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The Wiki Piggy Bank
Wikimedia grows rich as Wikipedia donations are used for political causes
August 20, 2023
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Over the last two decades, Wikipedia has become one of the most visited -- and most referenced --websites on Earth.

And nearly every one of us is familiar with Wikipedia's regular requests for donations, often including urgent-sounding text along the lines of "protect Wikipedia's independence" and "without reader contributions, we couldn’t run Wikipedia."

Sounds pretty dire, right?  Wikipedia must be in pretty rough shape!  They need those donations right away!  If I don't donate, they might need to shut down!  Surely they run a pretty tight ship, with some pretty lean and mean operations... right?  And surely -- surely -- the funds they have are being handled in a transparent way!

You know what?

Just for kicks, let's take a look at the finances of Wikipedia -- using all publicly available sources of documentation (including IRS filings, annual reports, and audits) -- and see what the real financial state of Wikipedia is like.

Because this is The Lunduke Journal.  And that's what we do.

Spoiler: It's all really, really weird.  And highly sketchy.  Also a ton of money donated for Wikipedia... isn't used to run Wikipedia.

The Wikimedia Foundation

The financial core of Wikipedia is the Wikimedia Foundation.  The Foundation, itself, is responsible for running the actual Wikipedia servers -- and that is where everything else branches out from.

Let's start with the most basic piece of information we need:

How much money does The Wikimedia Foundation receive, in donations, every year -- from people who believe they are directly funding the Wikipedia servers?

According to the most recent IRS filings (2021)... roughly $164 Million USD for the year.

Public Donations to Wikimedia, per year.  Source: 990.

Year-on-year, Wikimedia is seeing significant growth -- with each year recording record donations.  Up an additional $9 Million between 2020 and 2021 alone.

While those numbers seem large, at first glance, they really only tell a small part of the story.

What if -- for example -- Wikipedia needs even more than $164 Million, every single year, to operate?  What are the various expenses of Wikipedia?

Luckily, we have a high level breakout of expenses in the yearly Wikimedia Foundation audit.

Turns out, the costs associated with the server hosting of Wikipedia for 2021 was just shy of $2.4 Million.

But server hosting costs are only part of the equation, right?  There's also other wages, travel, and all manner of expenses.  So let's add it all up.

Revenue and Expenses.  Source: 2021 Audit.  Note: The numbers shown for 2022 are not final and are likely to be wildly different than the numbers published in the official 2022 audit.

After all is said and done -- and all revenue and expenses are taken into consideration -- The Wikimedia Foundation received over $50 Million dollars more than they spent in 2021.

They made $50+ million in profit.

Doesn't sound like an organization that is hurting for funding... does it?

Let's take a look back over the last few years (starting in 2015) and chart out the yearly financials of Wikimedia.  It shows some absolutely astonishing growth in terms of total assets (such as money in the bank).

Sources: Yearly 990's and Public Wikimedia Audits

A few items worth noting:

  • Server Hosting related costs for all Wikipedia related sites was $2 Million in 2015.  It has remained mostly flat (compared to income and other costs) only raising to $2.4 Million as of 2021.
  • As of 2021, Wikimedia has over $231 Million in assets.  And growing... rapidly.  Just look at that blue line!
  • Assets and profit are growing, despite a massive increase in Salaries and Wages: from $26 Million in 2015... to $67.8 Million in 2021.

So.  Let's answer a burning question:

Q: Does Wikipedia desperately need your donations in order to continue operating?

A: No.  Not by a long-shot.  If donations dropped significantly, there would be no hit to Wikipedia operations.  Certainly not for quite some time.

When Wikipedia tells you they need your $5 donation to keep running?  They are lying to you.

In fact... this is just the tip of the iceberg.

There are also two unique financial entities, related to Wikimedia, that are... extremely strange: The Wikimedia Endowment and The Knowledge Equity Fund.

Let's take a look at those.

The Wikimedia Endowment

Back in 2016, The Wikimedia Foundation establed "The Wikimedia Endowment" -- with a goal of stockpiling $100 Million dollars worth of funding within the endowment.

So what is the stated goal of The Wikimedia Endowment? 

"The Wikimedia Endowment is our enduring commitment to a world of freely shared knowledge, now and in perpetuity."

Ok.  Vague.  But that tends to be the way with these sorts of foundations.

