Day 89: Wikipedia Needs Us!

For those of us over the age of 40 – do you remember using an encyclopaedia? We had to actually take hours of research time going through books, libraries, and magazine articles trying to get pieces of information to help us research a particular topic. Then life evolved – in came the computer, websites, search engines, Google and in 2001 Wikipedia. Oh ! to be young again ! The world of education is a different place.

I didn’t know much about Wikipedia other than it was a brilliant source of information provided in your choice of 10 languages. I use it all the time for 365give. It’s an amazing tool to search definitions, articles on people places and things. I am able to provide links for my readers as a source of education and inspiration.

It wasn’t until a just before Christmas when a special banner came up from founder Jimmy Whales that I thought a little more about where all this information came from and how it impacted the world. I wanted to share it with you – it’s pretty amazing. True philanthropy at it’s best.

I’m a volunteer.

I don’t get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different.

Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn’t belong here. Not in Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. It is a unique human project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopaedia to every single person on the planet.

Every single person.

If all of Wikipedia’s 400 million users would donate $1 each, we would have 20 times the amount of money we need. We’re a small organization, and I’ve worked hard over the years to keep us lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.

This year, please consider making a donation of $20, $35, $50 or whatever you can to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales / Wikipedia Founder

Give 89 / Day 89

This is a GIVE my husband did and shared it with me as a family GIVE. My husband loves to learn and share information. Wikipedia is right up his alley as a rich source of education. It is a resource that he appreciates and uses on a regular basis. When founder Jimmy Wales plea came up asking for our support my husband instantly made a the decision to help.

We all know the jokes about “encyclopaedia sales man.” They really did come door to door selling these books for our educational benefit. Our parents spent a lot of money on big heavy hard cover encyclopaedias. Wikipedia is available to us for free with even more information and more answers to our world questions any time day or night.

Jimmy Wales plea is simple. He isn’t asking for one person to donate millions of dollars. He is asking all Wikipedia’s user to donate a little something. This is about a collaborative effort , as is the premise of Wikipedia, to get them the money they need to stay the brilliant resource they are for people all over the world.

Please consider taking the time to support this organization to help not only our generation but the next and the next and the next.

Time Commitment: 5 minutes

Cost: $50.00