What Wikimedia Foundation does

The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Jimmy Wales and headquartered in San Francisco. It operates 14 collaborative free knowledge projects — Wikipedia (the centerpiece, with 65+ million articles in 300+ languages), Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons (114 million media files), Wikidata, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikispecies, Wikifunctions, Wikivoyage, Meta-Wiki, and the MediaWiki software platform — collectively reaching approximately 1.5 billion unique devices and 15 billion page views per month. The Foundation supports a global community of roughly 250,000–265,000 volunteer editors producing 324 edits per minute across 170+ nations, with a staff of ~650 employees and contractors working remotely in 40+ countries.

The Foundation's core technology stack is built on MediaWiki, the open-source PHP wiki engine that originated with Wikipedia and is now deployed externally (e.g., NASA's internal wiki). Adjacent proprietary-but-open-source tooling includes ORES (machine-learning edit-quality scoring), Wikidata (structured machine-readable knowledge graph), Wikifunctions (collaborative code library), and the Wikimedia Enterprise commercial API. The Foundation publishes biannual transparency reports, holds Charity Navigator's four-star rating and Candid's Platinum Seal of Transparency, and is a member of the UN-endorsed Digital Public Goods Alliance.

Wikimedia's revenue model is structurally bifurcated. The dominant stream is small-dollar individual donations averaging approximately $11 per gift, with recurring monthly giving as the most effective channel; only ~2% of readers donate. Secondary streams include planned giving (bequests, charitable gift annuities, donor-advised funds, stock donations) and the Wikimedia Endowment's long-term investment income. A growing third stream is Wikimedia Enterprise, a paid commercial API providing high-volume, SLA-backed access to Wikipedia content for AI labs and large platforms — currently including Google (since 2022), Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity. Total annual funding reached $189.7M in FY2024–25, with 45% allocated to technology investment, 32% to volunteer support, 11% to general and administrative expenses, and 12% to fundraising.

Name

Wikimedia Foundation

Legal name

Wikimedia Foundation

Website

https://wikimediafoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2003 that hosts Wikipedia and 13 sister Wikimedia projects, serving 1.5+ billion unique monthly users with free multilingual knowledge across 300+ languages, funded by individual donations and growing enterprise AI data licensing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Free Online Encyclopedia and Open Knowledge Platforms

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH), Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments (MPACAFAB)

Keywords

• Free online encyclopedia
• Open knowledge platforms
• Wiki software development
• Nonprofit digital publishing
• Collaborative content platforms

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The primary revenue stream, with the majority of funding coming from small individual donations averaging $11 USD per gift. Donations can be one-time, monthly recurring, or yearly. Approximately 2% of Wikipedia readers donate.
2. Wikimedia Enterprise Licensing: Paid commercial product licensing structured API access to Wikipedia content for AI model training and high-volume reuse. Customers include Google (since 2022), Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity.
3. Grants and Endowment Income: Grants awarded to Wikimedia community members, affiliates and nonprofit organizations (over $9 million USD last year). Wikimedia Endowment provides long-term investment income to support the future of Wikimedia projects.
4. Planned Giving and Legacy Gifts: Bequests, charitable gift annuities (CGAs), donor-advised funds (DAFs), IRA qualified charitable distributions, and stock donations that support Wikipedia's mission and the Wikimedia Endowment.
5. Total Annual Funding: Total funding of $189.7M reported, allocated as: 45% Investment in Technology, 32% Support for Volunteers, 11% General and Administrative Expenses, 12% Allocation to Fundraising Efforts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Wikimedia Foundation operates Wikipedia — the world's largest free online encyclopedia with 65+ million articles across 300+ languages — alongside 13 sister free knowledge projects (Wiktionary, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikifunctions, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, Wikispecies, Wikivoyage, Meta-Wiki, MediaWiki, Wikinews). It also sells Wikimedia Enterprise, a commercial paid API product providing high-volume, SLA-backed access to Wikipedia content for AI labs and large platforms (Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, Perplexity). The Foundation is funded primarily by small individual donations averaging ~$11 per gift.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Wikipedia: Free, collaborative encyclopedia written in over 300 languages by volunteers around the world.
• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikidata
• Wiktionary
• Wikisource
• Wikibooks
• Wikiquote
• Wikiversity
• Wikispecies
• Wikifunctions
• MediaWiki
• Wikivoyage
• Meta-Wiki
• Wikimedia Enterprise

