The Wikimedia Foundation has raised a record-breaking $20 million from more than one million donors.
According Wikimedia exec Sue Gardner, 2011 marked Wikimedia Foundation's most successful campaign ever - continuing an unbroken streak in which donations have risen every year since the campaign kicked off in 2003.
Indeed, since 2008, the number of Wikimedia Foundation donors has increased ten-fold, while the total dollar amount raised in the campaign has jumped to over $20 million from $4.5 million.
"Wikimedia websites serve more than 470 million people every month. It is the only major website supported not by advertising, but by donations from readers," said Gardner.
"Our model is working fantastically well. Ordinary people use Wikipedia and they like it, so they chip in some cash so it will continue to thrive. That maintains our independence and lets us focus solely on providing a useful public service."
Funds raised in the above-mentioned campaign will be used to buy and install servers and other hardware, to develop new site functionality, expand mobile services, provide legal defense for the projects, and support the large global community of Wikimedia volunteers.
With over 20 million articles in 282 languages, Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia in human history. Over 100,000 volunteers work on Wikipedia and its 10 sister projects including projects like Wikimedia Commons, Wikibooks, and Wiktionary, furthering the Wikimedia Foundation's mission to freely share the sum of all human knowledge.
