Direct mail fundraising helps us support our mission by diversifying our funding sources. This ensures we can continue to provide free access to knowledge while maintaining our independence. In addition, direct mail is a low-cost, effective way for us to communicate outside of crowded email inboxes, providing a more personal touch and detailed updates on how donations are making a difference. It allows us to share deeper information about our programs and impact, so our community of supporters can better understand the full scope of our work.

Direct mail is a cost-effective method for reaching our supporters. While there are upfront costs, the return on investment is typically strong, allowing us to allocate more resources to our core mission of spreading free knowledge. We also share concerns for any environmental impact – and that’s why we’re committed to using recycled materials in our direct mail campaigns. Additionally, we will continue to offer multiple ways for donors to engage with us digitally.

We aim to balance keeping our supporters informed with respecting their preferences. Typically, you might receive a few mailings per year. However, you can always adjust your communication preferences by contacting our Donor Relations team at donate@wikimedia.org.

Processing times for donations made within the continental United States typically take up to 2-3 weeks and sometimes longer depending on carrier transit times and bank clearing times.   If an email address was included with the donation, we will email a receipt upon processing the donation. If we do not have an email address, you will typically receive a mailed receipt several days after the donation is processed subject to mail carrier transit times.

We put the highest importance on the privacy of our donors and the security of their data. We do not trade or sell donor information and work closely with secure payment providers who are fully PCI compliant to process donations.

Please know you will never receive a paper mail or email solicitations from any other organization as a result of donating to the Wikimedia Foundation.

For more information, please visit our donor privacy policy, which details how we use your information and your rights over that information.

Our donation processor is fully PCI compliant. Once we process a credit card transaction, all credit card information is either purged entirely or the first 12 numbers of the card are redacted, so we hold the last 4 digits in our records. The paper forms returned by donors that detail card information are shredded as part of this process.

You can unsubscribe from postal mailings at any time by emailing donate@wikimedia.org. Alternatively, you can mark the opt-out box on the remit slip when you return it in the mail. We ask for your patience, as it may take some time for changes to be fully processed in our system. You might receive one more mailing in the interim due to production timelines.

Please reach out to donate@wikimedia.org with your full name, mailing address, date and amount of the donation and our Donor Relations team will be happy to handle your request. Please note that due to the limitations of our payment processors and of our refund policy, we are unable to refund donations over 90 days old.

For USPS processing of our business reply envelopes we use a unique zip+4 for gifts to our Foundation and Endowment. These are listed below:
WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION

PO BOX 98204
WASHINGTON DC 20077-9829

WIKIMEDIA ENDOWMENT PO BOX 96887
WASHINGTON DC 20077-9830