Which demographic would advertising on Wikipedia be most effective on?

Why don't Wikipedia put Google adsense or some other advertising on their website?

• I see that they are looking for donations but why not simply put ads on their site......you can put say Google adsense on a website without being overly intrusive or anything. Just ...show more

• Answer:

  Because the absence of advertisements is the one positive true thing you can say about Wikipedia right now, and thanks to that the donations really roll in. When you are asking people to donate money to your project, you need to say things that are positive and true. What other positive things can you say about Wikipedia that are true? That it has accurate, reliable content? That it's written by experts? That it has a reputation going back a few centuries? Consider also that the for-profit Wikia is just now barely beginning to turn a profit. Wikipedia's stated non-profit goals are a much more effective way of raking in the money, bringing in millions of dollars that aren't subject to the same level of scrutiny from shareholders that corporate profits would be.