Wikimedia Foundation

From Handwiki
Short description: American charitable organization
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Wikimedia Foundation logo - vertical.svg
AbbreviationWMF
FoundedJune 20, 2003; 21 years ago (2003-06-20), St. Petersburg, Florida, US
FounderJimmy Wales
Type501(c)(3), charitable organization
FocusFree, open-content, multilingual, wiki-based Internet projects
Location
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsWikipedia, MediaWiki, Wikibooks, Wikidata, Wikifunctions, Wikimedia Commons, Wikinews, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikispecies, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wiktionary
Membership
Board-only
CEO
Maryana Iskander
Revenue
  • $180.2 million (2023)
  • $154.7 million (2022)
Expenses
  • $169.0 million (2023)
  • $146.0 million (2022)
Endowment> $100 million (2021)
Employees
> around 700 staff/contractors ((As of November 2022))
Website
[1][2][3][4]

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco , California , and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws.[5] It is best known as the host platform for Wikipedia, the largest crowdsourced online encyclopedia and the 7th most visited website in the world, but also hosts other related projects and MediaWiki, a wiki software.[6][7][8]

The Wikimedia Foundation was established in 2003 in St. Petersburg, Florida, by Jimmy Wales as a nonprofit way to fund Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and other crowdsourced wiki projects that had until then been hosted by Bomis, Wales's for-profit company.[1] The Foundation finances itself mainly through millions of small donations from Wikipedia readers, collected through email campaigns and annual fundraising banners placed on Wikipedia and its sister projects.[9] These are complemented by grants from philanthropic organizations and tech companies, and starting in 2022, by services income from Wikimedia Enterprise.

The Foundation has grown rapidly throughout its existence. By 2022, it employed around 700 staff and contractors, with annual revenues of $155 million, annual expenses of $146 million, net assets of $240 million and a growing endowment, which surpassed $100 million in June 2021.

Mission

The Wikimedia Foundation's mission is "to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally."[10]

To serve this mission, the Foundation provides the technical and organizational infrastructure to enable members of the public to develop wiki content in multiple languages.[10] The Foundation does not write or curate any of the content on the wikis itself.[11] This is done by volunteers, such as the Wikipedians who create and maintain Wikipedia. It does collaborate with a network of individual volunteers and affiliated organizations such as Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, user groups and other partners in different countries all over the world, and promises in its mission statement to make useful information from its projects available on the internet free of charge in perpetuity.[10] It also engages in political advocacy.[12] The Foundation's strategic direction, formulated in 2017, envisages that it "will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge" by 2030.[13]

History

Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger founded Wikipedia in 2001 as a feeder project to supplement Nupedia. The project was originally funded by Bomis, Wales's for-profit business, and edited by a rapidly growing community of volunteer editors. The early community discussed a variety of ways to support the ongoing costs of upkeep, and was broadly opposed to running ads on the site,[14] so the idea of setting up a charitable foundation gained prominence.[15] That also addressed an open question of what entity should hold onto trademarks for the project.

The name "Wikimedia", a compound of wiki and media, was coined by American author Sheldon Rampton in a post to the English Wikipedia mailing list in March 2003,[16] three months after Wiktionary became the second wiki-based project hosted on the original server. The Wikimedia Foundation was incorporated in Florida on June 20, 2003.[1][17] A small fundraising campaign to keep the servers running was run in October 2003.[18] The Foundation was granted section 501(c)(3) status by the U.S. Internal Revenue Code as a public charity in 2005, making donations to the Foundation tax-deductible for U.S. federal income tax purposes.[19] Its National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code is B60 (Adult, Continuing education).[20][21]

The Foundation applied to trademark the name Wikipedia in the US on September 14, 2004. The mark was granted registration status on January 10, 2006. Trademark protection was accorded by Japan on December 16, 2004, and by the European Union on January 20, 2005. Subsets of Wikipedia were already being distributed in book and DVD form, and there were discussions about licensing the logo and wordmark.[22]

On December 11, 2006, the Foundation's board noted that it could not become a membership organization, as initially planned but not implemented, due to an inability to meet the registration requirements of Florida statutory law. The bylaws were accordingly amended to remove all references to membership rights and activities.[23]

In 2007, the Foundation decided to move its headquarters from Florida to the San Francisco Bay Area. Considerations cited for choosing San Francisco were proximity to like-minded organizations and potential partners, a better talent pool, as well as cheaper and more convenient international travel.[24][25][26] The move was completed by January 31, 2008, into a headquarters on Stillman Street in San Francisco.[27] It later moved to New Montgomery Street, and then to One Montgomery Tower.[28]

On October 25, 2021, the Foundation launched Wikimedia Enterprise, a commercial Wikimedia content delivery service aimed at groups that want to use high-volume APIs, starting with Big Tech enterprises.[29][30] In June 2022, Google and the Internet Archive were announced as the service's first customers, though only Google will pay for the service.[31] The same announcement noted a shifting focus towards smaller companies with similar data needs, supporting the service through "a lot paying a little".

Projects and initiatives

Wikimedia Enterprise

The Logo Of Wikimedia Enterprise

Wikimedia Enterprise is a commercial product by the Wikimedia Foundation to provide, in a more easily consumable way, the data of the Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia.[32] It allows customers to retrieve data at large scale and high availability through different formats like Web APIs, data snapshots or streams.

It was first announced in March 2021[33][34] and launched on October 26, 2021.[35][36]

Google and the Internet Archive were its first customers, although Internet Archive is not paying for the product.[35] A New York Times Magazine article was reporting that Wikimedia Enterprise made $3.1 million in total revenue in 2022.[32]

Wikimedia projects

Logos of 16 Wikimedia sister projects

Content on most Wikimedia project websites is licensed for redistribution under v4.0 of the Attribution and Share-alike Creative Commons licenses. The Foundation owns and operates 11 wikis that are written, curated, designed, and governed by their communities of volunteer editors. Any member of the public is welcome to contribute; registering a named user account is optional. These wikis follow a free content model, with the stated goal of disseminating knowledge to the world. They include, by launch date:

Certain additional projects provide infrastructure or coordination of the free knowledge projects. These include:

  • Meta-Wiki – central site for coordinating all projects and the Wikimedia community
  • Wikimedia Incubator – a single wiki for drafting the core pages of new language editions in development
  • MediaWiki – site for coordinating work on MediaWiki software
  • Wikitech – including Wikimedia Cloud Services, Data Services, Toolforge, and other technical projects and infrastructure
  • Phabricator – not a wiki, but a global ticketing system for tracking issues and feature requests

Affiliates

Wikimedia affiliates are independent and formally recognized groups of people working together to support and contribute to the Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia Foundation officially recognizes three types of affiliates: chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups. Affiliates organize and engage in activities to support and contribute to the Wikimedia movement, such as regional conferences, outreach, edit-a-thons, hackathons, public relations, public policy advocacy, GLAM engagement, and Wikimania.[37][38][39] While many of these things are also done by individual contributors or less formal groups, they are not referred to as affiliates.

Wikimedia chapters and thematic organizations are incorporated non-profit organizations. They are recognized by the Foundation as affiliates officially when its board does so. The board's decisions are based on recommendations of an Affiliations Committee (AffCom), composed of Wikimedia community members, which reports regularly to the board. The Affiliations Committee directly approves the recognition of unincorporated user groups. Affiliates are formally recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation, but are independent of it, with no legal control of or responsibility for Wikimedia projects and their content.[38][39][40]

The Foundation began recognizing chapters in 2004.[41] In 2012, the Foundation approved, finalized and adopted the thematic organization and user group recognition models. An additional model for movement partners, was also approved, but (As of May 2022) has not yet been finalized or adopted.[39][42]

Wikimania

Wikimania is an annual global conference for Wikimedians and Wikipedians, started in 2005. The first Wikimania was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2005. Wikimania is organized by a committee supported usually by the local national chapter, with support from local institutions (such as a library or university) and usually from the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikimania has been held in cities such as Buenos Aires,[43] Cambridge,[44] Haifa,[45] Hong Kong,[46] Taipei, London,[47] Mexico City,[48] Esino Lario, Italy,[49] Montreal , Cape Town, and Stockholm. The 2020 conference scheduled to take place in Bangkok was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with those of 2021 and 2022, which were held online as a series of virtual, interactive presentations. The in-person conference returned in 2023 when it was held in Singapore, at which UNESCO joined as a partner organization.[50]

Technology

The Wikimedia Foundation maintains the hardware that runs its projects in its own servers. It also maintains the MediaWiki platform and many other software libraries that run its projects.

Hardware

Overview of system architecture, August 2022. See server layout diagrams on Meta-Wiki.
Wikimedia Foundation servers

Wikipedia employed a single server until 2004 when the server setup was expanded into a distributed multitier architecture.[51] Server downtime in 2003 led to the first fundraising drive.

