Wikimedia Foundation clarifies why its running a fundraising campaign in India

The Wikimedia Foundation has started a fundraising campaign on Wikipedia in India, inviting anyone who can afford to make a donation to do so to support its future. 

 

The banners have generated a lot of conversation on social media. Now, through a post by Pats Pena, director of payments and operations, advancement, Wikimedia Foundation, the organisation is addressing those comments.  

 

Pena said, "Wikipedia is not a commercial website, and we are not driven by profit or advertising incentives. We are a charitable organisation supported by the people who read Wikipedia. Our mission is to ensure that everyone, everywhere, can share in and access free knowledge. Wikipedia is powered by more than 2,50,000 global volunteers every month; it spans more than 50 million articles across nearly 300 languages."

 

The note added that India is the fifth biggest market in terms of views from any country, with 750 million. 

 

"Indian Wikipedia editors are integral and valued contributors to the encyclopedia, which is available in 23 of the languages spoken across India. In recent months, Indian volunteer contributors have ensured that neutral, reliable information about Covid-19 is available across Indic languages on Wikipedia. They have collaborated with global health partners so that information and new developments about the pandemic are well-sourced, accurate, and vetted by medical experts. Reader donations are critical to supporting Wikipedia’s global presence. To meet the needs of readers in India and around the world, we operate an international technology infrastructure comparable to the world’s largest commercial websites. This includes hosting costs like keeping our servers running, as well as significant, ongoing engineering work to make sure Wikipedia is reliable, secure, loads quickly, and protects your privacy. As a living, constantly-changing project (with 350 edits per minute and roughly 6,700 pageviews per second), this has become increasingly important as we’ve seen more and more people turn to Wikipedia as a resource during the Covid-19 pandemic," added Pena.

 

The full note which can be accessed here.