{"id":239,"date":"2025-05-22T12:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T10:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/?page_id=239"},"modified":"2026-05-20T12:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:15:42","slug":"volunteers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/en\/themes\/volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge is human: Our commitment to the Wiki communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \n A milestone for Free Knowledge <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The German-language Wikipedia is the largest of the more than 340 language versions, second only to the English version. On March 25, 2025, at exactly 8:27 a.m., we had a special reason to celebrate: that was the moment the German-language Wikipedia surpassed three million articles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n Of course, it\u2019s special to have created the three-millionth article on the German-language Wikipedia. But above all, I\u2019m delighted that Wikipedia has reached this milestone and continues to grow. <\/blockquote>\n Benutzer Superanton<\/cite>\n Author of the three-millionth article<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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An average of about 37,000 volunteers work each month on the German-language Wikipedia, 5,000 of whom are especially active. Again in 2025, funding, supporting and growing this community was a central focus in Wikimedia Deutschland\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jason Kr\u00fcger f\u00fcr Wikimedia Deutschland, Franziska Heine, Portrait<\/a>, CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n Each and every article, visual representation, and photo uploaded testifies to our community\u2019s tireless commitment of our community. Especially in times of disinformation, Wikipedia is more important than ever as a source of reliable, fact-based information. <\/blockquote>\n Franziska Heine<\/cite>\n Executive Director of Wikimedia Deutschland<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\n \n Strong funding and volunteer support \u2014 and high levels of community satisfaction <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In total, we supported 321 projects and events through our community funding \u2014<\/b> an increase of 8.5 percent over the previous year. With more than 2,300 participants, events such as WikiCon<\/a>, FemNetzCon<\/a>, and AdminCon<\/a> were particularly well received. We also supported volunteers by covering 1,032 services, such as travel expenses and literature grants. That number has also increased compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Raimond Spekking \/ CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons), Maja in der Fotoecke der WikiCon 2025-4482<\/a>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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\n There are cool projects, nice people, and way more women than I expected. That really made me happy. I think FemNetz and Women Edit are really great. The discussions gave me the courage to keep editing and not let criticism get me down. <\/blockquote>\n User Maja<\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Each year, the volunteer support barometer records how satisfied volunteers are with Wikimedia Deutschland\u2019s funding opportunities and volunteer support. In 2025, it once again showed a top score: 9.6 out of 10 points, measuring overall satisfaction with our support. According to a community survey, 46% of respondents are now aware of Wikimedia Deutschland\u2019s funding and volunteer support opportunities, up from 30 percent in 2023.<\/p>\n

