Fundraising 2010/Write An Appeal

The Idea

Did you know that almost 900 people were involved in the creation and discussion of Fundraising banner messages?

The Fundraising team and a number of volunteers from the community have been conducting weekly banner tests for the past few months to test and find the message that best motivates donors. We tested dozens of iterations of banner designs, including both graphical and text, and will continue to do so. Many of the new banners did well.

Unfortunately, none of them came anywhere near the 3% clickthrough rate of the winning banner from years past:

“ Please read, a personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. ”

But we’re going to keep trying. Our research indicates that banner wins because it is simple and direct with no attempt at marketing or manipulation.

So we’re going to test:

“ A personal appeal from Wikimedia editor _____. ”

A letter from an editor would create a personal connection between the users of the website and those who create the site.

The Challenge

Can you write a personal appeal that is as, or more, effective than the letter Jimmy writes each year? We want to tell people who is behind the resource they value so much, our commitment to staying independent and ad-free, why we need funding, and why you support and create Wikipedia.

Read last year's Jimmy letter, then sign up by "signing" below (with ~~~~) or send your letter to us by email: donatewikimedia.org.

I want to try!

1. Ivanmartinez 18:34, 5 November 2010 (UTC) | Here's my appeal.
2. Matthewedwards 04:43, 6 November 2010 (UTC)
3. No promises on how much it brings in, but I'll try.  fetchcomms☛ 01:25, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
4. Appeal to donors --Ocaasi 16:43, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
5. Personal appeal #1, also appeal #2 after a comment from Ocaasi. Ed (talk) 23:12, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
6. My attempt. GoEThe 16:34, 11 November 2010 (UTC)
7. Pointed here by Philippe. Happy to write one. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 18:46, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
8. Will be at User:Fox/appeal.  f o x  20:50, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
9. I'll try, although I'm not a very regular contributor. It will end up at User:Lexicografía/appeal. Lexicografía 20:48, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
10. User:Ragesoss/appeal. It's time to turn up the saccharin.--Ragesoss 02:09, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
11. User:Clementina/appeal <- Not as beautiful or eloquent as other excellent editors' appeals, but I guess it's a try. :) Love, Clementina talk 13:10, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
12. User:Shoy/Appeal. No guarantees, but I'm happy to try. Shoy 17:02, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
13. My Appeal: Fundraising 2010/Write An Appeal/Tobias. --Church of emacs talk · contrib 18:06, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
14. Glalaish 05:01, 27 November 2010 (UTC) My appeal @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Glalaish
15. Kasperay 12:07, 2 December 2010 (UTC) Signing-in, be right back with what you need... Kasperay
16. Smartse 16:43, 6 December 2010 (UTC) see en:User:Smartse/appeal
17. My appeal will be on the English and Tagalog Wikipedias within the day. :) --Sky Harbor ^(talk) 01:14, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
18. I've sent my appeal via email and I will also place it on my user pageNexCarnifex 01:40, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
19. I'll try :) Addihockey10 01:47, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
20. I'd be willing to try and write some appeals, so long as my doing so would actually be useful and likely to result in a testable banner. If we're at a state where the shortage of 'editor appeals banners' is simply not enough editors writing appeals, please contact me on my en.wp talk page and i'll make sure to try my hand at it. --Alecmconroy 16:59, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
21. Hey I'd love to write one. Tofutwitch11 00:50, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
22. I've written one at en:User:1234r00t/Appeal. It isn't polished yet and I'll probably be making new revisions for a while. Hope this helps, Mr. R00t ^Talk 03:51, 25 December 2010 (UTC)
23. Another one focusing on local African content en:User:Rgaudin/SonghayAppeal. rɛg 11:28, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
24. You know about it already since I sent an email a few weeks ago, but here's the wiki version for reference: User:guillom/Puzzly appeal. With pretty mockups and everything. guillom 19:40, 30 December 2010 (UTC)