Patrons of Wikipedia. Who are they?
Translator's note . When asked what made you donate a patronage in support of Wikipedia, people most often call: 1. the desire to help the common cause (37%) and 2. the personal appeal of Jimmy Wells (34%). And in Russia, the most popular motive is the appeal of the founder of Wikipedia: 75% of respondents from Russia made a contribution due to the fact that they saw his personal appeal. And it is also interesting that, of all countries, it is in Russia that most of all people do not know that Wikipedia exists on patrons' fees of users - such 64% of the respondents.
We recently completed our annual fundraising campaign, which was very successful . More than one million of our patrons from many different countries is a rather diverse and interesting group in itself. Since we do not collect any personal data in the background, we resorted to a survey of Wikipedia readers in order to understand who our patrons of art are and what motivates them to make contributions in support of Wikipedia.
Consider, these results are obtained on the basis of a small sample from our entire readership, and not from actual data:
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1. Approximately half of our readers understand that Wikipedia is a non-commercial project, and editors are much more likely to make a donation.
2. The appeal of Jimmy Wales is a popular reason why people donated, but its role varies from region to region.
3. About a quarter of our respondents said they would make a contribution, while readers from the United States, Egypt and India were more likely than readers from other countries.
4. Readers call personal financial difficulties the main reason why they do not contribute.
Many of our readers simply do not know that Wikipedia is a non-profit project, supported solely by donations from the public. On average, 47% of our readers do not know this. This lack of awareness is especially high in Russia (64%), Brazil (56%) and the USA (56%). Readers in India (61% are aware of the non-commercial status of Wikipedia) and Egypt (70%) were more informed. Academic readers were more aware of this. If we consider that Wikipedia has more than 400 million unique visitors per month, this means that a significant number of people use Wikipedia, completely unaware of its non-commercial substance.
Interestingly, 28% of readers who edited Wikipedia articles also do not know that this is a non-commercial project.
At the same time, editors are more willing to make a donation - 26% of them made a contribution, while among readers who never made edits, these turned out to be only 3%. And while almost all non-editors donated three times or less, 21% of editors made contributions more than five times.
Further, although men made one-time donations more often than women (44% versus 36%), much more often women made repeated donations. And 14% of them made contributions more than five times, and among men such patrons were only 6%.
Donations to the regional offices were also rare - only about 3% of our readers made them. Again, the editors (22%) made contributions with a much greater likelihood.
As two main reasons why they donated, Wikipedia readers indicated: “I felt that a small amount would be in demand” (37%) and “I saw the appeal of Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia)” (34%). However, 61% of benefactors from Canada responded that making a donation for them is an opportunity to participate in a common cause, because they never edited the encyclopedia, and 75% of readers from Russia made a contribution because they saw Jimmy’s appeal. Interestingly, up to 15% of patrons decided to make a contribution at the request of friends in social networks.
What made you donate to Wikipedia?
As mentioned earlier, many readers do not know about the non-commercial status of Wikipedia. After being reminded that Wikipedia 1. is supported by charitable contributions, 2. does not use advertising and 3. sets its mission to spread free knowledge around the world, 24% of them said they would make a contribution. Readers of India (42%), Egypt (33%) and the USA (33%) expressed a stronger desire to make a donation. Respondents from Portugal (33%) were also more inclined to make a donation. Respondents from Germany (13%), France (11%) and Japan (15%) were relatively less inclined to make contributions. As expected, the editors were much more inclined to support the project — 49% of them said they would make a contribution.
About 46% of readers who don’t make donations say they cannot afford to do this. One possible explanation could be the fact that people simply do not know that the contribution can be for any amount — the most frequent contributions during the 2010 campaign were $ 20, $ 5 and $ 10. (The data for 2011 is still missing, but preliminary figures suggest that this time, too, these contribution rates prevailed). The high value of the dollar can also have an effect - 68% of readers from Japan and 57% of readers from India indicated financial constraints. But 60% of readers from the UK also indicate this reason.
Why did you decide not to make a donation in support of the Wikimedia Foundation? Please check all that apply.
Mani Pande , head of global development research
Ayush Hanna , Analyst, Global Development
We recently conducted an online survey of Wikipedia readers, limited to 250 participants in each of the 16 countries. This is the eighth blog post of a series of publications about our findings . If you're interested, you can learn more about the survey methodology here .