By December 2009, Wikimedia ran on co-located servers, with 300 servers in Florida and 44 in Amsterdam.[52] In 2008, it also switched from multiple different Linux operating system vendors to Ubuntu Linux.[53][54] In 2019, it switched to Debian.[55]

By January 2013, Wikimedia transitioned to newer infrastructure in an Equinix facility in Ashburn, Virginia, citing reasons of "more reliable connectivity" and "fewer hurricanes".[56][57] In years prior, the hurricane seasons had been a cause of distress.[58]

In October 2013, Wikimedia Foundation started looking for a second facility that would be used side by side with the main facility in Ashburn, citing reasons of redundancy (e.g. emergency fallback) and to prepare for simultaneous multi-datacenter service.[59][60] This followed a year in which a fiber cut caused the Wikimedia projects to be unavailable for one hour in August 2012.[61][62]

Apart from the second facility for redundancy coming online in 2014,[63][64] the number of servers needed to run the infrastructure in a single facility has been mostly stable since 2009. As of November 2015, the main facility in Ashburn hosts 520 servers in total which includes servers for newer services besides Wikimedia project wikis, such as cloud services (Toolforge)[65][66] and various services for metrics, monitoring, and other system administration.[67]

In 2017, Wikimedia Foundation deployed a caching cluster in an Equinix facility in Singapore, the first of its kind in Asia.[68]

Software

The operation of Wikimedia depends on MediaWiki, a custom-made, free and open-source wiki software platform written in PHP and built upon the MariaDB database since 2013;[69] previously the MySQL database was used.[70] The software incorporates programming features such as a macro language, variables, a transclusion system for templates, and URL redirection. MediaWiki is licensed under the GNU General Public License and it is used by all Wikimedia projects.

Originally, Wikipedia ran on UseModWiki written in Perl by Clifford Adams (Phase I), which initially required CamelCase for article hyperlinks; the double bracket style was incorporated later. Starting in January 2002 (Phase II), Wikipedia began running on a PHP wiki engine with a MySQL database; this software was custom-made for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske. The Phase II software was repeatedly modified to accommodate the exponentially increasing demand. In July 2002 (Phase III), Wikipedia shifted to the third-generation software, MediaWiki, originally written by Lee Daniel Crocker.

Some MediaWiki extensions are installed to extend the functionality of MediaWiki software. In April 2005, an Apache Lucene extension[71][72] was added to MediaWiki's built-in search and Wikipedia switched from MySQL to Lucene and later switched to CirrusSearch which is based on Elasticsearch for searching.[73] The Wikimedia Foundation also uses CiviCRM[74] and WordPress.[75]

The Foundation published official Wikipedia mobile apps for Android and iOS devices and in March 2015, the apps were updated to include mobile user-friendly features.[76]

Finances

Wikimedia Foundation revenue, expenses and end-of-year net assets (in US$), 2003–2023
Green: revenue (excluding direct donations to the endowment)
Red: expenses (including WMF payments into the endowment)
Black: net assets (excluding the endowment)[77]

The Wikimedia Foundation mainly finances itself through donations from the public, collected through email campaigns and annual fundraising banners placed on Wikipedia, as well as grants from various tech companies and philanthropic organizations.[9][78] Campaigns for the Wikimedia Endowment have included emails asking donors to leave Wikimedia money in their will.[79]

As a 501(c)(3) charity, the Foundation is exempt from federal and state income tax.[80][81] It is not a private foundation, and contributions to it qualify as tax-deductible charitable contributions.[78] In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Charity Navigator gave Wikimedia an overall rating of four out of four possible stars,[82] increased from three to four stars in 2010.[83] (As of January 2020), the rating was still four stars (overall score 98.14 out of 100), based on data from FY2018.[84]

The Foundation also increases its revenue through federal grants, sponsorship, services and brand merchandising. The Wikimedia OAI-PMH update feed service, targeted primarily at search engines and similar bulk analysis and republishing, was a source of revenue for a number of years.[85][86] DBpedia was given access to this feed free of charge.[87] An expanded version of data feeds and content services was launched in 2021 as Wikimedia Enterprise, an LLC subsidiary of the Foundation.[88]

In July 2014, the Foundation announced it would accept Bitcoin donations.[89] In 2021, cryptocurrencies accounted for just 0.08% of all donations[90][91] and on May 1, 2022, the Foundation stopped accepting cryptocurrency donations, following a Wikimedia community vote.[91][92]

The Foundation's net assets grew from an initial $57,000 at the end of its first fiscal year, ending June 30, 2004,[93] to $53.5 million in mid-2014[94][95] and $231 million (plus a $100 million endowment) by the end of June 2021; that year, the Foundation also announced plans to launch Wikimedia Enterprise, to let large organizations pay by volume for high-volume access to otherwise rate-limited APIs.[96]

In 2020, the Foundation donated $4.5 million to Tides Advocacy to create a "Knowledge Equity Fund", to provide grants to organizations whose work would not otherwise be covered by Wikimedia grants but addresses racial inequities in accessing and contributing to free knowledge resources.[97][98]

Wikimedia Endowment

In January 2016, the Foundation announced the creation of an endowment to safeguard its future.[99] The Wikimedia Endowment was established as a donor-advised fund at the Tides Foundation, with a stated goal to raise $100 million in the next 10 years.[100] Craig Newmark was one of the initial donors, giving $1 million.[101] Peter Baldwin and his wife, Lisbet Rausing, donated $5 million to it in 2017.[102]

In 2018, major donations to the endowment were received from Amazon and Facebook ($1 million each) and George Soros ($2 million).[103][104][105] In 2019, donations included $2 million from Google,[106] $3.5 million more from Baldwin and Rausing,[102] $2.5 million more from Newmark,[107] and another $1 million from Amazon in October 2019 and again in September 2020.[108][109]

(As of 2023) the advisory board consists of Jimmy Wales, Peter Baldwin, former Wikimedia Foundation Trustees Patricio Lorente and Phoebe Ayers, former Wikimedia Foundation Board Visitor Doron Weber of the Sloan Foundation, investor Annette Campbell-White, venture capitalist Michael Kim, portfolio manager Alexander M. Farman-Farmaian, and strategist Lisa Lewin.[102]

The Foundation itself has provided annual grants of $5 million to its Endowment since 2016.[110] These amounts have been recorded as part of the Foundation's "awards and grants" expenses.[111] In September 2021, the Foundation announced that the Wikimedia Endowment had reached its initial $100 million fundraising goal in June 2021, five years ahead of its initial target.[4] In January 2024, the endowment was reported to have a value of $140 million.[112]

Financial development

The Foundation summarizes its assets in the "Statements of Activities" in its audited reports. These do not include funds in the Wikimedia Endowment, however expenses from the 2015–16 financial year onward include payments to the Wikimedia Endowment.[113]

Year Source Revenue Expenses Asset rise Net assets at
end of year
2022/2023 PDF $180,174,103 $169,095,381 $15,619,804 $254,971,336
2021/2022 PDF $154,686,521 $145,970,915 $8,173,996 $239,351,532
2020/2021 PDF $162,886,686 $111,839,819 $50,861,811 $231,177,536
2019/2020 PDF $129,234,327 $112,489,397 $14,674,300 $180,315,725
2018/2019 PDF $120,067,266 $91,414,010 $30,691,855 $165,641,425
2017/2018 PDF $104,505,783 $81,442,265 $21,619,373 $134,949,570
2016/2017 PDF $91,242,418 $69,136,758 $21,547,402 $113,330,197
2015/2016 PDF $81,862,724 $65,947,465 $13,962,497 $91,782,795
2014/2015 PDF $75,797,223 $52,596,782 $24,345,277 $77,820,298
2013/2014 PDF $52,465,287 $45,900,745 $8,285,897 $53,475,021
2012/2013 PDF $48,635,408 $35,704,796 $10,260,066 $45,189,124
2011/2012 PDF $38,479,665 $29,260,652 $10,736,914 $34,929,058
2010/2011 PDF $24,785,092 $17,889,794 $9,649,413 $24,192,144
2009/2010 PDF $17,979,312 $10,266,793 $6,310,964 $14,542,731
2008/2009 PDF $8,658,006 $5,617,236 $3,053,599 $8,231,767
2007/2008 PDF $5,032,981 $3,540,724 $3,519,886 $5,178,168
2006/2007 PDF $2,734,909 $2,077,843 $654,066 $1,658,282
2005/2006 PDF $1,508,039 $791,907 $736,132 $1,004,216
2004/2005 PDF $379,088 $177,670 $211,418 $268,084
2003/2004 PDF $80,129 $23,463 $56,666 $56,666

Expenses

A plurality of Wikimedia Foundation expenses are salaries and wages, followed by community and affiliate grants, contributions to the endowment, and other professional operating expenses and services.[114][77]

