The original intention, according to the site's co-founder Jimmy Wales, was to fund Wikipedia through advertising revenue. In Wales rejected that option and pointed to other revenue sources - "leveraging our brand into radio, television, games, etc" - but left the door to advertising open just in case it was needed.
The vast potential for advertising attracted the interest of venture capital firms. Soon after, VC firm Elevation Partners whose investors include Bono from U2 to court Wikipedia, a very curious relationship we covered in depth in Later Wales dropped the volunteers and hired professionals instead. It's not hard to see why: as Wales had acknowledged, Wikipedia is one of the best-known brands in the world. But the courtship with the VC firm never blossomed into a formal relationship.
Today, the funding is organised by a non-profit corporation, the Wikimedia Foundation WMF , and the growth in funding has been dramatic. It was amateurish, too. The Wikimedia Foundation hired a convicted felon as its chief operating officer to look after its books while on she was on parole. The executive's convictions included cheque fraud and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gunshot to the chest.
Today the foundation is a very different beast. The architect of the latest highly aggressive funding drive is Sue Gardner, executive director of the WMF. Described by one insider as "very savvy politically and excessively diplomatic", Gardner has been lauded as one of the Most Powerful Women by Forbes.
Only a small fraction of this is required to keep the site alive. No matter how many edits enthusiasts make, they don't get a penny for their hard work. So where's the cash going? Primarily, it's being spent on new research and development programmes. These are outlined in the Wikimedia Foundation's Strategic Plan - and the next year's installment is outlined in detail here.
Some projects appear to be eminently sensible. For example, the number of editors has been in decline since , and the gender ratio is heavily tipped towards men. The foundation wants to make participation easier, so much so that one major project is the development of a visual editing kit, so contributors do not need to learn the arcane technical Wiki syntax. This is running behind schedule - rollout was supposed to be a year ago, but it will be mid before it's ready, according to the project page.
But some of the spending has raised eyebrows. The UK foundation also found itself under close scrutiny after approving projects that personally benefited board members - which imperilled the foundation's hard-won charity status. Some other funding is highly questionable. Nice work if you can get it.
The budget includes travel to and from the gigs for the budding snappers. It's all a stark contrast to the unpaid volunteer ethos.
Once upon a time, Wikimedia listed every donation, but now only a few of the largest are made public. Only a few of these are highlighted. Earlier this year Wikipedia attracted criticism for its new-found enthusiasm for political campaigning - not a traditional activity for encyclopedias, where fairness and objectivity is part of the "brand". The substantial contributions from Google leave the foundation open to the charge that it's lobbying for the agenda of large corporations by proxy. On Wikipedia's own donations page we learn of a moving story of a student in Agnam-Goly, a Sahelian village in north-eastern Senegal with a population of 3, inhabitants, who expresses how he'd love to give money to the foundation.
Does he know wealthy Westerners are using the donations to buy cameras and travel to pop concerts? Or that the foundation has more cash than it knows what to do with? Wikipedia's aggressive annual fundraising drives have been phenomenally successful, transforming the organisation and creating a powerful new political lobbying force. Breaking News. Wikipedia Scam is all over Twitter as the company starts fundraising in India. So, here is all you need to know about why is Wikipedia asking for donations.
Written By. Why is Wikipedia asking for donations? Tags: wikipedia , why is wikipedia asking for donations , wikipedia scam. Myanmar military continues internet blackout ahead of planned protests.
Wikipedia went online on this day in ; Know more about free internet encyclopedia. Shahid Afridi confuses one and all with yet another age reveal; contradicts even himself. Post coup, Myanmar military blocks access to Wikipedia in all languages, disrupts Internet. Listen to the latest songs , only on JioSaavn. Legacy gifts are exempt from U. Make a legacy gift online at no cost using FreeWill in the U. For more information about legacy giving, visit wikimediaendowment. Matching Gifts are a great, easy way to double or even triple your donation to the Wikimedia Foundation.
Click here to see if your employer will match your gift to the Wikimedia Foundation. Matching gift information provided by HEPdata. If you have questions regarding your employer's matching gift, please email matching wikimedia. To nominate or register the foundation to receive matching gifts, please provide the following contact information:.
Many companies will match an employee's time spent volunteering this includes tasks like editing Wikipedia or its sister sites, patrolling Wiki pages for vandals, and contributing to the MediaWiki software with a financial gift to the nonprofit.
Learn more about the Volunteer Hour Match program. If you have questions regarding the Volunteer Hour Match program, please email matching wikimedia. Some employers in the United States and Canada offer an easy and convenient way to give to the Wikimedia Foundation through a payroll deduction.
Please check with your organization for availability and send any necessary paperwork to:. If you would like to give the Wikimedia Foundation as part of the Educate America! CFC, please reach out to your human resources department for instructions to give. Donor Advised Funds DAFs allow you to combine the most favorable tax benefits with the flexibility to support your preferred causes. Please contact us at benefactors wikimedia.
You can make a donation in U. Dollars through Amazon Pay , please select an amount and choose "Amazon Pay". If you are donating via Amazon in a currency other than U.
Dollars, please be aware that your funding source may be rejected or that you may encounter currency exchange fees. We encourage you to contact your bank for more information.
Please note that the Wikimedia Foundation can only refund cryptocurrency donations in cryptocurrency.
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