The Wikimedia foundation, a nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia and our other free knowledge projects, recently announced that Amazon made a $1 million gift to its endowment fund. This donation makes Amazon one of Wikimedia's largest corporate contributors. 

"The Alexa team shares a similar vision with Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation: To make it easier to share knowledge globally," Amazon said in a recent statement.

According to the Wikimedia foundation, donations to the endowment make Wikipedia more resilient by helping to safeguard the encyclopedia's "lasting independence from influence, and [ensuring] stability in times when individual donation patterns are uncertain."


A matter of trust

It makes a lot of sense that Amazon would make such a large donation to Wikimedia. After all, Amazon Alexa, the company's popular smart assistant, freely leverages Wikipedia to answer countless questions for millions of users per day.


"If you overuse something and you don't give back to it, you can harm it," said Wikimedia's Chief Revenue Office, Lisa Gruwell in a conversation with TechCrunch.

"In the case of Alexa and Siri, our content gets intermediated," Gruwell continued. "Wikipedia works because people can contribute to it, people can edit it. Also, once a year, when we ask people can donate. When they get their information not from us--but Wikipedia content through something like Siri or something like Alexa--that opportunity to either contribute back as an editor is broken, and that opportunity to contribute, to donate is also broken."


"Wikipedia's content [is] freely licensed for reuse by anyone and that's part of our mission: that every single person can share in free knowledge," wrote Wikimedia executive director Katherine Maher in a statement. "We want people all over the world to use, share, add to, and remix Wikipedia. At the same time, we encourage companies who use Wikimedia's content to give back in the spirit of sustainability."



I see Amazon's donation as very emotionally intelligent. By offering practical help, Amazon isn't just saying they appreciate the service Wikipedia provides, they're showing it. This, creates a contract of trust between Amazon and Wikimedia, a foundation that can be further built upon.

"We are grateful for Amazon's support, and hope this marks the beginning of a long-term partnership to supporting Wikipedia's future," said Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia.

Remember, no man (or company) is an island. Identify the relationships that help you to thrive and find a way to show appreciation. Be willing to pay for products and services that provide value, rather than force suppliers and partners to nickle and dime you (or others). 