Grants

Wikimedia Foundation and chapters finance meeting 2012, Paris

The Wikimedia Foundation has received a steady stream of grants from other foundations throughout its history. In 2008, the Foundation received a $40,000 grant from the Open Society Institute to create a printable version of Wikipedia.[115] It also received a $262,000 grant from the Stanton Foundation to purchase hardware,[116] a $500,000 unrestricted grant from Vinod and Neeru Khosla,[117] who later that year joined the Foundation advisory board,[118] and $177,376 from the historians Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin (Arcadia Fund), among others.[116] In March 2008, the Foundation announced what was then its largest donation yet: a three-year, $3 million grant from the Sloan Foundation.[119]

In 2009, the Foundation received four grants. The first was a $890,000 Stanton Foundation grant to help study and simplify the user interface for first-time authors of Wikipedia.[120] The second was a $300,000 Ford Foundation grant in July 2009 for Wikimedia Commons, to improve the interface for uploading multimedia files.[121] In August 2009, the Foundation received a $500,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.[122] Also in August 2009, the Omidyar Network committed up to $2 million over two years to Wikimedia.[123]

In 2010, Google donated $2 million[124] and the Stanton Foundation granted $1.2 million to fund the Public Policy Initiative, a pilot program for what later became the Wikipedia Education Program (and the spin-off Wiki Education Foundation).[125][126][127]

In March 2011, the Sloan Foundation authorized another $3 million grant, to be funded over three years, with the first $1 million to come in July 2011 and the remaining $2 million to be funded in August 2012 and 2013. As a donor, Doron Weber from the Sloan Foundation gained Board Visitor status at the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.[128] In August 2011, the Stanton Foundation pledged to fund a $3.6 million grant of which $1.8 million was funded and the remainder was to come in September 2012. As of 2011, this was the largest grant the Wikimedia Foundation had ever received.[129] In November 2011, the Foundation received a $500,000 donation from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation.[130][131]

In 2012, the Foundation was awarded a grant of $1.25 million from Lisbet Rausing[130] and Peter Baldwin through the Charities Aid Foundation, scheduled to be funded in five equal installments from 2012 through 2015. In 2014, the Foundation received the largest single gift in its history, a $5 million unrestricted donation from an anonymous donor supporting $1 million worth of expenses annually for the next five years.[132] In March 2012, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, established by the Intel co-founder and his wife, awarded the Wikimedia Foundation a $449,636 grant to develop Wikidata.[133] This was part of a larger grant, much of which went to Wikimedia Germany, which took on ownership of the development effort.[134]

Between 2014 and 2015, the Foundation received $500,000 from the Monarch Fund, $100,000 from the Arcadia Fund and an undisclosed amount from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to support the Wikipedia Zero initiative.[135][136][137]

In 2015, a grant agreement was reached with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to build a search engine called the "Knowledge Engine", a project that proved controversial.[138][139] In 2017, the Sloan Foundation awarded another $3 million grant for a three-year period,[128] and Google donated another $1.1 million to the Foundation in 2019.[140]

The following have donated $500,000 or more each (2008–2019, not including gifts to the Wikimedia Endowment; list may be incomplete):

Total
($000s)
Donor Years
9,000 Sloan Foundation
  • 2008–2013
  • 2017–2019
5,952 Stanton Foundation 2009–2012
5,000 (anonymous) 2014–2018
3,100 Google 2010, 2019
2,000 Omidyar Network 2009–2010
1,527 Rausing, Baldwin
via Arcadia, Charities Aid
  • 2008
  • 2012–2015
1,300 Hewlett 2009–2010
500 Sergey Brin & Anne Wojcicki 2010
500 Monarch Fund 2014–2015

Staff

History

Foundation staff in January 2019

In 2004, the Foundation appointed Tim Starling as developer liaison to help improve the MediaWiki software, Daniel Mayer as chief financial officer (finance, budgeting, and coordination of fund drives), and Erik Möller as content partnership coordinator. In May 2005, the Foundation announced seven more official appointments.[141]

In January 2006, the Foundation created a number of committees, including the Communication Committee, in an attempt to further organize activities somewhat handled by volunteers at that time.[142] Starling resigned that month to spend more time on his PhD program.

(As of October 2006), the Foundation had five paid employees:[143] two programmers, an administrative assistant, a coordinator handling fundraising and grants, and an interim executive director,[144] Brad Patrick, previously the Foundation's general counsel. Patrick ceased his activity as interim director in January 2007 and then resigned from his position as legal counsel, effective April 1, 2007. He was replaced by Mike Godwin who served as general counsel and legal coordinator from July 2007[145] to 2010.

In January 2007, Carolyn Doran was named chief operating officer and Sandy Ordonez joined as head of communications.[146] Doran began working as a part-time bookkeeper in 2006 after being sent by a temporary agency. Doran, found to have had a criminal record,[147] left the Foundation in July 2007 and Sue Gardner was hired as consultant and special advisor; she became the executive director in December 2007.[148] Florence Devouard cited Doran's departure from the organization as one of the reasons the Foundation took about seven months to release its fiscal 2007 financial audit.[149]

Exterior view of the previous Wikimedia Foundation's San Francisco headquarters at New Montgomery Street in 2014

Danny Wool, officially the grant coordinator and also involved in fundraising and business development, resigned in March 2007. He accused Wales of misusing the Foundation's funds for recreational purposes and said that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, a claim Wales denied.[150] In February 2007, the Foundation added a position, chapters coordinator, and hired Delphine Ménard,[151] who had been occupying the position as a volunteer since August 2005. Cary Bass was hired in March 2007 in the position of volunteer coordinator. In January 2008, the Foundation appointed Veronique Kessler as the new chief financial and operating officer, Kul Wadhwa as head of business development and Jay Walsh as head of communications.

In March 2013, Gardner announced she would be leaving her position at the Foundation.[152] Lila Tretikov was appointed executive director in May 2014;[153][154] she resigned in March 2016. Former chief communications officer Katherine Maher (joined Wikimedia in 2014[112]) was appointed the interim executive director, a position made permanent in June 2016.[155] Maher served as executive director until April 2021[156][157] and is credited with building the Foundation endowment in her tenure.[112]

Present department structure

One Montgomery Tower, the building where the Wikimedia Foundation headquarters have been located since 2017

(As of October 2023) there were over 700 people working at the Foundation.[158] Maryana Iskander was named the incoming CEO in September 2021, and took over that role in January 2022.[159]

As of July 2022, the WMF has the following department structure:[160]

  • Advancement: responsible for fundraising, strategic partnerships, and grantmaking programs.
  • Communications: responsible for Wikimedia brand development, marketing, social media, public relations, and global awareness efforts.
  • Finance and Administration: responsible for ensuring responsible management of Wikimedia Foundation funds and resources.
  • Legal: responsible for mounting opposition to government surveillance and censorship, defending volunteer communities, facilitating policy discussions, and advocating for privacy.
  • Product: responsible for building collaborative tools for knowledge sharing, user research, experience design and cross-device support including mobile apps and voice technology.
  • Talent and Culture: responsible for recruitment and training.
  • Technology: responsible for maintaining and developing the technology platform underpinning the Wikimedia projects, in collaboration with thousands of volunteer developers.

Board of trustees

The Foundation's board of trustees supervises the activities of the Foundation. The founding board had three members, to which two community-elected trustees were added. Starting in 2008 it was composed of ten members:

  • three selected by the community encompassed by all the different Wikimedia projects;
  • two selected by Wikimedia chapters;
  • four appointed by the board itself; and
  • one founder's seat, reserved for Jimmy Wales.[161][162]

Over time, the size of the board and details of the selection processes have evolved. As of 2020, the board may have up to 16 trustees:[163]

  • eight seats sourced from the wider Wikimedia community (affiliates and volunteer community);
  • seven appointed by the board itself; and
  • one founder's seat reserved for Wales.

