(also posted online at
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_an…)
The Wikimedia Foundation launches ninth annual fundraiser to support
Wikipedia and free knowledge
SAN FRANCISCO, November 27, 2012 - The Wikimedia Foundation, the
non-profit that operates Wikipedia and its sister projects, today
announced the launch of its ninth annual fundraising campaign. The
online fundraiser aims to raise $25 million, while the remainder of
the Wikimedia Foundation’s funding will come from foundation grants
and donations given outside the annual campaign.
The annual Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser brings in the resources
needed to keep the Wikimedia projects freely available to everyone
around the world in their own language, and guarantees that Wikipedia
will never have to rely on advertising. Donations help the Wikimedia
Foundation maintain server infrastructure, support global projects to
increase the number of editors, improve and simplify the software that
supports our projects, and make Wikipedia accessible globally to
billions of people who are just beginning to access the internet.
“Our fundraiser succeeds the same way Wikipedia does, with millions of
people contributing what they can so we can keep the site freely
available for everyone around the world,” said Sue Gardner, Executive
Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “People tell me they donate to
Wikipedia because they find it useful, and they trust it because they
know it's written for them. Our readers fund the site, which keeps us
independent and able to deliver what they need and want from
Wikipedia--exactly as it should be.”
During the 2011 fundraiser, more than 1.1 million people donated an
average of $30 from nearly every country on the planet, and banners
and fundraising messages were translated into over 100 languages by
more than 1,000 volunteers.
The 2012 campaign will build on the success of previous years and will
run through the end of this year. To make a donation, click the
banners at the top of Wikipedia, or go directly to
donate.wikimedia.org.
Wikipedians in the 2012 fundraiser
The 2012 campaign will showcase stories from Wikimedia editors,
photographers and free-knowledge advocates from around the world who
contribute to Wikimedia projects.
Poongothai Balasubramanian, a retired math teacher from India, has
created 250 articles on quadratic functions, probability, charts,
graphs, and has recorded pronunciations for 6,000 words in Tamil, her
native language. “I'm a volunteer. No one pays me. But helping edit
Wikipedia has become my life's work,” she said. “Even though I'm not
in the classroom, I'm still doing what I care about most: helping a
new generation of students learn, in the language I love.” (photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balasubramanian_Poongothai-365.jpg
Andrea Zanni, a Wikimedia Italy chapter member and digital librarian
who contributes public domain and freely-licensed texts to Wikisource,
said his experience with the Wikimedia movement has facilitated his
self-expression and shaped his life. “Wikipedia is one of the few
things that really enables people to be useful, to have an impact with
a little effort,” he said. “Wikipedia is really empowering. It’s
really a framework of good faith, of good will.” (photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrea_Zanni-7090.jpg)
Ravan Jaafar Altaie, a Wikipedian from Iraq who writes about Leonardo
da Vinci and the moons of Jupiter, tells her story of contributing to
Arabic Wikipedia and influencing hundreds of thousands of people
through articles she’s written. “This is my wish and one of my dreams
to make a real change in the world. I think Wikipedia gave me this
chance to make a huge difference in this world,” she said. “It's like
an investment for your future, for your children's future.” (photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ravan_Jaafar_Altaie-106.jpg)
Ken Thomas, a photographer from North Carolina, donates his photos to
Wikimedia Commons under the CC0 public domain license. “Putting a
photo on Wikipedia is an act of generosity,” he said. “I don’t own the
bird. I don’t own the light. I don’t own the tree branch that the bird
was sitting on. I take these pictures because I want people to see how
beautiful these things are. Who am I to charge for that?” (photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KenThomas-27527-1.jpg)
Erlan Vega, an English teacher from La Paz, Bolivia, said he improved
his English competency and earned international certifications because
of his experience editing Wiktionary and collaborating with English
speaking Wikipedians. “In my education system, people don’t usually
write or create,” he said. “Giving me the opportunity to be creative
and to be recognized for something I write has really been a turning
point in my life.” (photo:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erlan_Vega-264.jpg)
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org
http://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive more than 488 million unique visitors per month, making them
the fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, October
2012). Available in 285 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 24
million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of
roughly 80,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the
Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded
primarily through donations and grants.
Press contact
Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
Wikimedia Foundation
Tel. +1 415-860-8166
jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org
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