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It appears according to their 2019-2020 report, that they spend about $2.4 million on "Internet hosting" compared to total revenue of nearly $130 million. That'

It appears according to their 2019-2020 report, that they spend about $2.4 million on "Internet hosting" compared to total revenue of nearly $130 million. That's under 2%. They spend about twice as much on donation processing as they do on Internet hosting. Some non-profits split their activities, so that they can tell donors that their money goes entirely towards grants and such, while administration comes out of a self-sustaining nest egg that was funded by a particular large donor or coalition. This makes it clear that keeping the lights on is separate from the mission, and that there is a cap on overhead.

perl4ever 5y ago
To be clear, per the report, after salaries, the biggest chunk of expenses seems to be awards and grants, and they may be doing significant good in the world for all I know. But I don't think the appeals really make it clear that's what they crave money for. I assume it's largely out of expediency, because visitors necessarily understand the value of Wikipedia and likely don't have a clue about the grants that are made.
- akolbe 5y ago
  That's right. But they end up asking for five or ten times what the Wikipedia platform would actually cost to maintain, and at that point you can ask whether it's crossing the line to dishonesty. People think they are making sure Wikipedia stays online, but are in fact funding something completely different. They should say what they want the money for. Not least so there is scrutiny of these plans for Wikimedia to become "the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge".