Thanks, Seddon.
Jimmy Wales, in his inimitable style, was a little more definite on this
idea of stopping the fundraiser when the targeted amount of money is in the
bank.
Rich Farmbrough had asked,[1]
<startquotes>
Once upon a time, unless I imagined it, we used to run the annual
fund-raiser until we had reached the target then stop. We no longer do this.
Why then, does a banner come up saying "If we all donated £2 the
fund-raiser would be over in an hour?" [...]
[...] we want to see the Foundation properly funded. That desire cannot be
the reason, or the excuse, that every year we have morally dubious
fund-raising messages.
All the best: *Rich
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rich_Farmbrough> Farmbrough
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Rich_Farmbrough>*, 20:25, 1
December 2016 (UTC).
We would still stop the fundraiser if enough money were raised in shorter
than the planned time. So I don't see what your concern is about.--Jimbo
Wales <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jimbo_Wales> (talk
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#top>) 10:09, 2
December 2016 (UTC)
<endquotes>
Jimmy has good instincts when it comes to saying the right thing to defuse
criticism. But you have to *do* the right thing, too, to have any
credibility.
On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Peter Southwood <
peter.southwood(a)telkomsa.net> wrote:
What could be done is to allow the fundraiser to
continue after reaching
the original goals with acknowledgement that the original goals have been
met, and specifying what extended goals income could be used for. This
happens all the time on kickstarter. It is open and ethically acceptable as
everyone knows what is happening and can choose accordingly.
I agree with Peter. This sounds like an excellent idea.
On the matter of last year's endowment: I thought that is why the target
was increased from $20 million (2014) to $25 million (2015). (The fiscal
plan specifically referred to $5 million for the endowment.[2]) Yet as
we've seen, the latter target was also substantially exceeded, by far more
than the 20% "stretch goal" mentioned in the fiscal plan. That looks
exactly like the approach Rich was criticising.
On the reliability of the frdata dumps: I take your point that the totals
on the frdata page are lower than the actual amounts taken. I'd assumed
this was because the frdata page only included small donations made through
the Wikimedia websites, and did not include major donations made directly
to WMF, such as the $1 million received from Craigslist founder Craig
Newmark. At any rate, the page is a good page to have (transparency in
action), and worth maintaining.
Regards,
Andreas
[1]
On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 2:38 AM, Joseph Seddon <jseddon(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
There is naturally some flexibility as to when we stop
and that's a
decision that will be looked at over the coming days and weeks. It's always
useful to give ourselves some breathing space for our Q3 and Q4 campaigns.
We also don't include major gifts donations in the total for our online
campaigns. This is one factor that increases the difference between the
December totals and the December goal for online fundraising. Last year we
also decided to use the online fundraiser to help seed the endowment which
added $5million to our to our fundraising for the December fundraiser.
Regards
Seddon
On Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 5:03 PM, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Seddon,
Okay, but I believe I am correct in saying that you took around $34
million
last December, even though the publicised[1]
target was $25 million.
I am basing that on the monthly bar chart in the Wikimedia Foundation's
2015–2016 Fundraising Report.[2]*
In 2014, the publicised target was $20 million, and you reported[3] that
you surpassed that as well – by more than $10 million, according to the
frdata dump.
Given that this year you've taken well over half your target amount in
eight days, and are outperforming last year's campaign, I estimate you'll
end up with a total of around $40 million if you keep the campaign
running
until the end of the year, i.e. $15 million more
than the communicated
target.
Is that what you're intending to do, or will you end the campaign when
the
targeted $25 million are in the bank?
Andreas
* I tried to include the chart for quick reference, but the mail that
included seems to have gotten stuck in the system. I guess pipermail
doesn't like graphics.
[1]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/12/01/wikimedia-foundati
on-annual-campaign/
[2]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2015-2016_Fundraising_Report
[3]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/01/05/thank-you-for-keep
ing-knowledge-free-and-accessible/
On Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Joseph Seddon <jseddon(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Hey Andreas
A very quick email just noting I don't know the method by which that
frdata
> dump is created (its very old and not maintained) but it would seem
that
> numbers in the frdata dump are only useful
as a rough guide.
>
> We are basing our numbers on internal accounting figures which is more
> representative of the actual cash flow since it is more closely based
on
> actual cleared payments.
