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> Mozilla's revenue in 2014 was $323 million In other words, if every Firefox user paid $1/year, donations would more than surpass the amount that Mozilla make

> Mozilla's revenue in 2014 was $323 million In other words, if every Firefox user paid $1/year, donations would more than surpass the amount that Mozilla makes from Yahoo. I don't think every user is going to pay $1, no, but just to put that into perspective, it's not a prohibitive sum of money. EDIT $1, not $5: https://blog.mozilla.org/press/ataglance/ https://blog.mozilla.org/press/ataglance/

tshtf 11y ago
It is. As a comparison, the EFF received only $13 million in annual donations according to their last annual report: https://www.eff.org/document/fiscal-year-2013-14-audited-financial-statement https://www.eff.org/document/fiscal-year-2013-14-audited-fin...
- chimeracoder 11y ago
  > As a comparison, the EFF received only $13 million in annual donations The EFF is hardly a relevant comparison. Most Firefox users have no idea what the EFF is, but most Firefox users do know what Firefox is. (And even if they don't, and just know Firefox as "the Internet", as some users don't understand what a browser is, it's still a lot easier to tell them what Firefox is and why it's important than to explain to them the work the EFF does and why that's important. I am not speculating here; I am speaking as someone who donates to both Mozilla and the EFF and reminds his non-tech friends and family each December to do the same. The challenge with getting a critical mass of Firefox users to donate is not in convincing users that their web browser is worth ~10¢/month, but in the friction required to get them to make a payment the first time[1]. [1] (This is the exact challenge that basically every non-profit ever has faced with recurring donations. Some are better at solving it than others.)
- ForHackernews 11y ago
  Normal people do not care about the EFF and have no idea what it is. What EFF products does your grandma use? How much does Wikipedia (something normal people actually care about) raise?
  - a3_nm 11y ago
    $45 million in donations and contributions over the 2012-2013 fiscal year. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Wmf_AR12_v11_SHIP_2pp_hyper_14jan14.pdf https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Wmf_AR12... (That's the Wikimedia Foundation and does not include the local chapters such as Wikimédia France.)
djsumdog 11y ago
For an American, no. $5 USD is nearly 100 Moldovan Lei. In other countries, it can amount to 2 ~ 3 days worth of food.
tux3 11y ago
Wikipedia, with their incredibly visible donation campaigns and ubiquitous user base, raised some $75 millions last year and $52M the year before. Assuming that every user would donate is wildly off-target. I'm sure Mozilla could raise respectable numbers too, but I'm not convinced this is what we should focus on to get things to change.
- chimeracoder 11y ago
  > Assuming that every user would donate is wildly off-target I'm not sure what point you're refuting, since the original post says: > I don't think every user is going to pay $1 The comparison is an illustration of the average donation necessary per user, not a prediction that every user will donate the mean amount.
  - tux3 11y ago
    My point is that it is, in fact, a prohibitive sum of money. I'm arguing that realistically, if Firefox were to make a donation drive, it would be nowhere near what they currently make from Yahoo, the Wikipedia figure gives a pretty real sense of scale in my opinion.
    - chimeracoder 11y ago
      > the Wikipedia figure gives a pretty real sense of scale in my opinion. As noted below, Wikipedia raises that amount because that's what they need. They could easily raise more if they wanted or needed to. Mozilla already does have a donation drive; the question we're discussing is whether it would be beneficial (and practical) for Firefox to shift its business model to rely more heavily on user donations. Currently, Mozilla does not raise more because they don't need to - it's not their primary source of funding, and so they're not as aggressive with their donation campaign as they could be.
- eloisant 11y ago
  Wikipedia could raise more if they tuned up the rate that banner is showing. They don't because they have more than enough.

tshtf 11y ago

It is. As a comparison, the EFF received only $13 million in annual donations according to their last annual report: https://www.eff.org/document/fiscal-year-2013-14-audited-financial-statement https://www.eff.org/document/fiscal-year-2013-14-audited-fin...

chimeracoder 11y ago
> As a comparison, the EFF received only $13 million in annual donations The EFF is hardly a relevant comparison. Most Firefox users have no idea what the EFF is, but most Firefox users do know what Firefox is. (And even if they don't, and just know Firefox as "the Internet", as some users don't understand what a browser is, it's still a lot easier to tell them what Firefox is and why it's important than to explain to them the work the EFF does and why that's important. I am not speculating here; I am speaking as someone who donates to both Mozilla and the EFF and reminds his non-tech friends and family each December to do the same. The challenge with getting a critical mass of Firefox users to donate is not in convincing users that their web browser is worth ~10¢/month, but in the friction required to get them to make a payment the first time[1]. [1] (This is the exact challenge that basically every non-profit ever has faced with recurring donations. Some are better at solving it than others.)
ForHackernews 11y ago
Normal people do not care about the EFF and have no idea what it is. What EFF products does your grandma use? How much does Wikipedia (something normal people actually care about) raise?
- a3_nm 11y ago
  $45 million in donations and contributions over the 2012-2013 fiscal year. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Wmf_AR12_v11_SHIP_2pp_hyper_14jan14.pdf https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Wmf_AR12... (That's the Wikimedia Foundation and does not include the local chapters such as Wikimédia France.)

djsumdog 11y ago

For an American, no. $5 USD is nearly 100 Moldovan Lei. In other countries, it can amount to 2 ~ 3 days worth of food.

tux3 11y ago

Wikipedia, with their incredibly visible donation campaigns and ubiquitous user base, raised some $75 millions last year and $52M the year before. Assuming that every user would donate is wildly off-target. I'm sure Mozilla could raise respectable numbers too, but I'm not convinced this is what we should focus on to get things to change.

chimeracoder 11y ago
> Assuming that every user would donate is wildly off-target I'm not sure what point you're refuting, since the original post says: > I don't think every user is going to pay $1 The comparison is an illustration of the average donation necessary per user, not a prediction that every user will donate the mean amount.
- tux3 11y ago
  My point is that it is, in fact, a prohibitive sum of money. I'm arguing that realistically, if Firefox were to make a donation drive, it would be nowhere near what they currently make from Yahoo, the Wikipedia figure gives a pretty real sense of scale in my opinion.
  - chimeracoder 11y ago
    > the Wikipedia figure gives a pretty real sense of scale in my opinion. As noted below, Wikipedia raises that amount because that's what they need. They could easily raise more if they wanted or needed to. Mozilla already does have a donation drive; the question we're discussing is whether it would be beneficial (and practical) for Firefox to shift its business model to rely more heavily on user donations. Currently, Mozilla does not raise more because they don't need to - it's not their primary source of funding, and so they're not as aggressive with their donation campaign as they could be.
eloisant 11y ago
Wikipedia could raise more if they tuned up the rate that banner is showing. They don't because they have more than enough.