Wikimedia Apps/Team/iOS/Fundraising Experiment in the iOS App

Background

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous comments have been migrated to the discussion page, please join us there!

Add your ideas to the discussion page

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

September 2024

This page has sparked a rich discussion so far about the Article Badge idea. As shared in the annual plan (Wiki Experiences 3.2.1), our goal was to share the idea of a badge representing donors championing article(s) of interest and discuss it with community members to see if there was interest, concerns, or alternate ideas. Over the past 2 months, we've discussed this idea with 24 editors, readers, and donors through on-wiki and off-wiki conversations, interviews, and user testing. After analyzing the feedback, we have decided that we will not pursue development and testing of the article badge idea as it relates to championing an article through donations. We are thankful for all of the thoughts and opinions shared. Your feedback helped us come to a decision on whether or not to productionize this idea, and the alternative ideas shared will guide us as we think about future fundraising experiments.

While we are not going to continue working on the article badge idea at this time, other experimentation with fundraising is still part of the annual plan. Hearing the alternate ideas mentioned during these discussions was helpful, as they matched with two ideas we had also been considering: increasing the prominence of the donate button, and centralized donor recognition that is not tied to content. If you would like to learn more about why the Foundation Product and Technology teams are exploring fundraising experiments and find information about upcoming work, please visit Reader and Donor Experiences.

What did we learn?

Overall, 7 editors were open to the idea of testing this concept. 5 were against the idea being tested. 14 editors expressed concerns with the idea as presented.
5 out of 5 user testing participants liked the feature and position of the icon next to the article and gave constructive feedback on icons and preferred language.
There were 3 key concerns with the article badge idea that came up multiple times:
- Making it clear enough to the reader where their donation goes, and how it is spent
  - 12 editors worried that readers would think their donation is supporting the editors, or the subject matter of the article.
  - People said that readers are already often confused whether donations go to the editors, or to the Wikimedia Foundation, and this feature tying donations to articles may confuse them more.
  - There was concern that this feature would lead readers to think that supporting a certain article entitles that article to receive special treatment from editors or the platform.
- Accounting for controversial and sensitive articles
  - 5 people mentioned that it's important to consider how a feature like this would appear on controversial or sensitive articles, and how it could be misunderstood or misused.
  - It was noted that the feature could be limited to a set of articles for initial testing, but people were concerned that there is not a sustainable way to ensure a feature like this does not display on controversial or sensitive articles at scale, across languages.
- Allowing donations to influence how an article appears
  - 5 people expressed concerns about the idea of publicly displaying the count of donations on each article, noting that it would allow money to influence how an article appears.
  - It was noted that displaying donation totals could lead to actors trying to influence content in inappropriate ways, or be used to promote certain topics over others in ways that violate neutrality.
  - There is concern that readers might misinterpret the number of donations, and it would influence their perception of the content quality.
Other concerns shared included:
- Gamifying of donations: 2 people expressed concern that allowing users to earn a badge after donation was a form of gamification, and they did not want Wikipedia to engage in gamification.
- Sparking larger Community reaction: there is concern that an experimental version in production would result in a larger pushback from editors.
- Changes in article state: 2 people expressed concern for how donors and the feature would react to changes in the article, for example if the article is substantially changed, deleted or merged.
Alternative ideas shared/supported
- Change the location of the existing donate button
  - 4 editors stated that they would prefer the Apps team look for a new/more prominent location for the donate button.
- Try a centralized badge on the app homepage that recognizes the donor, unrelated to articles
  - This was suggested by 1 editor.
- Add donation option at end of article
  - This was suggested by 1 editor, and 2 readers during user testing.
- Allow for custom app icon as donor recognition
  - This was suggested as a part of the original project, and supported by one editor.
Learnings for future work
- Consider ways to recognize donors that don't associate their donation with a specific article
- Try increasing the visibility of existing donate options by testing new locations
- Explore ways to make donors feel special in a way that is private to them, such as recognizing their contributions within their app homepage, or offering them a custom app icon.
- Explore ways that readers can show appreciation without making a donation. Several people mentioned they were not opposed to the idea of allowing readers to express appreciation for articles, but did not want it to be connected with a donation.
- Consider the difficulty of A/B testing ideas similar to this. Avoid motivating a user to earn something that will be taken away after the test.

How did we collect feedback?

We heard from 19 unique editors on this concept and 5 readers, who are active on English, Japanese, Chinese, or Spanish Wikipedias. To hear feedback we took a number of actions:

Shared the idea at the Wikimania 2024 Fundraising banner session
Spoke with Japanese users at the in-person ESEAP meeting during Wikimania 2024, and held an interview with a Spanish community member
Shared project page on Village Pump of Spanish Wikipedia. (Page was also shared by community members on English, and Japanese Village Pumps)
Received and responded to feedback on this page

Conducted user testing with the wireframes on userlytics.com with 5 participants (Spanish, Japanese and English speaking). We used this testing protocol to understand users' perception of feature.

August 2024

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.