Sergey Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki attend the 23andMe Spit party in New York City 2008. Brin and his wife have donated $500,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation that runs free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife have donated $500,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation that runs free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

The grant was made by the Brin Wojcicki Foundation founded by Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder of 23andMe, a personal genetics company, the Brin Wojcicki Foundation said in a statement on Friday.

The non-profit Wikimedia Foundation launched its annual fundraising drive this week and visitors to Wikipedia.org are currently met with an appeal for donations from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

donated $2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation last year.

(c) 2011 AFP