The Wikimedia Foundation, a US-based non-profit and charitable organization that operates many wikis, has announced the launch of Wikimedia Endowment, a permanent source of funding to ensure Wikipedia thrives for generations to come.
The Wikimedia Endowment, whose goal is to raise US$100 million over the next 10 years, will empower people around the world to create and contribute free knowledge, and share that knowledge with every single human being.
The Endowment has been established, with an initial contribution by the Wikimedia Foundation, as a Collective Action Fund at the Tides Foundation, a public charity with a 40-year track record of holding and managing charitable funds for non-profit organizations.
An Advisory Board, nominated by the Wikimedia Foundation and appointed by Tides, will make the Endowment-related recommendations to Tides. Both parties may choose to transfer the Endowment from Tides to the Wikimedia Foundation, or other charities identified by the Wikimedia Foundation.
At that point, the Endowment would continue to be a permanent, income-generating fund to support the Wikimedia projects.
The Endowment was launched in celebration of the 15th anniversary of Wikipedia, the world’s free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001 with a bold vision: a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. At that time, some proponents perceived the idea as impossible to achieve.
However, Wikipedia has grown from strength to strength since then – it now houses more than 36 million articles in hundreds of languages, used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world.
Wikipedia and its sister projects are still built by volunteers around the world: each month, roughly 80,000 volunteer editors contribute to Wikimedia sites.
“Wikipedia challenged us to rethink how knowledge can be gathered and shared. Knowledge is no longer handed down from on high, instead it is freely shared by everyone online,” Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales said in a press release.
He added, “Wikipedia seemed like an impossible idea at the time – an online encyclopedia that everyone can edit. However, it has surpassed everyone’s expectations over the past 15 years, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world who have made Wikipedia possible.”
To further celebrate Wikipedia’s global community, a commemorative website and week-long campaign has been launched.
During the campaign, stories of individuals and organizations that have helped develop Wikipedia into the world’s largest collection of collaboratively created free knowledge will be collected and shared.
If you’re reading this, chances are that you have used Wikipedia sometimes in the past or just last night. Why not then join in celebrating this massive warehouse of free, important and relevant information.
Do this by sharing on social media what Wikipedia means to you by tagging @Wikipedia and using the hashtag #wikipedia15
Source: Wikimedia Blog
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