Frequently Asked Questions: Difference between revisions
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The '''Wikimedia Foundation Inc.''' is the parent |
The '''Wikimedia Foundation Inc.''' is the parent organization of various [[Our projects|free-content projects]], most notably [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia], the award-winning online encyclopedia. |
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== What is the mission of the Foundation ? == |
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The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a [[w:en:free content|free license]] or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. |
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== The goals of the foundation == |
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In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework for the support and development of multilingual wiki [[our projects|projects]] and other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation will make and keep useful information from its projects available on the Internet [[w:en:gratis|free of charge]], in perpetuity. |
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The goals of the foundation are to maintain and develop [[w:en:free content|free-content]], [[w:en:wiki|wiki]]-based projects and to provide the full contents of those projects to the public [[w:en:gratis|free of charge]]. In addition to managing the already developed multilingual general encyclopedia, ''Wikipedia'', there is a multi-language [[w:en:dictionary|dictionary]] and thesaurus named Wiktionary, an encyclopedia of [[w:en:quotations|quotations]] named Wikiquote and a collection of e-book resources aimed specifically toward students (such as [[w:en:textbook|textbooks]] and annotated [[w:en:public domain|public domain]] books) named Wikibooks. All projects work thanks to a wiki software package called [[w:en:MediaWiki|MediaWiki]]. |
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| ⚫ | The Wikimedia Foundation owns the Wikimedia servers along with the domain names and trademarks of all Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki. Contributors retain the copyright to their own content and free licenses, such as the [[w:en:GNU FDL|GNU FDL]], are used on these projects prevents anyone from controlling the content. |
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==What is the legal status of Wikimedia Foundation ?== |
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The name ''Wikimedia'' is a portmanteau of ''wiki'' and ''multimedia''. |
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==Which projects do you support ?== |
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== Organization == |
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WMF supports Wikipedia, the famous online encyclopedia, among the 15th most visited websites in the world end of 2006. However, the Foundation supports more projects, such as Wikimedia Commons, the repository of free images and other media, which surpassed 1 million images in november 2006. Wiktionary, the free dictionary, has 8 dictionaries with more than 50,000 entries, three of which have more than 200,000 definitions. Wikisource, an original source repository, is nearing 150,000 pages of content. Wikiquote (quotations), Wikibooks (collaboratively written books), Wikinews (citizen journalism), and Wikiversity (curriculum development) all continue to grow along the same trendline. |
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From the founding of Wikipedia in January, 2001, and the incorporation of the Wikimedia Foundation in June, 2003, our growth has been staggering. We now host more than 225 projects in over 120 languages. The English-language Wikipedia, our first project, has expanded from 135 thousand articles at the time of incorporation to 1.5 million articles today. 12 other languages boast Wikipedias of over 100,000 articles of their own. Overall, our projects have more than 7.8 million pages, 2.2 million images, and 5 million registered accounts. |
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The [[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws|bylaws of Wikimedia Foundation Inc.]] are available online. |
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More information may be found at [[our projects]]. Here is a report on the [[Danny Wool on Wikisource|state of Wikisource]]. |
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=== The Board of Trustees === |
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==How is the Foundation run ? == |
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The Wikimedia Board of Trustees manages the nonprofit organization and supervises the solicitation and disposition of donations. The Board of Trustees is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (article IV, sec. 1 of the [[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws]]). The Board has the power to direct the activities of the foundation. |
The Wikimedia Board of Trustees manages the nonprofit organization and supervises the solicitation and disposition of donations. The Board of Trustees is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (article IV, sec. 1 of the [[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws]]). The Board has the power to direct the activities of the foundation. |
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Other costs include [[m:Wikimedia staff|human resources]] necessary to the running of the Wikimedia projects, though most people are volunteers. |
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| ⚫ | The existence of the Wikimedia Foundation was [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/028376.html officially announced] by Wikipedia founder [[Board of Trustees#Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales|Jimmy Wales]] on June 20, 2003. |
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This site includes a complete list of '''[[meetings|notes from Board meetings]]'''. |
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The Foundation manages '''the [[Budget]], which pays primarily for [[m:Wikimedia servers/hardware orders|computer equipment]] and hosting'''. |
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== I want to no know more about the members of Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees == |
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In January 2004, Jimmy Wales appointed Tim Shell and Michael Davis to the [[Board of Trustees|Board of Trustees]] of the Wikimedia Foundation and later made a call for candidates for community representatives [http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2004-March/032501.html]. |
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In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative Board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, Angela Beesley and Florence Nibart-Devouard were elected to join the board. They were reelected the following year in july 2005. In July 2006, Angela Beesley announced her resignation and in September 2006, Erik Möller was elected as her replacement. |
