Wikimedia Apps/Team/iOS/Fundraising Experiment in the iOS App
 | This page in a nutshell: This is a page to talk about experiments to develop new ways to fundraise beyond banners and emails. The team has been updating this page to clarify and to incorporate community thoughts along the way. Currently, the Mobile Apps team is proposing an idea for enabling readers to donate from an article page, and we’d like volunteers to help us think through the idea and improve it, or suggest alternative ideas. If we have an idea we feel good about together, then we might build something to test in the iOS app as a small-scale experiment, likely in non-English Wikipedias. After which, we would discuss results together before proceeding any further. |
Background
[edit]The Mobile Apps team plans to experiment with new formats of fundraising within the Wikipedia iOS App. This work is part of the Annual Plan Key Result 3.2, with the goals of diversifying revenue sources beyond banners, and of helping our existing donors feel appreciated. As the internet changes in the years to come, we anticipate that people will increasingly get Wikipedia content on other sites and apps (like search engines and chatbots), instead of going to Wikipedia directly. If that happens, Wikipedia content will still be important to the world, but it will be harder to raise money from banners on our site. This means that we need to develop new ways to raise the funds that keep the wikis functioning. You can learn more about why finding new fundraising pathways matters, on our annual plan page.
We want to be thinking together about how it makes sense to fundraise beyond banners. One line of thinking is how we can give readers the opportunity to donate to the Wikimedia Foundation when they are feeling gratitude for Wikipedia, and for the content they’re reading – regardless of what time of year it is. For many readers seeing a banner, it may not be the right time at that moment to donate for a variety of reasons. How might we make it easy for them to donate when that moment of appreciation hits? And how might we honor requests from existing donors to recognize their monetary contributions as they use Wikipedia?
Why on the mobile apps?
[edit]The Mobile Apps provide a natural place to experiment: the app audience is much smaller in scale than Mobile and Desktop Wikipedia, and there have been recent investments in improving the donation experience by adding native ApplePay and GPay, based on community requests. Additionally, the technical nature of the apps affords us the opportunity to run quick experiments and get feedback in a way that is not as disruptive as on Web.
Although we want to test concepts in the App, we will collaborate with cross platform editors, readers, and donors early and often throughout our process. Our method for collaboration includes discussions on-wiki and off-wiki with our community of editors, donors, and readers. We are mindful that fundraising is not an area to be taken lightly, which is why we are taking the approach of sharing concepts early and often, and proceeding with the expectation that we will only scale, pivot, or abandon ideas based on quantitative and qualitative data.
Timeline
[edit]August 2024: Feedback period on initial concept
- The Mobile Apps team will share an initial concept and wireframes on this page for feedback and to get the conversation started
- You can find us at Wikimedia Foundation Fundraising Banner Message Workshop on the 7th of August and at the web round table on the 8th of August to discuss this concept at Wikimania 2024.
- We invite editors to share their questions, concerns, support, feedback, and alternative ideas on the discussion page.
- We’ll also get feedback from donors and readers off-wiki, and share results.
September 2024: Feedback around clickable prototype or updated wireframes (if we have an idea we like together)
- Once feedback from initial discussions have been incorporated and if consensus is reached that we should test this, we’ll create and share a clickable prototype for review.
- We'll hold consultations and user interviews to solicit feedback on the prototype.
It is intentional that additional dates are not planned in this section, because we want to have the flexibility to pivot and abandon concepts as needed. Consider this section a working section that will be updated as we continue to learn.
Idea #1: Article Badge
[edit]Note: this is the first idea that the Mobile Apps team is proposing we discuss together. Other ideas are very welcome!
One idea for an experimental donor experience is to add a donation option into the iOS app’s article view that allows readers to donate to earn a badge for that article. If they return to that article, they are recognized as donors with an active badge. We think this concept has the opportunity to:
- Engage readers around their appreciation for Wikipedia, its articles, and the platform. Donors often express that they want to “Give back” in appreciation for the useful information they have accessed.
