4 ms·

Well, the salaries have gone up quite a lot. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation

by akolbe 4y ago

Well, the salaries have gone up quite a lot. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salarie... And Wikipedia fundraising messages, like those used currently in India and Latin America, regularly imply that the Wikimedia Foundation urgently requires funds to maintain its independence, keep Wikipedia online, etc. In fact, the Wikimedia Foundation's revenue has soared. Each year has been a new fundraising record: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#Financial_development https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#Financial... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#/media/File:WMF_Support_and_Revenue,_Expenses_and_Net_Assets_at_Year_End.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#/media/Fi... So there is a mismatch between fundraising messages widely taken to indicate that the Wikimedia Foundation is struggling to have enough money to keep Wikipedia going, and the fact that its top managers' salaries are rising steeply and it is accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, as well as in this endowment (which is not included in the Wikimedia Foundation's reported assets). https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundraising/ https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundrais...

WalterGR 4y ago
Revenue has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of employees. The question is: Are those salaries unusual for the positions? Maybe market rate is $500,000 and Wikimedia is getting a fantastic deal. Context matters. > So there is a mismatch between fundraising messages widely taken to indicate that the Wikimedia Foundation is struggling to have enough money ... and it is accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, as well as in this endowment Without knowing much about their messaging and transparency, that does indeed sound sketchy. How much of that money is allocated to Wikipedia vs. other projects?
- akolbe 4y ago
  As this page, based on Form 990 disclosures, https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salarie... shows, the Wikimedia CEO's salary e.g. roughly doubled from 2010 to 2020, a period when US inflation was at 2% p.a. As for how much money Wikipedia needs, in 2013 Erik Möller, then a Wikimedia VP, worked out that the WMF could fulfil its mission on "$10M+/year": https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-March/124621.html https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-March... Last year, the Wikimedia Foundation took $163 million. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2020-2021_Audit_Report.pdf#page=5 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikim... This 2021 article by an INSEAD fellow https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-deep-ties-to-big-tech https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-d... says: "The vast majority of Wikimedia’s value to ordinary people – the website we know and use – costs the firm about 30 percent of their $112.5 million operating budget ($33.75 million) to maintain according to Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Chief Advancement Officer at Wikimedia."

by akolbe 4y ago

WalterGR 4y ago

Revenue has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of employees. The question is: Are those salaries unusual for the positions? Maybe market rate is $500,000 and Wikimedia is getting a fantastic deal. Context matters. > So there is a mismatch between fundraising messages widely taken to indicate that the Wikimedia Foundation is struggling to have enough money ... and it is accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, as well as in this endowment Without knowing much about their messaging and transparency, that does indeed sound sketchy. How much of that money is allocated to Wikipedia vs. other projects?

akolbe 4y ago
As this page, based on Form 990 disclosures, https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salarie... shows, the Wikimedia CEO's salary e.g. roughly doubled from 2010 to 2020, a period when US inflation was at 2% p.a. As for how much money Wikipedia needs, in 2013 Erik Möller, then a Wikimedia VP, worked out that the WMF could fulfil its mission on "$10M+/year": https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-March/124621.html https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-March... Last year, the Wikimedia Foundation took $163 million. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2020-2021_Audit_Report.pdf#page=5 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikim... This 2021 article by an INSEAD fellow https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-deep-ties-to-big-tech https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-d... says: "The vast majority of Wikimedia’s value to ordinary people – the website we know and use – costs the firm about 30 percent of their $112.5 million operating budget ($33.75 million) to maintain according to Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Chief Advancement Officer at Wikimedia."