Wikipedia’s next fundraiser will have an exciting twist

Tomorrow, the fifteenth of December, will mark the beginning of the next Wikipedia (well, Wikimedia) fundraiser. The Wikimedia Foundation, which is responsible for Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikinews (and others), uses the funds from such fundraising drives to pay for hosting (you would not believe how much that costs…), to pay their four employees, and so on and so forth.

The exciting new feature? As Danny Wool explained in a recent episode of Wikipedia Weekly, multiple large donors have offered to match the donations of individuals at points throughout the drive: each donation on those days will be doubled in value, funded by various faceless corporations. As Danny explained:

That means some big donors, and some little corporations, have told us that they’re going to match the gifts on certain days of this fundraiser. So for every dollar that you give another corporation is going to give a dollar, which will hopefully double our funds for that day.

How nice of them. :)

In addition, the Foundation will be looking beyond simply expanding their services using this money. They’ll be using it both to improve their reliability and find a sustainable source of income beyond fundraising. This would hopefully allow them to gain some independence from donations, and hopefully keep them alive for many years to come.

I have a spare chunk of change in my bank account, and I intend to put it towards a good cause. What about you?

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