Products and services

• Wikipedia Free, collaborative online encyclopedia with 65+ million articles in 300+ languages; the central Wikimedia offering for global readers and volunteer editors.
• Wikimedia Enterprise Commercial API product providing high-volume, SLA-backed structured access to Wikipedia content for AI labs, search engines, and large-scale platforms. Customers include Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, Perplexity, Ecosia, and ProRata.
• MediaWiki Free, open-source wiki software platform written in PHP, originally created for Wikipedia and now powering Wikimedia projects globally; also deployed by external organizations such as NASA.
• Wikidata Central storage of structured, machine-readable data for Wikimedia projects, providing a multilingual knowledge graph used across Wikipedia and by external AI/data systems.
• Wikimedia Commons World's largest free-to-use media library containing 114+ million images, photos, videos, and music files, serving as the central shared media repository for all Wikimedia projects.
• Wikifunctions Collaborative library of code functions anyone can edit, used to answer questions across Wikimedia projects.
• Wiktionary Free multilingual dictionary describing all words of all languages, including thesaurus, rhyme guides, and language statistics across 170+ languages.
• Wikiquote Online collection of sourced quotations from notable people and creative works, available in 75+ languages.
• Wikibooks Free collection of e-book resources including textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals.
• Wikisource Free library of freely-licensed source texts and historical documents, including poetry, government documents, national constitutions, and general literature.
• Wikiversity Free learning resources, learning projects, and research for use across all levels, types, and styles of education.
• Wikispecies Free species database for taxonomy covering living and fossil representatives of all forms of life.
• Wikivoyage Free, complete, and up-to-date worldwide travel guide created collaboratively.
• Meta-Wiki Project coordination and collaboration platform for global collaboration across Wikimedia projects.
• Wikipedia for Android Official Wikipedia mobile app for Android, offering article reading, offline saving, night reading mode, and the "Which came first?" trivia game.
• Wikipedia for iOS Official Wikipedia mobile app for iPhone and iPad, offering article reading, offline saving, night reading mode, and the "Which came first?" trivia game.
• ORES (Objective Revision Evaluation Service) Open-source machine-learning service and API that flags damaging edits, vandalism, and potentially problematic content on Wikimedia projects in near real time.
• Wikimedia APIs Public API platform providing straightforward access to Wikimedia content and data in machine-readable formats for developers and researchers worldwide.

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 billion monthly page views
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

23 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Digital Public Goods AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026Wikimedia Foundation became a member of the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) in May 2026, joining Wikipedia's recognition as a Digital Public Good in October 2025.
• Rekhta FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2026Provided 10 rare Urdu texts for foundational content of Urdu Wikisource platform, marking the first Indian language community's affiliated project with the Wikimedia Foundation since 2015.
• British LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2026Provided seven historical Urdu texts from the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' digitization project for Urdu Wikisource foundational content.
• Indonesian Ministry of Communication and DigitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 April 2026Wikimedia Foundation reached a compromise with the Indonesian government after authorities threatened to block Wikipedia over a 2020 regulation requiring electronic system providers to register. Foundation secured assurances against unlawful content takedown orders and data disclosure requirements.
• Paradigm InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 April 2026Organizer of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) 2026 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, with Wikimedia Foundation sponsoring the event for the fourth consecutive year.
• Gray AreaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 March 2026Co-host of WikiGameJam SF, a three-day hackathon taking place March 13-15, 2026, in San Francisco, creating playable game experiences using Wikipedia content.
• Bay Area WikipediansminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 March 2026Co-host of WikiGameJam SF hackathon at Gray Area in San Francisco.
• Wikimedia Foundation Hub Grant recipientsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 January 2026The Content Partnerships Hub, supported by a Wikimedia Foundation Hub Grant, provides hands-on support service for affiliates, user groups, and external organizations planning content partnerships with GLAM, academic, scientific, and intergovernmental organizations.
• IBM (with Wikimedia Deutschland)coreTechnology or Integration · 21 January 2026Wikimedia Deutschland integrated DataStax Astra DB on IBM watsonx.data to enhance access to Wikidata's multilingual knowledge graph, resulting in a 30-fold increase in query speed and a 90% reduction in development time.
• MicrosoftflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Wikimedia Enterprise customer paying for high-volume API access to Wikipedia content for AI model training. The deal was part of a wave of major AI licensing partnerships announced on January 15, 2026, marking a strategic push to monetize AI companies' reliance on Wikipedia content.
• Meta PlatformsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Wikimedia Enterprise customer for AI data licensing. Meta signed content licensing deal for direct API access to Wikipedia's data for AI model training, joining as part of January 2026 expansion of Wikimedia Enterprise partnerships.
• AmazonflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Wikimedia Enterprise customer for AI data licensing, providing Wikipedia content access for Amazon's AI foundation models. Part of the January 2026 wave of major AI company partnerships.
• PerplexityflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Wikimedia Enterprise customer paying for AI data licensing to access Wikipedia's 65 million articles for AI model training. Part of January 2026 partnerships.
• Mistral AIflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Wikimedia Enterprise customer based in France. Mistral AI has signed a data licensing agreement to access Wikipedia's 65 million articles for AI model training, leveraging the data to enhance its open-weight models deployed through platforms like AWS Bedrock.
• EcosiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Existing Wikimedia Enterprise partner that pays for Wikipedia content access for its search engine services.
• ProRatacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2026Existing Wikimedia Enterprise partner paying for Wikipedia content access for AI services.
• UK Online Safety Act / OfcomcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 August 2025Wikimedia Foundation challenged the UK Online Safety Act Categorisation Regulations in court, arguing that user verification requirements could undermine contributor privacy and safety. The challenge was dismissed but case could be revisited if Wikipedia is classified as a category 1 platform.
• UNESCOcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023UNESCO joined the 2023 Wikimedia movement in Singapore. Partner for change to close systemic gaps in global understanding of science, culture, language, and identity.
• GoogleflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022First Wikimedia Enterprise customer since 2022, paying for high-volume API access to Wikipedia data for AI search and AI model training. The partnership established the template for subsequent AI company deals.
• Biodiversity Heritage LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for change working with Wikimedia to actively seek new knowledge and close systemic gaps in global understanding of science, culture, language, and identity.
• Mozilla FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-host of sessions at DRIF 2026 on African language preservation, multilingual internet access, and digital public goods. Wikipedia and Mozilla are presented as organizations maintaining human-centered verification frameworks as competitive differentiators in the AI era.
• OutreachyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWikimedia Foundation funds, supports, and mentors new developers and underrepresented groups in tech through Outreachy internships.
• Internet ArchiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoth organizations face hard drive shortages and price increases; both working to find workarounds and seek donations from storage manufacturers to preserve digital archives.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Emerging players

