Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to making free knowledge accessible to all people around the world. Founded on June 20, 2003, by Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, the foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA.

The Wikimedia Foundation operates a variety of projects based on free content and wiki-based internet platforms. The most well-known projects include:

• Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia that is edited and improved by millions of volunteers worldwide.
• Wikimedia Commons: A media database that provides free images, videos, and other media content.
• Wikidata: An open and free knowledge database that provides structured data for Wikimedia projects and other applications.
• Other sister projects: Such as Wikivoyage, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, and more, all serving the purpose of collecting and sharing knowledge in various forms[3][5].

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect, develop, and effectively disseminate educational content under a free license or in the public domain. The foundation's motto is: "Imagine a world in which every single person is free to share in the sum of all knowledge. That is our commitment."[5].

The foundation is deeply rooted in the values of the free culture and free software movements. It promotes the free sharing, distribution, modification, and use of information for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, in perpetuity[2].

The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to several core goals:

• Accessibility and Reliability: The foundation works to keep the Wikimedia websites and services fast, reliable, and available to everyone. It strives to eliminate barriers such as poor usability, lack of language support, and limited access to technology[2][3].
• Community Support: The foundation supports the communities of volunteers worldwide who edit, improve, and add knowledge to the Wikimedia projects. It fosters bottom-up innovations and creates the necessary conditions for them[2][3].
• Advocacy and Protection: The Wikimedia Foundation advocates for political and legal frameworks that protect free knowledge and free expression. It engages against laws that threaten the community-led governance model of Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects[4].

As a non-profit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation is primarily funded by donations from millions of individuals worldwide. The foundation publishes detailed financial reports that include audited annual accounts and budgets to ensure transparency and accountability[3][4].

The Wikimedia Foundation is a key player in the global movement for free knowledge, and its work has a profound impact on how knowledge is collected, shared, and used. Through its efforts, the foundation makes it easier for everyone to share and access knowledge.

• 1 - https://wikimediafoundation.org/de/profile/jimmy-wales/
• 2 - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikimedia_Foundation/Leitende_Grunds%C3%A4tze_der_Wikimedia-Stiftung_(WMF)
• 3 - https://wikimediafoundation.org/de/about/
• 4 - https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/
• 5 - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia