Speaking of the Wikipedia fundraising banners ... It's worth mentioning here that in 2020/2021, Wikimedia took about $90 million more than it spent – the Wikimedia Foundation's net assets increased by over $50 million to $230 million, and the completely separate Wikimedia Endowment (not included in the Wikimedia Foundation's assets as it's held by the Tides Foundation) from $62.9 million to over $100 million.

Internet hosting, by comparison, cost them $2.4 million – that is less than the sum of what they pay their top-8 executives.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikim...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/e/e4/Wikim...

At this point, Wikipedia is basically being used as a cash cow. People are tricked into donating to Wikimedia by making them believe there is some kind of financial emergency, with donations needed to "keep Wikipedia online" or "protect Wikipedia's independence", when they are literally richer than ever.

More sources here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31702595