“Do you know that Wikipedia is a Non-Profit?”

This year, we have come to learn the importance of asking this simple question when we talk to the Wikimedia community, the general public, or prospective donors. The key message – “We are a Non-Profit” – is inherent in all that Wikimedia does. It signifies that we are a mission-driven charity that depends on the good will and philanthropy of others. However, many people do not know that we are a non-profit. This may be because the actual “work” of creating educational content is done by a global community of thousands of volunteers.

While this collaborative effort is the key to our success, the Wikimedia Foundation provides the backbone of support and organizational structure that keeps Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects up and running. The Foundation is responsible for supporting the community through wide ranging program initiatives, hardware, technology, and the like. In doing so, we ensure that quality content is made available to the public – free of charge and free of advertising. However, we would not be able to support this global collaborative venture without financial resources. And this is where fundraising comes in.

Our most important job in fundraising this year has simply been to build awareness that we are a charity – and that gifts and grants account for over 90% of our revenue. Until this year, we did not have a staff dedicated to fundraising who could spread this message and encourage donations. As with any non-profit, a fundraising program and staff is central to our efforts because it produces the revenues that keep us running. One of our key goals – building organizational maturity – has been partially achieved through the hiring of dedicated fundraising staff, and the development of a fundraising program that has three key focus areas: community giving, major gifts, and foundation giving. We are also building a partnerships program which will allow us to work more with like-minded foundations to maximize our impact.

Overall, we think that there is great strength in numbers: whether it is increased contributions and edits on the site; more people participating in the projects; increased funding to bolster our activities; or the formation of new partnerships to increase the availability of free, quality, educational content. We will continue to raise our sights on all fronts!

And on the topic of contributions, you can always donate to Wikimedia through our on-line giving portal.  We’ll have more to say about the next annual giving campaign in the coming weeks.

Sara Crouse,
Head of Foundation Relations and Partnerships<

I am pleased to welcome Tomasz Finc as a new full-time software developer. Tomasz will start officially next week on August 4 in our San Francisco office.

Tomasz is a systems and software engineer with more than 7 years of experience. He joins us from Amazon.com, where he administered and supported the Amazon.com A9 search engine, optimized production performance, developed automation tools, implemented C/C++ changes in the core search engine code, trained new hires, and fulfilled other duties. Tomasz is fluent speaker of both Polish and English.

Tomasz will report to me (Brion) and will work on general MediaWiki development, code review, systems and administration tools, and optimization. He will also initially help to support the San Francisco office.

I am delighted that Tomasz is joining our team; please join me in welcoming him to the Wikimedia Foundation staff.

brion vibber
Chief Technology Officer

Earlier today we sent the following note about a new staff member for the Foundation to our staff and public mailing lists.  I’m happy to share it here as well.

It is with great pleasure that I announce Sara Crouse as Head of Partnerships and Foundation Relations with the Wikimedia Foundation. As some of you know, Sara has been working with us for several months in the fundraising area on a contract basis. When Sara came to us, we were developing our fundraising strategy and determining how to staff ourselves to that end.  In this new role Sara will be working closely with the fundraising and programming team to explore new opportunities and to support our ongoing work with foundations and other organizations.

We are pleased that she is able to become a permanent member of the team now that our strategy has been developed.

Sara has several years of fundraising experience. She spent the last 5 years in various positions with Cambridge in America;, the most recent as Associate Director of Research. In that role, she identified and
researched donor prospects, worked on cultivation strategy and worked with volunteer leadership and supporters to advance Major Gifts efforts.

Prior to Cambridge in America, Sara worked for RKO PIctures and TransPerfect Translations. Sara also managed special events for the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

She holds an M.A. from NYU and a B.A from Georgetown University.

Please join me in welcoming Sara to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Veronique Kessler
Chief Financial and Operating Officer<

Yesterday we issued a slightly more detailed press release about next week’s Wikimania conference in Alexandria.  We discuss a few more details and provide some further quotes and schedule details.

And on that note, next week we hope to be blogging fairly regularly about activities taking place in this beautiful Egyptian city.  Many of the Foundation staff will be working at the conference on the ground, joining the hundreds of volunteers and enthusiasts at the New Library.

Jay Walsh
Head of Communications<

Earlier today we uploaded the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2008/2009 Annual Plan presentation and Questions and Answers page to the Wikimedia Wiki.  These materials were approved at the June 20 Board of Trustees meeting.  They can be accessed via the Finance Report page.

Posting our plan and (hopefully) answering some of your questions in advance is part of our commitment to providing transparent information about the Foundation’s goals and spending.

The Annual Plan lays out projected spending through the next fiscal year (which for us starts today and runs the rest of the year).  The plan describes spending in our three main operational areas: technology, programming, and finance and administration.  We also introduce our 2008/2009 organizational goals, which we hope to discuss in more detail in the coming months.

For your information and awareness!

Jay Walsh
Head of Communications<

I am pleased to welcome Rebecca Handler as Wikimedia Foundation’s Major Gifts Officer, and Rand Montoya as Head of Community Giving. Rebecca will start officially on August 4. Rand will start officially on July 7.

