Wikimedia Apps/About the Wikimedia Foundation
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia, the other Wikimedia free knowledge websites, and its mission of free knowledge for all. We do this by keeping the Wikimedia sites fast, secure, and available to all, defending Wikipedia and our volunteer editors from legal threats, building new features and tools to make it easy to read, edit, and share knowledge from Wikimedia sites, and by supporting the communities of editors who contribute to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia sites. We also help bring new knowledge online, lower barriers to access, and make it easier for everyone to share what they know.
Over the past 20 years, Wikipedia has become a trusted source of information that millions of people rely on every day. With more than 6,700 pageviews every second and more than 345 edits a minute, Wikipedia is one of the top 10 websites in the world, and the only major website run by a nonprofit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation.
Unlike other top websites, Wikipedia is not funded through advertising, nor does it rely on selling data about users for profit. Instead, Wikipedia is supported by its readers - people who find value in Wikipedia and want to continue to support its success, with the average single donation being about $15 USD and the average monthly donation about $4 USD. This financial model enables Wikipedia to remain neutral, trusted, and free from commercial interests.
Here are just some of the ways we use donations to sustain Wikipedia and free knowledge:
- Providing top-notch technical infrastructure for a global website.
- Ensuring you can access Wikipedia in every language on every device
- Supporting community-led projects to increase access to trusted information
- Defending and protecting free knowledge around the world.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us. For donation questions, please email donate@wikimedia.org.