The volume of Wikipedia edits has been fairly constant since 2007: https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal|bar|all|~tota

The volume of Wikipedia edits has been fairly constant since 2007: https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contributing/edits/normal|bar|all|~total|monthly https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/all-wikipedia-projects/contrib... And, just to repeat the point, Wikipedia edits are not made by Wikimedia Foundation staff, but by unpaid volunteers. Nor do Wikimedia staff check or review the edits: that too is done by unpaid volunteers. What the Wikimedia Foundation staff does do is programming work (this used to be handled by volunteers as well in the early days), PR work, fundraising (about 50 people work on fundraising alone), legal work, outreach ... https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/staff-contractors/ https://wikimediafoundation.org/role/staff-contractors/ They are also trying to position the Wikimedia projects as "the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge", globally. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017#Our_strategic_direction:_Service_and_Equity https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/... Of course, the bigger a bureaucracy, the more people you need to run the bureaucracy. The time when Jimmy Wales used to tell people how "lean" Wikipedia is – the only expense being hosting – are long gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQR0gx0QBZ4#t=275 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQR0gx0QBZ4#t=275 The WMF's most recent annual salary bill was $68 million, up $12 million on the year prior. And as long as the money is coming in, that bill is going to grow.