I had the opportunity to interview Jimmy last year about starting the foundation (The interview was used for editor engagement and fundraising purposes):
I think that this is appropriate for today :) (press play) http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Thank_You/Jimmy_Wales Thanks Jimmy for the interview On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 1:21 PM, Jay Walsh <jwa...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Dear friends, > > I have the awesome pleasure of notifying everyone today of a special > anniversary. Ten years ago today, Jimmy Wales announced the creation > of the Wikimedia Foundation on the still pretty new Wikipedia-l > mailing list. > > Today you'll find a blog post (also posted below) that looks back on > an extraordinary 10 years of growth for the Foundation, our projects, > our movement organizations, and our volunteer community. > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/06/20/ten-years-of-supporting-free-knowledge > > Birthdays are often one-day-focused things, but like our recent ten > year anniversary of Wikipedia, I know we'll be thinking about this > incredible milestone over the entire coming year. We look forward to > hearing your reflections and thoughts about the Foundation - whether > your contact with the org started ten days ago or ten years. > > Thank you for being a part of the Foundation and part of the Wikimedia > movement. Here's to another huge ten years! > > --- > > Ten years of supporting free knowledge > > Posted by Jay Walsh on June 20, 2013 > > Ten years ago today, on June 20, 2003, Jimmy Wales announced the > founding of the Wikimedia Foundation. He entrusted the new nonprofit > with the operation of Wikipedia, launched two and a half years prior. > > Wales recalled the early days of Wikipedia and marveled that it has > grown to be such an important and ubiquitous source of free > information for the world. “It is hard to imagine that in 2003, > Wikipedia was still running on just two servers – which I used to > administer myself in the beginning,” said Wales, who noted that he > founded the Wikimedia Foundation because he believed Wikipedia would > need the support of a stable and trusted institutional base for years > to come. > > The Wikimedia Foundation’s second Board of Trustees (photo taken at > Wikimania 2006). From left to right: Tim Shell, Florence > Nibart-Devouard, Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales, Michael Davis, Angela Beesley > > “Ten years later, the Foundation continues to fulfill that role, > thanks to the trust of our millions of donors, the hard work of its > staff, the thoughtful oversight enacted by my fellow Board of Trustees > members and last but not least the many thousands of volunteers who > not only manage and build our projects, but also take an active part > in the governance of the Foundation,” Wales said. > > Those two early servers, which belonged to Jimmy Wales’ company at the > time, have now grown to more than 800 servers operated by the > Wikimedia Foundation. They are the backbone of the free knowledge > projects that serve over half a billion readers each month, with 21 > billion monthly pageviews. The Foundation also provides the legal > basis for projects, defending them against legal threats and > protecting the trademarks that have come to represent the global > community’s work. > > The name “Wikimedia” had been suggested earlier in 2003 by Wikipedia > editor Sheldon Rampton for an endeavour that would “use Wiki-style > rules to enable public participation in the creation and editing of > all kinds of media: encyclopedias and other reference works, current > news, books, fiction, music, video etc.” > > During the following decade, Wikipedia was joined by several sister > projects to realize parts of the vision of a world in which every > single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. The > Foundation continues to work on creating a richer Wikimedia experience > beyond text, making use of the web’s expanding possibilities. It has > also taken on the challenge of sustaining and increasing editor > participation, with projects such as the VisualEditor, the most > complex software development project undertaken by the Foundation so > far, which is already being live-tested on numerous language versions > of Wikipedia, and slated for a full rollout next month. > > As part of its commitment to increase access to free knowledge, the > Wikimedia Foundation has launched Wikipedia Zero, a program to > convince telecommunications operators to waive data charges to > Wikipedia for the billions of people around the world whose primary > opportunity to access the internet is via a mobile device. Keeping up > with the mobile revolution on the internet, the Foundation has > upgraded Wikipedia’s interface for mobile users, including introducing > a “Nearby” feature and starting to enable contributions from mobile > devices. > > Wikimedia Foundation staff (September 2012) > > Erik Möller, a volunteer Wikipedian in Germany in 2003, and today the > Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, highlighted the > importance of this programmatic work. “Today, the Wikimedia Foundation > is well positioned to modernize the user experience and the > infrastructure supporting our projects, while dedicating all its > efforts to the public, working transparently, and releasing code as > open source,” said Möller. “This wouldn’t be possible if Jimmy hadn’t > laid the foundation 10 years ago to dedicate the operation of > Wikipedia and our other projects to a non-profit organization, > supported by a community of donors.” > > The Foundation works with a global network of chapters, affiliates and > volunteers in achieving its mission. Several grants programs exist to > support smaller projects by individuals and groups. Last year saw the > launch of the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), entrusted with > reviewing larger funding requests from movement organizations and > giving recommendations on the most effective use of donation money to > achieve the movement’s goals. The FDC is volunteer-driven, and two of > its seats are currently up for election by the community, as are three > seats of the Board of Trustees. If you are an eligible Wikimedian, > don’t forget to cast your vote until June 22! > > As for Wales, who could have made Wikipedia a commercial venture and > monetized the site’s content with advertising, the decision to > safeguard the future of the Wikimedia projects with a non-profit > couldn’t have been a wiser. “Wikipedia is something special. I like to > compare it to a temple for the mind: A place we can all go to think, > to learn, to share our knowledge with others,” he said. > > “The Wikimedia Foundation is here to preserve and nurture that place, > and make sure that Wikipedia remains a shining example of openness and > freedom, a public good that is part of many people’s daily life around > the globe.” > > Jay Walsh > Senior Director, Communications > > > -- > Jay Walsh > Senior Director, Communications > WikimediaFoundation.org > blog.wikimedia.org > +1 (415) 839 6885 x 6609, @jansonw > > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > -- *Victor Grigas* Storyteller <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knv6D6Thi0> Wikimedia Foundation vgri...@wikimedia.org +1 (415) 839-6885 x 6773 149 New Montgomery Street 6th floor San Francisco, CA 94105 https://donate.wikimedia.org/ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
