FAQ: Difference between revisions

The Wikimedia Foundation is funded primarily through single or monthly [https://donate.wikimedia.org/?uselang=en&utm_mediumwmf_medium=donatewiki_page&utm_campaignwmf_campaign=donate_link&utm_sourcewmf_source=FAQ donations] from millions of individuals around the world. The average single donation is about $15 USD and the average monthly donation is about $4 USD, and we are grateful that so many people find value in Wikipedia and want to sustain its future. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts (please see our [https://wikimediafoundation.org/support/benefactors/ benefactors page] for more information). A small portion of revenue is also earned through the services operated by Wikimedia Enterprise ([[#What is Wikimedia Enterprise?|more information]]).

Unlike other top websites, Wikipedia is not funded through advertising, nor does it rely on selling data about users for profit. Instead, Wikipedia is supported by its readers - people who find value in Wikipedia and want to continue to support its success, with the average single donation being about $15 USD and the average monthly donation about $4 USD. This financial model enables Wikipedia to remain neutral, trusted, and free from commercial interests.

Sustaining healthy financial reserves and having a working capital policy is considered a [https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/operating-reserves-nonprofits best practice] for organizations of all types. The Wikimedia Foundation Board of DirectorsTrustees recently defined our [https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Setting_Working_Capital_Reserve_Target working capital policy] that is designed to sustain our work and provide support to affiliates and volunteers in the event of unplanned expenses, emergencies, or revenue shortfalls. It also enables us to have sufficient cash flow to cover our expenses throughout the year.

There are several ways you can donate to the Wikimedia Foundation to support Wikipedia and free knowledge. The most common are using any major credit or debit card (VISAVisa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express), using PayPal, via bank transfer, andApple viaPay, Google Pay, and AmazonVenmo. For other ways to contribute, including via an automatic monthly gift, check or money order and payroll deduction, please visit our [[Ways to Give]] page. Many currencies are accepted.

The website doesn't have access to your prior donation history, so unfortunately it won't recognize that you have already shared your support. Donation banners are designed to show to donors that have enabled cookies on their browser, and to hide after the banner is shown a few times or after a donation. Hiding, however, depends upon a cookie that we insert in the browser. Banner hiding won't work if you clear your browser's cache, delete cookies, or change browsers or computers.

* If you click the "Already donated", "X" or "Close" button on a banner, it will hide for one week. Please note this behavior does not apply to the first banner you see, but every banner thereafter.

* If you return to the [https://thankyou.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You/en '"Thank You'" page] it will give the cookie a chance to reinsert. If you read Wikipedia on multiple devices, please visit this page on each of them to suppress the banners.

* You can also create an account on Wikipedia - banners are not typically shown to users who log- in to Wikipedia accounts. More information on creating an account can be found [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Why_create_an_account%3F here].

== What is the Wikimedia Endowment? ==

The Wikimedia Endowment was created in 2016 to serve asis a permanent safekeeping fund to generate income to support the operations and activities of the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity. DonationsIt tois thea Wikimedia501(c)(3) Endowment arecharity heldheadquartered in athe separateUnited fundStates. andDuring investedtimes toof growprosperity, overthe time. TheWikimedia Endowment fundwill isserve managedas bya Tidesspringboard Foundationfor growth and overseeninnovation. byDuring antough independenteconomic Advisorytimes, Board.the OnceEndowment thewill help fund reachesthe itsmost initialcritical fundraisingoperations goal,that Endowmentkeep incomethe willWikimedia beprojects distributedfunctioning. toBased provideon criticalconversations fundingwith todonors, Wikipediagrants andfrom itsthe sisterEndowment projects,currently providingfund technical securityinnovation, confidenceso andthat trustthe inWikimedia Wikipedia’sProjects offeringsstay andrelevant missionin fora yearstime toof rapid technological comechange. You can learn more about the Wikimedia Endowment at '''[https://wikimediaendowment.org/ wikimediaendowment.org]'''.

Wikimedia Enterprise is a wholly-owned LLC that provides services for third party content reuse, delivered via [[w:API|APIs]] (application programming interfaces). It provides high volume, high reliability access to Wikimedia content, designed for the needs of commercial organizations, such as search engines, voice assistants, and technology startups. Having services that are optimized for commercial users and paid for by those users ensures that any money which is donated to the Wikimedia Foundation goes directly towards supporting services for our volunteer community and readers. You can learn more about Wikimedia Enterprise at [https://enterprise.wikimedia.com/ enterprise.wikimedia.com].