Wikimedia briefly explained

Wikimedia is a worldwide movement for Free Knowledge. All Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, are run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation based in San Francisco, USA. Almost 40 independent country organizations provide local support for Wikimedia projects.

Wikimedia Deutschland is a non-profit organization with currently more than 70,000 members. We understand equal opportunities in access to knowledge and education as a human right and are working to ensure that projects such as the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia can continue to exist in the future.

Our vision is a world in which everyone can share, use and multiply all of humanity's knowledge. By Free Knowledge we mean knowledge that is available, changeable and reusable free of charge for everyone at any time. The best known source of Free Knowledge is the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

The German version of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia went online in March 2001 and is created exclusively by volunteer authors. They write articles, keep information up to date, correct mistakes and share their knowledge with the whole world. The organization Wikimedia Deutschland was founded in 2004 by Wikipedia volunteers. The support of Wikipedia authors has been an integral part of the work of Wikimedia Deutschland ever since. But as the association for the promotion of Free Knowledge, we do much more: We support volunteers in all the Wikimedia projects, develop free software and technology, advocate for open science, education, and culture, and strengthen political conditions that enable free access to knowledge.