Wikimedia Foundation

Legal name: Wikimedia Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
200049703
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4158396885
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$205,389,744
Expenses
$189,748,442
Assets
$310,794,417
Liabilities
$14,244,387

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARYANA ISKANDER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARYANA ISKANDER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $553,360 total reported compensation
  • SELENA DECKELMANN (CHIEF PROD & TECH OFFICER): $517,425 total reported compensation
  • LISA SEITZ (CHIEF ADV OFFICER): $463,076 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

At the Wikimedia Foundation we work towards the vision of a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Twice a year, the Wikimedia Foundation reports on requests we receive to alter or remove content from the projects, and to provide nonpublic information about users. This Transparency Report includes charts and graphs that give details such as the origin of the requests and the projects targeted. We also tell stories of interesting or notable requests, and provide an FAQ with useful background information. The Wikimedia Foundation envisions a world in which every person can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Our mission is to empower the global communities of Wikimedia readers and contributors as they strive to achieve this goal. We believe that defending against censorship and protec.

What it reported doing in 2024

Technology: our core functions include support for the technology that makes wikipedia and other wikimedia projects possible, which together is one of the world's most popular web platforms, and the world's largest collaborative free knowledge project. The wikimedia foundation provides the servers and electricity needed to keep the websites running, along with dedicated technical resources to build, improve, and maintain the technical infrastructure of wikimedia projects. These ongoing engineering efforts and product improvements require research and design work, as well as legal support. All of this allows for the best experience for our readers and volunteer community, ensuring users continue to access, contribute to and grow the world's largest online free knowledge resource. (see schedule o)in addition to our two main data centers and five caching data centers, we maintain the software and infrastructure on which we operate some of the world's most multilingual sites with over 1,000 separate wiki instances and over 3,800 community-contributed tools, many of which are essential to maintaining the content and quality of wikipedia, as well as seven mobile applications. Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the wikimedia foundation receive more than 18 billion pageviews per month. Wikipedia is available in more than 342 languages and contains more than 65 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 80% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.7%; rating input score 98; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.6%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 72% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $146.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $553K · 26 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.5M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 30 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 19 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.