In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative Board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, Angela Beesley and Florence Nibart-Devouard were elected to join the board. They were reelected the following year in july 2005. In July 2006, Angela Beesley announced her resignation and in September 2006, Erik Möller was elected as her replacement. |
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==How does the Foundation serves its mission ?== |
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=== Income === |
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| ⚫ | The Wikimedia Foundation owns the [[m:Wikimedia servers/hardware orders|Wikimedia servers]] along with the domain names and trademarks of all Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki. Contributors retain the copyright to their own content and free licenses, such as the [[w:en:GNU FDL|GNU FDL]], are used on these projects prevents anyone from controlling the content. |
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| ⚫ | There are regularly discussions of finding alternate sources of income, such as applying for grants or selling WikiReaders (textbook or pdf version of articles from Wikipedia). For the time being, we want the Wikimedia projects to remain free of advertisements. There has also been discussion of selling a print version of a significant portion of Wikipedia, such as a "Wikipedia 1.0" project. |
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==How is the revenue spent ?== |
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Overall, the lion’s share of WMF expenditures support our programs. Foremost are our expenses for the hardware and bandwidth that keep our websites up and running. |
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=== Expenditures === |
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The single greatest expenditure for WMF is hardware, followed by hosting and bandwidth costs. The WMF has seen its inventory of [[meta:Wikimedia servers|computer hardware]] increase steadily to meet demand. Here is a frequently updated status of this hardware : [[meta:Wikimedia hardware status|Wikimedia hardware status]]. |
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The main reason for the increase is our growth in traffic. At the end of year 2006, Comscore listed “Wikipedia Sites” as the number six site in the world, measured by unique visitors (*). Wikipedia, our flagship website, received about 285 thousand page views per minute. The WMF is concerned about the capitalization and operational commitments necessary to keep these systems running reliably. These costs alone will exceed $2.5 million dollars in year 2007.<br> |
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One of the main expenditures for the Foundation is '''hardware'''. |
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(*) Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDA access. |
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* Description of the hardware that powers Wikimedia : [[meta:Wikimedia servers|Wikimedia servers]], [[meta:Wikimedia_servers/hardware_orders|hardware orders]] |
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* Frequently updated status of this hardware : [[meta:Wikimedia hardware status|Wikimedia hardware status]] |
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The Foundation also employs a [[Current staff|small staff]]. |
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Due to the increase in [[current staff|office staff]], administrative costs increased. Overall, however, the allocation of expenses for fundraising is low, due to WMF’s reliance on online donations for the majority of its revenue. WMF does not engage in “direct mail” terrestrial advertising campaigns. Given WMF’s position online, it makes sense to communicate and ask for donations in the same virtual space. To date, it has been effective. |
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Costs have been kept very low in the past three years, in particular because the largest majority of people helping are volunteers. |
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See also [[meta:Wikimedia budget]] for a detailed list of other potential expenses. See [[budget]] for official budgets. |
See also [[meta:Wikimedia budget]] for a detailed list of other potential expenses. See [[budget]] for official budgets. |
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--> |
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==Where does the money come from ?== |
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| ⚫ | There are regularly discussions of finding alternate sources of income, such as applying for grants or selling WikiReaders (textbook or pdf version of articles from Wikipedia). For the time being, we want the Wikimedia projects to remain free of advertisements. There has also been discussion of selling a print version of a significant portion of Wikipedia, such as a "Wikipedia 1.0" project. |
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=== Local chapters === |
=== Local chapters === |
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Revision as of 00:01, 10 December 2006
The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the parent organization of various free-content projects, most notably Wikipedia, the award-winning online encyclopedia.
What is the mission of the Foundation ?
The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.
In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework for the support and development of multilingual wiki projects and other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation will make and keep useful information from its projects available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.
See also our mission statement.
What is the legal status of Wikimedia Foundation ?
Wikimedia is a non-profit charitable corporation organized under the laws of Florida, USA. The bylaws of Wikimedia Foundation Inc. are available online.
The existence of the Wikimedia Foundation was officially announced by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on June 20, 2003.
Which projects do you support ?
WMF supports Wikipedia, the famous online encyclopedia, among the 15th most visited websites in the world end of 2006. However, the Foundation supports more projects, such as Wikimedia Commons, the repository of free images and other media, which surpassed 1 million images in november 2006. Wiktionary, the free dictionary, has 8 dictionaries with more than 50,000 entries, three of which have more than 200,000 definitions. Wikisource, an original source repository, is nearing 150,000 pages of content. Wikiquote (quotations), Wikibooks (collaboratively written books), Wikinews (citizen journalism), and Wikiversity (curriculum development) all continue to grow along the same trendline.
