2010 Contribution Campaign launched
Today, I’m pleased to announce the launch of our 2010 annual fundraising drive, which we are referring to as a ”contribution campaign”. This year marks a major milestone for Wikipedia. Ten years of revolutionizing access to knowledge. Ten years of our joint commitment to deliver the sum of human knowledge to every human being on the planet. For free.
Wikipedia and its sister sites champion a mission of effectively disseminating knowledge, free for use, free of copyright, and free of external advertising. Since its founding in 2001, the site has grown to 17 million articles in over 270 languages, and for many of those languages, Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia ever written. Wikipedia, and all the Wikimedia projects, are always there when we need them; for students, educators, professionals and curious minds worldwide, these projects are simply the most convenient and readily accessible sources of information.
This year’s fundraising goal is an ambitious one – $16 million over two months. Wikimedia sites are the 5th most visited web properties worldwide (visited by about 400 million people each month), and Wikimedia is the only non-profit organization in the top 10. Since 2007 our readership has doubled, with this past September seeing our highest traffic yet. With this incredible feat comes an enormous duty: to maintain the infrastructure necessary to keep these sites free, stable, and running smoothly, while also continually improving the systems and architecture behind them.
For more information about where your donations go, see this year’s annual plan.
Since the beginning, our fundraising model has been based on the support of our community of readers and editors – we have received more than 500,000 donations in the lifetime of the Foundation, averaging about $33 each. Will you join us today by making a donation to financially underwrite Wikipedia and its sister sites?
We have worked with almost a thousand community volunteers to develop this year’s fundraiser as a community driven contribution campaign. These exceptional volunteers have helped to develop messaging, design banners, write appeals, and conduct tests of our ideas.
Since August we have been testing these messages and tweaking our campaign to reflect the data and feedback from our community. Due to the introduction of new technology, we now have the ability to target particular banners and donation pages based upon geographic location, and to optimize the pages donors see.
In addition to new technology, we’re introducing a new perspective; this year’s contribution campaign is designed to invite not only financial contributions, but to also encourage people to contribute their expertise and knowledge to the projects. We want readers to make their first edit, upload their first photograph to Wikimedia Commons, write their first article, and through this, to become more deeply affiliated with the projects.
For updates throughout the fundraiser continue to check our blog, and follow us on identi.ca and Twitter (as @Wikipedia, or the community-run contribution handle @WikiContribute). After you’ve made a contribution, please tell the world using the hashtag #keepitfree!
This year marks a significant milestone for us, so I hope you will join me – and the diverse community of volunteers that make up the Wikimedia projects – in celebrating and supporting the mission that has brought us all together.
Stay curious!
Philippe Beaudette,
Community Department
So what you’re saying is that 400mm people use WIKIPEDIA, you are a registered charity, and your whole operation runs on literally 2 handfuls of people (<10)
I'm confused as to why you need money.
If each user donated just $10 (almost nothing to anybody) what would you use the $4,000,000,000 (FOUR BILLION DOLLARS)for?
Last time I checked, Canadian based company TIM HORTONS was worth just $6,800,000,000 (SIX BILLION, EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS) and they have over 3,000 (THREE THOUSAND) stores and a list of assets the length of 2 straight trucks.
Also, last time I checked, WIKIPEDIA had nearly no physical assets. Where are you funneling our donations?!?!
As an indirect volunteer of your organization (we are the ones building your site by lending our knowledge) I ask for full disclosure of your intent.
- Barnaby Jones
Our operation employs just over 50 employees, actually, who are in service to a very active population of volunteer editors around the world – roughly 100,000 active volunteers.
Our campaign goal is to raise $16 million USD. Although raising over $4 billion might be a wonderful windfall for free knowledge, and establish possibly an eternal legacy for the project, this is not our aim. The operating budget for Wikimedia Foundation is just over $20 million USD for the current fiscal year, a large portion of which will fund the technology operations of our site, supporting infrastructure and meeting the escalating global traffic – hundreds of millions of visitors a month. We do have physical assets, and we’ll have more as we establish our first permanent data center of the next few months, and continue to expand our infrastructure to meet demands around the world.
These questions and more are addressed on our fundraiser FAQ, where you’ll find we openly and transparently share our business operation plans and describe how donations are used.
