2010-2011 fundraiser draws to a close

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I’m delighted to report that the Wikimedia Foundation can ring in the New Year with the close of our seventh annual fundraiser, having exceeded our goal of $16 million. More than half a million people pitched in an average of around $22 each to support Wikipedia and its sister projects, in our shortest (and most successful) fundraiser to date.
Our community of volunteers is deeply honored that, in only 50 days, 500,000 people from 140 countries came together to support the only non-profit, user supported top-10 website in the world.  In addition to this humbling support for the Wikimedia Foundation, our chapters around the world have raised millions of dollars from hundreds of thousands of donors of their own.
We want to thank every one of our donors for making this year a success, and on behalf of the fundraising team, I personally wish to thank the one-thousand community members who helped us create and test messages, who wrote appeals, and translated banners and letters into over 80 languages.
In 15 days, Wikipedia will turn 10 years old. Since the beginning, Wikipedia’s community of readers and editors have remained dedicated to keeping the site ad-free, and free for use for its 400 million monthly visitors.  This year’s success demonstrates a continued commitment to those principles.
With the close of our annual fundraiser, we are transitioning into the contribution phase of the campaign. We will be running banners for the next few days to thank everyone who came together in the spirit of creating and “effectively disseminating the sum of human knowledge available for all.”  We will also begin to celebrate Wikipedia’s tenth birthday, with banner ads encouraging readers to join us in a local celebration.
We want to invite every one of the readers of Wikipedia and its sister sites to make their  first edit, or upload their first photograph, and join our community of volunteer contributors to continue the growth of Wikipedia for the next 10 years.
Thank you again, and happy New Year! Here’s to 2011, and to the next 10 years!
Regards,
Philippe Beaudette
Head of Reader Relations

Archive notice: This is an archived post from blog.wikimedia.org, which operated under different editorial and content guidelines than Diff.

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Happy to see that we reached our goal of $16M. I pitched in with a measly $25 on the last day, but it looks like several others did, as well!
Will continue to support Wikipedia in the years to come.

[…] te houden zou zestien miljoen dollar vereist zijn en dat bedrag is inmiddels binnengehaald, meldt Wikimedia, de organisatie achter […]

[…] foundation behind Wikipedia, Wikimedia, has reached its goal of $16 million in donations, more than doubling the $7.5 million raised in 2009. Over half a million people donated for an […]

A world without Wikimedia would be sooooo sad!
I am sending you $50.00 [I’m a little late.]
I hope that I can do better by you in the years ahead.
Many thanks, Lee Cook

Next year, I hope you publish what percentage of this years goals were actually accomplished. I remember when Wikimedia got by on $100K .. and I optimistically donated in the triple digits for that. Unfortunately, this time my donation was loaded more with skepticism. I’m sorry to be frank, but I don’t feel Wikimedia is accomplishing 160 times more things. There is still no easy way to download and use an offline copy of Wikipedia. Also, the amount of Wikibooks is pathetic, when are we going to see a real effort to get some of the important books completed? Wikibooks… Read more »

I am happy to see that there are more people in the world that believe in an effort like this one in spite of all disbelieve that “common and greater good” is possible for human kind.
Happy 2011 and much success!!!

How can I become a supporter? So I can automatically donate each year.
You’re doing a great job!
Thanks, Servaas

[…] Así, se ha convertido en la colecta más rápida y exitosa del sitio fundado por Jimmy Wales que el próximo 15 de enero cumplirá 10 años y que es el único sin ánimo de lucro entre los 10 más visitados del mundo. Además del excelente resultado de la colecta principal, las filiales de la organización también han recaudado millones de dólares para su cuenta particular, según ha anunciado Wikimedia. […]

[…] foundation behind Wikipedia, Wikimedia, has reached its goal of $16 million in donations, more than doubling the $7.5 million raised in 2009. Over half a million people donated for an […]

Well done, everyone!
But it looks like bits.wikimedia.org is offline to us in the UK atm, so can’t access Wikipedia 🙁 .

[…] found oddly disquieting—and asked users to donate. On January 1, the site said that the goal had been reached, making this Wikipedia’s shortest fundraising drive […]

Wiki is great!!!

Free for all, masters of our destiny. Great wikipedia !!!!!

