Sharing the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Endowment fiscal year 2024-2025 Form 990s

Each year, we publish the Form 990s for the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia Endowment, which provide a detailed look at our finances, governance, and operations. Publishing these filings are an important part of our commitment to transparency and accountability to the Wikimedia communities, donors, and the public.

Below are key takeaways from this year’s filings.

What is the Form 990?

The Form 990 is an annual information return that nonprofit organizations in the United States file with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It provides information on an organization’s mission, programs, governance, and finances.

A Form 990 complements an organization’s audited financial statements (“audit report”) that are released earlier in the year. The Form 990 restates much of the financial data from the audit report and offers additional detail – particularly around governance practices, compensation, and how resources are used to support our mission. The audit report highlights for both the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia Endowment covering this same fiscal year were previously released on Diff.

Since the Wikimedia Endowment became its own 501(c)(3) on September 30, 2023, it now releases its own Form 990 around the same time the Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 is released.

Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 highlights

• Strong governance practices : The Wikimedia Foundation continues to report the highest Charity Navigator rating across key governance and accountability practices reflected in the Form 990. This includes policies and processes related to oversight, ethics, and transparency. The Wikimedia Endowment has not yet received a rating from Charity Navigator because they typically wait until a charity has three 990s before issuing a rating.
• Leadership and compensation reported : The Form 990 includes compensation information for leadership, as well as disclosures about severance and other benefits. For fiscal year 2024-2025, no severance payments were made. Severance and compensation practices adhere to the established policies for each[1][2], and are subject to independent review [1][2]. These practices are designed to ensure that compensation is reasonable, transparent, and aligned with our nonprofit mission.
• Expenses aligned with mission priorities and annual plan goals : The Foundation’s expenses continue to reflect our annual plan and strategic priorities. Programmatic spending remained strong at 77%, continuing to exceed typical nonprofit benchmarks. This means that 77% of the Foundation’s spending goes directly toward our mission through investments in things like Product & Technology and grants to movement organizations. Overall, spending reflects a continued focus on advancing the Wikimedia mission while maintaining operational efficiency.

Wikimedia Endowment Form 990 highlights

• Sustainable growth in funding to support Wikimedia projects : Annual distributions were in line with the Endowment’s spending policy of up to 4% of the market value of average annual assets. The Wikimedia Endowment continues to scale its support for the Wikimedia projects, growing funding support by 18%, from $2.9M in FY 2023-2024 to $3.4M in FY 2024-2025. This growth continues to track with the overall growth of the Endowment, representing the largest category of spending and the Endowment’s long-term goal of providing sustainable funding for the Wikimedia movement. Please note that the Endowment does not report compensation, as the Endowment does not have employees of its own. All accounting and management work supporting the Wikimedia Endowment is performed by employees of the Wikimedia Foundation under a cost-sharing arrangement.

• Strong donation revenue : Donation income was $11.9M, outperforming the Annual Plan revenue target of $10M due to higher than expected results in realized planned gifts. This continued support from donors plays a critical role in strengthening the Endowment’s ability to fund Wikimedia projects in perpetuity.

• Clarifying donor-restricted funds : As reflected in both the audit report and the Form 990, the Endowment now presents its funds as donor-restricted endowment assets. This is a change in presentation only and does not impact any of the assets held. The change reflects the intent that these funds are held for long-term investment and used to support the Wikimedia mission over time, rather than for immediate operational use.

You can review the Form 990s for the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia Endowment. For FAQs about each, please visit the Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 FAQs and Wikimedia Endowment Form 990 FAQs on Meta-Wiki.