Wikipedia asks French help to explain cheese They will then be encouraged to write learned articles on the participative website that is funded entirely by donations. By Tuesday, 29 people had contributed 1,225 euros to the crowdfunding initiative that aims to collect a total of 5,000 euros before it closes in 37 days. The monthly cheese soirées will continue for the next 18 months. The plan is to photographically document 200 cheeses, but if the crowdfunding pulls in 8,000 euros then a further 100 cheeses will be included. And if the donations continue after that then even more varieties will be covered and a reporting assignment to a cheese-maker will be funded by Wikipedia. Charles de Gaulle's estimation of the number of French cheese types was well below the 350 to 400 distinct varieties available. These are grouped into eight distinct categories,with some connoisseurs arguing that there may be as many as 1,000 different types as there can be many varieties within each type of cheese. When the WikiCheese project is complete, the encyclopedia plans to make all the high-definition cheese pictures available on Wikimedia Commons, from where they can be used for free by anyone. Some of the photos are already online. The WikiCheese project is part of the encyclopedia's drive to make its site more professional.