Who are the patrons of Wikipedia? The answers received as a result of a survey of readers.
We recently completed our annual fundraising campaign, which was very successful . More than one million of our patrons from many different countries is a rather diverse and interesting group in itself. Since we do not collect any personal data in the background, we resorted to a survey of Wikipedia readers in order to understand who our patrons of art are and what motivates them to make contributions in support of Wikipedia.
Consider, these results are obtained on the basis of a small sample from our entire readership, and not from actual data:
')
1. Approximately half of our readers understand that Wikipedia is a non-commercial project, and editors are much more likely to make a donation.
2. The appeal of Jimmy Wales is a popular reason why people donated, but its role varies from region to region.
3. About a quarter of our respondents said they would make a contribution, while readers from the United States, Egypt and India were more likely than readers from other countries.
4. Readers call personal financial difficulties the main reason why they do not contribute.
1. Approximately half of our readers understand that Wikipedia is a non-commercial project, and editors are much more likely to make a donation.
Many of our readers simply do not know that Wikipedia is a non-profit project, supported solely by donations from the public. On average, 47% of our readers do not know this. This lack of awareness is especially high in Russia (64%), Brazil (56%) and the USA (56%). Readers in India (61% are aware of the non-commercial status of Wikipedia) and Egypt (70%) were more informed. Academic readers were more aware of this. If we consider that Wikipedia has more than 400 million unique visitors per month, this means that a significant number of people use Wikipedia, completely unaware of its non-commercial substance.
Interestingly, 28% of readers who edited Wikipedia articles also do not know that this is a non-commercial project.
At the same time, editors are more willing to make a donation - 26% of them made a contribution, while among readers who never made edits, these turned out to be only 3%. And while almost all non-editors donated three times or less, 21% of editors made contributions more than five times.
Further, although men made one-time donations more often than women (44% versus 36%), much more often women made repeated donations. And 14% of them made contributions more than five times, and among men such patrons were only 6%.
Donations to the regional offices were also rare - only about 3% of our readers made them. Again, the editors (22%) made contributions with a much greater likelihood.
2. The appeal of Jimmy Wales is a popular reason why people donated, but its role varies from region to region.
As two main reasons why they donated, Wikipedia readers indicated: “I felt that a small amount would be in demand” (37%) and “I saw the appeal of Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia)” (34%). However, 61% of benefactors from Canada responded that making a donation for them is an opportunity to participate in a common cause, because they never edited the encyclopedia, and 75% of readers from Russia made a contribution because they saw Jimmy’s appeal. Interestingly, up to 15% of patrons decided to make a contribution at the request of friends in social networks.
What made you donate to Wikipedia?
3. About a quarter of our respondents said they would make a contribution, while readers from the United States, Egypt and India were more likely than readers from other countries.
As mentioned earlier, many readers do not know about the non-commercial status of Wikipedia. After being reminded that Wikipedia 1. is supported by charitable contributions, 2. does not use advertising and 3. sets its mission to spread free knowledge around the world, 24% of them said they would make a contribution. Readers of India (42%), Egypt (33%) and the USA (33%) expressed a stronger desire to make a donation. Respondents from Portugal (33%) were also more inclined to make a donation. Respondents from Germany (13%), France (11%) and Japan (15%) were relatively less inclined to make contributions. As expected, the editors were much more inclined to support the project — 49% of them said they would make a contribution.
4. Readers call personal financial difficulties the main reason why they do not contribute.
About 46% of readers who don’t make donations say they cannot afford to do this. One possible explanation could be the fact that people simply do not know that the contribution can be for any amount — the most frequent contributions during the 2010 campaign were $ 20, $ 5 and $ 10. (The data for 2011 is still missing, but preliminary figures suggest that this time, too, these contribution rates prevailed). The high value of the dollar can also have an effect - 68% of readers from Japan and 57% of readers from India indicated financial constraints. But 60% of readers from the UK also indicate this reason.
Why did you decide not to make a donation in support of the Wikimedia Foundation? Please check all that apply.
Mani Pande , head of global development research
Ayush Hanna , Analyst, Global Development
We recently conducted an online survey of Wikipedia readers, limited to 250 participants in each of the 16 countries. This is the eighth blog post of a series of publications about our findings . If you're interested, you can learn more about the survey methodology here .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/154919/
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