We need to start fundraising again, and at least for today, we should have a link up on the 'wikipedia is dead' page to the donations page on the wikimedia website. I am sure people will contribute at a time like this.
Going forward, I think that we need a constant message on every page of the site, most likely at the bottom of each article, saying something like "If you have found Wikipedia helpful, remember that we are a nonprofit organization that relies on donations from users like you."
We have now a total of approximately $12,000-$14,000 in the bank... we are going to need to use that to buy additional apaches and probably additional squids. Other than the fact that we're currently in the middle of a database fiasco, we likely have enough DB power for right now... although we should try to be ahead of the curve.
Last week, before I left, traffic had approximately doubled in a single week. This is staggering, because traffic was already huge.
In my opinion, we are going to need another $100,000 of equipment by the end of the year, *and* we can *easily* raise that from donations from the general public.
But to raise money, we have to ask. People won't give unless they know that we need it, and unless they know how incredibly efficient we are with the resources that are given to us.
--Jimbo