Memory:Timeline

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Official Timeline of the Wikimedia Foundation

What does the Wikimedia Foundation do?

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This is the official timeline of the Wikimedia Foundation — which YOU can assist in developing!

Since the Wikimedia Foundation's founding in 2003, the organization has supported the growth of the Wikimedia Movement through a uniquely strong commitment to transparency, collaboration, and empowering people around the world to share their knowledge. In that tradition, we invite you to join us in developing this ever-evolving collection of just some of the expansive story of the Wikimedia Foundation.

This resource is about and from the Wikimedia Foundation specifically. It serves as a supplement to the ongoing efforts by the Wikimedia community to document the Wikimedia Movement's story.

How to contribute

Suggest an entry to the timeline or potential future use

Anyone may suggest a timeline entry! There is a lot here already – but it is not everything! In true Wikimedia spirit, we need your help developing this resource.

Visit the timeline's talk page for more information on making a suggestion! We also encourage you to participate in the Wikimedia community's efforts to document the Wikimedia Movement's story and timelines.

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Anyone with a registered Wikimedia account may assist in providing translations of this page's content. Please visit this wiki's translation guide or the translators guide on MediaWiki.org for more information.

Highlights

Sampling from 200+ articles about the Wikimedia Foundation within Wikimedia projects

Wikimedia Foundation logo changes over the years

2003–2005

2003
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 986,819^{[footnotes 1]}^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 0

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 0^{[footnotes 2]}

20 June: Wikimedia Foundation founded in Florida, United States.
June: The "Wikipedia software" is officially named "MediaWiki" and adopted as the Foundation's fourth official project.^[2]
10 July: Wikimedia Foundation launches its fifth official project, Wikibooks.
10 July: Foundation launches its sixth official project, Wikiquote.
15 October: Wikimedia Foundation adopts its first logo.
24 November: Foundation launches its seventh official project, Wikisource.

2004
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,216,131^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 0

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 59,926

Wikimedia Foundation hires its first staff member.
Wikimedia Foundation begins to recognize Wikimedia movement affiliates.
13 June: Wikimedia Deutschland becomes Foundation's first movement affiliate.
7 September: Wikimedia Foundation launches its eighth official project, Wikimedia Commons.
14 September: Foundation launches its ninth official project, Wikispecies.
8 November: Wikimedia Foundation launches its tenth official project, Wikinews.

2005
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 21,381,995^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 2

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 107,768

April: Foundation receives its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization status in the United States.
4–8 August: Wikimedia Foundation supports volunteers efforts to host first annual Wikimania in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
15 August: Wikimedia Foundation launches its eleventh official project, Wikiversity.

2006-2010

2006
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 73,565,528^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 5

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 141,131

January: Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which remains in use until March 2012.
12 June: Brad Patricks becomes the Foundation's first Interim Executive Director and non–interim General Counsel.

2007
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 205,528,495^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 7

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 207,462

11 April: Wikimedia Foundation introduces its finalized Mission statement and Vision.
9 October: Wikimedia Foundation announces it will relocate its headquarters from Florida to San Francisco, California, United States.
3 December: Sue Gardner is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's first Executive Director.

2008
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 386,664,377^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 13

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 327,829

10 January: Erik Möller is announced as the Wikimedia Foundation's first Deputy Executive Director.
31 January: Foundation finishes its move to San Francisco, California, United States and closes its office in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.
April: Wikimedia Foundation launches Wikimedia Blog using the WordPress platform.

2009
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 582,028,543^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 21

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 510,356

Wikimedia Foundation relocates from its headquarters at 39 Stillman Street to 149 New Montgomery Street - also in San Francisco, California, United States.

2010
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 774,422,659^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 27

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 634,252

13 May: Foundation releases a new interface for MediaWiki on the Wikimedia projects featuring new navigation tools and a link wizard.

