Wikipedia is seeking more than your spare change.
There’s nothing wrong with asking for contributions, when you serve almost half a billion users – for free!
Wikipedia – the online, open encyclopaedia – is once again seeking donations from its readers.
This time around, instead of using a subtle gray overlay and short copy, the message is presented in bold black letters against a bright gold background.
The message reads as follows:
Dear Wikipedia readers: We are the small non-profit that runs the #5 website in the world. We have only 150 staff but serve 450 million users, and have costs like any other top site: servers, power, programs, and staff. Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind, a place we can all go to think and learn. To protect our independence, we’ll never run ads. We take no government funds. We survive on donations averaging about $30. Now is the time we ask. If everyone reading this gave $3, our fundraiser would be done within an hour. If Wikipedia is useful to you, take one minute to keep it online and ad-free another year. Please help us forget fundraising and get back to Wikipedia. Thank you.
It’s clear that Wikipedia is not ashamed to ask for money anymore, particularly while there are no ads to support its online presence.
Says the founder, Jimmy Wales:
“When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but decided to do something different. Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn’t belong here. Not in Wikipedia.”
If you’re using Wikipedia, please consider donating. If you’re not using Wikipedia, you’re lying. 😛 In which case, you should be both ashamed of yourself for fibbing, and donate $10 or more.
This post is 100% true!
