[Foundation-l] Fundraising banners

[Philippe Beaudette]

Hi everyone,

We wanted you to hear first: in about three hours, we're switching the messaging on the banners to "Thank you!"  It's time to thank the world, because the world came together to help support the Wikimedia projects.  We're delighted to report that nearly half a million donations came in.  It's a resounding vote of confidence in what you've done with the projects.  So take a moment to stop, to celebrate, and to enjoy the accomplishment... and then it's time to focus on the tenth anniversary year!  

You may notice that the fundraising statistics page doesn't quite say $16M.  Since you might be asked about that, here's the math we used to arrive at the end of the fundraiser:

In addition to the amount posted on the graph (roughly $13.5M), we have about $1.5 million in revenue received during testing or received but not yet posted (manual check entry, etc).  We've been counting on $500,000 from the chapters in our thermometer formula but given the extraordinary chapter fundraising success this year, we're confident that we'll be over the $16M mark.  (We're also including an adjusted value for the recurring gifts that we've received this year.)

We're delighted to be able to start 2011 with our community giving goal already met.  We did this in a collaborative fashion: testing nearly 200 banner ideas submitted by the community, using translations, with community involvement in the testing, and in the next phase of the campaign - encouraging people to edit.  

We'll be running "Thank you" banners for the next few days to tell the world how much this editing community appreciates their financial support, and then will convert to banners inviting people to get involved in tenth anniversary celebrations around the world, and to make their first edit (the "contribution" phase of the campaign).  

Now let's go celebrate!

Zack Exley
Philippe Beaudette
Megan Hernandez

_______________________
Philippe Beaudette
Head of Reader Relations
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

pbeaudette at wikimedia.org

Imagine a world in which every human being can freely share 
in the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

http://donate.wikimedia.org