2011-2015

2011
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,007,741,486^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 27

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 733,379

Sue Gardner and Ward Cunningham speaking at a Wikipedia 10 celebration in San Francisco, California, United States

15 January: Wikimedia Foundation joins and supports activities and events celebrating Wikipedia's 10-year anniversary.
October: Foundation announces the launch of Wikipedia Zero, an initiative to enable free mobile access to Wikimedia projects through partnerships with mobile operators.

2012
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,226,630,755^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 36

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 850,036

18 January: Wikimedia Foundation partners with other organizations in the United States to opposed the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
March: Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which remains in use until July 2016.
30 March: Wikimedia Foundation joins Wikimedia Deutschland in launching the Foundation's twelve official project, Wikidata.

2013
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,465,877,854^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 39

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 953,140

15 January: Wikimedia Foundation acquires and relaunches Wikivoyage, the Foundation's thirteenth official project.
July: Foundation releases the VisualEditor editing system.

2014
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,791,656,096^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 49

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 999,564

1 May: Lila Tretikov is appointed as the organization's second Executive Director.

2015
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,092,638,259^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 66

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,017,086

What is the Wikimedia free knowledge movement?

March 15: Wikimedia Foundation announces that it is working with the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency, Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA.

2016-2020

2016
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,431,002,340^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 92

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,136,714

January: Wikimedia Foundation announces the creation of the Wikimedia Endowment.
23 June: Katherine Maher is appointed as the organization's third Executive Director.
July: Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which is still in use as of June 2023.

2017
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,817,771,529^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 112

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,323,325

Wikimedia Foundation staff at annual all staff gathering in 2017 held in San Francisco, California, United States

29 April: The government of Turkey blocks access to all language editions of Wikipedia.
October: Wikimedia Foundation relocates to its current (as of June 2023) headquarters within One Montgomery Tower in San Francisco, California, United States.

2018
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 3,264,470,113^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 121

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,422,340

29 October: Wikimedia Foundation joins the Global Network Initiative as an observer.

2019
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 3,730,634,634^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 144

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,522,268

23 August: Government of China expands block of Wikipedia to include all language versions.

2020
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,249,325,240^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 164

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,592,114

World Health Organization partners with the Wikimedia Foundation to support the Wikimedia community's development of Wikipedia as a resource for the dissemination of verifiable COVID-19-related information and help stop the spread of misinformation.
March: With the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the Foundation becomes a remote-first organisation with all staff working remotely.

2021-2025

2021
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,851,745,926^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 179

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,717,798

15 January: Wikimedia Foundation supports communities around the world in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia and responds to inquires from hundreds of media outlets in numerous nations.
25 October: Wikimedia Foundation launches Wikimedia Enterprise

2022
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 5,373,396,306^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 177

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,802,442

How can you join the Wikimedia free knowledge movement?

3 January: Maryana Iskander is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's fourth Chief Executive Officer, with the Board of Trustees removing Executive Director from the role's title.
September: Lisa Seitz-Gruwell is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's Deputy Chief Executive Officer, in addition to existing role of Chief Advancement Officer.

2023
Quick facts (as of 1 January):

Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 5,922,185,933^[1]

Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 184

Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,896,504

Wikimedia Foundation introduces first sound logo to audibly identify Wikimedia.
Staff based outside the US now make up almost half of the workforce and the majority of staff are now based outside of San Francisco.
January: The default desktop interface for MediaWiki on Wikimedia projects was changed for the first time since 2010, to "Vector 2022"

2003

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of servers maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation: 1^{[footnotes 3]}
Number of Foundation staff: 0
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 3^{[footnotes 3]}^[3]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 986,819^{[footnotes 1]}^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 0
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 0^{[footnotes 2]}
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$56,666^[4]

Screenshot of Aldo Busi article on Italian Wikiquote

Wikimedia Foundation's first logo, by Neolux, introduced in October 2003 and in use until January 2006

Wikimedia.org launches as a single page website for the Wikimedia Foundation.

