Wikipedia reaches $6 million target
Howard Lake | 6 January 2009 | News
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia of user-contributed articles, has reached its 2008 fundraising target of $6 million six months ahead of schedule.
Over 125,000 people donated $4 million, with a further $2 million coming from major donors and grant-making foundations. An appeal on the site on 23 December 2008 from the site’s founder, Jimmy Wales, elicited $2 million in gifts from 50,000 supporters in eight days.
Founded in 2001, Wikipedia has increased its fundraising income considerably. It raised $1.3 million in 2006 and $2.2 million in 2007.
Wales thanked supporters in an online message, saying: “This campaign has proven that Wikipedia matters to its users, and that our users strongly support our mission: to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising. We deeply appreciate the generosity of our supporters.”
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.