That is amazing! Congrats guys! It actually seems quite surprising to me to see such a large gift be totally unrestricted when most gifts of this size always seem to have ifs/ands or butts attached.
User:Jamesofur James Alexander [email protected] [email protected] 100 gmail invites and no one to give them to :( let me know if you want one :) On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 9:27 PM, Sue Gardner <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I am delighted to tell you that Google is giving Wikimedia a grant of > USD 2 million. It will come to us via the Google Fund at the Tides > Foundation, which handles all of Google's philanthropic activity, and > it is completely unrestricted. > > We'll be putting out a press release tomorrow, but I wanted to tell > you beforehand. This is really great news. It's important to us > financially, of course, but I see it as equally important from a > symbolic perspective. I believe that Wikimedia and Google are natural > allies and partners --- we both want to help provide people everywhere > around the world with information. It seems natural to me that Google > would want to support Wikimedia's work, and I am happy they are doing > it. > > You probably know that Google and Wikimedia -–both editors and > Wikimedia Foundation staff-- have, from time to time, collaborated on > projects together. (For example, the Google team has created > functionality inside the Google Translate Toolkit that enables editing > and uploading of translated articles to Wikipedia.) This grant will > not be channeled specifically towards Google-related activities: it > will go into our general operating revenues. Having said that, I look > forward to Google and Wikimedia continuing to do good work together. > > The press release is below. It will go out tomorrow morning , but you > don't need to keep this news confidential. Feel free to tell your > friends :-) > > Thanks, > Sue Gardner > > > > > Wikimedia Foundation announces $2 million grant from Google > Donation will support capacity investments in Wikipedia and other free > knowledge projects > > EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:00AM PST, February 17 2009 > > SAN FRANCISCO, CA February 17, 2009 -- The Wikimedia Foundation, the > non-profit that operates Wikipedia, today announced that it has > received a $2 million (USD) grant from the Google Inc. Charitable > Giving Fund of Tides Foundation. This is the Wikimedia Foundation's > first grant from Google. The funds will support core operational costs > of the Wikimedia Foundation, including investments in technical > infrastructure to support rapidly-increasing global traffic and > capacity demands. The funds will also be used to support the > organization's efforts to make Wikipedia easier to use and more > accessible. > > "Wikipedia is one of the greatest triumphs of the internet," offered > Google co-founder Sergey Brin. "This vast repository of > community-generated content is an invaluable resource to anyone who is > online." > > Wikipedia founder and Wikimedia Foundation board member, Jimmy Wales, > also commented on the Google gift. "We are very pleased and grateful. > This is a wonderful gift, and we celebrate it as recognition of the > long-term alignment and friendship between Google and Wikimedia. Both > organizations are committed to bringing high quality information to > hundreds of millions of individuals every day, and to making the > Internet better for everyone." > > The two organizations have a long-standing working relationship. Most > recently, Google and the Wikimedia Foundation have partnered to > support translation of Wikipedia content into key languages with > relatively small Wikipedia editions. Google's Translation Toolkit > supports direct online translation of Wikipedia articles, and has been > used by Google in Wikipedia translation pilot projects with speakers > of Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili. > > Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, offered: > "It is wonderful that Google has stepped forward as a major supporter > of a global, non-profit information commons. With this generous grant, > we will be able to fund additional operations and development work to > increase access and contributions to our free knowledge projects > globally." > > Wikimedia's support comes primarily from individual donations made by > regular users of Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation completed its > 2009-10 fundraiser in January. During the drive, 240,000 individuals > donated more than $8 million, representing three quarters of its > planned revenue for the fiscal year. > > -- > Sue Gardner > Executive Director > Wikimedia Foundation > > 415 839 6885 office > 415 816 9967 cell > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in > the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
