[Wikipedia-l] Fundraising

Mon Jun 7 12:10:04 UTC 2004

We need to start fundraising again, and at least for today, we should
have a link up on the 'wikipedia is dead' page to the donations page
on the wikimedia website.  I am sure people will contribute at a time
like this.

Going forward, I think that we need a constant message on every page
of the site, most likely at the bottom of each article, saying
something like "If you have found Wikipedia helpful, remember that we
are a nonprofit organization that relies on donations from users like
you."

We have now a total of approximately $12,000-$14,000 in the bank...
we are going to need to use that to buy additional apaches and
probably additional squids.  Other than the fact that we're currently
in the middle of a database fiasco, we likely have enough DB power for
right now... although we should try to be ahead of the curve.

Last week, before I left, traffic had approximately doubled in a
single week.  This is staggering, because traffic was already huge.

In my opinion, we are going to need another $100,000 of equipment by
the end of the year, *and* we can *easily* raise that from donations
from the general public.

But to raise money, we have to ask.  People won't give unless they
know that we need it, and unless they know how incredibly efficient we
are with the resources that are given to us.

--Jimbo