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Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#71

Post by constantcrying »

satvikpendem wrote: post #49

I read this satirical thread about what would happen if Wikipedia didn't make money from donations and had to get acquired by a company like Comcast and thought, hm, I'd rather that not happen. I donate every year. https://old.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2ov45h/wp_w...

>I'd rather that not happen. I donate every year.

Wikipedia has far more money then they know what to do with, their entire foundation is very affluent and there is no risk of them facing any hardship. Your donations have exactly zero influence on Wikipedia staying up or even staying independent. Your money goes into a web of charities (undisclosed which exactly), at best some poor people might profit of a few percentage points of your money, why not just donate to some real charity instead.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#72

Post by constantcrying »

JoeyBananas wrote: post #29

If they can raise the money, why shouldn't they? Being over-funded is a good problem to have from the perspective of any non-profit.

>why shouldn't they?

Because they are doing so under the false pretenses of urgency and desperation, when they are very well off.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#73

Post by eastbound »

jkrauska wrote: post #37

All the other top websites [1] either are selling my information (Meta) , exist to show me ads (Google), or I pay monthly for (Netflix). Wikipedia runs one of the busiest websites in the world with a staff much smaller than any of those other sites. Like any company -- there's going to be priorities different than mine and waste. But I'm ok being asked to chip in for what I get. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#75

Post by shp0ngle »

Despite all the negative about wikipedia, it’s still sort of part of “old internet” that I don’t want to die.

Even wikia, which was spun at first as “slightly more commercial wikipedia”, later became Fandom, which is something so horrible that I don’t want to look at

Look at WikiTravel which is more commercial WikiVoyage… they immediately went and stuffed it with ads and trackers.

And I mean wikimedia is fine NOW, but economy is going down, I will be happy if it has a certain rundown.

I am not entirely happy about all decisions that they do, but they’re still not pushing me any tracker. I am fine with closing some pop up.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#76

Post by leephillips »

GTP wrote: post #18
MattGaiser wrote: post #3

We would consider companies foolish if they left sales on the table, even if they didn't immediately need it. Why would non-profits be expected to not fundraise as aggressively as possible? The expectation that non-profits should be run on fumes is silly.

> Why would non-profits be expected to not fundraise as aggressively as possible? I think the reason is that we expect, or assume, non-profits to have a better ethical stance than for-profit organization. That's the point of a non-profit organization after all: doing something because they feel it's the right thing to do, regardless whether it is profitable or not.

I do not share this expectation or assumption. The difference between a for-profit and a non-profit corporation is defined in the tax code. It’s a legal distinction, not an ethical one. Some non-profits exist mainly to enrich their officers, and some profitable corporations are mainly concerned with benefiting society.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#77

Post by AlbertCory »

nadow wrote: post #19

i just click on the "i already donated, stop showing me this message" option. i've never donated, but they dont need to know that.

Thanks, I just did that. It said "hide appeals for a week" but that's better than nothing.

As for being a "sharp-eyed accountant": you don't have to be one of those to ask where the money is going. If it's going to reward the best volunteers or get better servers, fine.

Charity Navigator gives them a 99% rating: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/200049703

You can look at their 990 form on the IRS website:

==================== The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website [1] (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Wikimedia Foundation) or EIN (200049703) in the 'Search Term' field.

[1] https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#78

Post by throwaway5752 »

flipbrad wrote: post #60

The Foundation is my client, but these views are only my own: This is not to say there's no excess, or that resources couldn't be allocated internally more effectively - I'm not going to put up some kind of strawman - but: 1. I took a 20% pay cut so that I could do more work for the Foundation. Worth it. 2. Posts that say "Wikipedia only has [x] more articles but budget has gone up [y]" are beyond stupid. Any idea ho…

I am so glad you posted this. Let me take the opportunity to say thank you. The Wikimedia Foundation does some of the most important work in the world, I am profoundly grateful for your work.

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#79

Post by [deleted] »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #20
themodelplumber wrote: post #4

> they spend (read: waste) Really? What makes you think it's all or even mostly waste?

A quick web search will provide you with many examples of what some perceive as waste. This is widespread common knowledge along the lines of the ice cream machine at McDonald's frequently being broke so there's little reason for the poster to be obligated to provide examples of easily found common knowledge, even if you don't personally agree with the perception.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why is the Wikipedia Foundation's begging tolerated?

#80

Post by brookst »

jkrauska wrote: post #37

All the other top websites [1] either are selling my information (Meta) , exist to show me ads (Google), or I pay monthly for (Netflix). Wikipedia runs one of the busiest websites in the world with a staff much smaller than any of those other sites. Like any company -- there's going to be priorities different than mine and waste. But I'm ok being asked to chip in for what I get. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_…

It’s the dishonesty of Wikipedia that bothers me. The implication is that donations are urgently needed to keep the website running. In reality they have $300m in the bank and revenue is growing every year[0]. Even Wikipedia says only 43% of donations are used for site operations[1], and that includes all of their sites, not just Wikipedia. Fully 12% of the money they collect from you is. . . used to ask you for more money[1]

The whole thing just feels skeezy. They may have a noble mission, and they may need a $300m endowment when previously $100m was the target[2], but they should make that case. Acting like the site is in trouble and desperately needs every penny all the time is just dishonest. It’s like a televangelist is running the place. Now matter how much you give they desperately and urgently need more more more.

0. https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundrais...

1. https://wikimediafoundation.org/support/where-your-money-goe...

2. https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/22/wikimedia-fo...

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