[Foundation-l] Good news! Fundraiser officially passes 6m mark!

[Sue Gardner]

Hey folks -

This is a very quick note, officially updating everyone on the
progress of the fundraiser. Many of you will already know this, but I
wanted to make it official :-)

Currently, you will see that the sitenotice thermometer says we've
reached 6.1 million dollars, which means we have exceeded our original
goal of six million dollars!  This is fantastic, and I'm really happy.

To put that in context: In 2008-09, prior to the launch of the
fundraiser, we had received just under two million dollars in
donations and commitments from a mix of foundations, individual donors
and business development revenues. (That includes the 08-09 1m from
Sloan, which will arrive this month.)  Since its launch, the
fundraiser has brought in a little over four million dollars.  This
means we currently have received in 08-09 a total of 6.1 million
dollars, which will fully cover our projected 08-09 costs.

Last year, by contrast, the fundraiser brought in a total of 1.6
million dollars.

For the Wikimedia Foundation to more than double donations during a
time of major global financial crisis is an amazing accomplishment -
and is testimony to the dedication and strength of our supporters.
They believe in what we're doing and understand why it's important:
I'm grateful to each and every one of them.

And I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this year's
fundraiser. There are too many people to name individually, and even
that makes me happy - I love the fact that so many staff members and
volunteers came together to work to make the fundraiser such a
success.

Tomorrow, the current sitenotices will be replaced with a thank you
banner, which will stay up for an as-yet-undetermined period –
probably a week or thereabouts.  We will continue to solicit and
accept donations during that period (we always accept donations!), but
the messaging will be primarily about thanking people :-)

Thanks, and happy new year!
Sue