“Wikipedia Forever” fundraiser arouses controversy
The 2009 Wikimedia Fundraiser began on 10 November, according to Rand Montoya, Head of Community Giving for the Foundation. The messages and design for the fundraiser this year were developed with a PR firm called Fenton Communications. Fenton was hired on retainer over the next year to work on public relations for the Foundation, including the fundraiser and to help "to build the credibility" of Wikipedia; this is part of the Communications Campaign noted in the 2009–2010 WMF annual plan.
Once again, the fundraiser will feature site-wide banners across all projects. The messages for the banners are listed on Meta, while mockups of the sitenotice designs are listed on the fundraiser development site (with discussion on meta). A mockup of the donation page can also be found on the site.
The fundraiser has an overall theme of "Wikipedia Forever". Notes about the meanings of some of the individual banner messages are on meta, in a note from Jelly Helm, the PR lead.