Because people wouldn't donate. They want to donate to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a highly successful product. So much so that people will voluntarily pay 100x w

Because people wouldn't donate. They want to donate to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a highly successful product. So much so that people will voluntarily pay 100x what it takes to run it. In a normal business this would be profit, and the owners would be able to pocket it. But, Wikipedia is a non-profit, so they have to be a bit more clever in how they pocket the money. First you create a parasitic management structure. But if your administrative expenses are 80% of donations, that looks bad. So you donate to another non-profit, and that counts in financial statements as money put to work as charity. Then that non-profit can siphon off its share of administrative expenses, and repeat the cycle.