Wikipedia:WMF South Africa fundraising campaign

South Africa Community Collaboration Wiki page

WMF South Africa fundraising campaign 2024

Every year the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) runs fundraising campaigns in different parts of the world from the US, to Latin America, to Australia, and Japan. From the 28th of May to the 25th of June the WMF will be running the annual banner fundraising campaign in South Africa. This page is for you to explore and provide input in the South African fundraising campaign.

Why do we fundraise for Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects?

People give to Wikipedia for many different reasons. The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, ensures that every donation we receive is invested back into serving Wikipedia, Wikimedia projects, and our free knowledge mission.

We’re a nonprofit, and readers and donors around the world keep us independent.
Wikipedia serves millions of readers and runs at a fraction of the cost of other top websites.
Reader donations support the technology that makes Wikipedia possible and improvements to how people read, edit, and share knowledge on Wikipedia.
We’ve evolved to meet new needs in a changing technology landscape and respond to new global threats.
We manage our finances responsibly and balance Wikipedia’s immediate needs with long-term sustainability.
Supporting Wikipedia means you’re helping it become more representative of all the world’s knowledge.
Contributions from readers keep us going.

You can read more in this Medium post.

Below are example fundraising banners. The WMF fundraising team values input from the local community around banner messaging to find ways to better reach readers in South Africa.

Together we make the fundraising campaign better

To ensure a strong start to the campaign, the WMF fundraising team is inviting ideas and input ahead of the campaign to prepare for the launch. 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 Julia Brungs at jbrungs at wikimedia dot org.

12th of March at 17:30 South Africa time - meeting link

We’ve recently added an invitation to create an account and try editing Wikipedia into our donation flow in South Africa. The call-to-action is on our Thank You page, which donors see immediately after donating online. Interested donors will be directed to account creation pages, and then land on a homepage with newcomer features. This addition may cause you to see some new editors on English Wikipedias moving forward, especially during our annual fundraising campaign. If you have any questions around this, please use the talk page.

If you encounter people with questions about donating, you can ask them to email donate@wikimedia.org.

Current banner examples – share your input and creativity

Below you find our current example banners for the upcoming campaign in South Africa. We welcome ideas you may have to better reach readers in South Africa this year. (please note we may also show the same banner on the Android and iOS app)

Desktop large

Desktop large

Add your feedback below

Desktop small

Desktop small

Add your feedback below

Mobile large

Mobile large

Add your feedback below

Mobile small

Mobile small

Add your feedback below

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

I summarize from wikipedia for my radio program every week, so I guess I could start give something back, even if it's just R40 per month. Thank you for a wonderful platform of knowledge! Kind Regards

I work with youth in the city centre of Johannesburg and Wikipedia helps me to share knowledge with severely under privileged kids to expand their worlds. THANK YOU!

Investments in the South African community

During the last years, several projects were funded by the WMF to help the South African community thrive and grow. Have a look at some of those: