Stanton Foundation awarded grants amounting to $3.5 million to Wikimedia. The grants will be utilized to provide funds for major investments in the technology infrastructure that provides help to Wikipedia and its sister projects, so as to increase its readership.
Frank Stanton, who is not only broadcasting executive but also a media pioneer, is the founder of the Stanton Foundation. The credit of organizing the first-ever televised presidential debate in 1960 goes to him. This is not the first time that Stanton Foundation has provided grants to Wikimedia Foundation. It provided $1.2 million in 2010 to the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative, which was designed to improve the overall quality and quantity of information pertaining to topics relating to public policy in Wikipedia. With the help of this project, 800 American students at universities such as Harvard and University of California Berkeley were able to add 5,800 printed pages of material to Wikipedia; the project now includes universities in India and Canada.
On receiving the grant, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director, Sue Gardner, said, “The Stanton Foundation is a long-time funder of the Wikimedia Foundation, and I am thrilled they’re increasing their investment in us. The Stanton Foundation was one of the first institutions to recognize that Wikipedia is a serious educational endeavor that’s having a significant impact on people around the world. I will always be grateful to them for taking a risk in first funding us, many years ago.”
