Wikipedia in search of donations
Wikipedia is asking its users for $16 million in donations. The money is needed to keep the online encyclopedia free and ad-free, according to an appeal published Monday by co-founder Jimmy Wales.
The money should be raised within two months, according to a blog post by the Wikimedia organization. Last year, Wikipedia only raised eight million dollars with a similar campaign. The articles in the online encyclopaedia, which was launched in 2001, are written by the users themselves. Wikimedia also has around 65 full-time employees worldwide to ensure its operation. Wikimedia had to spend over one million dollars on hosting the pages last year, while technical operations cost a total of 3.3 million dollars. According to the operators, Wikipedia currently contains well over 17 million articles in more than 270 languages and is used by around 400 million people every month.
