Donate to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an online, free, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia. Created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and launches in 2001, the project is today supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. The name derives from the Hawaian word "wiki" (which means fast) and "encyclopedia. Anyone can access the Wikipedia site, gain information about thousands of subjects (from Soviet animation, to rugby, to Macedonian dance festivals) and it is available in 270 languages, "from Abkhaz to Zulu!

It is written by volunteers, that is anyone can contribute to the online information, through editing articles or creating new resources. This is accomplished by a open source software. More than 300 million people use wikipedia every month, and it is listed as one of the ten most visited websites. Among those ten, Wikipedia is only non-profit brand.

The fact that Wikipedia is can be written by anyone, makes it not only limitless, but also the target for a lot of criticism: Many have characterized Wikipedia as a totally invalid resource and an information base lacking academic credibility. That may be true, but no one can deny the Wikipedia is one of the main information resource sites that we use, not necessarily for major academic researches and projects, but to gain everyday knowlegde, information about almost anything. (Not to mention that scientific journal Nature, has stated that the material of Wikipedia is approximately of the same lever as the Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Wikipedia also serves as the "entrance" towards a more detailed research, because the information it supplies is detailed enough, easy to access and always sites further reading materials and resources.

Its financing depends on donations. Wikipedia is a part of our lives, although it is seen as the "black sheep" of the formal information and academic world. Lately, it has launched an appeal to gather more donations from the visitors of the site, because at the end of the day, we, the users of Wikipedia, are using this practical tool at every occasion when we want to easily and accurately want to access any kind of free information.