2012 Donor Newsletter Review

Part of my role as fundraising organiser is looking at ways we can improve our donor experience. One of the keys ways we can do this is by providing donors with more information about what their gifts are spent on, and how that relates to the work of Wikimedia UK, the work of the global movement, and projects like Wikipedia.

Readers may well be aware that Stevie Benton has written a Comms Strategy with key recommendations which is currently in draft form, but includes a commitment to a donor newsletter on a bi-monthly basis.

Donor Newsletters

This page is not aimed at discussing an overall donor comms comms strategy, but specifically donor newsletters as a form of regular communication. I will start another Wiki to discuss a broad strategy later this year, when we have some data to draw on.

Currently donors receive limited direct updates from Wikimedia UK, mostly in relation to fundraising (pre and post fundraiser emails and letters, and thank you communications) Although of course they can always chose to remain up to date with our work through other channels (office blog, twitter and Facebook), it is very much recognised that this is not a viable substitute to tailored, direct and regular communications - this page is aimed at getting peoples views on what they would like these to include.

Community members may also be interested to know that the intention is also to conduct a short online survey amongst existing donors in the next few weeks, and so suggestions for what we might want to ask would be welcome, along with any recommends for an online survey tool (we are aware of survey monkey, but anything that compares favourably to this in terms of functionality, cost or being open source as opposed to proprietary would be good to consider). Bavage (talk) 12:06, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Frequency of contact

The current suggestion is that donors receive a donor newsletter bi-monthly, which would be interspersed with the bi-monthly communication to members (some of course will be both). Is this regular enough, or too much? If this is less frequent, can this be compensated for by ensuring more regularly updated channels (social media/blog) are flagged up in the header of all newsletters?

Content

What should we be talking to our donors about? Some suggestions are:

• Wikimedia UK Project milestones/success stories
• English Wikipedia editor/volunteer case studies
• English Wikimedia volunteer case studies (i.e. project work linked to editing, rather than say, just the editing)
• GLAM Activities
• Community events
• Updates from WCA members or the WMF
• Feedback as to what their donations have made possible.
• Explanations of Legacy and Payroll giving
• Featuring donors who are editors
• How-to and Introduction to editing links
• Excerpts about editing (stats, numbers, quotes)
• Excerpts about giving (stats, numbers, quotes)

What should the balance of content be? Should we focus more exclusively on Wikimedia UK and UK focused content or should we give more balanced updates to our position in a global movement and in relation particularly to Wikipedia (a high profile/popular project)

Format

Electronic

*It would seem logical to send out Donor communications in an e-newsletter format because of the cost savings and reduced environmental impact.

*We could also archive the e-newsletters as PDFs on the UK Wiki and share links via twitter etc

*In the longer term, it may be appropriate to look at including bespoke video content (interviews with case study subjects etc) which can also be shared via social media separately

Paper based

*Some donors may prefer paper based alternatives out of preference or accessability requirements. How should we comply with this - by having a select number printed and posted based on request? Or by printing in-house PDF versions (i.e. in a non-glossy professionally printed format)?

Survey

Updated thinking

• See Supporters Survey

Having reviewed the Donor survey put out by Wikimedia Deutschland a year ago (See here) I note that their survey focused more on establishing donors' knowledge of how to edit and attitudes to the projects their donations fund.

Generally it has made me re-think the questions in-depth and what we should include to have a tighter focus on the following areas:

• Awareness of existing communications channels
• Reasons for supporting Wikimedia
• Awareness of our current work
• Understanding of the editing process
• Interest in more active engagement with WMUK

The hope is that results will tell us:

• What communications channels are most effective, and which we may need to promote or improve in talking to our donors
• What reasons motivated people to support us, with the aim of prioritising the most important in talking to them
• Establishing what people know about us, and seeing if this changes in 12 months after a planned programme of donor communication
• Seeing how many of our donors edit, and finding out if we can improve that through 12 months of donor comms (measured through an increased survey response, but we might hope to see more people coming to editing events etc)
• Seeing if there is an appetite amongst donors for active engagement in terms of membership, attending events and meet ups, and more active editing.