June

Jimmy Wales announces formation of Wikimedia and intention to create a charity and select a governing board. The intention is to provide a not-for-profit charitable framework for Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, and the growing technical and organizational infrastructure necessary to support them.
9: MediaWiki's ISBN interface is amended to make ISBNs in articles link to Special:Booksources, which fetches its contents from a page editable by contributors.
20: Wikimedia Foundation founded in Florida, United States. Until this time, the Wikimedia sites and servers were supported by Bomis, Jimmy Wales's for-profit business at the time.

July

WikimediaFoundation.org launches as a redirect to Wikimedia.org
The "Wikipedia software" is officially named "MediaWiki", a wordplay by Daniel Mayer on the Wikimedia Foundation's name. It is adopted as the Foundation's fourth official project.^[2]
10: Wikimedia Foundation launches its fifth official project, Wikibooks.
10: Wikimedia Foundation launches its sixth official project, Wikiquote.

October

15: The second place logo of the 2003 Wikipedia international logo contest, created by Neolux, is appointed as the logo for Wikimedia by logo contest organizer Erik Möller. A version by Neolux is adopted for the Wikimedia Foundation.^[5] This specific version would remain in use until January 2006, and the overall design remains in use by the Foundation as of June 2023.

November

24: Wikimedia Foundation launches its seventh official project, Wikisource.

December

A major computer crash takes Wikipedia offline for a week and prompts Jimmy Wales to launch a fundraising drive. In less than a week more than US$30,000 is raised, thanks partly to mentions on Slashdot. The money allows the Wikimedia Foundation to purchase nine new servers.
6: Wikimedia Foundation developers support ending system messages within MediaWiki displayed to Wikimedia project users from being hard coded, allowing for contributors to modify and translate them easier.

2004

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 7^[3]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,216,131^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 0
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 59,926
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$201,418^[4]

What free knowledge projects does the Wikimedia Foundation support?

Wikimedia Foundation begins to recognize Wikimedia movement affiliates, organizations around the world working primarily to advance the Wikimedia Vision. Recognition will provide affiliates with legal access to the Foundation's trademarks and other resources such as grants, support, and brand awareness.
Tim Starling is hired as the Foundation's first employee and tasked with improving the MediaWiki software. Tim is joined soon after by a Chief Financial Officer, and a Content Partnership Coordinator. As of June 2023, Tim is still with the Wikimedia Foundation and is still working to improve the MediaWiki software.

January

Wikimedia Foundation purchases new servers with proceeds from the December 2003 fundraiser and installs them in Florida.

February

12: Foundation's server operations in California, United States are relocated to Florida, bringing them closer to the Foundation's at that time Florida-based operations.

May

30: Wikimedia Foundation introduces MediaWiki's first instance of categorization, allowing contributors of Wikimedia projects to create a larger automatic categorization of content on Wikimedia projects.
30: Foundation also introduces support for "templates", enabling contributors to transclude standard content within a given wiki.

June

3: China becomes the first country to restrict access to a Wikimedia project when its government restricts access to Wikipedia. Access is restored without explanation later that month, on 22 June 2004.
13: Wikimedia Deutschland is approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as the first Wikimedia movement affiliate, becoming the official Wikimedia chapter in the country of Germany.
18: Florence Devouard and Angela Beesley are the first user representatives selected for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.^[6]

July

WikimediaFoundation.org is relaunched as a MediaWiki-based wiki.

September

7: Wikimedia Foundation launches its eighth official project, Wikimedia Commons.
14: Wikimedia Foundation launches its ninth official project, Wikispecies.

November

8: Wikimedia Foundation launches its tenth official project, Wikinews.

December

16: Foundation's trademark of Wikipedia is accorded by Japan.
18: Wikimedia Foundation installs its first servers outside of the United States at a data center in France where they cache content for parts of Europe.

2005

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of servers maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation: 39
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 10^[3]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 200^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 21,381,995^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 2
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 107,768
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$791,907^[4]

Participants at Wikimania 2005 in Germany

A formal fundraiser for the Foundation is held in the first quarter of the year and raises almost US$100,000 for system upgrades to handle growing demand.
Wikimedia Foundation receives its first grant. It is from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and used to cover daily operations as well as support the launch of Wikispecies and ongoing improvement of official projects.

