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The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to making free knowledge accessible to all people around the world. Founded on June 20, 2003, by Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, the foundation is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA.
The Wikimedia Foundation operates a variety of projects based on free content and wiki-based internet platforms. The most well-known projects include:
The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect, develop, and effectively disseminate educational content under a free license or in the public domain. The foundation's motto is: "Imagine a world in which every single person is free to share in the sum of all knowledge. That is our commitment."[5].
The foundation is deeply rooted in the values of the free culture and free software movements. It promotes the free sharing, distribution, modification, and use of information for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, in perpetuity[2].
The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to several core goals:
As a non-profit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation is primarily funded by donations from millions of individuals worldwide. The foundation publishes detailed financial reports that include audited annual accounts and budgets to ensure transparency and accountability[3][4].
The Wikimedia Foundation is a key player in the global movement for free knowledge, and its work has a profound impact on how knowledge is collected, shared, and used. Through its efforts, the foundation makes it easier for everyone to share and access knowledge.
