Fwd: Can you share this?/Wikipedia Fundraising

[Michael Coghlan]

Hi everyone.

My brother received this from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and I thought it was worth passing on. As many of you are aware Wikipedia has a campaign running at the moment asking for funds to sustain Wikipedia.

Happy New Year!

- Michael

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Dear Damien,

Here's how the Wikipedia fundraiser works: Every year we raise just
the funds that we need, and then we stop.

Because you and so many other Wikipedia readers donated over the past
weeks, we are very close to raising our goal for this year by December
31 -- but we're not quite there yet.

You've already done your part this year. Thank you so much. But you
can help us again by forwarding this email to a friend who you know
relies on Wikipedia and asking that person to help us reach our goal
today by clicking here and making a donation.

If everyone reading this email forwarded it to just one friend, we
think that would be enough to let us end the fundraiser today.

Of course, we wouldn't turn you down if you wanted to make a second donation..

Google might have close to a million servers. Yahoo has something like
13,000 staff. We have 679 servers and 95 staff.

Wikipedia is the #5 site on the web and serves 470 million different
people every month ­ with billions of page views.

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.

When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit
company with advertising, but I decided to do something different.
We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill
our mission, and leave waste to others.

Thanks again for your support this year. Please help spread the word
by forwarding this email to someone you know.

Thanks,
Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

[Barbara Dieu]

Not in the spirit of competition, Michael but I received this :-)

I use wikipedia a lot, contribute to it as well and find it's worth donating.
Have a great dragon year everyone.

Dear Barbara W.J.,

You are amazing, thank you so much for donating to the Wikimedia Foundation!

This is how we pay our bills -- it's people like you, giving five
dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars. My favourite donation last
year was five pounds from a little girl in England, who had persuaded
her parents to let her donate her allowance. It's people like you,
joining with that girl, who make it possible for Wikipedia to continue
providing free, easy access to unbiased information, for everyone
around the world. For everyone who helps pay for it, and for those who
can't afford to help. Thank you so much.

I know it's easy to ignore our appeals, and I'm glad that you didn't.
From me, and from the tens of thousands of volunteers who write
Wikipedia: thank you for helping us make the world a better place. We
will use your money carefully, and I thank you for your trust in us.

Thanks,

Sue Gardner
Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director

--
Barbara Dieu
http://barbaradieu.com
http://beespace.net

[Michael Coghlan]

I just donated and got the same letter :-) Made me feel good about it and myself. LOL.

- Michael.

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