-- 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.” Rand Montoya wrote: > (As this email may enact changes that affect the total Wikimedia > community, please feel free to forward or post this email on any and all > applicable lists. I would like as much feedback as possible.) > > Wikimedians-- > > We have begun exploring ideas for enhancing the visibility of the donate > button not only within the Wikimedia main skin but also on every page of > every Wikimedia project. We hope that enhancement will enable us to > better informing our public that we are dependent on their donations as > we promote the free and open knowledge movement. > > We expect that a small change to the Wikimedia main skin will result in > big returns in donations--donations we use to keep the Wikimedia > movement alive and growing. I expect that in return for a bit of > enhanced visibility, we will see a daily increase of up to 20% in > donations. > > Working with the same professional designer that worked on last year's > donation page (http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate/Now/en), we > have culled his 30+ button ideas into 6 that represent some of the > better designs. > > We have posted several design options for your comments and input here: > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Donation_buttons_upgrade > > I would like your input and advice in figuring out both how to make this > buttons look better and how to make the language around the buttons > better. In addition, we are exploring adding different language > underneath the Title Bar of an article. > > Design is only half of this change...words are important. What are the > simplest words we can use (we are aware that these changes may get > translated to numerous other languages) that will convey what we want to > convey? You, collectively, have proven to be amazing at using words and > communicating with our users. How can we reach them? > > One of these designs borrows from our look and feel from our previous > campaign and another resembles the look and feel of Paypal. What do you > think of those? We are curious about how look and feel associated with > online payments will increase the need or opportunity to make a donation. > > The objective here is to take the average Wikimedia user and get them to > recognize we are a non-profit and that our future depends on their > donations. How can we better show our users that we are a charity? > > Again, your time and input is appreciated. To see the designs, go here: > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Donation_buttons_upgrade > > -Rand > >