Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project that operates as one of the world's most visited websites. It was launched on January 15, 2001, by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The venture emerged from Nupedia, an earlier online encyclopedia project that featured a formal peer-review process but produced content very slowly. Wales, an internet entrepreneur with a background in finance, and Sanger, a philosopher, envisioned Wikipedia as a more dynamic and open platform to accelerate content creation using a "wiki" model, which allows any user to edit articles. This collaborative approach proved immensely successful, and Wikipedia quickly surpassed its predecessor in both size and scope.

The project is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit organization established in 2003. The foundation's primary mission is to support and operate Wikipedia and its sister projects, ensuring that knowledge remains freely accessible to a global audience. The platform's target audience is essentially anyone with internet access seeking information on virtually any topic, from students and journalists to the general public. Its vast repository contains millions of articles across hundreds of languages, all created and maintained by a global community of volunteer editors. Core principles guide the content creation, including maintaining a neutral point of view and citing reliable sources.

From a financial perspective, Wikipedia's operational model is distinct from commercial enterprises. It intentionally forgoes revenue from advertising or selling user data to maintain its neutrality. Instead, the Wikimedia Foundation sustains its operations primarily through donations. These funds are sourced from millions of individuals worldwide, with an average donation of around $15, as well as grants from philanthropic organizations and major corporations like Google and Microsoft. Revenue is also generated through merchandise sales from the Wikipedia Store and, more recently, through services provided by Wikimedia Enterprise, which licenses content. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the foundation's total revenue was nearly $155 million. These funds are allocated to cover substantial operating expenses, including technical infrastructure, server costs, software development, legal support, and salaries for its staff of over 700.

Keywords: online encyclopedia, non-profit, user-generated content, open collaboration, free knowledge, Wikimedia Foundation, donation-based, information dissemination, crowdsourcing, reference work