>
> Seddon
>
> On 7 Dec 2016 13:36, "Andreas Kolbe" <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > People can follow progress of the fundraiser by loading the
spreadsheet
> > files provided here:
> >
> >
https://frdata.wikimedia.org/
> >
> > At the time of writing, the data in
> >
> >
> > yeardata-day-vs-sum.csv
> > <https://frdata.wikimedia.org/yeardata-day-vs-sum.csv> Total amount
> > received per day (not taking into account refunds)
> >
> > indicate that you have received $15.8 million in donations since the
> > year-end campaign started on November 29. The advertised target of
the
> > campaign is $25 million[1] – so after
less than nine days, you are
> already
> > more than 60% there.
> >
> > Are you planning to end the campaign once the publicised target is
> reached,
> > or will you go beyond the target as you did in the last two years?
> >
> > [1]
> >
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/29/wikimedia-
> > foundation-annual-fundraiser/
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 11:05 PM, Joseph Seddon <
jseddon(a)wikimedia.org>
>
wrote:
>
> > Hello All!
> >
> > So originally we were going to send an update after the first two
weeks
> > but
> > > with so much going on and following feedback, I'll cover as much
as I
can
> > in as brief a form as possible and more regularly than planned:
> >
> >
> > -
> >
> > Banners limited: We have already begun limiting the number of
times
> a
> > > reader will see a banner within a single browser if they choose
to
not
> > dismiss the banners. For the moment, dismissing a banner or
viewing
a
> > banner *up to 10 times* will result in the banners being
suppressed
> for
> > a period of 1 week.
> > -
> >
> > Big messaging update [1]: We've been playing heavily with the
ideas
of
> “fake news” and “facts matter”. In
addition for first time since
2013,
> we
> have returned to an appeal coming from a specific individual, in
this
> > case
> > Jimmy. Much of the inspiration for both came from interviews
> Fundraising
> > did with both Jimmy and Katherine back in October.
> > -
> >
> > Big design update & in-line banners: We've moved away from the
dark
> > navy
> > > blue (seen as black by many people), which was considered by the
> > > community
> > > to be too mobid and foreboding, to a white background banner
with
red
> > border. Following extensive testing we also moved to inline
banners
> > over
> > > the weekend replacing the top header banners.
> > > -
> > >
> > > Promising Numbers: Currently we believe that we have raised
around
> > > $13,000,000 (accounting for
payments to be cleared). This has
been
> > > helped
> > > enormously by both gains found in our banner campaigns that is
> > allowing
> > > us
> > > to keep pace with the decline of desktop, as well as a
brilliantly
> >
performing e-mail campaign.
> > -
> >
> > Awesome E-mail: November 30th 2016 saw our biggest day for email
> > fundraising ~$950,000 (2016) vs ~$550,000 (2015) raised in a 24
hour
> > > period
> > > with approximately a similar number of e-mails.
> > > -
> > >
> > > Stable Tech: This year has been extremely stable from a
technical
> > > standpoint compared to other
years, with the most perplexing
issue
> > > being an
> > > odd dip that occurred in our donations and traffic [2] on
December
> 1st
> > > for
> > > one hour. This occurred during the quietest period in a day for
2
> days
> > > but
> > > then appeared to stop. Low impact but naturally could be a
bigger
> > issue
> > > if
> > > the problem occurred during peak fundraising hours or was more
> > > prolonged,
> > > investigations continue.
> > > -
> > >
> > > Major gifts going great: Our major gifts team have been very
busy,
and
> > have seen double the number of Major gifts donations during this
> period
> > of
> > the year compared with last year which means this page [3]
getting a
> > > lot of
> > > updates recently.
> > > -
> > >
> > > A brilliant social media team: In short awesome work has been
done
> by
> > > them but I will send a separate more detailed update on this :)
> > >
> > >
> > > [1] -
> > >
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein?banner=B1617_
> > > 1117_en6C_dsk_p1_lg_template&force=1&country=US
> > >
> > > [2] -
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T152122
> > > [3] -
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Benefactors
> > >
> > > --
> > > Seddon
> > >
> > > *Advancement Associate (Community Engagement)*
> > > *Wikimedia Foundation*
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> >
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> >
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*Advancement Associate (Community Engagement)*
*Wikimedia Foundation*
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