Question	Answer Format	Follow up Question	Follow-up Format
1. Were you aware that Wikimedia UK provides regular updates about its work on Facebook, Twitter, via mailing lists and a blog?	Y/N (If Y: Go to Q2, If No: Q3)	-	-
2. Which of these news sources were you aware of?	Multiple Choice (Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Mailing lists)	How regularly would you read news about Wikimedia UK from any of these sources?	Multiple choice (Daily, Weekly, One or two times a month, One or two times a quarter)
4. Would you be happy to receive an e-newsletter mailing sent to you on a regular basis from Wikimedia UK?	Y/N/Don't Know	If Y: How often would you like to receive an e-newsletter?	Multiple choice (Monthly, Bi-Monthly, Quarterly, Twice yearly)
5. Think back to when you made your donation - please rate the following statements in terms of how closely they matched your motivation to give	Multiple choice and comment box (Same answers as for WMDE Q 12) rated 1 - 5	-	-
6. The following are potential concerns about Wikipedia and other Wiki projects (See examples below)	Please rate from 1 - 5 how much you share these concerns	-	-
7. What areas of work are you aware of that Wikimedia UK currently supports, and to what extent? (See examples below)	Multiple choice - rate from 1 - 5 from 'know a lot about' to 'know nothing about'	-	-
8. The donations Wikimedia UK receives are used for different areas of work. How much, in your opinion, should donations be used to support the following areas? (See examples below)	Please rate each area from 1 - 5	-	-
9. To support Wikipedia and other Wiki projects, Wikimedia UK undertakes work in several areas. Eight examples are presented in summary - please rate how much you feel they are worth supporting (see examples below)	Multiple choice (short descriptions and rated 1 - 5)	-	-
10. If you had to pick one area of work that was most important, which would it be? Please use the comment box to provide your reasoning	Select one & comment box (Same examples as for Q 9)	-	-
11. How frequently do you access Wikipedia or other Wiki projects?	Select one (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Rarely, Don't know)	-	-
12. Have you ever created or changed content on Wikipedia, or another wiki project?	Y/N	If N: Would you like to contribute online to Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects, but don't know what to do or how to do it? If Y: Do you have a user account on Wikipedia?	Y/N
13. Would you be interested in a free training session on editing online?	Y/N	-	-
14. Would you like to hear more about other donors who have contributed to the work of Wikimedia projects in other ways, such as through learning to edit and coordinate outreach work?	Y/N	-	-
15. Were you aware that Wikimedia UK hosts in-person meet-ups around the UK for donors, members and editors of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects?	Y/N	If N: Would you like to be kept informed of meet-ups nearest to you in a regular donor newsletter?	Y/N
16. Would you be interested in coming to a Wikimedia UK event or activity that supports one of the project areas as described earlier?	Y/N	-	-

Survey examples

Question Six

1. Wikipedia will be forced to permit advertisements in order to maintain itself
2. Volunteers who create the content will stop their work for Wikipedia
3. Wikipedia will contain incomplete, biased or false information
4. Wikipedia might have to start charging money for access

Question Seven

1. Technology - developing new software and investing in making Wiki projects more accessible and robust
2. Supporting the global WMF mission, and particularly the development of chapters in other countries
3. UK based Educational Projects
4. Outreach to underrepresented editor groups
5. Recruiting new editors
6. Making archival material freely available
7. Training established editors to be able to train new editors
8. Hosting in person meet ups
9. Hosting collaborative editing sessions
10. Working with partner organisations to raise awareness of open rights and free content issues
11. Sending representatives to international conferences and events to represent the UK Wikipedia and Wikimedia communities

Question Eight

1. Technology - developing new software and investing in making Wiki projects more accessible and robust
2. Supporting the global WMF mission, and particularly the development of chapters in other countries
3. UK based Educational Projects
4. Outreach to underrepresented editor groups
5. Recruiting new editors
6. Making archival material freely available
7. Training established editors to be able to train new editors
8. Hosting in person meet ups
9. Hosting collaborative editing sessions
10. Working with partner organisations to raise awareness of open rights and free content issues
11. Sending representatives to international conferences and events to represent the UK Wikipedia and Wikimedia communities

Question Nine

1. Monmouthpedia - Facilitating the creation of hundreds of Wikipedia articles about this town's history and culture, made accessible through linking QR codes which will direct the reader to a translated version based not he language of their phone
2. WW1 Editathon - Bringing together editors at an event hosted at the British Library to improve the accuracy, coverage and breath of content in this important area
3. EduWiki Conference - Hosting the first ever UK conference to bring together staff from schools and Universities to discuss the use of Wikipedia as an educational tool
4. Sharing public archival material - Making a grant to the National Archives to digitise and bring a collection of 2,000 war art images into the public domain
5. The Wikimedia movement - Providing a grant to the Wikimedia Foundation to support the furthering of work in the global movement, by supporting developing chapters and improving the technology that sustains sites like Wikipedia
6. Wiki Scholarships - Providing scholarships to support established and newer editors to attend events that focus on Wiki projects and other free content projects
7. Growing our Editor base - Encouraging new editors from diverse backgrounds by holding targeted editing and meet-up events
8. Supporting established editors - Developing existing editors from occasional contributors to established and involved community members through online training and face-to-face meet ups

Suggestions for Survey tool

• Survey Monkey
• Qualtrics - not sure of the cost but it's excellent software, could be worthwhile if we plan to do many surveys in future
• Google forms - currently used to administer post-event surveys