Hi Julia,

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the upcoming Wikimedia Foundation fundraising campaign in India. While I appreciate the efforts being made to raise funds, I am unsure about how donations are collected from India.

According to an interview with WMF's Raju Narisetti in the Indian Express[1], 10% of the grants raised by the Wikimedia Foundation go back to the Indian Wikimedians who write and edit on Wikipedia. However, there seems to be a lack of transparency about which projects in India are receiving these funds.

Last year, WMF raised $165,232,309[2], which means that 10% of this amount is approximately 13 crores rupees. Could you please share more details about the projects in India that received this funding? Such claims are used as emotional hooks to encourage more Indians to donate, but no one seems to know which Indian community or projects are benefiting from them. As an Indian community member, I am not personally aware of any community-facing initiatives that have received such funding. I would appreciate it if you could let me know if I am missing something.

It is important to note that making false claims to raise money from Indian citizens is a serious matter and may have serious legal consequences. To ensure that the Wikimedia Foundation is true to its commitment, it is essential to be transparent and provide accurate information about the allocation of funds while raising funds in India.

In my experience, WMF employees often come up with lengthy replies that do not directly address the concerns raised by community members. Therefore, I suggest that actual spending numbers be included along with information about the projects in India that received funding. Expected reply could include a list of projects with money sent to Indian communities. This would provide greater transparency and help build trust within the community.

Is there a report on how much money has been raised from India and how it has been spent?

Also, are you aware of how Wikipedia have led to riots in Delhi?[3]

Thank you,

Jayantilal

[1] : https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/raju-narisetti-interview-wikipedia-trust-transparency-7940621/

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2021-22_Report

[3] https://www.opindia.com/2020/02/delhi-riots-wikipedia-article-biased-anti-hindu/amp/

On Fri, 10 Mar 2023 at 2:39 AM, Julia Brungs <jbrungs@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Dear community members,
I would like to inform you all about the upcoming annual Wikimedia Foundation fundraising campaign in India.
The fundraising campaign will have two components.
We will send emails to people who have previously donated from India. The emails are scheduled to be sent between the 2nd of May and the 1st of June.
We will run banners for non-logged in users in India on English Wikipedia itself. The banners will run from the 30th of May until the 27th of June.
Prior to this, we are planning to run some tests in April and May, so you might see banners for 3-5 hours a couple of times before the campaign starts. This activity will ensure that our technical infrastructure works.
I will be in touch again in the next few weeks, to share with you a community engagement page where we will outline more detail around the campaign, share some banner examples, and give you space to engage with the fundraising campaign.
I will also be hosting a community call during April (date to be confirmed) to which you can bring your questions and suggestions.
Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:
On the talk page of the fundraising team
If you need to report a bug or technical issue, please create a phabricator ticket
If you see a donor on a talk page, VRT or social media having difficulties in donating, please refer them to donatewikimedia.org
Thanks you and regards,
Julia
--
Julia Brungs
Senior Community Relations Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation
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