, visit the test ideas meta page
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas>
   -

   To learn more about the fundraising program and last year’s campaign,
   see the 2014-15 fundraising report
   <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2014-2015_Fundraising_Report>

Thank you to everyone for your support and to the fundraising team for
working so collaboratively and such long hours throughout this campaign.
And thank you to all those that have given thus far.

Megan

-- 

Megan Hernandez

Director of Online Fundraising
Wikimedia Foundation