Wikipedia reaches $20 million in fundraising, loses the personal appeal banners

The Wikimedia Foundation has reached its goal of $20 million USD in donations for Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation announced today they had reached their goal and the banners that appeared asking for your donations will be removed.

A Wikipedia blog post by Jay Walsh noted that over one million donors from around the world collectively contributed toward the $20 million campaign. Walsh also stated that the 2011 total surpassed the 2008 total of a "meager" $4.5 million. Sue Gardner, Executive Director for Wikimedia Foundation, said the following in a message:

Thank you.

We've taken down our fundraising banners, because we've hit our target. Thanks to you. Over the past few months, more than one million people have come together from all over the world to keep Wikipedia and its sister sites alive and flourishing for another year.

Your support is how we pay our bills. People like you, giving five dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars. Thank you for helping us.

We're the #5 most-popular site in the world --- we operate on a tiny fraction of the resources of any other top site. We will use your money carefully and well, I promise you.

For everyone who helps pay for Wikipedia and all the Wikimedia projects, and for those who can't afford to help -- thank you so much for making the world a better place.