According to a Twitter post by the Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the colossal, volunteer-driven Web encyclopedia has received a $2-million grant from Internet search giant Google. The Twitter post was followed by a formal announcement about the grant.

Wikipedia, one of the most-read sites on the Web, is a non-profit organization, largely supported by individual donations from Wikipedia users. Over the last few months, almost 240,000 users have donated over $8 million to Wikimedia Foundation.

Google’s first-ever support to the popular Web reference tool will help Wikipedia parent, Wikimedia Foundation, to further develop the popular encyclopedia – which already boasts over 14 million articles contributed by nearly
100,000 volunteers - and other projects.

Specifically speaking, the money will be used to purchase additional computer infrastructure to power the gigantic site - including bandwidth, servers and routers that will help support the site’s “global traffic and capacity demands.” Furthermore, the grant will also be used to support Wikimedia Foundation’s ongoing endeavors to make Wikipedia easier to use and more accessible.

Expressing gratitude towards Google, Wales said in a February 17 statement: “This is a wonderful gift, and we celebrate it as recognition of the long-term alignment and friendship between Google and Wikimedia. Both organizations are committed to bringing high quality information to hundreds of millions of individuals every day, and to making the Internet better for everyone.”