Wikipedia Plans to Raise $16 Million in 2010 Fundraising Round

Wikipedia has made it official, this year's fundraiser is underway. And if you thought last year's goal of $7.5 million, a $1.5 million increase of the previous year's one, was ambitious, Wikipedia is aiming for the fences in 2010, trying to raise $16 million for the site's 10-year anniversary.

"This year’s fundraising goal is an ambitious one – $16 million over two months. Wikimedia sites are the 5th most visited web properties worldwide (visited by about 400 million people each month), and Wikimedia is the only non-profit organization in the top 10," Philippe Beaudette, Community Department at Wikimedia, the foundation behind Wikipedia wrote.

"Since 2007 our readership has doubled, with this past September seeing our highest traffic yet. With this incredible feat comes an enormous duty: to maintain the infrastructure necessary to keep these sites free, stable, and running smoothly, while also continually improving the systems and architecture behind them," he said.

The foundation plans to increase spending by 138 percent in the next year and wants to increase revenue by 28 percent to 20.4 million, the same amount as it wants to spend.

The site has always raised more than in needed to maintain a cash reserve. It plans to keep that reserve at $13 million, as until now.

Wikipedia has set some rather ambitious goals for itself, in terms of growth, both in visitors but also in contributors.

In fact, for this year's fundraising campaign, Wikipedia wants to promote engagement as much as donations. It doesn't just want people contributing to funding the site, it wants them getting involved, writing their first article, making their first edit and so on.

The campaign kicked off with a personal message from Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales. Wikimedia notes that for this year, the campaign can be targeted at users from different regions who will see different messages or banners depending on their location.