January

20: Foundation's trademark of Wikipedia is accorded by the European Union.

April

Foundation receives 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization status in the United States.

May

Wikimedia Foundation adds second full-time employee.

June

7: The bulk of the Wikimedia Foundation's Florida-based servers are relocated to a nearby facility, also within Florida. All Wikimedia projects are offline during this time.

August

4–8 Foundation supports volunteers efforts to host first annual Wikimania in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

2006

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of servers maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation: 100+
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 10^[3]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 215^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 73,565,528^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 5
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 141,131
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$2,077,843^[4]

January

Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which remains in use until March 2012.
10: Wikipedia becomes a trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation in the United States.^[8]

February

27: A second developer is hired by the Wikimedia Foundation.

June

12: Brad Patrick becomes the Foundation's first Interim Executive Director and non-interim General Counsel.^[9]

July

31: Wikimedia Foundation formally approves the development of an Advisory Board.

August

15: Wikimedia Foundation launches its eleventh official project, Wikiversity.

September

15: Brooke Vibber switches the September 11 wiki to read-only "due to longstanding concerns about lack of activity and abuse by spammers and vandals."

December

11: After investigating numerous nonprofit membership models, and in order to meet the statuary laws of Florida (where the Wikimedia Foundation is legally registered), the Foundation amends its bylaws to recognize the Board of Trustees as Foundation's only official members.

2007

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: 8
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 250^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 205,528,495^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 7
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 207,462
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$3,540,724^[4]

Wikimedia Foundation achieves a three-star (out of four) rating from Charity Navigator.

January

29: Wikimedia Foundation announces the formation of its Advisory Board.

April

11: Wikimedia Foundation introduces its finalized Mission statement and Vision.
17: Wikimedia Foundation announces the release of Wikipedia Version 0.5, "a CD collection of articles from the English Wikipedia".

July

Foundation's first Chief Operating Officer leaves the organization after having their criminal record publicly exposed.
Sue Gardner joins the Wikimedia Foundation as a consultant and special advisor to the Board of Trustees.

October

09: Wikimedia Foundation announces it will relocate its headquarters from Florida to San Francisco, California, United States.^[10]

December

03: Sue Gardner is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's first Executive Director.

2008

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 730^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 253^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 386,664,377^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 13
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 327,829
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$5,178,168^[4]

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is expanded to ten members: three whom will be selected by the community, two selected by Wikimedia movement affiliates, four selected by the Board itself, and a founder's seat reserved for Jimmy Wales.

January

10: Erik Möller is announced as the Wikimedia Foundation's first Deputy Executive Director.
24: Wikimedia Foundation and UNU-MERIT announce agreement to conduct first-ever survey of Wikipedia volunteers.
31: Foundation finishes its move to San Francisco, California, United States and closes its office in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.

April

Wikimedia Foundation launches Wikimedia Blog using the WordPress platform. It allows the Wikimedia Foundation to provide news and updates from across the Wikimedia movement.

2009

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~20
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 784^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 265^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 582,028,543^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 21
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 510,356
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$10,266,793^[4]

Wikimedia Foundation relocates from its headquarters at 39 Stillman Street to a nearby building in San Francisco, California, United States located at 149 New Montgomery Street.
Foundation updates the license of Wikimedia projects to the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

June

25: Immediately following news of the death of Michael Jackson, a dramatic increase in traffic and edits to the main article causes Wikimedia's servers to crash. Foundation staff are able to quickly restore full access and address the increased activity.

2010

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of servers maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation: 344
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 789^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 267^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 774,422,659^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 27
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 634,252
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$17,889,794^[4]

Wikimedia Foundation achieves a four-star (out of four) rating from Charity Navigator, a score it has maintained every year since.

