On Thu, 2010-02-18 at 19:51 +0000, Thomas Dalton wrote: <snip>
> On 18 February 2010 19:39, Brian McNeil <[email protected]> wrote: > > It all costs money, and it won't happen overnight. I'd rather see the > > board talk things over with the WMF and perhaps invest some money in > > improving the core WMF fundraiser system to better help chapters promote > > themselves and maintain income. > > We don't use the WMF's fundraiser system. They just direct donors to > our fundraising system, which I consider preferable. We want to keep > control of our money. Yes, but as I assume you're aware, there was some discontent over the fundraiser. At least with regard to sister projects. Equally, the system could better support local chapter membership drives. That does not mean ceding control of funds to the WMF - a point I find strange to raise as I'd expect you to trust them and the WMUK board to draw up reasonable agreements. There is talk of geolocation improvements to the central sitenotice and related use for fundraising. Why not have input on that development? Possibly even pay for the development of a system for the WMF to handover donation information to WMUK for them to process and possibly add a "top up" for membership, or a direct debit. Basically, I'd say concentrate on bringing in the more dedicated Wikimedians - hopefully the people who have ideas on how WMUK can facilitate creation, collection, and dissemination of Free knowledge and culture. I'd think very long, and very hard, before offering a "too cheap" membership fee - especially if auto-renewed at that rate. Look at National Trust membership fees: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-trust/w-support/w-jointoday/w-jointoday-categories_costs.htm In my opinion, a little steep - but I believe they've secured a rather nice members benefits package. So, where's the tipping point? And, as you're stuck with a relatively small base to try and recruit from, or required to "beg" from donors to the WMF - look at what all you need in place, and how it fits into the bigger WMF picture. There is a checken-and-egg issue; WMUK needs the id/credentials points in place as a negotiating point with potential partners. You'd need a fairly regular newsletter as most people won't sign up to mailing lists or turn up in IRC (working with the MWF and non-UK-resident Wikimedians) you could employ a variety of distribution mechanisms, such as iPlayer (Wikinews used to do this for the print edition), have invite-only verified Facebook group(s), &c. Even if initially all you're doing is sending members an update on the last month's UK-related featured content you have to be giving people something reminding them you've not forgotten about them. Build from that - offer a £25/quarter donation and membership fee at the next fundraiser. Then, work on newsletter content to draw in people who sign up and convert them into content contributors. -- Brian McNeil <[email protected]> Wikinewsie.org
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
