Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and online community organizer/philosophy

professor Larry Sanger founded Wikipedia in 2001 as an Internet encyclopedia to

supplement Nupedia. The project was originally funded by Bomis, Wales's for-profit
business. Since Wikipedia was depleting Bomis's resources, and the idea of placing
advertisements on Wikipedia was very controversial in Wikipedia's volunteer
community,[17] Wales and Sanger thought of a charity model to fund the project.[1]
The Wikimedia Foundation was incorporated in Florida on June 20, 2003.[2][18] It
applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark Wikipedia on
September 14, 2004. The mark was granted registration status on January 10, 2006.
Trademark protection was accorded by Japan on December 16, 2004, and in the
European Union on January 20, 2005. There were plans to license the use of the
Wikipedia trademark for some products such as books or DVDs.[19]

The name "Wikimedia", a compound of wiki and media, was coined by American author
Sheldon Rampton in a post to the English Wikipedia mailing list in March 2003,[20]
three months after Wiktionary became the second wiki-based project hosted on
Wales's platform. The Foundation was granted section 501(c)(3) status by the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code as a public charity in 2005, meaning all contributions to the
Foundation are tax-deductible for U.S. federal income tax purposes.[21] Its
National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code is B60 (Adult, Continuing
education).[22][23] On December 11, 2006, the Foundation's board noted that the
corporation could not become the membership organization initially planned but
never implemented due to an inability to meet the registration requirements of
Florida statutory law. The bylaws were accordingly amended to remove all references
to membership rights and activities.[24]

On September 25, 2007, the Foundation's board gave notice that its operations would
be moving from Florida to the San Francisco Bay Area. Some considerations cited for
choosing San Francisco were proximity to like-minded organizations and potential
partners, a better talent pool, as well as cheaper and more convenient
international travel.[25][26][27] The move was completed by January 31, 2008, with
the new headquarters on Stillman Street in San Francisco.[28] In October 2017, the
headquarters moved to San Francisco's One Montgomery Tower.[29]

On October 25, 2021, the Foundation launched Wikimedia Enterprise, a commercial

Wikipedia content delivery service aimed primarily at Big Tech companies.[30][31]
In June 2022, Google and the Internet Archive were announced as the service's first
customers, though only Google will pay for the service.[32]