As of January 2024, the board comprised six community-and-affiliate-selected trustees (Shani Evenstein Sigalov, Dariusz Jemielniak, Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, Victoria Doronina, Mike Peel and Lorenzo Losa);[164] five Board-appointed trustees (McKinsey & Company director Raju Narisetti,[165] Bahraini human rights activist and blogger Esra'a Al Shafei,[166] technology officer Luis Bitencourt-Emilio, Nataliia Tymkiv, and financial expert Kathy Collins); and Wales.[162] Tymkiv chairs the board, with Al Shafei and Sigalov as vice chairs.[167]

In 2015, James Heilman, a trustee recently elected to the board by the community,[168] was removed from his position by a vote of the rest of the board.[169][170] This decision generated dispute among members of the Wikipedia community.[171][172] Heilman later said that he "was given the option of resigning [by the Board] over the last few weeks. As a community elected member I see my mandate as coming from the community which elected me and thus declined to do so. I saw such a move as letting down those who elected me."[173] He subsequently added that while on the Board, he had pushed for greater transparency regarding the Wikimedia Foundation's Knowledge Engine project and its financing,[174] and indicated that his attempts to make public the Knight Foundation grant for the engine had been a factor in his dismissal.[175] Heilman was reelected to the board by the community in 2017.[176]

In January 2016, Arnnon Geshuri joined the board before stepping down amid community controversy about a "no poach" agreement he executed when at Google, which violated United States antitrust law and for which the participating companies paid US$415 million in a class action suit on behalf of affected employees.[177][178]

Disputes

Wikimedia Foundation post-SOPA party, 2012

A number of disputes have resulted in litigation[179][180][181][182] while others have not.[183] Attorney Matt Zimmerman has said, "Without strong liability protection, it would be difficult for Wikipedia to continue to provide a platform for user-created encyclopedia content."[184]

In December 2011, the Foundation hired Washington, D.C., lobbyist Dow Lohnes Government Strategies LLC to lobby Congress.[185] At the time of the hire, the Foundation was concerned about a bill known as the Stop Online Piracy Act.[186] The communities were as well, organizing some of the most visible protest against the bill on the Internet alongside other popular websites.

In October 2013, a German court ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation can be held liable for content added to Wikipedia when there has been a specific complaint; otherwise, the Wikimedia Foundation does not check the content Wikipedia publishes and has no duty to do so.[187]

In June 2014, Bildkonst Upphovsrätt i Sverige filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Wikimedia Sweden.[188]

On June 20, 2014, a defamation lawsuit (Law Division civil case No. L-1400-14) involving Wikipedia editors was filed with the Mercer County Superior Court in New Jersey seeking, inter alia, compensatory and punitive damages.[189][190]

In a March 10, 2015, op-ed for The New York Times , Wales and Tretikov announced the Foundation was filing a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and five other government agencies and officials, including DOJ, calling into question its practice of mass surveillance, which they argued infringed the constitutional rights of the Foundation's readers, editors and staff. They were joined in the suit by eight additional plaintiffs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.[191][192][193] On October 23, 2015, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed the suit Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA on grounds of standing. U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III ruled that the plaintiffs could not plausibly prove they were subject to upstream surveillance, and that their argument is "riddled with assumptions", "speculations" and "mathematical gymnastics".[194][195] The plaintiffs filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on February 17, 2016.[196]

In September 2020, WMF's application to become an observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was blocked after objections from the government of China[197] over the existence of a Wikimedia Foundation affiliate in Taiwan.[198] In October 2021, WMF's second application was blocked by the government of China for the same reason.[199] In May 2022, six Wikimedia movement affiliate chapters were blocked from being accredited to WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) by China, claiming that the chapters were spreading disinformation.[200] In July 2022, China blocked an application by seven Wikimedia chapters to be accredited as permanent observers to WIPO;[201] China's position was supported by a number of other countries, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Algeria, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.[202]

Excessive spending and fundraising

In 2014, Jimmy Wales was confronted with allegations that WMF had a poor cost/benefit ratio for "a miserable cost/benefit ratio and for years now has spent millions on software development without producing anything that actually works". He acknowledged that he had "been frustrated as well about the endless controversies about the rollout of inadequate software not developed with sufficient community consultation and without proper incremental rollout to catch show-stopping bugs".[203]

During the 2015 fundraising campaign, some members of the community voiced their concerns about the fundraising banners. They argued that they were obtrusive and could deceive potential donors by giving the impression that Wikipedia had immediate financial problems, which was not true. The Wikimedia Foundation vowed to improve wording on further fundraising campaigns to avoid these issues.[204] Despite this, the Foundation has continued to come under criticism for running campaigns seemingly designed to "make[] its readers feel guilty." Such campaigns have additionally been condemned for, in 2021, being run in countries that had been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Argentina and Brazil ,[205] as well as for sparking fears in India that Wikipedia might be "dying".[206] This is despite the Foundation being in ownership of "vast money reserves", in 2021 reaching its 10-year goal of compiling a $100 million endowment fund in only 5 years.[205]

In February 2017, an op-ed published by The Signpost, the English Wikipedia's online newspaper, titled "Wikipedia has Cancer",[207][208] produced a debate in both the Wikipedian community and the wider public. The author criticized the Wikimedia Foundation for its ever-increasing annual spending, which, he argued, could put the project at financial risk should an unexpected event happen. The author proposed to cap spending, build up the endowment, and restructure the endowment so that WMF cannot dip into the principal when times get bad.[209]

Knowledge Engine project

Main page: Software:Knowledge Engine (search engine)

Knowledge Engine was a search engine project initiated in 2015 by WMF to locate and display verifiable and trustworthy information on the Internet.[210] The KE's goal was to be less reliant on traditional search engines. It was funded with a $250,000 grant from the Knight Foundation.[211] Some perceived the project as a scandal, mainly because it was conceived in secrecy, and the project proposal was even a surprise to some staff, in contrast with a general culture of transparency in the organization and on the projects. Some of the information available to the community was received through leaked documents published by The Signpost in 2016.[212][210] Following this dispute, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Lila Tretikov resigned.[213][214][215]

Social justice causes

In 2022, in a recent "personal appeal" displayed in an advertising banner on Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, one of the founders, emphasized that "Wikipedia is not for sale." This statement highlights the non-profit nature of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), a non-profit organization based in California that owns intellectual property assets, such as the Wikipedia name and branding. However, the WMF does not own or control the global communities that maintain the site.[216]

In 2022, the WMF announced new recipients for its "knowledge equity grants". As of last June, the WMF reported $239 million in net assets. It is expected to raise $174 million in revenue in the 2023.[216] Despite expenses on the foundation staff's salaries, there's a significant surplus left. To manage these funds, the WMF has created an endowment composed of investments and cash. This is managed not by the WMF but by the Tides Foundation, a charitable organization that channels funds to social justice causes and campaigns.[216]

The endowment aims to grow this capital to $130.4 million in the next fiscal year. Some of these funds are allocated to the knowledge equity fund, which provides grants.[216]

However, there has been some controversy over the administration of the funds. While the Tides Foundation has promised to become a more transparent 501(c)(3) organization to reveal how it manages funds, details on expenses and salaries are still lacking seven years later.[216]

