Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Next issue/News and notes
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Wikimedia Foundation publishes its Form 990 for fiscal year 2022-2023
Form 990: WMF now holding quarter-billion dollars[edit]
The Form 990 is a United States Internal Revenue Service document that provides the public with financial information about a nonprofit organization. It is often the only source of such information. The Wikimedia Foudation has just published its Form 990 for the 2022–2023 financial year, along with an associated FAQ on Meta. Here is a very brief summary of some key points:
- Total revenue was $180.2M ($173.4M in donations and grants, $3M in investment income, and $3.8M of "other revenue", such as funds coming from Wikimedia Enterprise), up from $167.9M.
- Total expenditure was $168.3M, up from $145.8M.
- According to the FAQ, 43% of this went to technology, 33% went to support volunteers, 11% went to fundraising expenses, and 13% went to general and administrative support.
The FAQ further mentions that –
Our second largest expense category is direct support to volunteers. A third of our expenses went to support volunteers totalling $56.1M, of which $24.7M is given as grants to community groups for their work towards the Wikimedia mission.
Careful readers will note that this says nothing about what the remaining $31.4M was spent on. The paragraph continues:
You can find out more about the grants in this fiscal year in the Wikimedia Foundation Funding Report.
This sounded promising. But the linked Wikimedia Foundation Funding Report covers "grants to mission-aligned organizations and people around the world, totaling $17,512,472". Disappointingly, the figure of $24.7M is nowhere to be found on the page. And the $17.5M that are accounted for on the page are nearly $40M short of the $56.1M volunteer support total mentioned above.
The FAQ (search the page for "volunteer") seemed of little help in trying to find out which direct volunteer support all the other money was spent on. A little more straightforward transparency would be welcome here.
The WMF's salary costs were up from $88.1M to $96.8M. Page 9 tells us that 252 individuals (up from 233) received more than $100,000 in reportable compensation. Page 53 of the Form tells us that there were no big raises for Wikimedia executives in 2022–2023. In fact, some of the top earners' total compensation shrank slightly, with increases in base salaries cancelled out by the absence of bonuses and incentives (cf. previous year). Ten executives had total compensation above $300K; figures for the top five on page 53, column E, are:
- Maryana Iskander, CEO: $534,468
- Jaime Villagomez, CFO & Treasurer: $418,040
- Lisa Seitz, CAO and Deputy CEO: $411,984
- Amanda Keton, General Counsel & Sec (thru 02/23): $411,682
- Robyn Arville, Chief T&C Officer: $384,200
Severance payments (page 54) were:
- $248,228 for Robyn Arville
- $111,383 for Anthony Negrin
- $94,738 for Carol Dunn
Net assets at the end of the year (not including the $120M Wikimedia Endowment) were $254,971,336 (up from $239,351,532).
Below, for your reference, is the announcement the WMF's Elena Lappen submitted to us for publication in The Signpost. AK
The Wikimedia Foundation released its Form 990 for fiscal year July 2022 - June 2023 on 14 May. It is now available on the Foundation website, along with FAQs available on Meta. The Form 990 is the annual tax form required of all nonprofits in the United States. It contains disclosures about an organization’s finances, governance practices, activities and more. The highlights of the Foundation's 2022-2023 Form 990 show: high ratings for governance policies; information about leadership transitions; revenue numbers supported mostly by donations; slow growth in expenses driven primarily by an increase in the grants budget and in personnel costs; and expense breakdowns that aligned with the 2022-2023 Annual Plan goals. More details about these highlights are available in a summary post on Diff. Questions and comments can be left on the FAQ talk page.
WikiConference in Indiana, 4-6 October 2024[edit]
Wikimedians of Indiana User Group, other Hoosier Wikimedians, and the WikiConference North America team invite the world to WikiConference North America in Indianapolis, Indiana on 4-6 October. Scholarships are offered to attendees in North America until 31 May. Submissions are invited now with no posted deadline, but sooner better. - BR
Brief notes[edit]
- Annual reports: Wikimedia Deutschland, Wikimedia España, Wikimedians of Slovakia.
- New user-groups: The Affiliations Committee announced the approval of this month's newest Wikimedia movement affiliate, the TKTK.
- New administrators: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest administrators, TKTK
- Watch WP:List of administrators/Active (history), it was at 436 as of 26 May; if it reaches 434, it is a new record low to report
- Milestones: The following Wikimedia projects reached milestones this week: TKTK
- Articles for Improvement: This week's Article for Improvement is TKTK. Please be bold in helping improve this article!
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