this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024

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Should I donate to Wikipedia? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 16 hours ago by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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[+] [email protected] -11 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

"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.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

first article that popped up with reliable numbera

Except...the numbers weren't reliable. Where did they get $400 million in cash from? That's just not a thing.

$100 million is purely cash on hand, it doesn't take into account any otger WMF assets.

It's $80 million cash, $274M counting all assets, like it says in the audit and my comment.

unsurprisingly, the WMF reports that WMF are spending their money responsibly and are barely managing to sustain themselves

Are you saying that their financial audit is fraudulent? "Wikipedia is committing tax fraud" is a pretty hot take, not gonna lie.
Their financial report also doesn't claim they're barely scraping by, so I'm not sure where you're getting that.

Wikipedia has plenty of money, they spend it irresponsibly

That's a different argument which you seemingly haven't actually argued. "They make enough money, here's some incorrect financial claims to justify it" is very different from "I don't think they spend money wisely, and need to change what they spend on".

it's nice that you're excited about Wikipedia, and it can be a useful resource, but these are not contentious facts.

I never actually made a statement for or against donation, I only pointed out that your information was incorrect. "$400 million cash" is a very different situation than "$80 million cash".
I'm gonna disagree very strongly that these are "not contentious facts", because they're not correct in the slightest. Being off by $320 million dollars strongly undercuts the credibility of an argument.

Honestly, I'm confused about why you seem so angry at Wikipedia.

Yes, I am ageist about facts. What a weird thing to take issue with. The financial state of an organization two years ago doesn't have as much bearing on if they should get donations as the current financial statement does.
Does this financial statement from 2006 feel just as relevant and make you want to donate to them?

That article is at least accurate in how it describes their financial situation. It's also kind of amusing that the author concludes that donation is reasonable:

So, bottom line: Should someone with financial means donate when they see Wikipedia’s banner ads running in December? It depends. In my view, people who volunteer a lot of time improving Wikipedia’s content have already made their “gift” and should feel no obligation. For everyone else, the calculus is personal. One volunteer suggested donating to smaller but allied organizations like OpenStreetMap, which provides map data that is used for Wikipedia pages. Other contributors said that even if Wikipedia is only indirectly supported by the WMF, the WMF is still the best-positioned organization to advance free knowledge overall by virtue of its scale and connections.

Clearly, Wikipedians are right to engage in vigorous discussion about how donations are solicited from visitors and to oversee how those funds are actually spent. For me, there’s also the small matter of the external environment. In recent years, Wikipedia has been attacked by authoritarian regimes and powerful billionaires—people who do not necessarily benefit from the free flow of neutral information. If $3 helps hold them off, then that’s coffee money well spent.