Rebecca most recently consulted with the Branson School providing fundraising recommendations, training Alumni in donation solicitation and writing fundraising materials.  Prior to the Branson School, Rebecca worked for the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco where she implemented a comprehensive fundraising plan for the new $83MM community center, managed a portfolio of Major Donor relationships and directed an Annual Plan for the Center’s preschools. Her previous experience included work for the Lighthouse for the Blind & Visually Impaired and Project Bread, a program raising money for emergency food
programs. Rebecca has an M.B.A from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Rand has over 10 years experience working in the non-profit sector and is an experienced development professional.  He comes to us from the American Red Cross (Bay Area Chapter) where he served as the Development Services Manager.  In that role, he directed a $3MM per year fundraising program.  Prior to that, Rand was with the Alta Bates Foundation as the Information Systems Coordinator. Rand also spent 5 years with Hospice of Marin where he worked in various database and fundraising capacities. Rand holds a degree in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley.

Rebecca and Rand are thrilled to be joining us and garnering further support for the Foundation’s mission.

–
Veronique Kessler
Chief Financial and Operating Officer<

FYI, the following was sent out from the Foundation’s press office earlier today.  Still time for press registration for Wikimania:

PRESS REGISTRATION FOR WIKIMANIA 2008 IN ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT CLOSING JUNE 18, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, CA June 13, 2008 – Press Registration for Wikimania 2008, the annual conference for the volunteers, contributors, and stakeholders of Wikimedia’s free knowledge projects, concludes next week on Wednesday, June 18. Wikimania 2008 will take place July 17-19, 2008 in Alexandria Egypt, on and around the grounds of the new Library of Alexandria.

Wikimania is an exceptional opportunity to explore topics related to the global expansion of free knowledge and internet-based collaboration.  Hundreds of Wikimedia volunteers and software developers from around the world, as well as regional experts and enthusiasts will be in attendance.

Accredited members of the press can register on-line at:
http://wm08reg.wikimedia.org/pressRegistration/

Limited bookings for accommodations in Alexandria are available on a first-signed-up, first-offered basis.

For more information about Wikimania 2008, visit:
http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/

For more information about Bibliotheca Alexandria, visit:
http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx

For more information about the Wikimedia Foundation’s projects, including Wikipedia, visit:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects

For further questions, use the contact information in the Wikimedia Press room.<

In July 2008, the Wikimedia Foundation, in collaboration with UNU-Merit, plans to launch the first general survey of Wikimedia readers and contributors (with a focus on Wikipedia). This survey will ask questions on:

• demographics (gender, profession, etc.)
• factors which influence whether people contribute or not
• topic and activity areas of interest for readers and contributors
• awareness of Wikipedia sister projects and the Wikimedia Foundation

The more languages we can present this survey in, the better! It will give us invaluable information about who our audience and our contributors are to different language Wikimedia projects, allowing for comparisons across languages and cultures. The anonymized data from this survey will be freely licensed.

If you speak and write languages other than English fluently, please help us to translate the survey. :-)

Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation<

Wikimedia Commons is the multimedia repository used by all Wikimedia Foundation projects (Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikisource, and so on). With more than 2.8 million freely licensed photographs, sounds, and videos it is a treasure trove of rich media. The global Wikimedia community goes to great lengths to find high quality multimedia content and to release it freely: Wikimedians organize trips to foreign countries to take photos, they attend events to shoot celebrities, they spend hours restoring historical pictures. A new project, the “Valued Images” selection, seeks to identify the most valuable image contributions to the project. In doing so, it recognizes that taking a reasonable photo of an elusive celebrity can be just as much work as producing a fantastic panorama.

When browsing Wikipedia, we may often take for granted that so many articles include photographs and high quality illustrations. But just like the text, much of the multimedia in our projects is the result of the passionate dedication of our contributors. Identifying the most valued images in Wikimedia Commons is a good way to honor these contributions.

Erik Möller, Deputy Director<

It should come as no shock to a reader of any of the Wikimedia projects that volunteers are chronic inter-communicators. Whether it’s on any of the millions of article discussion pages, or via Wikimedia’s dozens of contributor-maintained email lists, conversation and communication is central to the success of the projects.

But among that mix, you may not be aware of four projects that contributors have been working on for a number of years.

One is Wikizine, an independent, internal news bulletin which has been around since late 2005. Wikizine, under the confident helming of long-term volunteer Walter, provides a Wikimedia wide view of new technologies, challenges, and editorial observations from the projects. Other volunteers are welcome to contribute, and it’s also routinely translated into German and Spanish.

The Wikipedia Signpost, which started in 2005, is decidedly Wikipedia focussed, hence its name. Founded by one of our current board members, the Signpost, like all of Wikimedia’s projects, is 100% volunteer driven. Regular WP users can insert scripts into their user page, or on any relevant page to have the Signpost delivered right to their door. Aside from diving into WP related stories, there’s also WikiWorld, a regular comic strip, featured media, and reports of ongoing wiki dispute resolution and arbitration.

If audio is more your flavor, also consider subscribing to the Wikipedia Weekly podcast, or the aptly named sister project, Not-The-Wikipedia-Weekly podcasts. Two well-programmed approaches to user-generated discussions.

Beyond that there are dozens, if not hundreds of further discussions about the projects both in-wiki and in other off-line formats. Add a comment with your links and additions to this not exhaustive list.

J. Walsh
Head of Communications