Google co-founder Brin donates $500,000 to Wikipedia

Moscow: The co-founder of Google, Sergei Brin, has donated $500,000 to Wikipedia's foundation, Wikimedia, the foundation said on its web site Saturday. Brin granted $500,000 from The Brin Wojcicki Foundation, the charity fund run by him and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, reported RIA Novosti.

The money however will not cover all Wikipedia's annual budget of $28.3 million. This week Wikipedia started its annual fund-rising campaign that is due to last until January, with the personal appeal from its founder Jimmy Wales, who created the world's biggest user-created encyclopaedia in 2001. Wales has repeatedly said that there would not be any advertising on Wikipedia.

"Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia," Wales said in its latest address. Last year's campaign raised $16 million to Wikimedia foundation.

Brin granted $500,000 from The Brin Wojcicki Foundation, the charity fund run by him and his wife, Anne Wojcicki.

Wikipedia was ranked the fifth most popular web-site in Internet with over 470 million unique visitors every month, comScore said in its October's report.

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