14 DAY TRIAL // Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites in the world and one of the most heavily trafficked. Yet, it doesn't have much of a revenue stream, in the traditional sense, and sticking to its core principles with all the content being available for everyone for free and with no advertising. Instead, it's making most of the money it needs to operate through a yearly fund-raising campaign. This year the goal was to bring in $7.5 million in donations and Wikipedia announced just as 2009 came to a close that the sum has been reached.
"As of December 31, 2009, we have reached our campaign goal of 7.5 million USD. Thank you to all who have donated! Your continued donations will support Wikimedia's long-term operations and growth, cover contingencies, and allow us to fund new projects and activities," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wrote updating his personal plea for donations.
The 2009 campaign has been running for a few months now and the sum has been gradually building up towards the set goal of $7.5 million. This was the highest goal set by the Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees Wikipedia and other related sites, to date in the series of fund-raisers which has been running for a few years now.
After the success of last year's campaign which saw Wikipedia get $6.2 million from donors all over the world, above the initial goal of $6 million. This made the foundation confident that it can reach higher this year and set the rather high goal for 2009.
Banners for the campaign have been featured prominently on the site with various messages. The most successful has been a personal plea from Wikipedia's founder which spurred a surge in donations bringing in over $430,000 in just one day. The money will be used to fund Wikipedia's day-to-day operations and running costs, but this time around a percentage will also be directed towards long term plans.