Wikimedia Endowment

“Why is the sky blue?”

“What kind of plane did Amelia Earhart fly?”

“How many islands are in the Pacific Ocean?”

“Who made all those heads on Easter Island?”

From the moment we learn to speak, we ask questions. We crave knowing—the challenge of learning something impossible, or taking that knowledge and creating something never seen before. We delight in the achievement, the discovery, the spark of recognition.

Wikipedia was born from our need to know, learn, and share amazing things.

Wikipedia is created by people, for people. It belongs to each of us. From its humble beginnings, it has grown to more than 35 million articles in hundreds of languages, used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Now, 28% of the planet alive today have never known a world without Wikipedia. While much of the internet has evolved into a private space, Wikipedia serves everyone on earth, age zero and up.

It is a cherished public trust, and a common good.

Wikipedia is supported by tens of thousands of volunteer writers, and millions of generous donors. It continues to be the only donor-supported name in the world’s most-visited websites. It is supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit, which believes everyone should have access to knowledge—for free, without restriction, without limitation.

“Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.”

That’s the Wikimedia vision. To ensure future support for this vision, we are pleased to announce the creation of the Wikimedia Endowment.

This Endowment will serve as a perpetual source of support for Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation. It will empower people around the world to create and contribute free knowledge, and share that knowledge with every single human being.

With your support, we are only getting started. Help us ensure that Wikipedia lives forever!

To learn more about the Wikimedia Endowment or planned giving, please contact Marc Brent, mbrent@wikimedia.org.

About the Endowment: The Endowment has been established, with an initial contribution by Wikimedia Foundation, as a Collective Action Fund at Tides Foundation. Tides is a public charity with a 40-year track record of holding and managing charitable funds for nonprofit organizations. The purpose of the Wikimedia Endowment is to act as a permanent safekeeping fund to generate income to support the operations and activities of the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity. An Advisory Board, nominated by the Wikimedia Foundation and appointed by Tides, will make recommendations to Tides related to the Endowment. Tides or the Wikimedia Foundation may choose to transfer the Endowment from Tides to the Wikimedia Foundation, or other charities identified by the Wikimedia Foundation. At that point, the Endowment would continue to be a permanent, income-generating fund to support the Wikimedia projects.