Posted on August 27, 2009

Omidyar Network Commits Up to $2 Million to Wikimedia Foundation

The San Francisco-based Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Web-based encyclopedia Wikipedia, has announced a commitment of up to $2 million over two years from the Omidyar Network to support Wikimedia's key goals.

The funding will help Wikimedia work toward its goal of providing free educational content to every person on the planet, engage and empower more people to author that content, and increase the quality and breadth of the information provided through Wikimedia's projects. In addition to financial support, the Omidyar Network will provide internal resources and encourage its partners to help Wikimedia with its strategic planning process, communications work, and recruiting.

"The Wikimedia Foundation is a critical player in the growing social movement toward greater transparency and openness," said Omidyar Network partner and new Wikimedia board member Matt Halprin. "Wikipedia reaches and engages millions of people every day, enabling information sharing in a collaborative, online platform. Omidyar Network sees great potential in Wikipedia as it continues to expand in emerging geographies, where this social impact will be magnified even further."