diff --git a/ckan/controllers/admin.py b/ckan/controllers/admin.py
index 5b0af105d93..7fa8fd79c51 100644
--- a/ckan/controllers/admin.py
+++ b/ckan/controllers/admin.py
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ def config(self):
             tag_line = data.get('tagline')
             app_globals.set_global('site_description', tag_line)
 
+            about = data.get('about')
+            app_globals.set_global('site_about', about)
+
         styles = [('Default', '/base/css/main.css'),
                   ('Red', '/base/css/red.css'),
                   ('Green', '/base/css/green.css'),
@@ -50,6 +53,7 @@ def config(self):
         data['title'] = app_globals.site_title
         data['style'] = app_globals.main_css
         data['tagline'] = app_globals.site_description
+        data['about'] = app_globals.site_about
 
         vars = {'data': data, 'errors': {}, 'styles': styles}
         return base.render('admin/config.html',
diff --git a/ckan/templates/admin/config.html b/ckan/templates/admin/config.html
index 6dedc058e38..f5410fc1815 100644
--- a/ckan/templates/admin/config.html
+++ b/ckan/templates/admin/config.html
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ <h1 class="page-heading">{{ _('Configuration Settings') }}</h1>
   </div>
 {{ form.input('title', id='field-title', label=_('Site Title'), placeholder=_('eg. CKAN'), value=data.title, error=errors.title) }}
 {{ form.input('tagline', id='field-tagline', label=_('Tag Line'), placeholder=_('eg. The Open Source Data Portal'), value=data.tagline, error=errors.tagline) }}
-        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" >Update</button>
+{{ form.markdown('about', id='field-about', label=_('About Text'), placeholder=_('About contents'), value=data.about, error=errors.about) }}
+        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" name="save">Update</button>
       </form>
     </div>
   </article>
diff --git a/ckan/templates/home/about.html b/ckan/templates/home/about.html
index 9537b581c00..c05f2f859f8 100644
--- a/ckan/templates/home/about.html
+++ b/ckan/templates/home/about.html
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@
     <div class="module-content">
       <h1 class="page-heading">{{ _('About') }}</h1>
       {% block about %}
-        {% snippet 'home/snippets/about_text.html' %}
+        {% if g.site_about %}
+          {{ h.markdown_extract(g.site_about) }}
+        {% else %}
+          {% snippet 'home/snippets/about_text.html' %}
+        {% endif %}
       {% endblock %}
     </div>
   </article>