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Wikimedia Foundation Raises $20 Million

By TechTaffy Desk

 

Techtaffy Newsdesk

The Wikimedia Foundation annual fundraising campaign has raised $20 million from more than one million donors in nearly every country in the world, said the foundation.

Wikimedia Foundation websites serve more than 470 million people every month. It is the only major website supported not by advertising, but by donations from readers.

Sue Gardner  (Executive director, Wikimedia Foundation): Our model is working fantastically well.

The number of Wikimedia Foundation donors has increased ten-fold since 2008 and the total dollar amount raised in the campaign has risen to over $20 million from $4.5 million.

Funds raised in this campaign will be used to buy and install servers and other hardware, to develop new site functionality, expand mobile services, provide legal defense for the projects, and support the large global community of Wikimedia volunteers, said the foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation’s total 2011-12 planned spending is $28.3 million. The bulk of that is raised during the annual campaign and the remainder comes throughout the year in the form of grants from institutions (such as the Sloan Foundation) and many other small donations year round.

With over 20 million articles in 282 languages, Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia in human history. Over 100,000 volunteers work on Wikipedia and its 10 sister projects (including projects like Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, and Wiktionary), says the foundation. On January 15, 2012, Wikipedia will celebrate its 11th anniversary.

 

You may also want to read: Sergey Brin, Anne Award Half Million Dollars To Wikipedia

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