Jay Walsh, Communications
If I donate, will Jimbo shave?
DISCLAIMER: I don’t know any of these people personally, I do volunteer when I have time, but mainly I’m just a huge user of the Wikimedia Suite. Information is power. And the Wikimedia Foudation is Power to the People, by the People.
Hey Jay! I looked at the financials and don’t know how you guys do it! If you totaled up the $3.5 M in Total Salaries & Wages and divided that by 50 employees — you guys make an average of $70,000 a year — in San Francisco? For the 5th most popular site in the world? The site that revolutionized TRANSPARENCY in information? Hmmm — any of you guys want to come work for me at that rate!
7% for FUNDRAISING costs? That’s unheard of in terms of low cost! Should be between 25 – 50% of total funds raised!
If we could get governments, schools and other non-profits to provide the cost effective, wildly successful and totally transparent level of efficiency that the Wikimedia Foundation achieves we’d all be a lot smarter, have more money in our pockets and have more free time to learn and explore on the suite of Wiki sites (since we wouldn’t have to work so hard to pay the mortgage and our taxes!)
You know you’re doing a good job when even my 4 year old says “Dad — Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Wikipedia!” every time I say “Son, I don’t know the answer” — It used to be “Google it” (still is for toys!). The 6 year old Irish Twins just Wikipedia it themselves! — if you don’t know what Irish Twins are, look it up on Wikipedia — that’s how I found out what it is!
As a 40 year old who grew up with the Dewey Decimal system and the library (God Bless the libraries) I cannot thank you enough for changing the world and providing the Wikimedia suite for me, my kids and the world to better ourselves and each other.
Thanks to all of you for everything you do!
C. Douglas Conlan
Want to donate, could not figure out how to!!
I mis the page where people could make a comment after making the donation.
I think this helped triggering making a donation.
Thanks for all the good work…
Cannot believe it has been 10 years already. This is my 2nd year being involved with Wikipedia during a time when the site was collecting contributions in order to continue ad free, problem free, copyright free and FOR FREE……plus including all of the sister sites that so many of us rely on. Visitors and members of Wikipedia need to also remember that if this is a time when the site has seen double the action ever since 2007 as well as more visitors than ever before in the month of September alone, then there is a huge chance that it will only grow larger from here and Wikipedia will become more busy and more depended on by people simply seeking knowledge. If the entire lifetime of contributions donated by 500,000 members and users since the start in 2001 ended up meaning the average donation amount was approximately $33.00 per donor, think of how much busier and more in-demand Wikipedia and its other sites are becoming since 2007. It will only grow bigger from here! I would hate to lose Wikipedia, and am in constant fear of there not being enough support out there to keep it going. (Everyone please remember that the site has evidently grown busier and busier and this will not cease!) Three years ago, I was introducing friends of mine to Wikipedia and directing them there to do their college research, get ideas for essays, etc……and now three years later, even my friends and family OVERSEAS are already not only familiar with it, but using it on an almost daily basis for both fun research and for work/school. Even in Egypt and Syria, this has went from a site friends were so glad I directed them toward to a site that they already are in love with and depend on every other day at least!
With all that being said, everyone overseas does have a way to donate also, I assume? And since I am getting several friends and family involved due to their love for this site (they would go insane if they woke up one day and it was missing from the net), I had to become quite familiar with your many ways of receiving donations and am thankful that you include the choice of mailing a check. One of my relatives is always more comfortable doing things this way- the same as with bills. Others will be sending donations by PayPal and/or credit cards.
Also, I will be directing this question to the right place (donations@wikimedia.org) but hopefully you are also accepting money orders for those without bank account access, and if not, wire transfers were mentioned so therefore I hope this means transfers such as Western Union and Money Grams, etc. From my family who happens to love Wikipedia to each individual member of the real Wikipedia family itself….. THANK YOU FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS, you have our support and you are appreciated! We will be sending our help for the site along with our best of wishes that the organization is able to meet its goal in the amount that it is aiming for this year!
Thank you for such a great site, and thank you for giving so many a chance to show our appreciation for it…..from a daughter/granddaughter AND her family in Kentucky.
Is it just me, or does the point of not taking advertising get lost when I go to a page and have a big picture of Jimmy Wales staring at me! Just take some ads and be done with it! It will improve the service which is what people really want!
JMTC
Molly