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According to @simsa03, #Wikimedia Foundation has USD$111M in the bank. https://pleroma.site/objects/f97dbb44-c697-45ad-842f-e31ba2c3c4ce
Yet, #Wikipedia is constantly begging for more. There's only so much donation money available from the general public. By trying to hog it all for themselves, they're reducing the amount that is available to other causes, some of which may be equally or more worthy of support.
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I'm not sure if projects which get "too much funding" are actually spending it efficiently. Limited funding forces to keep focus. I'm not saying this would be the actual case with Wikipedia, but sometimes I'll get such feeling.
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@mangeurdenuage As a non-profit organization, there are forms filed with the IRS (federal tax collection agency) and with at least one state government, so the information is available. But remember that almost all of their work is done by volunteer contributors.
Also, as @sl points out, a little scarcity of funds breeds care in spending. If for no other reason than forcing choices earlier. Google is an example. At any time, they have 2-3 messaging platforms ... and a couple of others being developed. Every few years, they kill off the released platforms and launch a couple of replacements. If they were money-constrained, they would be forced to choose one and give it their full attention.
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Just reading an article about #Mozilla's out-of-control administration costs and see some grumbles about #Wikimedia / #Wikipedia there also. http://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html
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"Wikimedia has the advantage over Mozilla that all contributors to its main project are unpaid - which only makes the expenses all the more mindblowing. Wikimedia, like Mozilla, has had a lot of side projects."
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@musicman I agree about exec pay.
As for side projects, in their new, limited-resource world, every new project takes resources away from #Firefox, #Thunderbird, and #Rust. Sometimes that's worth the cost, sometimes it isn't, but take a look at how many projects they've abandoned (such as their mobile OS).