I donated 100€ to Wikipedia

Yesterday I was looking something up on Wikipedia and I was presented with a message like this:

I am sure you too have seen this kind of message before, about once a year.

Despite them begging me not to scroll past, this is exactly what I usually do. When I don’t, I may read the whole thing, but I have never donated any money.

Until last night. I sympathize with Wikipedia’s mission - in fact, I believe Wikipedia is one of the best things that happened to the Internet. I have already expressed how I feel about free access to knowledge in an earlier post. And they are asking just for 2€, so what is my excuse?

I usually dismiss this question and keep scrolling, but this time, for no particular reason, I decided not to. Instead of donating a small sum and facing the same moral dilemma again next year, I decided to give 50x the suggested amount and be good for 50 years.

A little bit from everyone is enough, and I feel I have done my part.

This is the email I received after my donation:

Dear Sebastiano,

Thank you so much for the one-time gift of €100.00 to support Wikipedia and a world where knowledge is free for everyone.

Every single donation helps us to improve people’s access to accurate and reliable information, especially in a rapidly changing world. I’m truly grateful for your support in enabling billions of people to experience the gift of knowledge through Wikipedia.

We are determined to extend this access as far as possible to make sure that no matter where you are born or where you live, the ability to access free knowledge is always within your reach. I hope you will continue to support us in building a future where Wikipedia exists everywhere, with people across the world contributing to the sum of all knowledge.

Thank you again for supporting this remarkable mission; it is a privilege for me to be part of the largest collaborative project in human history. Wikipedia will always belong to you.

With gratitude, Maryana

Maryana Iskander CEO, Wikimedia Foundation