Anyone who has used Wikipedia in the last few years would have noted a banner at the top of the page appealing for donations by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. One wondered who responded to such requests. Now, the Wikimedia Foundation says that in 2010, India ranked sixth in the list of countries from where individuals have donated amounts to the Wikipedia Foundation.
According to the Foundation, of which Wikipedia is a part, people in India donated more than $193,000 (Rs. 87.33 lakh) in 2010. India is preceded only by the United States with $10,038,417 (Rs. 45.42 crore), Canada with $ 893,470 (Rs. 4.04 crore), Japan with $500,182 (Rs. 2.26 crore), Spain with $ 323,285 (Rs. 1.46 crore) and the United Kingdom with $ 207,157 (Rs. 93.74 lakh). Trailing behind India is Belgium with $162 (Rs. 7,322). These amounts do not include donations made by the country chapters of Wikipedia, which help in local fund-raising. They are purely contributions made by individuals directly to Wikipedia. In fact, India's Wikipedia chapter is in the process of being formed.
“Imagine a website that appears within the top five websites in the world, which runs on just 60 full time employees. Compare it with other top websites. Isn't it great?” said Cherian Tinu Abraham, a Bangalore-based technology professional and Wikipedia administrator. (http://www.alexa.com/topsites shows Wikipedia as one of top 10 websites.)
Wikipedian [one who writes and edits the pages for Wikipedia unlike readers who merely read the articles] Arun Ram said, “I think the increased contributions from India this year is a welcome development. It is due to the very visible banner campaign on the main page, which had excellent recall amongst users.”
Other factors for India's response include increased awareness with extensive media coverage this year of various (Wikipedia-related) events, visits, and meet ups. Plus, there has been the speculation over an India office.
A look at the number of donors shows that the number of donors from India has been increasing steadily over the past few years. In 2007, India ranked 18 with $12,532 (Rs. 5.67 lakh) from 583 donors. In 2008, it ranked 15 with $38,776 (Rs. 17.55 lakh) from 1759 donors. In 2009, India ranked 16 with $52,156 (Rs. 23.60 lakh) from 2956 donors.
Sreekanth R, a Chennai-based software engineer, who has been using the Wikipedia for six years, said he was motivated to contribute to Wikipedia after seeing Jimmy Wales's appeal in Wikipedia. “I instantly felt like contributing to Wikipedia as it is useful. Anyone can access it for free and there are no advertisements. It is much better than donating to a temple. It selflessly serves more people than anything else I know," he said.
Mr. Abraham, who edits Wikipedia, said that it appeared to him it was more readers than Wikipedia editors who have donated to the Foundation