In order to continue enabling so many people to participate in Wikimedia projects and to create capacities for this volunteer work, we are continuously improving our funding and volunteer support. In 2025, with the help of a group of volunteer editors, we revised our support guidelines and implemented several changes to make funding and volunteer support even more accessible to a wider range of target groups. The new support guidelines are now also available in plain language to make what we offer even more accessible to even more people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n WikiCon sets a record \u2014 GLAM opens doors <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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One of the most important venues for community exchange is the annual WikiCon. In 2025, it took place in Potsdam<\/a>. With 397 participants on-site and online, it was the largest conference in its history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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One especially encouraging fact: 91% of all participants rated WikiCon as helpful for their volunteering, and just as many felt motivated to remain active. Also, the proportion of participants under 30 rose to 14% (up from 10% in 2024) \u2014<\/b> an important step for the next generation of volunteers<\/a> promoting Free Knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n My first WikiCon was a great experience\u2014there were opportunities to connect everywhere, I was able to ask lots of questions, make new contacts, and have in-depth discussions with my project partners. Everyone is welcome\u2014and you get a great sense of how the various projects work. <\/blockquote>\n User BariumFiasko<\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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GLAM events also received a strong response in 2025. As early as 2010, Wikimedia Deutschland started connecting cultural heritage institutions with the Wikipedia community. Art collections, libraries, archives and museums now make their collections, historical documents, and images freely accessible through Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the GLAM Digital series celebrated its 50th edition<\/a>. Several events, such as the collaboration with the German Resistance Memorial Center<\/a>, took place in keeping with the theme \u201cWiki Loves Democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Recruiting new volunteers and promoting the power of networking <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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To ensure that Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects remain strong in the future, it is crucial to recruit new volunteers. Only with many active contributors from different age groups and walks of life can our project continue to grow, enabling us to safeguard reliable knowledge and to overcome current challenges.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Wikimedia Deutschland continued to actively support the recruitment of newcomers \u2014 primarily through meetings and networking opportunities, including Die Jungwikipedianer*innen<\/a> and the initiative \u201cMit Wikipedia unterwegs\u201d<\/a>. At various gatherings, young and new Wikipedians got to know the community and found inspiration to get involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Janna Siebert (WMDE)<\/a>, Besuch des Bauernhausmuseums Bielefeld JWP-Treffen 2025-I<\/a>, CC0 1.0<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Wikimedia also promotes international networking within the community. In 2025, this included 14 scholarships that we awarded for participating in Wikimania<\/a>, the global gathering of the Wikimedia Movement, in Nairobi. For many volunteers, this was an important way to broaden their horizons, as their testimonials<\/a> show:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n As a concrete outcome, I found it very helpful to learn more about the needs of other communities. <\/blockquote>\n User Ameisenigel<\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\n I met User:Macholi from Uganda, who has organized edit-a-thons on the topic of boxing in his country. He inspired me to try something like that in Munich. <\/blockquote>\n User Kaethe17<\/cite>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\n \n Working together for greater knowledge equity <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Yet another of our goals is to strengthen diversity and equitable participation within the community. Mapping the world\u2019s knowledge means incorporating all perspectives. That is why we are committed to ensuring that more people from marginalized groups can contribute their knowledge to Wikipedia. An important component in this context is the re\u00b7shape<\/a> funding program, which contributes to greater knowledge equity. In 2025, the program went into its third round, supporting an additional ten projects<\/a> that research and document marginalized knowledge and publish their results under free licenses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n Sie machen marginalisiertes Wissen sichtbar: Teilnehmer*innen der zweiten Runde des Wikimedia-F\u00f6rderprogramms re\u00b7shape bei der Abschlussveranstaltung in Berlin. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In addition, in 2025 we launched the workshop series \u201cYour Knowledge Counts!\u201d. In cooperation with migrant initiatives and organizations, participants in five places learned how to conduct research and edit articles, with a focus on topics and perspectives that have been underrepresented in Wikipedia to date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Promoting respectful cooperation <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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It is also part of our mission to foster an atmosphere where everyone feels welcome. After all, respectful collaboration is the foundation for sustained active engagement. That is why Wikimedia Deutschland has a Support and Advisory Team that organized nine events in 2025, covering topics such as nonviolent communication and how to address anti-feminism. Over 100 volunteers participated in these events. In addition, the advisory center provides communities with a confidential space to discuss conflicts, stress, or difficult situations in their work as volunteers on a one-to-one basis.<\/p>\n

Feedback from these events shows that volunteers feel heard, understood, and respected. They particularly emphasized the emotional relief provided by counseling, as well as the practical applicability of insights from the workshops in their own work as volunteers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Reliable knowledge remains human <\/span>\n <\/h2>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Above all, current developments in artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the way people search for and find information \u2014 often at the expense of reliability. 2025 has once again demonstrated just how crucial free and independent knowledge projects like Wikipedia are in times like these, projects that are sustained by the dedication of many.<\/p>\n

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With ongoing broad support from civil society, we will continue to promote and protect free access to knowledge — along with our more than 116,000 members and hundreds of thousands of donors.<\/p>\n

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For even in times of rapid technological change, one thing remains true: reliable knowledge is not created by machines, but by humans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n Wikipedia and generative KI <\/span>\n <\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Generative AI is transforming how knowledge is created, shared, and used. This also has implications for free knowledge projects such as Wikipedia and Wikidata. Our brochure, \u201cThe Challenge of Generative AI,\u201d explores these connections and highlights how the communities and Wikimedia Germany are addressing current developments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n \n A Quarter Century of Free Knowledge <\/span>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Join us in celebrating 25 years of Wikipedia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n\n \n<\/svg><\/span> wikipedia25.de <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n \n Federal Cross of Merit for Alice Wiegand <\/span>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Alice Wiegand has been actively involved with Wikipedia for over 20 years. In 2025, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in recognition of her dedication.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n\n \n<\/svg><\/span> Read article (German) <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human knowledge for humans \u2014 that\u2019s what Wikipedia has stood for for 25 years. This principle has seldom been more relevant than in 2025. As artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing access to knowledge yet often fails to reliably distinguish between facts and fakes, Wikipedia remains the go-to online source for reliable knowledge, made possible by the work of many thousands. They compile information from verified sources, double-check it, and make it freely accessible. Once again last year, supporting these volunteers was the core of our work \u2014 because only a strong and diverse community can secure the future of Wikipedia & Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6326,"featured_media":946,"parent":309,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"class_list":["post-239","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-volunteers"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":239,"de":102},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1252,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/239\/revisions\/1252"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.de\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}