May

11: Wikimedia Foundation launches a Public Policy Initiative education program with funding from the Stanton Foundation.
13: Foundation releases a new interface, known as Vector, for MediaWiki on the Wikimedia projects featuring new navigation tools and a link wizard.

July

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation sends a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation demanding removal of its seal from Wikipedia. In reply, the Foundation sent a letter defending Wikipedia's use of the image and refusing to remove it.

2011

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 809^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 272^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,007,741,486^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 27
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 733,379
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$29,260,652^[4]

January

15: Wikimedia Foundation joins and supports activities and events celebrating Wikipedia's 10-year anniversary.

August

At its August 2011 meeting, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees releases a letter outlining new procedures for fundraising by the Wikimedia Foundation involving Wikimedia movement affiliates. The new procedures shift more fundraising operations on the official projects to the Foundation and outline methods for movement affiliates to receive financial support from the Wikimedia Foundation.^[11]

October

Foundation announces the launch of Wikipedia Zero, an initiative to enable free mobile access to Wikimedia projects through partnerships with mobile operators.
2–4: Wikimedia Foundation assists the Italian Wikipedia community in intentionally becoming inaccessible in protest against the Italian Parliament's proposed DDL intercettazioni law, which, if approved, would allow any person to force websites to remove information that is perceived as untrue or offensive, without the need to provide evidence.

December

In response to legislative threats to the future of the Wikimedia projects and movement, the Foundation hires its first lobbying firm to begin alerting the United States Congress to possible, and usually unintentional, threats to free knowledge.

2012

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~110
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 11^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 846^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 283^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,226,630,755^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 36
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 850,036
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$35,704,796^[4]

January

18: Wikimedia Foundation partners with other organizations in the United States to opposed the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). It also provides support to the community's wishes to redirect English Wikipedia for a day to statement raising awareness of the risks of the proposed legislation to numerous internet and free knowledge projects.
24: Foundation announces first Wikipedia Zero partnership.

March

Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which remains in use until July 2016.
30: Wikimedia Foundation joins Wikimedia Deutschland in launching the Foundation's twelve official project, Wikidata.

2013

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 12^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 863^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 285^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,465,877,854^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 39
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 953,140
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$45,900,745^[4]

January

15: Wikimedia Foundation acquires and relaunches Wikivoyage, the Foundation's thirteenth official project.
22: Foundation's Florida-based servers are relocated to a data center in Virginia.

March

The first phase of the Wikidata interwiki database becomes available across Wikipedia's language editions.

April

Wikimedia Foundation provides support to French community after a French participant is threatened with arrest by the French secret service if the volunteer did not delete information from French Wikipedia about the Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station.

May

Edit access to WikimediaFoundation.org restricted primarily to Wikimedia Foundation staff as organization's capacity and legal requirements motive a change in operations of the wiki.

July

Foundation releases the VisualEditor editing system, the first implementation of an effort to allow editing of MediaWiki articles with a word processor-like interface without the need of using wiki markup while writing content.

2014

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~200
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 879^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 287^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 1,791,656,096^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 49
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 999,564
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$52,596,782^[4]

May

1: Lila Tretikov is appointed as the organization's second Executive Director.

August

Members of the Wikimedia community raise concerns about Wikimedia Foundation spending with founder Jimmy Wales. In response, the organization modifies its public financial reporting practices to help address future concerns.

2015

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 888^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 288^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,092,638,259^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 66
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,017,086
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$65,947,465^[4]

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees votes to remove one of its members recently selected by the community. They were reappointed in 2017 after being selected by the community to serve again.
Foundation initiates a search engine project, known as Knowledge Engine, to locate and display verifiable and trustworthy information from public-information sources. Following concerns from staff and members of the Wikimedia community over how the initiative began, it was abandoned by the Foundation. Some of the ideas developed during the initiative's time are later pursued to improve MediaWiki's search functionality.
In late 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation launches a Public Policy website outlining the public policy priorities and concerns of the organization.

