Courtesy of Google, the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation has received a significant gift.  Google donated $2 million to the organization, which is responsible for keeping Wikipedia up and running.

Mitch Kapor, who’s on the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation, announced the contribution late yesterday on Twitter.  Jimmy Wales followed up soon after with a tweet of his own soon after.

Unsurprisingly, both men seemed happy.  In terms of what this should mean to the Wikimedia Foundation, $2 million is a big deal.  The goal of the 2009/2010 Annual Fundraiser (which ended on January 5th) was only $7.5 million, so Google has supplied enough money to cover over three months’ expenses.

Of course, the donation might not be entirely unselfish; Google and the Wikimedia Foundation have some common goals relating to "free and open information."  Also, donations to the Wikimedia Foundation are tax-deductible.

Still, the Wikimedia Foundation is determined "to keep Wikipedia free of ads," and Wikipedia is in direct competition with Google Knol (if "competition" is a fair word when Wikipedia’s winning by a huge margin).  So it’s hard to be too cynical about Google’s gift.