What sort of work actually gets funded by this Endowment?  According to their website... they only give a list of "select projects".  Not a complete list.  And we also don't have any details of how much this Endowment spends on any given project.

Source: wikimediaendowment.org

Not specific.  Not transparent.  No amounts given.  Or dates.  Or... much of anything.

But we do know that the Endowment has met its $100 Million funding goal (and still growing) as of 2021:

"as of December 31, 2021, the Endowment held $105.4 million ($99.33 million in an investment account and $6.07 million in cash), with an additional $8 million raised in December 2021 due to be transferred to the Endowment in January 2022."

Now... here's where The Wikimedia Endowment starts to get... weird.

From the time the Endowment was created, in 2016, to 2021... The Wikimedia Foundation deposited $5 Million dollars (of Wikipedia donations) into the Endowment.  Totalling $30 Million according to the most recent Wikimedia Foundation Audit.

Source: 2021 Audit

But... wait.  Wait.  Wait.

Two big questions crop up from that paragraph from the 2021 audit:

  1. If Wikimedia Foundation only contributed $30 Million (from user donations) to the Endowment... who contributed the rest of the money?  A company?  Rich benefactor?
  2. And what is this "Tides Foundation"?

Turns out, the benefactors of this Endowment are absolutely fascinating.

Source: Wikimedia Endowment Benefactors

You read that right.  George Soros.  Yes, that George Soros.  (Also Facebook & Google).

As for "The Tides Foundation", they run and manage the entire Wikimedia Endowment.  All $100+ Million of it.

Here is a very intereting bit, from Wikimedia:

"The funds may be transferred from Tides either to the Wikimedia Foundation or to other charitable organisations selected by the Wikimedia Foundation to further the Wikimedia mission."

Go ahead.  Read that sentence again.

That Wikimedia Endowment money?  That 100 Million bucks?  Could go to "other charitable organisations".  What are those?  Who knows!  There's close to zero transparency about it.

Whoever the heck "Tides" is... they have an awful lot of power here when it comes to this "Wikimedia Endowment" money.  Let's go further.

What, exactly, is Tides?

This is what Wikipedia says about Tides (it seemed an approriate place to reference):

"Tides Foundation is an American public charity and fiscal sponsor working to advance progressive causes and policy initiatives"

Yep.  The Tides Foundation is a specifically political organization... for funding, organizating, and pushing specific political agendas.

Editorial Note: Here at The Lunduke Journal of Technology, we try our best to stay away from politics.  As such, we will not be discussing some of the many, and varied, political stances of The Tides Foundation in any detail here.  But, since Tides (and, as we will see, Wikimedia) are making pointed political statements and investments... The Lunduke Journal will be including those and letting you, the reader, make up your own mind about any political ramifications.

Is it strange that Wikipedia donations are being sent, by the Millions, to be handled by a political orgainzation?  Yes.  That is, most definitely, strange.  Considering Wikipedia has repeatedly stated the importantce of neutrality... incredibly so.

But it gets... even weirder.

Neither Wikimedia nor The Tides Foundation publish details about how those funds are being used.  It appears to be a secret.  But, considering what The Tides Foundation does, it is something political.  And only on one side of the political spectrum.  Not neutral, like Wikipedia says they must be.

And the ties between Tides and Wikimedia go way, way beyond just managing a hundred million dollars...

In 2019, The Wikimedia Foundation hired a new General Council.  Where did that person work in her previous job?  You guessed it.  The Tides Foundation.  Seriously.

What do we know?

  • The Tides Foundation manages and runs all $100+ Million of the Wikimedia Endowment.
  • Donations to Wikipedia paid for roughly $30 Million of that Endowment (with the remainder coming from unknown sources).
  • The Tides Foundation exclusively does political work for one part of the political spectrum.
  • The connections between Wikimedia and Tides run deep.
  • Neither Tides, nor Wikimedia, have published how that money is being used.

Which brings us to yet another area where Wikimedia is investing Wikipedia donations... in ways that are extremely political.

Once again: The Lunduke Journal of Technology is not going to tell anyone what they should think about any particular political views.  The official stance of The Lunduke Journal is that extreme politics -- of any kind -- tend to not be a positive force in the running of software and other computing projects.

