Wikimedia Foundation
 | |
| Type: | Non-Profit |
| Industry: | Internet |
| Founded: | 2001 |
| Founder(s): | Jimmy Wales & Larry Sanger |
| Headquarters: | San Francisco, CA |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | wikimediafoundation.org |
| Key People | |
| Ting Chen, Chairman Jan-Bart de Vreede, Vice Chair Phoebe Ayers, Executive Secretary | |
The Wikimedia Foundation is non-profit organization which was established by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia. Based on the Bylaws of the foundation, it's main objective is to collect, develop and disseminate educational content under a free license worldwide.[1] The organization's headquarter is located in San Francisco, California.
Background
On June 20, 2003, Jimmy Wales announced the estblishment of Wikimedia Foundation as non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Florida. All assets of Nupedia and Wikipedia including copyrights of software and articles of Bomis, Inc were transferred to the foundation.[2] According to Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation has only two employees, the rest are volunteers and its revenue comes from donation and grants provided by companies like Yahoo!.[3]
Mission
Under the bylaws of the Wikimedia Foundation, its primary goal is to "empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally." The foundation aims to achieve its mission by providing important infrastructure and organizational framework to a network of volunteers working in the development of free and multilingual projects worldwide.[4]