- Cultivate donors by recognizing them for their past donations, and tailoring their experience while using Wikipedia. Donors often ask to be recognized when they return to Wikipedia on different devices or browsers.
- Communicate the value that readers receive from an article directly to other readers, and to editors who contribute to that article. An optional part of this could be displaying the total number of people who have donated from a given article, giving them insight into how articles are appreciated by other readers.
Making a donation is also a form of participation in the Wikimedia Movement, and deepens the sense of connection that readers feel with Wikipedia. Research showed that new account holders have mentioned expecting “donation-related features or information” as part of their account. Providing recognition through article badges could be one donation-related feature that comes along with an account.
User stories
[edit]User stories are simple statements that product teams use to focus on what we’re trying to accomplish. These are some that we’re thinking about for this idea.
- As an avid Wikipedia reader and supporter, I want to note what article I was finding useful at the time I donated, so that I can show appreciation for the content of the article, the people behind it, and the Wikimedia Foundation for hosting and making the article free and accessible.
- As someone who has donated to the Wikimedia Foundation multiple times in the past year, I want the article or platform to update after I’ve donated, so that I can feel appreciated and recognized for my monetary contributions.
- As a Wikimedian, I want to know what alternative fundraising opportunities are possible and successful on Wikipedia.
What this could look like
[edit]Below are some high level requirements, wireframes and initial ideas for how this could work within the iOS app’s article view. ⚠️ The language must be crystal clear so there won’t be the impression that this article is sponsored. Wireframes below are first ideas and may not become a finalized product feature. We expect the wireframes to evolve as we receive feedback.
Requirements
[edit]- Users have awareness that donations are to the Wikimedia Foundation, and not the subject matter of the article
- Users have awareness that their donation is in appreciation for the article, and not directly to the article and the editors who have or will work on it
- It should be clear that a donation does not do anything to the article, such as raise its priority for content improvements, or prioritize it in search results.
- The badge should be visible to the user, but should not negatively affect the reading experience
- After donation is completed in app, the badge could turn active
- The active badge could be visible every time the user re-visits that article or app, recognizing their past contribution
- There must be logic in place to address cases where an article is deleted, merged, or renamed.
- The user should understand that they are interacting with an experimental or beta feature.
- The experiment must undergo legal review to ensure adherence to our Donor Privacy Policy and Data Retention Guidelines.
- Add a toggle within settings that allows users to disable the badges.
- Users can clear their locally-stored donation history.
Optional
[edit]- A user could see a list of all articles they have donated from
- An active badge could come with other benefits, such as changing the color of your Wikipedia App icon on the homescreen, or hiding fundraising banners.
- There could be functionality built into the watchlist, allowing users to see how many times articles on their watchlist have been championed.
- The number of users who have donated from that article could be displayed publicly (anonymized total)
High-level Wireframes
[edit]-
A tooltip could introduce people to the new addition. -
Optional people counter to indicate how many people have supported Wikipedia from this article. -
After users click the icon, they are introduced to donations and how donations to the Wikimedia Foundation are used. -
Example of users donating via Apple Pay. It uses the existing workflow. -
Touch/Face ID checkout -
Confirmation snackbar. -
This is the active state of the people counter after a users donation from this article. -
The 'badge' is earned per article, e.g. users visiting the 'Climate change' article next will see an inactive badge -
Possible setting to hide article badges within the global Settings -
Optional: tooltip to educate users about the new UI element. -
Optional: The user could see an overview of all of the articles they've made donations from
Donating to earn a badge on a specific article is the concept, but we don’t have to call it a “earning a badge.” Here are some other ideas for naming, let us know if you have a favorite or another suggestion.