From the founding of Wikipedia in January, 2001, and the incorporation of the Wikimedia Foundation in June, 2003, our growth has been staggering. We now host more than 225 projects in over 120 languages. The English-language Wikipedia, our first project, has expanded from 135 thousand articles at the time of incorporation to 1.5 million articles today. 12 other languages boast Wikipedias of over 100,000 articles of their own. Overall, our projects have more than 7.8 million pages, 2.2 million images, and 5 million registered accounts.
More information may be found at our projects. Here is a report on the state of Wikisource.
How is the Foundation run ?
The Wikimedia Board of Trustees manages the nonprofit organization and supervises the solicitation and disposition of donations. The Board of Trustees is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (article IV, sec. 1 of the Wikimedia Foundation bylaws). The Board has the power to direct the activities of the foundation.
Other costs include human resources necessary to the running of the Wikimedia projects, though most people are volunteers. This site includes a complete list of notes from Board meetings.
The Foundation manages the Budget, which pays primarily for computer equipment and hosting.
I want to no know more about the members of Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
In January 2004, Jimmy Wales appointed Tim Shell and Michael Davis to the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation and later made a call for candidates for community representatives [1].
In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative Board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, Angela Beesley and Florence Nibart-Devouard were elected to join the board. They were reelected the following year in july 2005. In July 2006, Angela Beesley announced her resignation and in September 2006, Erik Möller was elected as her replacement.
The complete list of board members may be found at Board.
How does the Foundation serves its mission ?
The Wikimedia Foundation owns the Wikimedia servers along with the domain names and trademarks of all Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki. Contributors retain the copyright to their own content and free licenses, such as the GNU FDL, are used on these projects prevents anyone from controlling the content.
How is the revenue spent ?
Overall, the lion’s share of WMF expenditures support our programs. Foremost are our expenses for the hardware and bandwidth that keep our websites up and running.
The single greatest expenditure for WMF is hardware, followed by hosting and bandwidth costs. The WMF has seen its inventory of computer hardware increase steadily to meet demand. Here is a frequently updated status of this hardware : Wikimedia hardware status.
The main reason for the increase is our growth in traffic. At the end of year 2006, Comscore listed “Wikipedia Sites” as the number six site in the world, measured by unique visitors (*). Wikipedia, our flagship website, received about 285 thousand page views per minute. The WMF is concerned about the capitalization and operational commitments necessary to keep these systems running reliably. These costs alone will exceed $2.5 million dollars in year 2007.
(*) Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes, mobile phones or PDA access.
Domain registration and trademarks is another part of Wikimedia's expenditures. The Foundation already owns some of its active and secondary/tangentially-related w:en:domain names, while others are still free or already owned.
Due to the increase in office staff, administrative costs increased. Overall, however, the allocation of expenses for fundraising is low, due to WMF’s reliance on online donations for the majority of its revenue. WMF does not engage in “direct mail” terrestrial advertising campaigns. Given WMF’s position online, it makes sense to communicate and ask for donations in the same virtual space. To date, it has been effective.
Costs have been kept very low in the past three years, in particular because the largest majority of people helping are volunteers.
For details on what we have done with donations since the start of 2004, and how we plan to use our funds, see What we use the money for.
Where does the money come from ?
The continued growth of each Wikimedia project is dependent on donations. The Wikimedia Foundation aims to increase revenue by finding alternative means of support, including grants and sponsorship.
Income
As of January 2006, Wikimedia is funded in most part through private donations, but also through several grants and gifts of servers and hosting (see benefactors).
There are regularly discussions of finding alternate sources of income, such as applying for grants or selling WikiReaders (textbook or pdf version of articles from Wikipedia). For the time being, we want the Wikimedia projects to remain free of advertisements. There has also been discussion of selling a print version of a significant portion of Wikipedia, such as a "Wikipedia 1.0" project.
For more information about donations, see our fundraising page.
Local chapters
The following active Wikimedia chapters have been formed:
- Wikimedia Deutschland, founded on June 13, 2004
- Wikimédia France, founded on October 23rd, 2004
- Wikimedia Italia, founded on June 17th, 2005
- Wikimedia Polska, founded on August 14th, 2005
- Wikimedia Србије и Црне Горе (Serbia and Montenegro), founded on December 3rd, 2005
- Wikimedia CH, founded on May 14th, 2006
- Wikimedia Nederland, a chapter since September 24, 2006
Other local chapters are also being planned.
Contacting the Foundation
See the "Contact us" page for details.