Template:2011FR/appeal-jimmyeditS2-US-0412

Google and Facebook have thousands of employees. We have 100. They have billions in revenue from ads. We serve nearly as many users, with no ads.

So who creates Wikipedia? And who pays for the servers, the tech staff, and the legal team that keeps us on the web?

Our users do. When you donate $5, $20 or $50 -- or spend a few hours improving an article -- you have become the force behind Wikipedia. Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

If everyone reading this donated $5, we would only have to fundraise for one day a year. Not everyone can donate. And that's fine. Every year just enough people give, and just enough people edit, to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales Wikipedia Founder