maybe redirect that to archive.org
I feel like they need it more… they’ve just been hacked and they might need more resources to upgrade their security.
But both are good causes. But make sure you have enough emergency funds saved for yourself first.
Edit: Another argument for archive.org over wikipedia is that wikipedia is mostly a text based site. archive.org , in contrast, can store photos, videos, software, and various media thay requires more storage. The entire English wikipedia is only about 100GB (excluding videos), but archive.org is probably in the Terabytes or more.
Their software collection alone has reached the petabyte mark: https://archive.org/details/software?tab=about
I don’t anymore.
they do not need your money, and it’s disingenuous of them to imply they do.
The manipulative aspect of their annual fundraisers is very unsettling.
here are some numbers from 2022:
https://unherd.com/newsroom/the-next-time-wikipedia-asks-for-a-donation-ignore-it/
they have at least 400 million in reserves now and the estimate is $10 million a year to maintain the site and pay all their employees.
their higher executives are each paid hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
they’re not struggling to keep the lights on for the next half century.
https://wikimediafoundation.org/annualreports/2022-2023-annual-report/
They have approximately $80 million in cash, and it costs them about $100 million to pay their staff. They have $274 million in total assets, counting endowment investments.
It’s extremely unclear where that site came up with $400 million.
I’m not sure why you’d link to a two year old opinion piece on it, when all of their financials are publicly available and provided without commentary.
They received cash in excess of expenses of about $6 million, and including non-cash assets their total assets increased by about $16 million in 2024.
Their CEO makes about $500 thousand a year, and the rest of their executive team ranges in salary from $300 to $100 thousand.
It’s not a small salary, but it’s not preposterous for one of the most visited sites in the Internet that also operates as a charity to have decently compensated executives.They are not in financial trouble, but it’s not accurate to say they can keep the lights on for the next 50 years.
“a two year old opinion piece on it,”
it’s the first article that popped up with reliable numbers, but there are plenty of articles criticizing the amassed wealth of wmf while they’re asking for money every year.
unsurprisingly, the WMF reports that WMF are spending their money responsibly and are barely managing to sustain themselves, while every journalist that looks into it confirms that WMF have plenty of money and have not needed to do these fundraising drives for years, and will not have to for decades.
$100 million is purely cash on hand, it doesn’t take into account any otger WMF assets.
it’s nice that you’re excited about Wikipedia, and it can be a useful resource, but these are not contentious facts.
Wikipedia has plenty of money, they spend it irresponsibly, and every year they are taking and millions of dollars that they add to that stack.
important to note, Wikipedias value to the end users is contributed two and maintained by unpaid volunteers.
here’s another good article;
https://slate.com/technology/2022/12/wikipedia-wikimedia-foundation-donate.html
I made sure it was also 2 years old because I think it’s funny your ageist about facts.
I’ll talk to you in 50 years and we can settle this.
Yeah I no longer donate as well for this same reason. They are not hurting for cash
I heard it’s for some legal reason that they still have to do funding drives. Maybe to maintain a certain status? I’m not sure.
To keep the money coming is a pretty good reason.
I am not sure whether the wikimedia foundation actually needs money from individuals. From what I could find by searching “Does Wikipedia need donations”, they seem to have plenty of money. I’ve also seen from people that after donating, they like to haunt your email inbox for more money.
I myself prefer donating elsewhere instead. In my opinion a good alternative is archive.org. It’s hard to track how much they get sued, and now they even were hacked recently.
I donate a bit each year, and I wouldn’t say they are bothersome. I get an email once a year where they ask if I’d like to donate again, not counting the receipt from the actual donation. It seems disingenuous to complain about the receipt.
If you do, their e-mails asking you to donate again are a bit weird and manipulative. Their subject lines are like “FIRSTNAME - I’ve had enough”, “Our final email” (got several of those), “It’s non-negotiable”.
You’re better off shooting your instance the money, but Wikipedia has remained a genuinely good quality company. If you want to give them money in recognition of this fact, no one sane will call you a dumb dildo with hairy feet.
You have my permission
I barely have two dollars to rub together and I still try to
I guess I’m probably overdue to make a donation myself
Yes
If you can afford it, yes. If you use it, yes.
Maybe not each year. I mean, I donate a couple hundreds every few years because back in those days I certainly was not paying for a brand new printed encyclopedia every single year either ;)
yes
No. The articles are written by volunteers and will not be improved by your donation.
In theory, your donation does keep the servers running, but they have plenty of money to do that, and most of the money nowadays goes to paying way too many employees many of whom don’t do anything very useful or important.
Do you use Wikipedia? If so, yes.
Yes.
I don’t but I’m cheap
