The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) organization based in San Francisco. Its IRS ruling date is March 2005 (EIN 20-0049703). For the 2023 tax year it reported total revenue of 274.1 million.
What it does, and does not do
The Foundation states that it hosts “a technology infrastructure that makes possible billions of visits to Wikipedia on a monthly basis,” and that since its founding in 2003 it has supported “the hundreds of thousands of volunteer editors who edit, expand and curate the Wikimedia projects” by supplying tools, connectivity and new products. It does not write the encyclopaedia: the Foundation’s own framing is that anyone can edit Wikipedia “as long as they learn how and uphold its policies.”
The distinction matters: the Foundation runs the servers and software, while article content is written and governed by volunteers under community policy.
Funding and transparency
The Foundation states that the majority of its funding comes from readers, with the average single donation “around $10,” and that its financial statements are audited annually by an independent firm. It publishes recurring reports on its finances and on content moderation requests it receives.
Relevance to digital political discourse
The Foundation publishes transparency reports covering the content moderation and takedown requests it receives, which makes the pressure applied to a large reference site a matter of public record. Its editorial non-involvement is also why disputes over Wikipedia’s coverage of political subjects are resolved among volunteer editors rather than by the organization that funds the servers.
Sources
- 01.
Wikimedia Foundation. About the Wikimedia Foundation. Source for the 2003 founding, the hosting-and-infrastructure description, the statement that the majority of funding comes from readers with an average single donation around $10, the 501(c)(3) status, the annual independent audit, and the publication of transparency reports covering finances and content moderation requests.
- 02.
Internal Revenue Service, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Wikimedia Foundation Inc, EIN 20-0049703 — IRS Form 990 filings. Source for the EIN, the March 2005 IRS ruling date, the San Francisco address, and FY2023 revenue of $180.2 million and total assets of $274.1 million.