Evaluatie Fondsenwerving 2010-2011

Evaluation of the Fundraiser 2010/2011 for Wikimedia Nederland

Introduction

Wikimedia Nederland (WMNL) in 2010/2011 was one of 11 so-called “category-1 chapters”. This means that in its own geography, it could take control over the sitenotice on all Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) projects during the fundraiser and route potential donors to a landing page that allowed donations exclusively to WMNL. It has been given this status by the WMF in the understanding that WMNL would be seen as a charity per late 2010. Current developments are that WMNL has been granted the desired ANBI status retroactively per January 1, 2010. This allows WMNL for example to make gifts to the WMF without taxation.

Results (tentative)

In 1.000 Euro	Nett result	Gross result	Bank costs	Thank you	Fundraiser	Other
2009-07 / 2010/06	192	200	7	0,5	0	0
2010-07 / 2011-06	311	346	12	1	18	6

• Increase of result of 80% in Euro and 70% in USD compared to previous year (2009/2010), after a huge increase compared to the year before that (2008/2009).
• Both in absolute terms as relative to internet users as relative to GNP and relative to last year very good results.
• Much better than expected, but further improvement is possible considering the inadequate communication and tools available regarding measurements and analysis of donations and click-through rates. Improved manuals and accessibility would leads to more productive newcomers (i.e. chapter fundraisers without extensive wiki experience). Especially the access to comparative data for the banners and landing pages was not as expected, and communication regarding the access to adapting the sitenotices ourselves was confusing.

Time path

• High increase in donations with the new landing page. This is roughly an increase of 30-40%.
• There was an error in the landing pages, where the banners for non-nl projects were accidentally deactivated for a week. This cost ~50% of our donations, considering the 100% increase after this was fixed. Better tools would be required to make further analysis of this language-effect.

Task list

• SM: omleiden www.wmnederland.nl/nieuwsbrief & aanmaken nieuwsbrief lijst
• Uitsplitsen contactgegevens
• Versturen bedankjes brief
• Versturen bedankjes e-mail
• Checken & uitzetten evaluatie
• Opstellen voorlopig rapport voor WMF
• Contacting, contracting and setting up Ogone

Banners, landing pages and payment system

• The current system works, but has an inferior connection to the administrations, and therefore should be replaced. A new system has been selected, but has to be installed and activated. This new system integrates iDEAL and PayPal environments and click-through analysis.
• Considering the dependency of the WMF for click through data and other statistical information, we should consider hosting the landing page ourselves next time. The processing time of requests should also be reduced significantly that way (i.e. from 1,5 month to 1 day).
• Improvement is possible on the layout and (mono/multi)linguistic character of the landing and processing pages.
• More variety in the sitenotice, with the help of better analysis systems, should be possible, reducing the donation fatigue.
• Now we have the ANBI status (Dutch charity status), a lower transaction rate at PayPal should be possible, lowering transfer costs for donations.
• houtje-touwtje

Internal communication

• Communication within WMNL: Communication was largely unstructured and on a need-to basis. The freelancer reported on a weekly basis to the responsible board member. More structure in internal communication could be helpful to identify bumps in the road at an earlier stage.
• Communication with the WMF: During the weeks before the fundraiser, our contact person at the WMF changed a few times. This lead to a few misunderstandings.
• Communication through several layers of employees is not the most effective way of reaching results. At the chapter side, there was a feeling that bureaucracy was prohibiting effective communication and fundraising.
• Communication through Moushira was not always as smooth as would be hoped. Questions and requests were often answered with large delay times. We had to wait for a simple A/B test to give results for over a month - every time facing a promise for results the next day or so.
• Because of the inferior (communication) infrastructure both internally and especially with the WMF regarding the test data, the freelancer was not able to perform at full potential.

Press

• There was some press attention in the Netherlands for the fundraiser, but in general there was not much interest until after the fundraiser was finalized and it could be a side-topic for 10 year Wikipedia. It is unclear how realistic it is to expect increase in press attention in The Netherlands about fundraising next year. With a more professional organization it should at least be possible to reach full potential.

Time path

• Everything started, like every year, too late. Especially because of the unclearity surrounding the fundraising agreement for 2010/2011 until October, there was hesitance on how and how much time and money should be invested in the success of the fundraiser.
• Talks about the fundraiser agreement should start in May, agreement should be signed in the Summer.
• Personnel for the fundraiser should be hired in a much earlier stage, and should be therefore more effective.

Opportunities for improvement

• Tooling regarding statistics
• Payment system
• Communication (quantity, speed and quality) with the Wikimedia Foundation
• More accessible and usable banner system
• Planning by WMNL
• Improved reporting (automated and more detailed)