• Kiwix: Nonprofit that provides offline access to Wikipedia and other web content via lightweight apps. Comparable in mission and nonprofit structure, and an ecosystem partner extending Wikipedia's reach to users without reliable internet access.
• DBpedia: Project that extracts structured content from Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects to build machine-readable knowledge graphs. Comparable as an adjacent player in the structured Wikipedia data space, particularly relevant given Wikidata's enterprise and AI focus.
• Everipedia: Blockchain-based online encyclopedia that positions itself as a Wikipedia alternative with token incentives for editors. Comparable as a competing free online encyclopedia targeting the same use case, though with a different (crypto-incentivized) model.

Direct peers

• Internet Archive: 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating a massive free digital library (web pages, books, audio, video, software). Most directly comparable to Wikimedia Foundation in mission, nonprofit structure, and role as foundational public-interest infrastructure for free knowledge. Both face hard drive shortages, partner on archival preservation, and rely on individual donations.
• Project Gutenberg: Volunteer-driven, free digital library of public-domain books. Directly comparable to Wikisource in mission, model (volunteer-built, free, openly licensed), and role in preserving and expanding access to public-domain knowledge.
• Creative Commons: 501(c)(3) nonprofit that maintains the open licensing framework (CC BY-SA 4.0) under which all Wikimedia content is published. Highly comparable in mission, nonprofit structure, and role as enabling infrastructure for the open knowledge ecosystem.
• OpenStreetMap Foundation: Nonprofit foundation supporting the world's largest open geospatial database built by a global volunteer community. Directly comparable to Wikimedia in operating model (volunteer-driven, free, open-data, multilingual) and as a free collaborative knowledge project.

Broad incumbents

• Khan Academy: 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering free, high-quality educational content at massive global scale with a donor-funded model. Comparable as a similarly sized, mission-driven educational nonprofit with billions of users and similar transparency/transparency-reporting practices.
• Encyclopædia Britannica: Long-established expert-edited encyclopedia now operating as a subscription/online product. Comparable as a competing encyclopedia offering but in a for-profit model; serves as the historical incumbent in the encyclopedia category Wikipedia disrupted.
• Mozilla Foundation: Nonprofit foundation supporting Firefox and the open-internet movement. Comparable as a large, donor-funded internet public-interest nonprofit that also co-hosts advocacy events (DRIF) with Wikimedia and explicitly positions human-centered verification as a differentiator in the AI era.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat8 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@wikipedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/wikimediafoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wikimedia-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/wikimediafoundation
• GitHubgithub.com/wikimedia
• Xx.com/Wikimedia

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds17 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wikimedia Foundation