- Champion this article
- Honor this article
- Appreciate this article
-
Alternative icon and wording: Champion this article -
Alternative icon and wording: Honor this article -
Alternative icon and wording: Appreciate this article (1) -
Alternative icon and wording: Appreciate this article (2)
Risks
[edit]If there is interest in this idea, we would continue identifying risks, and building in safeguards before testing externally. Below are risks and considerations that have been brought up so far by the team and by volunteers while discussing this idea.
If we were to move forward with testing something, guardrails are potential actions that could be taken to mitigate or avoid the risk.
- Risk: Readers believe they are donating to the subject matter of the article (A political figure for example, or another nonprofit), instead of the Wikimedia Foundation.
- Guardrail: After clicking to donate, readers could see a step with the Wikimedia Foundation logo, and with explicit information about where donations go.
- Guardrail: We could check user’s awareness about where their donation goes in a post-donation survey.
- Risk: Readers believe their donation goes to the editors of the article.
- Guardrail: Language should be clear to say Donate “from” this article (as users often do with banners), and not Donate “to” this article
- Guardrail: After clicking to donate, readers could see a step with the Wikimedia Foundation logo, and with explicit information about where donations go.
- Guardrail: We could check user’s awareness about where their donation goes in a post-donation survey.
- Risk: Showing the total number of donations on an article would affect the article’s NPOV, or actors would attempt to use it inappropriately on sensitive, controversial, or contentious articles.
- Guardrail: We could remove this aspect, and have the badge only visible to individual donors.
- Guardrail: We could prevent a high volume of repeat donations from the same actor
- Guardrail: If we were to move forward with testing something, we could use a set of established articles and only show the feature to a select audience.
- Risk: Readers are offended by being asked to donate on articles about sensitive subjects.
- Guardrail: If we were to move forward with testing something, we could use a set of established articles and only show the feature to a select audience.
- Guardrail: We can could check for reports of this in a post-donation survey
Discussion questions
[edit]Please let us know your thoughts by responding to some or all of these questions:
- What is your username, which wikis are you active on, and for how long (months/years)?
- How do you feel about readers being able to "support" an article by donating and seeing a visual indication on that article? If you have concerns, can you describe them?
- What are your thoughts on testing this idea only in Mobile Apps (for donations made and articles viewed in the apps)? If you have concerns, can you describe them?
- What are your thoughts on using this idea on all platforms (Mobile apps, Desktop, and Mobile Web)? If you have concerns, can you describe them?
- How would you feel about a visual indication appearing on an article you edited/worked on, showing that readers supported it by donating? What concerns do you have about this?
- What are your thoughts on the icons and words used for showing supporters? We thought about “Champion/Honor/Appreciate this article”. Do you have any suggestions?
- How should we balance showing donor support and maintaining privacy? What do you think about showing the number of supporters without naming them?
- What are your thoughts on the potential impact of a visual indication of support on the neutrality or trust of articles?
- What do you think about having an option for users to hide this visual indication of support in the article? How important do you think this feature is?
- What other features or changes would you suggest to improve this idea?
Alternate ideas are encouraged: The Article Badge is just one of many ideas that could be implemented as an experimental form of fundraising within the Mobile Apps. We want to hear from editors, donors, and readers: What are your ideas for an experimental donation format in the apps that will motivate Wikipedia readers to engage and donate? What are features that will help existing donors feel recognized for their monetary contributions?
Add your feedback for Idea #1 to the discussion page
[edit]Previous comments have been migrated to the discussion page, please join us there!
Add your ideas to the discussion page
[edit]If you have an alternative idea that you would like to share for discussion, please add it on the discussion page! The Article Badge is just one idea for an experiment within the Mobile Apps. We want to hear from you: What are your ideas for an experimental donation format in the apps that will motivate Wikipedia readers to engage and donate?
Previous comments have been migrated to the discussion page, please join us there!
Updates
[edit]- 16 August 2024: We rewrote parts of this page to more clearly communicate the purpose of this project & incorporate initial feedback. We’ll share an update soon with modified designs.