March

15: Wikimedia Foundation announces that it, along with eight additional plaintiffs, was working with the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency. The lawsuit, Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA, calls into question the NSA's practice of mass surveillance, which infringes the constitutional rights of the Foundation's readers, contributors, and staff. The case continued until February 2023, when the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately declined to hear the case.

2016

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~300
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 892^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 291^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,431,002,340^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 92
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,136,714
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$69,136,758^[4]

January

Wikimedia Foundation announces the creation of the Wikimedia Endowment to safeguard the financial future of the Wikimedia Movement. During the development years of the endowment, it will operate as a donor-advised fund at the Tides Foundation.
Member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees resigns following concerns from the Wikimedia community about activities while at a previous employer. Foundation modifies its screening process to try and identify such concerns before formal appointment of future members.

March

14: Katherine Maher becomes organization's interim Executive Director.

June

23: Katherine Maher is appointed as the organization's third Executive Director.

July

Wikimedia Foundation introduces updated version of its logo, which is still in use as of June 2023.

2017

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~300
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 898^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 295^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 2,817,771,529^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 112
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,323,325
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$81,442,265^[4]

April

29: The government of Turkey blocks access to all language editions of Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation responds with support to local community and filing of multiple court actions. The block lasts until 15 January 2020 when the court of Turkey ruled that the block violates human rights.

July

WikimediaFoundation.org is relaunched as a WordPress-based website.
Wikimedia Blog is archived, remaining online and accessible – but no longer receiving new blog posts.

October

Wikimedia Foundation relocates to its current (as of June 2023) headquarters within One Montgomery Tower in San Francisco, California, United States.

November

Wikimedia Endowment website launches as official website for the organization's new endowment.

December

28: Government of China blocks access within China to the encrypted Japanese Wikipedia. As of June 2023, the block remains in effect.

2018

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 916^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 299^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 3,264,470,113^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 121
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,422,340
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$91,414,010^[4]

September

Wikimedia Foundation introduces global preferences in MediaWiki, enabling registered users to set their preferences at one wiki for use across all Wikimedia projects.

October

29: Wikimedia Foundation joins the Global Network Initiative as an observer.
30: Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia community members in Jordan, and Hashemite University sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance cultural cooperation and access to free knowledge resources in the Arabic language. It is the first MOU of its type signed with any university in the Middle East.

2019

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: ~400
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 932^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 303^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 3,730,634,634^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 144
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,522,268
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$112,489,397^[4]

January

30: Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees changes title of Executive Director to Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director.

August

23: Government of China expands block of Wikipedia to include all language versions. The timing of the block coincides with the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre and the 100th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement. The block expansion is part of a wider effort to enact stricter internet censorship in China.

2020

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 937^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 306^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,249,325,240^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 164
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,592,114
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$111,839,819^[4]

Wikimedia Tech Blog launches as the organization's blog for tech related posts primarily by Wikimedia Foundation technical staff.
Wikimedia Blog is relaunched as Diff, becoming a movement-wide focused blog with easier submission guidelines than previous iterations.
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees is expanded to allow up to 16 members: eight seats selected by the Wikimedia community, seven selected by the board itself, and a founder's seat reserved for Jimmy Wales.
March With the beginning of the pandemic the Foundation becomes a remote-first organisation with all staff working remotely.
World Health Organization partners with the Wikimedia Foundation to support the Wikimedia community's development of Wikipedia as a resource for the dissemination of verifiable COVID-19-related information and help stop the spread of misinformation.

September

Wikimedia Foundation's application to become an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is blocked based on objections from the government of China over the existence of a Wikimedia movement affiliate existing in Taiwan. Subsequent applications have also been blocked by the government of China for the same reason.

2021

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 957^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 314^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 4,851,745,926^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 179
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,717,798
Wikimedia Foundation's annual expenses (June through July of following year): US$145,970,915^[4]

First logo for the Wikimedia Endowment

January

15: Wikimedia Foundation supports communities around the world in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia and responds to inquires from hundreds of media outlets in numerous nations.

