Hi Gnangarra and all, I only mentioned how little money went to India in 2020/2021 because of the WMF's recent claim in the Indian Express that "a lot" of the money raised is flowing into the Global South.[1]
You raise the messaging used to request donations. Here are six key phrases from the India emails (as linked on Meta[2]) that caught my eye (my emphases): Phrase 1: We *choose not to charge a subscription fee*, but that doesn't mean we don't need support from our readers Phrase 2: kindly consider giving again, or even increasing your gift, *to keep Wikipedia free* and independent. Should the option of charging a subscription fee for "The Free Encyclopedia" even be hinted at in a fundraising email? Bear in mind that the WMF Mission is "to make and keep useful information from its projects available on the internet *free of charge, in perpetuity*." It is only because of this commitment that volunteers are prepared to work for free. Also, isn't there something of a logical contradiction in begging people – especially people in developing countries – for money "to keep Wikipedia free"? Phrase 3: About a year ago, you donated Rs. 313 to *keep Wikipedia online for yourself and millions of people around the world*. Each year, fewer than 2% of Wikipedia readers choose to support our work. Phrase 4: please renew your gift to ensure that Wikipedia *remains independent, ad-free, and growing* for years to come Phrase 5: can we count on you to renew your solidarity with a small donation? It will *keep Wikipedia online, ad-free, and growing* for years to come Wikipedia's independence (also used as a hook on the Wikipedia banners) is safer than ever, if it's to be measured by the WMF's money reserves, which at an estimated $400 million are now greater than they've ever been. Wouldn't we like to see the WMF saying more about what it actually does with the money, rather than falling back on these old stock phrases from yesteryear, about keeping Wikipedia online, or keeping it free? They might have been appropriate fifteen or twenty years ago, when the Foundation was finding its feet financially, but seem very out of step with the current financial realities. Phrase 6: 31% of your gift will be used to *support the volunteers* who share their knowledge with you for free every day. 31% of 2020/2021 donations revenue would have been about $50 million. I've been told the 31% figure comes from the Annual Report[3] (where it is called "*Direct support to communities*" and refers to 31% of spending, which is much less than 31% of revenue). But even so, it is unclear to me what specifically this amount refers to. It is certainly an order of magnitude more than the WMF's grants to the community in 2020/2021. Andreas [1] https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/raju-narisetti-interview-wikipedia-trust-transparency-7940621/ [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising#Indian_email_texts [3] https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/annualreport/2020-2021-annual-report/financials/ On Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 10:55 AM Gnangarra <[email protected]> wrote: > It doesn't matter where the money goes, everyone benefits and there was a > period where the WMF was doing a lot of work in India without fundraising > there. Its all relative Australia was contributing over 2m per year(highest > per capita of anywhere at the time) yet there was nothing being spent in > Australia. > > The issue is the messaging requesting donations should be honest. At least > two of those statements are very much questionable, and at the same time we > shouldn't be sending multiple requests close enough to each other that > people are complaining which means many others are just sending emails to > spam which become permanent filters. > > On Sat, 18 Jun 2022 at 23:33, Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dan, >> >> I am happy to give you the TL;DR version: >> >> As best I can make out, the WMF's average salary cost per employee is now >> about $200,000. >> >> More could be said, of course: >> >> – The WMF had already exceeded its revenue goals for the 2021/2022 fiscal >> year by the end of March, bringing in over $150 million in the first three >> quarters[1] (total expenses last year were $107 million). >> >> – Including the endowment, I estimate the WMF now has about $400 million >> in assets (almost all in cash and investments). >> >> – In India, past donors are reporting being inundated with daily WMF >> emails telling them money is needed to keep Wikipedia online, independent, >> ad-free and thriving.[1] >> >> – Internet hosting costs are $2.4 million per year, and Erik Möller >> thought in 2013 the Wikimedia mission was sustainable on $10M+/year. >> >> – Very little of Wikimedia's money actually goes to India (0.64 million >> in 2020 for all of South Asia, per Form 990).[3] >> >> Andreas >> >> >> [1] >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Tuning_Session_FY21-22_Q3_Advancement.pdf&page=9 >> [2] https://www.facebook.com/deemopahan/posts/10159230509968878 >> [3] >> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/e/e4/Wikimedia_Foundation_2020_Form_990.pdf#page=29 >> >> On Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 3:46 PM Dan Garry (Deskana) <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> On Fri, 17 Jun 2022 at 23:25, Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> If you've spotted an error in my reasoning or think you can provide a >>>> better estimate, please do so and share your working. Many eyes make all >>>> bugs shallow. >>>> >>> >>> My feedback is that you've put so many walls of text and numbers on this >>> mailing list, that whatever point you're attempting to make is buried >>> underneath it. >>> >>> Dan >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >>> Public archives at >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/ASE3NXY474JRM4J57AWAT5JQ6FXS6S4O/ >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/2DAPOURP64GR6SJAHHCACIR6FMRJBM2J/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > > > -- > GN. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/XWIKK5Z25G4APUOKZZW263P3HG5GQOHA/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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