* 'Less links': The goal of this page is to make people donate. But every link is a possible distraction for a potential donator. We
should use nearly no links if possible.
common for people to want to do research and get a full understanding
of where their money is going before giving it away.
So I agree that in a typical campaign page, you would have as few links out as possible so that people click on the link you want them to click on.
However, I think in our case it's equally important that people understand what GNOME is, that we educate the world.
In order to address both points, we could have about pages that were specifically for Friends of GNOME that then had another donate button at the bottom. So that if people leave the main page they are very easily directed back. Or we could use those popup text boxes or something to keep them from leaving.
Personally, I think it would be good if we could get testimonials from
people who benefit from GNOME a11y, the One Laptop Per Child program,
people who use computers in 3rd world countries in their 3rd world
language who otherwise couldn't afford to use computers, etc.
Testimonials are a great way to highlight such particular examples in a
more personal way.
That's a great idea. Pictures and quotes would be awesome. Do we have people that could easily reach a few kids in Peru and take some pictures and get a fun, short quote? (I can take one of my stepson but I don't think that would send the same message. :)
And not just One Laptop Per Child. Maybe at GNOME.Asia we can get a few pictures and quotes from people using GNOME in other languages.
I think that there are two types of people we should be trying to
encourage to donate:
- People who receive benefit from GNOME. Such people are typically
people who distribute GNOME, work on GNOME, or use GNOME and do
not need a lot of help to understand what GNOME is or why it
benefits people.
- People who would consider donating if they understand that by helping
GNOME, others also benefit especially people who are disabled,
underprivileged, who lack resources, or who speak languages that are
not supported by proprietary operating systems. Many such people with
an interest in helping others may not understand what GNOME is, or how
GNOME helps others. So, by explaining, we help them to consider
donating to us.
I'd add a third in the middle.
1) GNOME developers, Linux power users, etc.
2) GNOME users that may or may not know they are using GNOME or even if they do, they don't know much about the GNOME project, community or it's goals
3) People that resonate with the GNOME goals even though they aren't direct recipients themselves. The reason people give money to lots of causes. Takes lots of marketing though. Lots of bottom up marketing which is why I'd like to make it easy for people to tell their friends, family, audiences, etc what's so good about GNOME.
Stormy