February

15: The government of Myanmar restricts access to Wikimedia projects. The restrictions remain in place as of June 2023.

June

Wikimedia Foundation announces that the Wikimedia Endowment has reached its initial US$100 million fundraising goal and will begin to establish and eventually transition the funds to an independent nonprofit organization bearing the Wikimedia Endowment name and purpose.

October

25: Wikimedia Foundation launches Wikimedia Enterprise, a limited liability company owned by the Foundation which provides content delivery of Wikimedia content to high-volume users of Wikimedia's APIs such as big-tech companies and websites.

2022

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: 569
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 980^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 325^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 5,373,396,306^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 177
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,802,442

January

3: Maryana Iskander is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's fourth Chief Executive Officer, with the Board of Trustees removing Executive Director from the role's title.

June

Google and the Internet Archive are announced as the first customers of Wikimedia Enterprise, with Internet Archive qualifying for free access to the service.

July

Wikimedia Foundation archives its public policy website, and redirects it to updated information at organization's official website.

September

Lisa Seitz-Gruwell is appointed as the Wikimedia Foundation's Deputy to the Chief Executive Officer, in addition to the role of Chief Advancement Officer that she has held at the Foundation since September 2011. She is the second person to hold the role.

2023

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of Foundation staff: 718
Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 13^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 992^[7]
Number of languages supported by MediaWiki in use by Wikimedia projects: 333^[7]
Total number of edits to official Wikimedia projects supported by Foundation: 5,922,185,933^[1]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 184
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 1,896,504

Wikimedia Foundation introduces first sound logo to audibly identify Wikimedia.
Staff based outside the US now make up almost half of the workforce and the majority of staff are now based outside of San Francisco.

January

The Foundation begins implementing a new default desktop interface for MediaWiki on Wikimedia projects. The change to "Vector 2022" was the desktop interface since 2010.

2024

Quick facts (as of 1 January)

Number of official Wikimedia Foundation projects: 14^[3]
Number of individual Wikimedia wikis supported by the Foundation: 1,017^[7]
Number of Wikimedia movement affiliates: 186
Lines of code in MediaWiki core: 2,026,595

Additional information on this timeline

Wikipedia puzzle globe logo illustrated with black outlines

The Wikimedia Movement Strategy recommends that we manage internal knowledge. It asks us to make the internal knowledge of our movement easy to capture, discover, consume, and adapt by all contributors to facilitate sustainability and resilience, individual and organizational skill development, and growth in an equitable way across all communities. The development of this timeline is an effort to enhance documentation of the Wikimedia Foundation's story. We are providing it as a supplement to the growing array of materials continuously under development which document the 20+ year Wikimedia story.

Given the interconnected nature of the Wikimedia Movement, it is likely that entries on this timeline will appear in other timelines. That is okay! It is important to document all aspects of our collective story. Over the coming months and years, we will continue to look for opportunities to further these documentation efforts, including ways we can use the knowledge gathered via this timeline. If you have ideas for how this timeline could be used or distributed, please let us know.

If you have ideas on what other efforts to help share the Wikimedia Foundation story, please feel free to share them with us via this timeline's talk page or email (answers wikimedia org).

Translations

Anyone with a registered account on this wiki is invited to help translate this timeline's content.

Please note that in the event of any differences in meaning or interpretation between the original English version of this content and a translation, the original English version takes precedence.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 While the Wikimedia Foundation did not yet exist on 1 January 2003, three of the Foundation's early projects had already launched as of 1 January 2003.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Until July 2003, the software which operated the Wikimedia sites was known as the Wikipedia software. As such, there was no MediaWiki code on 1 January 2003.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 While the Wikimedia Foundation had not yet been founded as of 1 January 2003, what would become its initial assets existed and were housed within Bomis, Jimmy Wales's for-profit business at the time.

References

Where possible, we are making every effort to provide references. However, as official documentation, some information comes from internal knowledge that cannot be referenced for security, privacy, or practical reasons.