In 2010, Wikipedia , the encyclopedia collective multilingual found free on the Internet and working only with donations, had managed to raise $16 million donation. For 2011, this amount increases to $20 million! Approximately 1 million donors and have wanted to help the Wikipedia Foundation.
In a note published on the blog of Wikipedia , Sue Gardner, executive director of Wikimedia Foundation thanked all the donors: “Your support is how we pay our bills. People like you, giving five dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars. Thank you for helping us, We’re the No. 5 most-popular site in the world – we operate on a tiny fraction of the resources of any other top site. We will use your money carefully and well, I promise you.”
As per Wikimedia Foundation PR :
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. On January 15, 2012, Wikipedia will celebrate its 11th anniversary.
Wikimedia, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia, says that they will use the money to pay for new hardware, enhance the site’s functionality. Wikipedia had nearly 16 million unique visitors, then you can say that we understand why it is necessary for Wikipedia to acquire more and more servers to take the load!