Re:This is how much money Wikipedia really has...
by akolbe on Saturday June 11, 2022 @07:20AM
(#31703664)
For some historical perspective, this is what the Wikimedia Foundation VP of Engineering and Product Development said about Wikipedia's money needs in 2013, less than 10 years ago:
"WMF has operated in the past without staffing and with very minimal
staffing, so clearly it's _possible_ to host a high traffic website on
an absolute shoestring. But I would argue that an endowment, to
actually be worthwhile, should aim for a significantly higher base
level of minimal annual operating expenses, more in the order of
magnitude of $10M+/year, to ensure not only bare survival, but actual
sustainability of Wikimedia's mission."
$10M+/year! Even if you double that to $20M/year, the Wikimedia Foundation has about twenty times that in the bank today, and factoring in the interest this money earns, as well as tens of millions in planned gifts already lined up (people leaving them money in their wills), they could basically run Wikipedia in perpetuity without ever asking for another penny.
Instead, they now have an official revenue target of nearly $150 million (and are on course to exceed that by tens of millions, as usual).
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-March...
"WMF has operated in the past without staffing and with very minimal staffing, so clearly it's _possible_ to host a high traffic website on an absolute shoestring. But I would argue that an endowment, to actually be worthwhile, should aim for a significantly higher base level of minimal annual operating expenses, more in the order of magnitude of $10M+/year, to ensure not only bare survival, but actual sustainability of Wikimedia's mission."
$10M+/year! Even if you double that to $20M/year, the Wikimedia Foundation has about twenty times that in the bank today, and factoring in the interest this money earns, as well as tens of millions in planned gifts already lined up (people leaving them money in their wills), they could basically run Wikipedia in perpetuity without ever asking for another penny.
Instead, they now have an official revenue target of nearly $150 million (and are on course to exceed that by tens of millions, as usual).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wikimed...