Additionally, the WMF's salary costs have risen from $7 million in 2010/11 to $88 million in 2021/22, yet only 2% of the raised money goes towards hosting costs.[216]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wales, Jimmy (June 20, 2003). "Announcing Wikimedia Foundation". mail:wikipedia-l. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2003-June/010743.html. 
  2. "2014 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (form 990)". WMF (Public Inspection Copy). May 11, 2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/27/Form_990_FY_2014-2015_-_Public.pdf. 
  3. "File:Wikimedia Foundation FY2021–2022 Audit Report.pdf – Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki". Foundation.wikimedia.org. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/26/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2021-2022_Audit_Report.pdf#page=6. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Wikimedia Foundation reaches $100 million Endowment goal as Wikipedia celebrates 20 years of free knowledge". September 22, 2021. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/22/wikimedia-foundation-reaches-100-million-endowment-goal/. . See also announcement on meta.wikimedia.org.
  5. Hanson, Jarice (2016). The Social Media Revolution: An Economic Encyclopedia of Friending, Following, Texting, and Connecting. ABC-CLIO. p. 375. ISBN 978-1-61069-768-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=ePEZDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA375. 
  6. Jacobs, Julia (April 8, 2019). "Wikipedia Isn't Officially a Social Network. But the Harassment Can Get Ugly.". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html. 
  7. Cohen, Noam (March 16, 2021). "Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-finally-asking-big-tech-to-pay-up/. Retrieved March 17, 2021. 
  8. Culliford, Elizabeth (February 2, 2021). "Exclusive: Wikipedia launches new global rules to combat site abuses" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikipedia-rules-exclusive-idUSKBN2A21PW. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 "Fundraising report 2020–2021". Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2020-21_Report. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Devouard, Florence. "Mission statement". Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement. 
  11. "A victory for free knowledge: Florida judge rules Section 230 bars defamation claim against the Wikimedia Foundation". diff.wikimedia.org. October 5, 2021. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/05/a-victory-for-free-knowledge-florida-judge-rules-section-230-bars-defamation-claim-against-the-wikimedia-foundation/. "the plaintiff argued that the Foundation should be treated like a traditional offline publisher and held responsible as though it were vetting all posts made to the sites it hosts, despite the fact that it does not write or curate any of the content found on the projects" 
  12. Jackson, Jasper (February 12, 2017). "'We always look for reliability': why Wikipedia's editors cut out the Daily Mail". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/12/wikipedia-daily-mail-reliability-ban-katherine-maher. ""Another core job for the foundation – and Maher – is political advocacy. While copyright and press freedom are important issues for Wikipedia, there is one area even more fundamental to its operation – the rules that protect web firms from full liability for what their users post."" 
  13. Various. "Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2017". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017. 
  14. Tkacz, Nathaniel (January 20, 2011). "The Spanish Fork: Wikipedia's ad-fuelled mutiny". Wired UK. https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-01/20/wikipedia-spanish-fork. 
  15. "Wikimedia Foundation - Meta" (in en). March 17, 2003. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation. 
  16. Rampton, Sheldon (March 16, 2003). "Wikipedia English mailing list message". https://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-March/001887.html. 
  17. Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc Record and Letters of Incorporation, Wikimedia Foundation , filed June 20, 2003
  18. "If you enjoy Wikipedia, please consider making a donation to keep the servers running. Thank you!" (in en), Wikipedia Village Pump M, 2003-10-06, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump/Archive_M&oldid=603930625#If_you_enjoy_Wikipedia,_please_consider_making_a_donation_to_keep_the_servers_running._Thank_you!, retrieved 2022-12-03 
  19. Charity Navigator Charity Navigator IRS (Forms 990) Tab . Page accessed January 31, 2016
  20. "NTEE Classification System". https://www.guidestar.org/npo/ntee.jsp. 
  21. "NCCS definition for Adult Education". https://nccs2.urban.org/ntee-cc/b.htm#b60. 
  22. Nair, Vipin (December 5, 2005). "Growing on volunteer power". Business Line. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2005/12/05/stories/2005120500070100.htm. 
  23. Bylaws revision.
  24. Moncada, Carlos (September 25, 2007). "Wikimedia Foundation Moving To Another Bay Area". The Tampa Tribune. https://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/sep/25/wikimedia-foundation-moving-another-bay-area/?news-breaking. 
  25. Mullins, Richard (September 26, 2007). "Online Encyclopedia To Leave St. Petersburg For San Francisco". The Tampa Tribune. https://www.tbo.com/news/money/MGBNF5F517F.html. 
  26. Kim, Ryan (October 10, 2007). "Wikimedia abandons Florida for San Francisco". San Francisco Chronicle. https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/10/BU69SNMQ2.DTL&tsp=1. 
  27. "Press releases/Relocation" (in en). October 9, 2007. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Relocation. 
  28. Villagomez, Jaime (September 21, 2017). "Wikimedia Foundation Office Move". https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-September/088654.html. 
  29. Cohen, Noam (March 16, 2021). "Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-finally-asking-big-tech-to-pay-up/. Retrieved March 17, 2021. 
  30. "Wikimedia Foundation launches Wikimedia Enterprise: the new, opt-in product for companies and organizations to easily reuse content from Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects". Wikimedia Foundation. October 25, 2021. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/10/25/wikimedia-foundation-launches-wikimedia-enterprise-the-new-opt-in-product-for-companies-and-organizations-to-easily-reuse-content-from-wikipedia-and-wikimedia-projects/. 
  31. Roth, Emma (June 22, 2022). "Google is paying the Wikimedia Foundation for better access to information". https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/22/23178245/google-paying-wikimedia-foundation-information. 
  32. 32.0 32.1  , Wikidata Q121766597
  33. Cohen, Noam (March 16, 2021). "Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-finally-asking-big-tech-to-pay-up/. Retrieved 7 July 2022. 
  34. Wyatt, Liam (March 16, 2021). "Introducing the Wikimedia Enterprise API". Wikimedia Foundation. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/03/16/introducing-the-wikimedia-enterprise-api/. 
  35. 35.0 35.1 Roth, Emma (June 22, 2022). "Google is paying the Wikimedia Foundation for better access to information". https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/22/23178245/google-paying-wikimedia-foundation-information. 
  36. "Wikimedia Enterprise: A New Part of Free Knowledge Infrastructure" (in en). October 27, 2021. https://openfuture.eu/blog/wikimedia-enterprise/. 
  37. Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates. 
  38. 38.0 38.1 Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates/Frequently asked questions". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates/Frequently_asked_questions. 
  39. 39.0 39.1 39.2 Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates/Models – Meta". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates/Models. 
  40. Various. "Affiliations Committee". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee. 
  41. Various. "Wikimedia chapters". Wikimedia Foundation. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters. 
  42. Various (March 31, 2012). "Resolution:Recognizing Models of Affiliations – Wikimedia Foundation". wikimediafoundation.org. Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Recognizing_Models_of_Affiliations. 
  43. "Wikimania". wikimedia.org. https://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal. 
  44. "The Many Voices of Wikipedia, Heard in One Place". The New York Times. August 7, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/technology/07wiki.html?ex=1312603200&en=c7f5a3bc5ad54239&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. 
  45. Levin, Verony (August 5, 2011). "Wikimania Conference at Its Peak; Founder Jimmy Wales to Speak Tomorrow" (in he). TheMarker. https://it.themarker.com/tmit/article/16395. 
  46. Lu Huang, Keira (July 29, 2013). "Wikimania challenge for Hong Kong as conference comes to town". South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.. https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1291419/wikimania-challenge-hong-kong-conference-comes-town. 
  47. "Wikimania! Head to Wikipedia's first ever London festival". Time Out London. August 6, 2014. https://now-here-this.timeout.com/2014/08/06/wikipedia-wikimania-2014-london/. 
  48. "Main Page – Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City". https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org. 
  49. "Lario". https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2016_bids/Esino_Lario. , retrieved May 17, 2015
  50. "UNESCO joins the 2023 Wikimedia Movement in Singapore". UNESCO. 2023-08-25. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-joins-2023-wikimedia-movement-singapore-0. 
  51. "Aulinx". https://www.aulinx.de/oss/code/wikipedia/. 
  52. "A Look Inside Wikipedia's Infrastructure". Data Center Knowledge. June 24, 2008. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/06/24/a-look-inside-wikipedias-infrastructure. 
  53. Weiss, Todd R. (October 9, 2008). "Wikipedia simplifies IT infrastructure by moving to one Linux vendor". Computerworld. https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9116787/Wikipedia_simplifies_IT_infrastructure_by_moving_to_one_Linux_vendor?taxonomyId=154&pageNumber=1&taxonomyName=Servers and Data Center. 
  54. Paul, Ryan (October 9, 2008). "Wikipedia adopts Ubuntu for its server infrastructure". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/10/wikipedia-adopts-ubuntu-for-its-server-infrastructure.ars. 
  55. "Debian – Wikitech" (in en). https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Debian. 
