Jimmy Wales Foundation facts for kids

The Jimmy Wales Foundation is a special group that helps protect people's freedom to speak and share ideas online. It's a non-profit group, which means it doesn't try to make money. Instead, it uses its funds to help others. Jimmy Wales, who also helped start Wikipedia, created this foundation. He used prize money he won from an award called the “Knowledge Award” to begin this important work.

Jimmy Wales introduces the Jimmy Wales Foundation at Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City.

This group often talks about real people who have faced problems because they spoke their minds online. For example, they shared the story of Bassel Khartabil, who was involved with Creative Commons in Syria. He was put in prison in 2012 and later disappeared. Another person they featured was Roya Saberinejad, who went to visit her family in Iran and couldn't return home.

Why the Foundation Helps

The main goal of the Jimmy Wales Foundation is to stop governments from controlling what people say and see on the internet. They want everyone to have the freedom to express themselves online.

How They Work for Freedom

The Jimmy Wales Foundation works in several ways to promote internet freedom:

• They study the problem of free expression and share information about it around the world.
• They put pressure on governments that try to control what people say online.
• They use technology to help people speak freely in countries where governments are very strict.
• They encourage governments to create laws that protect freedom of expression.
• They help individuals who are having trouble with governments that limit free speech.

Images for kids

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  The staff of Wales' Internet company Bomis photographed in summer 2000. Wales is third from the left in the back row, with Christine Rohan.

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  Nupedia's logo

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  Wales appearing as a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees at Wikimania 2007

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  Wales at the Creative Commons Board Meeting in June 2008

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  Jimmy Wales 2014 on CeBIT Global Conferences, Wikipedia Zero

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  Wales at the tenth anniversary celebration of the Bengali Wikipedia

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  Wales with his second wife, Christine Rohan

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  Wales at the 2011 Gottlieb Duttweiler Awards Show

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  Jimmy Wales accepting the Dan David Prize at the Tel Aviv University, 2015