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The '''Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.''', abbreviated '''WMF''', is an American [[501(c)(3)]] [[nonprofit organization]] headquartered in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], and registered there as [[foundation (United States law)|a charitable foundation]].<ref name="Hanson2016">{{cite book|first=Jarice|last=Hanson|title=The Social Media Revolution: An Economic Encyclopedia of Friending, Following, Texting, and Connecting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ePEZDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA375|year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-768-2|page=375}}</ref> It is the host of [[Wikipedia]], the seventh [[List of most-visited websites|most visited website]] in the world. In addition, the foundation hosts fourteen other related content projects. It supports the development of [[MediaWiki]], the [[wiki]] software that underpins them all.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jacobs |first1=Julia |title=Wikipedia Isn't Officially a Social Network. But the Harassment Can Get Ugly. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 8, 2019 |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=September 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914160713/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Cohen |first1=Noam |title=Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up |url=https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-finally-asking-big-tech-to-pay-up/ |magazine=Wired |date=March 16, 2021 |access-date=March 17, 2021 |archive-date=March 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210317004641/https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-finally-asking-big-tech-to-pay-up/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Culliford |first1=Elizabeth |title=Exclusive: Wikipedia launches new global rules to combat site abuses |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikipedia-rules-exclusive-idUSKBN2A21PW |work=Reuters |date=February 2, 2021 |language=en |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803193444/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikipedia-rules-exclusive-idUSKBN2A21PW |url-status=live }}</ref> The Foundation was established in 2003 in [[St. Petersburg, Florida]] by [[Jimmy Wales]], as a nonprofit way to fund [[Wikipedia]], [[Wiktionary]], and other [[crowdsourced]] wiki projects.<ref name="Announcing Wikimedia Foundation" /> Until then, they had been hosted by [[Bomis]], Wales's for-profit company.<ref name="Announcing Wikimedia Foundation"/>
The Wikimedia Foundation provides the technical and organizational infrastructure to enable members of the public to develop wiki-based content in languages across the world.<ref name="wikimedia-mission"/> The Foundation does not write or curate any of the content on the wikis itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/05/a-victory-for-free-knowledge-florida-judge-rules-section-230-bars-defamation-claim-against-the-wikimedia-foundation/ | title=A victory for free knowledge: Florida judge rules Section 230 bars defamation claim against the Wikimedia Foundation | publisher=diff.wikimedia.org | date=October 5, 2021 |quote=the plaintiff argued that the Foundation should be treated like a traditional offline publisher and held responsible as though it were vetting all posts made to the sites it hosts, despite the fact that it does not write or curate any of the content found on the projects}}</ref> Instead, this is done by volunteers who work as editors, such as the [[Wikipedians]] who create and maintain Wikipedia. However, it does collaborate with a network of individual volunteers and affiliated organizations, such as Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, user groups and other partners.▼
The Foundation finances itself mainly through millions of small donations from Wikipedia readers, collected through email campaigns and annual fundraising banners placed on Wikipedia and its sister projects.<ref name="FRReport2021">{{cite web | url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2020-21_Report | title=Fundraising report 2020–2021 | publisher=Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref> These are complemented by grants from philanthropic organizations and tech companies, and starting in 2022, by services income from [[Wikimedia Enterprise]]. As of December 31, 2023, it has employed over 700 staff and contractors, with annual revenues of $180.2 million, annual expenses of $169 million, net assets of $255 million and a growing endowment, which surpassed $100 million in June 2021.<!-- for sources see infobox -->
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All intellectual property rights and domain names about Wikipedia were moved to the Foundation after its inception,<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/3399843/Wikipedia-founder-Jimmy-Wales-goes-bananas.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/3399843/Wikipedia-founder-Jimmy-Wales-goes-bananas.html |archive-date = January 11, 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales goes bananas |newspaper = The Daily Telegraph |access-date = December 26, 2017 |date = November 7, 2008 |last = Neate |first = Rupert}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and it currently owns the [[domain name]]s and maintains most of the [[Wikimedia movement]]'s websites.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/20-0049703|title=GuideStar – WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION, INC.|access-date=2020-02-11|archive-date=2021-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121083722/https://www.guidestar.org/profile/20-0049703|url-status=live}}</ref> WMF is now the registrant of the domain <code>wikipedia.org</code>, owner of the trademark and operator of the wiki platform. It also runs projects like [[Wikibooks]], [[Wikidata]], [[Wiktionary]] and [[Wikimedia Commons]]; it raises money, distributes [[m:Grants|grants]], controls the servers, develops and deploys software, and does outreach to support [[Wikipedia:Wikimedia sister projects|Wikimedia projects]], including the [[English Wikipedia]].
The Foundation's mission 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."<ref name="wikimedia-mission">{{cite web | url = https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement | title = Mission statement | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | access-date = January 28, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080117000000/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement | archive-date = January 17, 2008 | first = Florence | last = Devouard | author-link = Florence Devouard | url-status = live }}</ref> The Foundation promises in its mission statement to make useful information from its projects available on the internet free of charge in perpetuity.<ref name="wikimedia-mission" /> It engages in [[advocacy group|political advocacy]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Jackson |first=Jasper |date=February 12, 2017 |title='We always look for reliability': why Wikipedia's editors cut out the Daily Mail |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/12/wikipedia-daily-mail-reliability-ban-katherine-maher |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=February 13, 2017 |quote="Another core job for the foundation – and Maher – is political advocacy. While copyright and press freedom are important issues for Wikipedia, there is one area even more fundamental to its operation – the rules that protect web firms from full liability for what their users post." |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213213309/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/12/wikipedia-daily-mail-reliability-ban-katherine-maher |archive-date=February 13, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> with its own Global Advocacy team which "exists to help the Foundation, affiliates, and volunteers safeguard the free knowledge movement by advocating for public policies that promote and support access to knowledge".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/08/15/meet-the-wikimedia-foundation-global-advocacy-team/ | title = Meet the Wikimedia Foundation Global Advocacy Team | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | access-date = August 20, 2024 }}</ref> The Foundation's strategic direction, formulated in 2017, envisages that it "will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge" by 2030.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017|title=Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2017| publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | author = Various | work = Meta | access-date = May 19, 2022 }}</ref>
▲The Wikimedia Foundation provides the technical and organizational infrastructure to enable members of the public to develop wiki-based content in languages across the world.<ref name="wikimedia-mission"/> The Foundation does not write or curate any of the content on the wikis itself.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/05/a-victory-for-free-knowledge-florida-judge-rules-section-230-bars-defamation-claim-against-the-wikimedia-foundation/ | title=A victory for free knowledge: Florida judge rules Section 230 bars defamation claim against the Wikimedia Foundation | publisher=diff.wikimedia.org | date=October 5, 2021 |quote=the plaintiff argued that the Foundation should be treated like a traditional offline publisher and held responsible as though it were vetting all posts made to the sites it hosts, despite the fact that it does not write or curate any of the content found on the projects}}</ref>
== Finances ==
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