Fundraiser opens: Over $500,000 raised in first week
The Wikimedia Foundation's 2008 fundraiser opened on November 5, with an ambitious goal of raising US$6 million over the next few months; the fundraiser is currently scheduled to end on January 15, Wikipedia Day. As of press time, the fundraiser had brought in about $525,000 in seven days, bringing the total raised, including gifts since the beginning of the fiscal year, to about $2.43 million.
Robert Rohde, who has compiled graphs and statistics in previous fundraisers, estimated on Tuesday that given current fundraising totals and trends observed in previous years, the Foundation will bring in anywhere from $2.0–3.8 million by early January, not including any additional "major gifts" (over $10,000) collected by the Foundation. When combined with the $1.9 million collected prior to the fundraiser, this would estimate the final YTD collections, as of early January, at anywhere from $3.9 to $5.7 million, not including additional major gifts.