Visits to any of the many entries on Wikipedia no longer smack the reader in the forehead with giant banner ads asking for handouts. The annual fundraising effort is over, but not before Jimmy Wales and Co. raised a whopping $20 million to keep Wikipedia afloat. It was the Wikimedia Foundation's most successful campaign ever, in which more than a million donors reached into their wallets and PayPal accounts.
"Our model is working fantastically well," said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "Ordinary people use Wikipedia and they like it, so they chip in some cash so it will continue to thrive. That maintains our independence and lets us focus solely on providing a useful public service. I am so grateful to our donors for making that possible. I promise them we will use their money carefully and well."
The Wikimedia Foundation isn't having any trouble raising funds. Since 2008, the number of Wikimedia Foundation donors has increased ten-fold, and the monetary donations have also gone up, going from $4.5 million to $20 million.
Funds raised in the campaign will be used to purchase and install more servers and hardware, to develop new site functionality, expand mobile services, provide legal defense for the projects, and to support the community of volunteers, the Wikimedia Foundation said.
Comments are closed on this article
livebriand
January 05, 2012 at 5:34pm
I get tired of everyone trying to shove their hands in my wallet, and therefore I rarely donate to charities. It's like ads - shove them in my face and up my ass, and I WILL try my hardest to ignore them, and then you've completely failed to get the point acorss to me.
mattman059
January 05, 2012 at 1:40pm
..guy goes to wikipedia to look something up..
..See's peoples face asking for money...
..Tries searching something else to get rid of the people...
"FINE TAKE MY MONEY, GET YOUR FACE OFF MY WIKI"
ragesearch.
phoenixjc
January 05, 2012 at 1:26pm
I had an issue with the tone of the "Personal Appeals", specifically the one from Jimmy. It was more the statement (and I am paraphrasing here,) please donate money to keep wikipedia free. I get that a donation is just that, but he is basically asking for you to pay for wikipedia so you don't have to pay for wikipedia. The other theme that resonates is that he doesn't want to have to put up ad banners on the site to generate revenue. By doing what he is doing in asking for donations, he is putting up ad banners in order to generate revenue.
Please don't get me wrong. I use wikipedia a lot and support the cause, but it's the hypocritical way that they do their fundraising that strikes a chord with me. Jimmy, just man up and say "Our site runs off your donations. Please help us out so you don't have to see advertising or pay a fee."
TommM
January 05, 2012 at 9:59am
Count me in as one of the donors. I'd say Wikipedia is one of the top 3 websites I visit. Happy to help contribute to keep it running.
siramic
January 05, 2012 at 10:59am
Thank you for your support TommM, and the other contributors, as it has been a excellent resource for me as well.
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