Wikipedia Fundraiser Reaches $16 Million Goal In Record Time

2011 is looking up for Wikipedia, the collaborative free-content internet encyclopedia.

On January 1, co-founder Jimmy Wales announced in a blog post that the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia's non-profit parent company that also manages other free Wikis (such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote and Wikimedia Commons), had reached its yearly fundraiser goal in record time.

"Even though we raised more this year than any other year--$16 million--it was also the shortest fundraiser we've ever had," wrote Wales. He also wrote that more than 500,000 donations were made to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Frequent users of Wikipedia will recall that a banner bearing the face of Jimmy Wales--and an "appeal" for user donations--appeared on the website back in November. According to ReadWriteWeb, "the Jimmy Wales banner was so effective that Wikipedia raised in a week what took a month in 2009."

International Business Times notes that the $16 million will keep Wikipedia ad-free for all of 2011, during which Wikipedia will celebrate its 10th anniversary.

"Wikipedia is now the fifth most visited website in the world," Wales also wrote in his blog post, "but our staff, infrastructure and budget are just a fraction of any other top 10 website's [...] This fundraiser had all the ingredients of what we love about Wikimedia projects: people come together, contribute what they have, and together we do something amazing."

Even though the Wikimedia Foundation has reached its goal, you can still make a donation by clicking here.

Comments

[clsez]

05:35 PM on 01/04/2011

I donated last year. Will again this year. That site has taught me more, more easily than any other Bar none. So good to find answers, albeit the skepticism one need have, in such an unencumbered way. Bravo Wales. You are as iconoclastic as anyone ever known.

[TruEngineHearing]

05:24 PM on 01/04/2011

Well, one explanation is... his eyes.

[Jimbo23]

05:04 PM on 01/04/2011

I use wiki to shoot down ignorant canards on this very site all the time. It is a wonder of our modern age and a shining example of how open source beats top-down organization every time unless somebody rich and authoritarian puts their thumb on the scale and cheats.

[JasonDaPsycho]

04:41 PM on 01/04/2011

Will definitely donate for next year. It has been more helpful than any other sites I've used for research.

[darkelflass]

07:37 PM on 01/05/2011

Ditto. Wiki is right up there with Google for me.

[theuniversalcollective]

03:00 PM on 01/04/2011

Wikipedia rocks, it is a boon to all mankind. It's the library of Thebes made available to anyone anywhere connected to the internet who chooses to access it. Information means informed choice which equals freedom and the betterment of humankind.

[Sansea]

02:41 PM on 01/04/2011

I use wiki regularly, it's the go-to site for info. The beauty of the site is if you find an error or omission you can correct it. I had no problem ponying up some $$ for all that.

[eShirl]

02:16 PM on 01/04/2011

It's those eyes that bore right through you.

[f0rTyLeGz]

04:35 AM on 01/04/2011

I am one of the 500,000.

[ROBINB72]

02:13 PM on 01/04/2011

Me too.

[BoFo]

09:00 PM on 01/03/2011

Yay!

[LMPE]

08:35 PM on 01/03/2011

I wonder if Jimmy Wales predicted the occasional instances of wiki-hijacking

[Indigo1941]

08:26 PM on 01/03/2011

I made my donation!

[jo smith456]

08:03 PM on 01/03/2011

...glad that a lot of internet wikipedia users donated.

[shthar]

08:01 PM on 01/03/2011

Thanks, suckers.

[TruEngineHearing]

05:34 PM on 01/04/2011

...nah, it's way better than that. I wouldn't give a buck to the NYT or CNN, or FOX, or Oprah, or Maury, but I trust in the vision of Wikipedia because it actually delivers a vital, reliable, and healthy dose of the fruits of our fabulous brains - what's not to love?