  56. "It's Official: Ashburn is Wikipedia's New Home". Data Center Knowledge. January 14, 2013. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/01/14/its-official-equinix-ashburn-is-wikimedias-home/. 
  57. "Wikimedia sites to move to primary data center in Ashburn" (in en). January 19, 2013. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2013/01/19/wikimedia-sites-move-to-primary-data-center-in-ashburn-virginia/. 
  58. "WMF needs additional datacenter space" (in en). April 7, 2009. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2009/04/07/wmf-needs-additional-datacenter-space/. 
  59. "Wikipedia On The Hunt For More Data Center Space". Data Center Knowledge. October 23, 2013. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2013/10/23/wikipedia-on-the-hunt-for-more-data-center-space. 
  60. "RFP/2013 Datacenter – Wikimedia Foundation" (in en). October 18, 2013. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/2013_Datacenter. 
  61. "Fiber Cut Knocks Wikipedia Offline". Data Center Knowledge. August 7, 2012. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/08/07/fiber-cut-wikipedia/. 
  62. "Wikimedia site outage" (in en). August 6, 2012. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2012/08/06/wikimedia-site-outage-6-august-2012/. 
  63. "Wikimedia's Data Center Search Ends With CyrusOne". Data Center Knowledge. May 5, 2014. https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2014/05/05/wikimedias-data-center-search-ends-cyrusone. 
  64. "Wikimedia Foundation selects CyrusOne in Dallas as new data center – Wikimedia Diff" (in en). May 5, 2014. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2014/05/05/wikimedia-foundation-selects-cyrusone-in-dallas-as-new-data-center/. 
  65. "Portal:Toolforge – Wikitech". https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portal:Toolforge. 
  66. "Pageviews Analysis". https://pageviews.toolforge.org/. 
  67. "Upstream projects". MediaWiki. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Upstream_projects. 
  68. "⚓ T156028 Name Asia Cache DC site". https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T156028. 
  69. "Wikipedia Adopts MariaDB". Wikimedia Diff. April 22, 2013. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2013/04/22/wikipedia-adopts-mariadb/. 
  70. Bergman, Mark. "Wikimedia Architecture". Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. https://www.nedworks.org/~mark/presentations/san/Wikimedia architecture.pdf. 
  71. Snow, Michael. "Lucene search: Internal search function returns to service". The Signpost. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2005-04-18/Lucene_search. 
  72. Vibber, Brion. "[Wikitech-l Lucene search"]. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2005-April/016297.html. 
  73. "Extension:CirrusSearch – MediaWiki" (in en). https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:CirrusSearch. 
  74. Wikimedia & FourKitchens support CiviCRM development Wikimedia Diff, June 10, 2009
  75. "Wikimedia Diff". Wikimedia Diff. https://diff.wikimedia.org. 
  76. Wikipedia – Android Apps on Google Play . Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  77. 77.0 77.1 "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Financial Statements, June 30, 2018 and 2019". September 27, 2019. pp. 4, 14. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/3/31/Wikimedia_Foundation_Audit_Report_-_FY18-19.pdf. 
  78. 78.0 78.1 "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. – Financial Statements – June 30, 2021 and 2020". Wikimedia Foundation. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2020-2021_Audit_Report.pdf. 
  79. James Lileks (May 2, 2021). "Lileks: Wikipedia wants me to do what?". Star Tribune. https://www.startribune.com/lileks-wikipedia-wants-me-to-do-what/600052774/. 
  80. See also Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
  81. See also Chapter 220.13 of the Florida Statutes
  82. "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation". charitynavigator.org. April 15, 2022. https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=Wikimedia+Foundation&bay=search.results. 
  83. "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation – Historical Data (Note: Requires free login)". charitynavigator.org. https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.history&orgid=11212. 
  84. "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation". Charitynavigator.org. November 1, 2019. https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=11212. 
  85. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. – Financial Statements – June 30, 2011 and 2010". Wikimedia Foundation. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/ac/FINAL_10_11From_KPMG.pdf. 
  86. Wikimedia update feed service
  87. Bizer, C (September 2009), Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web, 7, pp. 154–165 
  88. "Learn more about Wikimedia Enterprise" (in en-US). https://enterprise.wikimedia.com/about/. 
  89. Ember, Sydney (July 31, 2014). "Wikipedia Begins Taking Donations in Bitcoin". The New York Times. https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/wikipedia-begins-taking-donations-in-bitcoin/. 
  90. Quiles, Emily (February 7, 2022). "There's a growing chorus of tech people who dislike crypto. A Wikipedia editor has spelled out the case against it." (in en-US). https://www.businessinsider.com/wikipedia-editor-argues-against-crypto-bitcoin-environment-scams-2022-2. 
  91. 91.0 91.1 Roth, Emma (May 1, 2022). "The Wikimedia Foundation has stopped accepting cryptocurrency donations" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/1/23052309/wikimedia-foundation-stops-cryptocurrency-donations-wikipedia. 
  92. Mlot, Stephanie (May 2, 2022). "Wikimedia Foundation Agrees to End Cryptocurrency Donations" (in en). https://www.pcmag.com/news/wikimedia-foundation-agrees-to-end-cryptocurrency-donations. 
  93. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. – Financial Statements – June 30, 2006–2004". Wikimedia Foundation. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/28/Wikimedia_2006_fs.pdf. 
  94. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2014 and 2013". Upload.wikimedia.org. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/b/bf/Audit_Report_-_FY_13-14_-_Final_v2.pdf. 
  95. "Sue Gardner". Forbes. April 18, 2012. https://www.forbes.com/profile/sue-gardner/. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  96. Akhtar, Allana. "Apple, Amazon, and Google don't pay to integrate Wikipedia articles into their search products. The non-profit now hopes to use contracts with Big Tech to help fund 'knowledge equity' around the world.". https://www.businessinsider.com/wikipedia-contracts-with-apple-google-could-fund-global-initiatives-2021-3. 
  97. Knowledge Equity Fund on meta.wikimedia.org.
  98. Longley, Liz (September 16, 2021). "5 Things To Know About the Wikimedia Foundation's First Round of Racial Equity Grants" (in en-US). https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2021/9/16/5-things-to-know-about-the-wikimedia-foundations-first-round-of-racial-equity-grants. 
  99. "Wikipedia launching $100m fund to secure long-term future as site turns 15" (in en). 2016-01-15. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/15/wikipedia-fund-future. 
  100. "Wikipedia celebrates 15 years of free knowledge". Wikimedia Foundation. January 14, 2016. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikipedia_celebrates_15_years_of_free_knowledge. 
  101. "Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, gives to Wikipedia's future". Wikimedia Foundation blog. June 8, 2016. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2016/06/08/craig-newmark-wikipedia-future/. 
  102. 102.0 102.1 102.2 "Wikimedia Endowment – Meta". November 22, 2023. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment. 
  103. "Amazon donates $1M to Wikipedia's nonprofit parent organization". September 25, 2018. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/amazon-donates-1m-wikipedias-nonprofit-parent-organization/. 
  104. "Facebook makes $1 million gift to support the future of free knowledge". December 20, 2018. https://wikimediafoundation.org/2018/12/20/facebook-makes-1-million-gift-to-support-the-future-of-free-knowledge/. 
  105. "George Soros, founder of Open Society Foundations, invests in the future of free and open knowledge" (in en-US). Wikimedia Foundation. October 15, 2018. https://wikimediafoundation.org/2018/10/15/george-soros-invests-future-free-open-knowledge/. 
  106. "Expanding knowledge access with the Wikimedia Foundation". January 22, 2019. https://blog.google/products/search/expanding-knowledge-access-wikimedia-foundation/. 
  107. "Wikimedia Foundation announces $2.5 million in support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies for security of Wikipedia and organization's other free knowledge projects" (in en-US). September 10, 2019. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/09/10/wikimedia-foundation-announces-2-5-million-in-support-from-craig-newmark-philanthropies-for-security-of-wikipedia-and-organizations-other-free-knowledge-projects/. 
  108. "Amazon to help advance free knowledge for all with new $1 million gift to the Wikimedia Endowment" (in en-US). October 14, 2019. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/10/14/amazon-to-help-advance-free-knowledge-for-all-with-new-1-million-gift-to-the-wikimedia-endowment/. 
  109. "Amazon donates $1 million gift to the Wikimedia Endowment to sustain free knowledge" (in en-US). September 25, 2020. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2020/09/25/amazon-donates-1-million-gift/. 
  110. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Financial Statements, June 30, 2017 and 2016". September 27, 2019. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/d/da/Wikimedia_Foundation_Audit_Report_-_FY16-17.pdf. 
  111. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Financial Statements, June 30, 2018 and 2017". September 26, 2018. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/60/FY17-18_-_Independent_Auditors'_Report.pdf. 
  112. 112.0 112.1 112.2 Folkenflik, David, "NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era", NPR, January 24, 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  113. "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Financial Statements, June 30, 2019 and 2020". November 16, 2020. pp. 3, 13. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/f/f7/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2019-2020_Audit_Report.pdf. 
  114. "Statistical analysis of Wikimedia Foundation financial reports – Wikiversity" (in en). https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Statistical_analysis_of_Wikimedia_Foundation_financial_reports. 