[…] a total of USD 16 million, exceeding our goal in our shortest annual campaign to date: you can read more about it on the Wikimedia Foundation blog. My thanks to everyone who donated / helped with the campaign, and congratulations to Zack and the […]

Wikihopping is like traveling, or eating dinner, a search through fragments that link eachother, slowly building a new view about things, about our selfs.

[…] raised more than $16 million in 50 days, the Wikimedia blog said. The site collected 500,000 donations from people in 140 countries, with an average donation of $22 […]

[…] staffers found oddly disquieting—and asked users to donate. On January 1, the site said that the goal had been reached, making this Wikipedia’s shortest fundraising drive […]

could some place me in direct contact with some one in aust. or Jim Wales
thank you

I thought you should read this comment I left on another website about my experience: What about the people who actually contribute to wikipedia – for nothing. I’ve ‘worked’ there for the last 5 years, adding articles, improving articles. doing general maintenance etc I get absolutely no pay, no social support, and no help from the admins (sorry but this is true). I do it because I haven’t been able to get a job and I have nothing else to do – I do it to stop myself going totally insane. Working for wikipedia is shit. (It’s ‘free beer’ not… Read more »

I joined as member from the Italian Wikimedia web site (www.wikimedia.it).
I was redirected for the payment to shop.wikimedia.it.
SInce the very instant when I completed my payiment through paypal, I could not connect to shop.wikimedia.it. I could not have any information about my subscription, nor I received any information from people at wikimedia.it.
Now I want to know where my money has gone.
Best regards
Giancarlo

Hi Giancarlo –
I recommend that you contact Frieda, the chair of Wikimedia Italia, for information on this. Her contact information can be found at http://wikimedia.it/index.php/Utente:Frieda.
Philippe

The foundation is saying that it raised 16M$. That’s great. But the statistics available at [http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics] give a total of about 14M$. As for the contribution statistics page ([http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:ContributionStatistics]), it gives a total of 15M$ for the current budget year. What’s the explanation behind the discrepancy? These tools are there for transparency but what good are they if they don’t reflect the actual numbers? I asked this question last year and never got a response.

Great question. The difference is this: the Special:FundraiserStatistics page does not reflect checks that are collected but not yet input, stocks donated but not yet sold or input, gifts above a certain dollar amount (which qualify as “major gifts” and not toward the annual giving campaign), nor does it reflect contributions that will be made by the chapters under the joint fundraising agreement. Special:ContributionStatistics reflects all contributions that have been input (thus not checks, stocks, etc) but does NOT include the dollar threshold.

I’m pleased to see there has been so much support. I’d have been happy to add my own donation, except that the donation page insists that I must provide my home telephone number before it will process my credit card payment: I see no reason for you (or more likely PayPal) to need this and I don’t have confidence that if I provide it, I won’t get a load more marketing calls. Ergo no donation . . . I wonder if I was the only donor put off by this unnecessary bit of data collection?

[…] Así, se ha convertido en la colecta más rápida y exitosa del sitio fundado por Jimmy Wales que el próximo 15 de enero cumplirá 10 años y que es el único sin ánimo de lucro entre los 10 más visitados del mundo. Además del excelente resultado de la colecta principal, las filiales de la organización también han recaudado millones de dólares para su cuenta particular, según ha anunciado Wikimedia. […]

Anyone who advocates advertising on Wikipedia is a drooling moron. What Google did to TVTropes is the universal counterexample to allowing ads on Wikipedia.
I wonder what the gay and lesbian employees of Google have to say about the fact that Google forced any page on TVTropes with even a slightly gay theme behind a filter. So far, they have nothing to say. But! That’s okay! They have mortgages!
I used to be a fan of advertising on Wikipedia. I was so, so wrong.

Jonathan Carroll, when you say you volunteered for wikipedia, do you mean you edited articles or that you actually helped out at their offices? I believe you can mention your wikipedia edits and work on your resume or CV, just like you can put coursework on there. Obviously everyone (ok, maybe almost everyone) appreciates any good work you’ve done .. but I would think that if you need a reference, people would have to “know” you .. personally or professionally. Anyway if you really want a reference why don’t you tell people (on IRC, internet forums, craiglist, on here, or… Read more »

[…] foundation behind Wikipedia, Wikimedia, has reached its goal of $16 million in donations, more than doubling the $7.5 million raised in 2009. Over half a million people donated for an […]