This press release is available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_2016_contribution_campaign:_support_free_knowledge_with_a_gift_to_Wikipedia
And also as a blog post here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/29/wikimedia-foundation-annual-fundraiser/
Wikimedia Foundation 2016 contribution campaign: support free knowledge
with a gift to Wikipedia
*Non-profit asks readers to help sustain Wikipedia and its sister projects*
(San Francisco, California) November 29, 2016 – Blink! In that short
moment, people like you opened more than 2,000 articles on Wikipedia to
find information they need.[1]
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_2016_contribution_campaign:_support_free_knowledge_with_a_gift_to_Wikipedia#cite_note-1>
Today,
Giving Tuesday, and through the month of December, we invite anyone who
values this experience to donate <https://donate.wikimedia.org/> and help
keep Wikipedia thriving for years to come.
Wikipedia exists because everyone, everywhere should have access to free
knowledge. Because we need a clear picture of history to prepare for the
future. Because the world is a better place when humans can connect across
time and space, and share knowledge without boundaries. Like blinking, it’s
easy to forget everything that makes Wikipedia possible: a community of
volunteers around the world; a secure connection so you can access
Wikipedia without sacrificing privacy or safety
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/06/12/securing-wikimedia-sites-with-https/>;
a commitment to never run ads and preserve our independence.
Wikipedia and the other free knowledge projects are supported by donations
from millions of people around the world, with an average gift of $15. This
support is critical to the future of Wikipedia and free knowledge.
"Now, more than ever, the world needs access to reliable, neutral
information," said Wikimedia Foundation executive director Katherine Maher.
“Wikipedia gives us that: 40 million articles across hundreds of languages
ranging from ancient history to current affairs, supported by reliable
sources. Along with other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons,
Wikipedia represents an ever-growing repository of knowledge, curated and
owned by the public. We are committed to protecting and upholding this
incredible resource, and we hope you will join us.”
Why donate?
At the Wikimedia Foundation, we support Wikipedia, the Wikimedia sites
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Our_projects>, and the volunteers who
contribute to them. The donations we raise help keep Wikipedia free,
neutral and easily accessible for you and everyone in the world-- anytime,
anywhere.
So what happens when you click through the banner and make a donation? Last
year, we were able to do some incredible things with the donations we
received. Here are some of the things your contributions made possible:
* 24/7 availability of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia sites through
maintenance of more than 1,200 servers and a team of dedicated engineers
around the world.
* More than 15,000 code contributions to create new site features, address
bugs, and make improvements to the Wikimedia sites' performance.
* Improvements to desktop, mobile web, and mobile app reader experiences,
including a more efficient mobile download process that saves our readers about
450 terabytes of data
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/09/19/mobile-web-improvements/> each year.
* Events and workshops reaching thousands of volunteers, enriching content
on the Wikimedia sites, inviting new editors to join, and supporting
volunteer work around the world.
* Legal defense to preserve your right to access, share, and remix
knowledge, including court battles won over Wikimedia content in Brazil
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/09/14/rosanah-fienngo/>, Germany
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/08/09/victory-germany-appeal-dismissed/>,
France <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/06/20/france-legal-victory/>, and
India.
* Research around the world, including in Nigeria, Mexico, and India, to
better understand and serve the needs of our global users.
Contributions from millions of donors like you make this work, and much
more, possible. By donating to the Wikimedia Foundation, you’re joining a
movement of people who support free knowledge.
About the 2016 contribution campaign
The 2016 contribution campaign will run on the English Wikipedia through
the month of December. Our goal for this campaign is to raise $25 million
by the end of the month. Donations received from the online campaign will
go primarily toward the Wikimedia Foundation’s operating budget for the
next fiscal year—the funds we use to sustain our work at the Foundation for
a given year. The remainder of the Wikimedia Foundation’s funding comes
from individuals gifts given outside the year-end campaign, and from a
handful of foundation grants.
To make a donation, click the fundraising appeal on Wikipedia, or go
directly to donate.wikimedia.org.
If you’d like to see exactly how every dollar is spent, please take a look
at our 2016–17 Annual Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/Final>
and
our Financial Reports
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Financial_reports>. We publish these
documents every year; transparency is one of our guiding principles at the
Wikimedia Foundation.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and
operates Wikipedia and its sister projects. Wikipedia serves roughly half a
billion people each month. Every month roughly 80,000 people edit Wikipedia
and its sister projects, collectively creating, improving, and maintaining
its nearly 40 million articles across hundreds of languages -- this all
makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties in the world. Based
in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
About Wikipedia
Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource. It is a collaborative
creation that has been added to and edited by millions of people from
around the globe since it was created in 2001: anyone can edit it, at any
time. Wikipedia is offered in hundreds of languages containing a total of
nearly 40 million articles. Wikimedia and its sister projects are the
largest collection of free knowledge in human history.
Wikimedia Foundation press contact
Juliet Barbara
(415) 839-6885
pr...@wikimedia.org
Notes
1. For the purpose of this metric, the blink of an eye is estimated
at 0.3–0.4
seconds
<https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10379/3323/04637622.pdf?sequence=1>,
and the pageview statistics are based on an October 2016 recording of
pageviews/second
<https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyCombined.htm> across
all language Wikipedias.
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
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