Fundraising/India2022campaign

Every year the Wikimedia Foundation is running fundraising campaigns in different parts of the world from the US, to Latin America, to Australia, and Japan. In June of 2022 we will be running our fundraising campaign in India, both via email and banners on Wikipedia itself. This meta page is for you to explore and provide input in the India fundraising campaign.

Background - Why India?

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General information

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This is the second time in recent years that we will fundraise in India. We are scheduled to run the email campaign to people who have previously donated in India from the 24th of May to the 23rd of June. Here are some examples of emails that will be sent during the campaign: Email 1, Email 2, and Email 3

Additionally we will also be running banners on Wikipedia for non logged in users in India. These banners will only be in English and are scheduled to run from the 31st of May to the 28th of June. Here are some examples of banners we will be running. Please note that you will be seeing different variations of the text as we constantly test new language: Desktop large, Desktop small, Mobile large, Mobile small. You can also read more in our latest blog post.

During the campaign in India, some of our fundraising materials will be inviting donors and readers to create accounts and try editing. Interested donors and readers will be directed to account creation pages with newcomer features. We plan to add a call to action to our Thank You page, which donors see immediately after donating. We also plan to invite readers during our short Thank You banner campaign after the fundraising concludes. Both of these activities may cause you to see some new editors on English Wikipedia around late May and June. If you have any questions around this, please use the talk page.

Read what some of the donors from the last campaign in India said:

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In this era of globalization where the word "free" has become synonymous to "30 days trial", Wikipedia has been supplying us with terabytes of information along with downloadable links, related articles, and translating the entire piece of knowledge into different languages as per the reader's convenience. In return, all Wikipedia has ever asked is an occasional header query: 'please improve this section if you wish'. If this is not an example of an immensely noble act of selflessness, then I don't know what is.

You said "Thank you for fitting us into your life." But the boot is on the other foot. It is Wikipedia that has created something for others, and ideas can be exchanged without the ever-exponentially-increasing avalanche and unwanted brazen interference of relentless intrusive advertising and information snatching. Indeed, I believe that the first internet activity that was created was purely for information discussion and exchange. Wikipedia seems true to that principle. Thanks. Keep it up.

Why India

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Access to information and knowledge as well as learning is important for readers everywhere. Readers of Wikipedia are invested in finding knowledge and expanding their horizons. India not only has the largest diaspora in the world, it has the largest English speaking population after the US and is one of the top three Wikipedia contributor countries. The fundraising campaign will help to further inform Wikipedia readers in India about the charitable organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, that supports the volunteers who make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects possible. You can read some more in the blog post for the India campaign from 2020.

Investments in the Indian communities

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During the last years, many projects were funded by the WMF to help the Indian communities thrive and grow. Have a look at some of those:

Together we make the fundraising campaign better

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Before and during our fundraising campaigns we want to involve our local volunteer communities as much as they would like to, so this meta page is an invitation for you to get involved. Feel free to translate this meta page to your local language and discuss the campaign with your local groups. Please add any comments, suggestions, questions, thoughts, and general ideas to the talk page. Alternatively, if you'd rather get in touch directly, please email me at jbrungs at wikimedia dot org.

Julia will be hosting a few conversation hours where you can drop in and talk about the campaign with me directly. These took place:

Hearing from you helps us to ensure that you, readers, and donors are supported and feel heard throughout the campaign. It helps us minimize mistakes we will make and it is through your knowledge that we can improve our campaign and ensure that the least amount of interruption to communities takes place.

Some questions for inspiration below (please feel free to ignore these and ask your own):

  • What would you like to see from us as preparation before we start the campaign?
  • What support do you think you need during the campaign in order to ensure that volunteers have all they need if questions arise?
  • How do you think we can ensure that information around the campaign reaches as many communities and volunteers in India prior to its start?

Additional resources

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Wikimedia donate frequently asked questions