Re: [Wikimedia-l] Mid-December Fundraiser Update

Hi everyone, The fundraising team is wrapping up the second week of the December campaign and we’d like to share an update with you--where we are, what we’ve changed, and what you can do to get involved. WHERE WE ARE: We’ve passed the halfway mark to the $25 million campaign goal. So far, we’ve raised roughly $18 million (a preliminary total that is quickly changing and has not been reconciled with official totals from the finance department). Banners are running on desktop and mobile devices. We are also sending emails to past donors asking if they would give again this year. We’re monitoring the trends daily and look forward to sharing a post-campaign analysis with you. We will post an update on when we will be able to end the campaign when we have a clearer picture. WHAT WE’VE CHANGED: Over the past several months, staff members and volunteers have provided both critical and generative feedback and new fundraising banner ideas. Their help has been very valuable. Many of these new messages have been tried in pre-campaign tests and in the last two weeks. Thank you to everyone who has shared their time and ideas! A few message highlights: - We are no longer using the line "keep Wikipedia online and ad-free." It has been changed to “keep our work going another year.” - New text in the current banner: “We believe that knowledge is a foundation. It is a foundation for human potential, for freedom, for opportunity. We believe everyone should have access to knowledge—for free, without restriction, without limitation.” - "We survive on donations" has been changed to "We're sustained by donations" - "Please help us end the fundraiser and get back to improving Wikipedia" has been changed to "Please help us end the fundraiser and improve Wikipedia." - We have removed the persistent reminder from large banners. The reminder is still included in the small banners, which is consistent with the same style banners from the 2013 and 2014 campaigns. - The coffee cup image has been removed from banners We have also run some initial tests with new messaging that show encouraging results. We're still working on more messages and sorting out how we'll incorporate new ideas into the overall banner, but here are some sentences we’re testing: - “Wikipedia has become nothing short of a global public library.” - “We don’t run ads. We respect your privacy. We don’t sell your data.” - “Wikipedia exists to verify, protect, and share the combined knowledge of humanity.” - "There is nothing else on the internet like Wikipedia. We are a global information hub with 15 billion page views a month, written by a community of volunteers with a passion for knowledge." - "The information in Wikipedia is constantly growing, but we need your help to keep up with rapidly changing technology. Wikipedia is like a library or public park created by a passionate community." - "Wikipedia changes every second of every day. We just hit 5 million English articles, but we need to continually grow to serve our readers." - "Please become a volunteer or a donor to help end us the fundraiser and improve Wikipedia. Thank you." With just a couple weeks left to go in 2015, the team is working hard to make improvements. We’d love your help. HOW TO GET INVOLVED: - To file a bug report or technical issue, please create a phabricator ticket < https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/task/create/?template=118862> or email problemsdonating(a)wikimedia.org - To get up-to-date on the the latest reader survey, read the full report on commons < https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Wikimedia_Reader_Survey… - To read the latest news from the team, see the fundraising meta page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising> - To suggest another banner idea, visit the test ideas meta page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas> - To learn more about the fundraising program and last year’s campaign, see the 2014-15 fundraising report <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2014-2015_Fundraising_Report> Thank you to everyone for your support and to the fundraising team for working so collaboratively and such long hours throughout this campaign. And thank you to all those that have given thus far. Megan -- Megan Hernandez Director of Online Fundraising Wikimedia Foundation _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>