(AP) -- The nonprofit organization that operates the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia has received a $500,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to expand its work bringing free educational content to people around the globe.
The Hewlett Foundation says Wikipedia plays an important role in making information freely accessible. The foundation has made more than $100 million in grants since 2001 to promote the availability of high quality educational materials that anyone can use and edit for free.
San Francisco-based Wikimedia says the grant will help it make its software more user friendly, develop training materials to engage new potential volunteer editors and set up key metrics to track the organization's impact.
Last year, the mammoth Internet encyclopedia built by volunteers received its largest donation ever - $3 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
