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I don't get paid for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do any of our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors.

When we started Wikipedia, we could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising, but we decided to do something different. It’s not the usual model for a website, but I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do.

Every day, thousands of people send me messages of hope, telling me stories of how Wikipedia has impacted them. This story, sent to me by a school teacher in California, convinces me that we are on our way to achieving our vision - a world in which every single human being could freely share in the sum of all knowledge.


 * ''The story I write is not of me, but of my students who quench their need of knowledge through Wikipedia.


 * ''I teach in a school that is surrounded by riches but dominated by poverty. The young minds I teach yearn for knowledge and experience but are met daily with isolation and despair.


 * ''Through Wikipedia many of my students have learned about far-away countries and their rich histories. Others have learned the myths surrounding the heavenly bodies they cannot physically perceive in the night sky.


 * Yet their appetites are satisfied after using Wikipedia. There is no other site I dare to visit or expose these young minds to.

Without your support, and the support of thousands of others around the world, Wikipedia won’t be here to inspire future generations of students. Will you join me in making a contribution of $10, $20, $35, or whatever you can afford in honor of this wonderful teacher and his class?

Sincerely,

Jimmy Wales,

Wikipedia Founder