Wikimedia Launches 25th-Anniversary Campaign as Wikipedia Serves 15 Billion Monthly Views
Updated
Updated · Forbes · Jun 29
Wikimedia Launches 25th-Anniversary Campaign as Wikipedia Serves 15 Billion Monthly Views
1 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jun 29
Summary
"Knowledge Is Human" debuted as Wikimedia’s 25th-anniversary push to spotlight Wikipedia’s volunteer editors and recruit younger contributors as readership slips and editor ranks stay flat.
Nearly 250,000 volunteers maintain 65 million articles in 300-plus languages, yet much of that work is increasingly consumed through search engines, voice assistants and AI tools rather than on Wikipedia itself.
A roughly $180 million annual budget—funded mostly by $2-to-$11 donations—now also supports servers handling heavy AI scraping, prompting Wikimedia to press tech firms to pay back into the ecosystem.
Research cited by the foundation found under-24s have the lowest awareness of Wikipedia, so the campaign uses an anthem film and editor documentaries to recast contributors as a new generation of digital craftspeople.
The broader pitch is that Wikipedia remains one of the few major nonprofit internet platforms built on neutrality and consensus, a model Wikimedia wants protected for the next 25 years.