  115. "Wikis Go Printable". Wikimedia Foundation. December 13, 2007. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikis_Go_Printable. 
  116. 116.0 116.1 "Fundraising 2008/benefactors". Wikipedia:Meta. August 8, 2015. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2008/benefactors. 
  117. "Khosla Gift: Wikimedia Foundation Receives $500K Donation". Wikimedia Foundation. March 24, 2008. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Khosla_Gift. 
  118. "Neeru Khosla to Become Wikimedia Advisor Dec 2008". Wikimedia Foundation. December 15, 2008. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Neeru_Khosla_to_Become_Wikimedia_Advisor_Dec_2008. 
  119. "Sloan Foundation to Give Wikipedia $3M". Associated Press. https://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8x-wlh7nMm12x_kVQ6MZxrYWK9QD8VKMV1G0. 
  120. "Stanton Grant Q&A". Wikimedia Foundation. December 3, 2008. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/StantonGrantQA. 
  121. "Blog.wikimedia.org". Blog.wikimedia.org. July 2, 2009. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2009/07/02/ford-foundation-awards-300k-grant-for-wikimedia-commons/. 
  122. "Wikimedia Foundation receives $500,000 in operational support from Hewlett Foundation (August 2009)". Wikimediafoundation.org. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Hewlett_Foundation_grant_August_2009. 
  123. "Omidyar Network Commits $2 Million Grant to Wikimedia Foundation". Wikimedia Foundation. August 25, 2009. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Omidyar_Network_Grant_August_2009. 
  124. Parr, Ben (February 16, 2010). "Google Gives $2 Million to Wikipedia's Foundation". Mashable. https://mashable.com/2010/02/16/google-wikipedia-donation/. 
  125. Hicklin, Andrea (November 5, 2010). "UC Berkeley students help improve Wikipedia's credibility". Berkeley News. 
  126. "Wikimedia Foundation Receives $1.2 Million for Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative". Philanthropy News Digest. May 14, 2010. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/wikimedia-foundation-receives-1.2-million-for-wikipedia-public-policy-initiative. 
  127. McNamara, Paul. "Wikipedia lands $1.2M grant to improve 'public policy' articles: Stanton Foundation ponies up for "accuracy" project that will be anything but easy". Network World. https://www.networkworld.com/article/2230708/data-center/wikipedia-lands--1-2m-grant-to-improve--public-policy--articles.html. 
  128. 128.0 128.1 "Wikimedia Foundation receives $3 million grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to make freely licensed images accessible and reusable across the web". Wikimedia Foundation. January 9, 2017. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_receives_$3_million_grant_from_Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation_to_make_freely_licensed_images_accessible_and_reusable_across_the_web. 
  129. Walsh, Jay (October 5, 2011). "Wikimedia receives US$3.5 million grant from Stanton Foundation". Wikimedia Community blog. Wikimedia Foundation. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2011/10/05/wikimedia-receives-3-5million-usd-grant-from-stanton-foundation/. 
  130. 130.0 130.1 "Foundation Grants". Meta.wikimedia.org. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011/Foundation_Grants. 
  131. Shaw, Lucas. "More Anti-Piracy Bill Co-Sponsors Bail (Updated)". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS309090140520120118. 
  132. "2014–2015 Fundraising Report". Wikimedia Foundation. October 1, 2015. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2014-2015_Fundraising_Report. 
  133. "Developing the Wikidata software platform". Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. https://www.moore.org/grant-detail?grantId=GBMF3357. 
  134. Perez, Sarah (2012-03-30). "Wikipedia's Next Big Thing: Wikidata, A Machine-Readable, User-Editable Database Funded By Google, Paul Allen And Others" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/30/wikipedias-next-big-thing-wikidata-a-machine-readable-user-editable-database-funded-by-google-paul-allen-and-others/. 
  135. "Monarch Fund 990-PF 2015 Form". https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/266/266049750/266049750_201512_990PF.pdf. 
  136. "Grant Awards 2014". Arcadia. https://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/media/9662/arcadia_grant-awards_pamphlet.pdf. 
  137. "Wikimedia Foundation: program support". Stavros Niarchos Foundation. https://www.snf.org/en/grants/grantees/w/wikimedia-foundation/program-support/. 
  138. wmf:File:Knowledge engine grant agreement.pdf, September 18, 2015. Published February 11, 2016, retrieved February 16, 2016.
  139. Mullin, Joe (February 29, 2016). "Wikimedia Foundation director resigns after uproar over "Knowledge Engine": It's damage-control time at the world's biggest encyclopedia". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/head-of-wikimedia-foundation-resigns-as-tensions-with-editors-mount/. 
  140. Megan Rose Dickey (January 22, 2019). "Google.org donates $2 million to Wikipedia's parent org". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/22/google-org-donates-2-million-to-wikipedias-parent-org/. 
  141. Snow, Michael (May 30, 2005). "Wikimedia names seven to official positions". The Signpost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2005-05-30/Foundation_official_positions. 
  142. Devouard, Florence. "Resolutions". Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions. 
  143. Jimmy Wales (October 4, 2006). Charlie Rose (46:22) (TV-Series). Google Video: Charlie Rose. Archived from the original (internet video) on October 14, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2006.
  144. Korg. "Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director". Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_Announces_Interim_Executive_Director. 
  145. Mailing list post by the Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees announcing the appointment.
  146. Danny. "Current staff". Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff. 
  147. Bergstein, Brian (December 22, 2007). "Former Wikipedia Officer Found To Have Long Criminal Record". Associated Press in Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102223.html. 
  148. "Sue Gardner Hired as Executive Director". December 3, 2007. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Sue_Gardner. 
  149. ((Ral315)) (November 19, 2007). "Signpost interview: Florence Devouard". The Wikipedia Signpost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2007-11-19/Anthere_interview. 
  150. Moses, Asher (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort". Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/wikipedia-head-accused-of-expenses-rort/2008/03/05/1204402516874.html. 
  151. "Resolution: Chapters coordinator". https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Chapters_coordinator_-_Delphine_Ménard. , wikimediafoundation.org
  152. "Please read: an announcement from Wikimedia Foundation ED Sue Gardner « Wikimedia blog". March 27, 2013. https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/27/sue-gardner-departure-announcement/. 
  153. Elder, Jeff (May 1, 2014). "Wikipedia's New Chief: From Soviet Union to World's Sixth-Largest Site" (in en-US). https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/05/01/wikipedia-names-software-executive-tretikov-as-new-chief/. 
  154. Cohen, Noam (May 2, 2014). "Open-Source Software Specialist Selected as Executive Director of Wikipedia" (in en). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/business/media/open-source-software-specialist-selected-as-executive-director-of-wikipedia.html. 
  155. Lorente, Patricio; Henner, Christophe (June 24, 2016). "Foundation Board appoints Katherine Maher as Executive Director". Wikimedia Blog. https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/06/24/katherine-maher-executive-director/. 
  156. "Foundation Board appoints Katherine Maher as Executive Director". Wikimedia Foundation (Patricio Lorente, Christophe Henner). https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2016/06/24/katherine-maher-executive-director/. 
  157. Salmon, Felix (February 4, 2021). "Exclusive: End of the Maher era at Wikipedia". https://www.axios.com/exclusive-the-end-of-the-maher-era-at-wikipedia-c1ed1408-bab7-4308-9407-db093e24c80d.html. 
  158. Seitz-Gruwell, Lisa (October 23, 2023). "7 reasons you should donate to Wikipedia" (in en-US). Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/11/03/7-reasons-you-should-donate-to-wikipedia/. 
  159. Lima, Cristiano (September 14, 2021). "Wikimedia taps leader of South African nonprofit as its next CEO" (in en-US). The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/14/wikipedia-maryana-iskander-ceo/. 
  160. Staff and Contractors . Wikimedia Foundation
  161. de Vreede, Jan-Bart (April 26, 2008). "Board of Trustees Restructure Announcement". Wikimedia Foundation. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Restructure_Announcement. 
  162. 162.0 162.1 "Bylaws – Wikimedia Foundation" (in en). Wikimedia Foundation. July 10, 2019. https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bylaws#ARTICLE_IV_-_THE_BOARD_OF_TRUSTEES. "(F) Community Founder Trustee Position. The Board may appoint Jimmy Wales as Community Founder Trustee for a three-year term. The Board may reappoint Wales as Community Founder Trustee for successive three-year terms (without a term limit). In the event that Wales is not appointed as Community Founder Trustee, the position will remain vacant, and the Board shall not fill the vacancy." 
  163. "Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees - Meta". Meta.wikimedia.org. https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees&oldid=23278424. Retrieved May 18, 2022. 
  164. Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation Board of (October 13, 2021). "Wikimedia Foundation welcomes new Trustees Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, Victoria Doronina, Dariusz Jemielniak, and Lorenzo Losa". https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/10/13/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-new-trustees-rosie-stephenson-goodknight-victoria-doronina-dariusz-jemielniak-and-lorenzo-losa/. 
  165. "Raju Narisetti joins Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trusteess". Wikimedia Foundation. October 16, 2017. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Raju_Narisetti_joins_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees. 
  166. Esra'a Al Shafei joins Board , Wikimedia Diff, December 1, 2017
  167. "Resolution:Board Officers and Committee Membership, 2021 – Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki". https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committee_Membership,_2021. 
  168. Varnum, Gregory (June 5, 2015). "Wikimedia Foundation Board election results are in". Wikimedia Diff. https://diff.wikimedia.org/2015/06/05/board-election-results/. 
  169. "Resolution:James Heilman Removal". Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. December 28, 2015. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:James_Heilman_Removal. 
  170. "[Wikimedia-l Announcement about changes to the Board"]. wikimedia.org. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2015-December/080479.html. 
  171. Kleinz, Torsten (December 29, 2015). "Wikimedia Foundation feuert Vorstandsmitglied". heise online. https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Wikimedia-Foundation-feuert-Vorstandsmitglied-3056680.html. 
  172. Lih, Andrew (January 15, 2016). "Wikipedia just turned 15 years old. Will it survive 15 more?" (in en-US). The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/01/15/wikipedia-just-turned-15-years-old-will-it-survive-15-more/. 
  173. Orlowski, Andrew (January 12, 2016). "Wikimedia Foundation bins community-elected trustee". The Register. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/12/wikimedia_dumps_elected_trustee/. 
  174. Noisette, Thierry (February 26, 2016). "Crise à la fondation Wikimedia: sa directrice démissionne". Nouvel Observateur. https://rue89.nouvelobs.com/2016/02/26/crise-a-fondation-wikimedia-directrice-demissionne-263290. 
  175. Koebler, Jason (February 15, 2016). "The Secret Search Engine Tearing Wikipedia Apart". Vice. https://motherboard.vice.com/read/wikipedias-secret-google-competitor-search-engine-is-tearing-it-apart. 
  176. Chan, Katie; Sutherland, Joe (2017-05-21). "Results from the 2017 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees elections" (in en-US). https://diff.wikimedia.org/2017/05/20/board-of-trustees-elections-2017/. 
  177. Mullin, Joe (January 27, 2016). "Wikimedia's newest board appointment steps down amid editor hostility". https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/wikimedias-newest-board-appointment-steps-down-amid-editor-hostility/. 
  178. Mullin, Joe (January 25, 2016). "Wikipedia editors revolt, vote "no confidence" in newest board member". https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/editors-demand-ouster-of-wikimedia-board-member-involved-in-no-poach-deal/. 
  179. Barty, Susan; Carr, Susie (8 January 2010). "UK: High Court Warning To Applicants Seeking To Derogate From Open Justice". Mondaq. https://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=91968. 
  180. Neuburger, Jeffrey D. (November 13, 2008). "Canadian Court Rules Linking to Libel Isn't (Necessarily) Libel". PBS. https://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/11/canadian-court-rules-linking-to-libel-isnt-necessarily-libel318.html. 
  181. "PS-Inside.com". Pr-inside.com. https://www.pr-inside.com/wikipedia-wikimedia-fraud-lawsuit-r1645034.htm. 
  182. Timmer, John (August 13, 2008). "Judge puts defamation lawsuit against Wikipedia to the sword". https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/08/judge-puts-defamation-lawsuit-against-wikipedia-to-the-sword/. 
  183. Foresman, Chris (April 23, 2009). "ArsTechnica.com". ArsTechnica.com. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/wikipedia-suit-could-put-it-on-the-wrong-side-of-fair-use.ars. 
  184. "EFF and Sheppard Mullin Defend Wikipedia in Defamation Case" (Press release). Electronic Frontier Foundation. May 2, 2008. Archived from the original on April 7, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  185. New Client Registration House of Representatives Lobbying Disclosure December 12, 2011
  186. Masnick, Mike (December 14, 2011). "Wikipedia Explains, In Great Detail, How Even An Updated SOPA Hurts The Web & Wikipedia". Techdirt. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111214/04212117082/wikipedia-explains-great-detail-how-even-updated-sopa-hurts-web-wikipedia.shtml. 
  187. "Wikimedia is liable for contents of Wikipedia articles, German court rules". PCWorld. November 27, 2013. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2067460/wikimedia-is-liable-for-contents-of-wikipedia-articles-german-court-rules.html#tk.rss_all. Retrieved December 5, 2013. 
  188. "Angående stämningsansökan från BUS mot offentligkonst.se". Wikimedia Sverige. June 13, 2014. https://wikimediasverige.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/angaende-stamningsansokan-fran-bus-mot-offentligkonst-se/. 
  189. Bob.Reaman. "ACMS Public Access". state.nj.us. https://njcourts.judiciary.state.nj.us/web15z/ACMSPA/. 
  190. "Civil Case Information Statement: Blacklight Power Inc. Complaint". https://www.williamslopatto.com/uploads/2/5/8/4/25843913/blacklight_power_inc._complaint.pdf. 
  191. Wales, Jimmy; Tretikov, Lila (March 10, 2015). "Stop Spying on Wikipedia Users". San Francisco. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/stop-spying-on-wikipedia-users.html. 
  192. Paulson, Michelle; Brigham, Geoff (March 10, 2015). "Wikimedia v. NSA: Wikimedia Foundation files suit against NSA to challenge upstream mass surveillance". https://diff.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/. 
  193. Rayman, Noah (April 14, 2015). "Saving Wikipedia: Meet Lila Tretikov". Time (magazine). https://time.com/wikipedia/. 
  194. Farivar, Cyrus (October 23, 2015). "Judge tosses Wikimedia's anti-NSA lawsuit because Wikipedia isn't big enough. Not enough facts to "plausibly establish that the NSA is using upstream surveillance."". https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/judge-tosses-wikimedias-anti-nsa-lawsuit-because-wikipedia-isnt-big-enough/. 
  195. "Wikimedia v. NSA – D. MD. Opinion". ACLU. October 23, 2015. https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/wikimedia-v-nsa-d-md-opinion. 
  196. "Appeal No. 15-2560. Brief for plaintiffs–appellants". ACLU. February 17, 2016. https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/23._aclu_appeal_brief_2.17.2016.pdf. 
  197. "China blocks Wikimedia Foundation's application to become an observer at WIPO" (in en-US). September 23, 2020. https://www.keionline.org/33999. 
  198. Hui, Mary (September 25, 2020). "Beijing blocked Wikimedia from a UN agency because of "Taiwan-related issues"". Quartz. https://qz.com/1908836/china-blocks-wikimedia-from-un-agency-wipo-over-taiwan-dispute/. 
  199. Moody, Glyn (October 7, 2021). "If You Want To Know Why Section 230 Matters, Just Ask Wikimedia: Without It, There'd Be No Wikipedia". https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20211007/07051447716/if-you-want-to-know-why-section-230-matters-just-ask-wikimedia-without-it-thered-be-no-wikipedia.shtml. 
  200. "Six Wikimedia Chapters Rejected as Observers to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)" (in en-US). May 9, 2022. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/05/09/six-wikimedia-chapters-rejected-as-observers-to-wipo/. 
  201. "Seven Wikimedia chapters rejected as permanent observers to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)" (in en-US). July 15, 2022. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/07/15/seven-wikimedia-chapters-rejected-as-permanent-observers-to-wipo/. 
  202. WIPO: Webcast of July 15, 2022, proceedings, "Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO Sixty-Third Series of Meetings - A 63 Day 2 Afternoon" , 6. Admission of Observers
  203. "User talk:Jimbo Wales" (in en), Wikipedia, 2014-08-29, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&oldid=623290239, retrieved 2022-12-03 
  204. Dewey, Caitlin (December 2, 2015). "Wikipedia has a ton of money. So why is it begging you to donate yours?". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/12/02/wikipedia-has-a-ton-of-money-so-why-is-it-begging-you-to-donate-yours/. 
  205. 205.0 205.1 Kolbe, Andreas (2021-05-24). "Wikipedia is swimming in money—why is it begging people to donate?" (in en-US). https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundraising/. 
  206. "Is Wikipedia dying? The online encyclopedia seeks donation from users" (in en). https://www.freepressjournal.in/technology/is-wikipedia-dying-the-online-encyclopedia-seeks-donation-from-users. 
  207. "Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2017-02-27/Op-ed". June 1, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2017-02-27/Op-ed&oldid=1026368793. 
  208. Macon, Guy. "Wikipedia has cancer". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_Macon/Wikipedia_has_Cancer. 
  209. Joon Ian Wong (May 8, 2017). "Reddit is going nuts over Wikipedia's spending, but it's doing far better than its competitors". Quartz. https://qz.com/978416/reddit-is-going-nuts-over-a-post-named-wikipedia-has-cancer/. 
  210. 210.0 210.1 Koebler, Jason (February 16, 2016). "The Secret Search Engine Tearing Wikipedia Apart". Vice. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8q8gvg/wikipedias-secret-google-competitor-search-engine-is-tearing-it-apart. 
  211. McGee, Matt (February 15, 2016). "Wikimedia Foundation Secures $250,000 Grant For Search Engine Development". Search Engine Land. https://searchengineland.com/wikimedia-foundation-secures-250000-grant-for-search-engine-development-242544. 
  212. Kolbe, Andreas (February 10, 2016). "An in-depth look at the newly revealed documents". The Signpost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-02-10/In_focus. 
  213. Allen, Ashley (February 26, 2016). "Wikimedia Director Resigns Following Internal Row Over Search Engine Plans". eteknix. https://www.eteknix.com/wikimedia-director-resigns-following-internal-row-search-engine-plans/. 
  214. Hern, Alex (February 26, 2016). "Head of Wikimedia resigns over search engine plans". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/26/wikimedia-head-lila-tretikov-resigns-search-engine-plans. 
  215. "Online-Enzyklopädie: Chefin der Wikipedia-Stiftung tritt zurück". Spiegel Online. February 26, 2016. https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/wikipedia-streit-um-knowledge-engine-lila-tretikov-tritt-zurueck-a-1079448.html. 
  216. 216.0 216.1 216.2 216.3 216.4 216.5 Orlowski, Andrew (2023-08-28). "Wikipedia should focus on content creation – not social justice campaigns" (in en-GB). The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/wikipedia-donations-contributors-social-justice-charities/. 

External links

Organization

Financials

Charity status

Community


[ ⚑ ] 37°47′21″N 122°24′12″W / 37.78917°N 122.40333°W / 37.78917; -122.40333




Categories: [Free software project foundations in the United States]


Download as ZWI file | Last modified: 07/23/2024 11:18:09 | 2 views
☰ Source: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Organization:Wikimedia_Foundation | License: CC BY-SA 3.0

ZWI is not signed. [what is this?]