Knowledge Equity Fund

Let's talk about one more way that Wikipedia donations are spent.  This concerns a much smaller amount of funds than we previously talked about with the Endowment... but the stated goals around it warrant documenting.

According to Wikimedia:

The "Wikimedia Foundation Knowledge Equity Fund" is a US $4.5 million fund created by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2020, to provide grants to external organizations that support knowledge equity by addressing the racial inequities preventing access and participation in free knowledge.

Here are some quotes, from the same Wikimedia page, to provide clarity around their goals:

"The Wikimedia Foundation defines racial equity as shifting away from US and Eurocentricity, White-male-imperialist-patriarchal supremacy, superiority, power and privilege"

 

"Racial equity aims to promote ... non-White, non-US ... communities"

Whatever your thoughts around any of those statements, it should be noted that Wikimedia is spending $4.5 Million dollars worth of Wikipedia donations to further those goals.  Money that is not being spent on running Wikipedia.

In fact... it is worth noting that the dollar figure being allocated towards this "Knowledge Equity Fund" is twice the size of the yearly Server Hosting costs for all of Wikipedia.

What does all this mean?

Regardless of what any of us think about the specific political spending of Wikimedia, one thing is crystal clear:

A significant portion of donations -- solicited for the stated purpose of the running of Wikipedia -- are being spent furthing political goals.  Not on running Wikipedia.  All while Wikipedia is claiming to be barely surviving.

And Wikimedia is getting rich in the process.


Like this type of 100% independent Tech reporting?  Be sure to subscribe to Lunduke.Locals.com.  Even a free account is a good idea.

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Lunduke Journal subscription for only $3 per month? NOICE.

Help The Lunduke Journal celebrate having over 11 Million views last month by picking up a subscription at 50% off!

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The 50% off — which includes Monthly, Yearly, and Lifetime subscriptions — is good through end of the day Sunday, October 11th (that’s tomorrow).

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I won’t even do the math on what a good deal the 50% off Lifetime Subscription is. Technically it last forever. That’s a subscription for… infinity months.

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October 09, 2025
50% Off Everything at The Lunduke Journal through Sunday
We experimented with doing away with "sales" during September. That didn't work. So here's a massive sale to keep The Lunduke Journal's lights on.

In September, The Lunduke Journal attempted an experiment: Run no discount sales all month long and see what happens.

The result? The Lunduke Journal made a whole lot less money! So much so that, if we kept doing that, we’d go out of business. Surprise!

Let’s drop that idea in the “Welp, that didn’t work!” bucket.

In order to make up for the month of lost revenue — and make sure The Lunduke Journal can continue operating 100% free from any influence of Big Tech, just as we have for the last several years — we’re going to run a massive discount sale all weekend long.

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All of the following discounts come with all of the perks (MP4 Downloads, Forum access, and eBooks) and are available through Sunday, October 12th.

Note: If you picked up a subscription over the last few days, you will be contacted and offered the 50% off discounted price to be applied retroactively. Because I like you. And you’re awesome.

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Note: You can also grab a Monthly subscription via X, YouTube, or Patreon. There’s no way to offer a discount on those platforms. But those are still good options!

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The “World Famous Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscription” is exactly what it sounds like. Pay once and get full access to The Lunduke Journal. For life.

Now, through Saturday, October 12th, you can snag one at a crazy discount. Normally these are $300… but you can grab one for $150. (You can also pay more if you’d like to donate a little extra.)

The Lifetime Subscription can be obtained via Locals, Substack, or using Bitcoin. All three options work great and are super easy (& all three include access to all of the perks). Scroll down and choose your option.

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October 09, 2025
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Here’s some Lunduke Journal stats for September:

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This really reinforces that the current strategy is working:

  • Focus on stories that no other Tech Journalist is covering.

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  • And publish all shows for free.

That, right there, is a winner. The stories published by The Lunduke Journal are spreading further and further every month. This is amazing news.

The “No Sales” Experiment Results

Not every strategy can be a success, though!

Case in point: Experimenting with having no sales and subscription discounts. Whew! That didn’t work!

With the rapidly growing audience size, September seemed like a good time to test the waters by no longer doing any subscription discount sales.

You see, most Tech News outlets are on the verge of going out of business. Most of them teeter on the edge almost every month… despite the fact that they take funding from Big Tech (for “paid stories”, ads, and more).

Since The Lunduke Journal has a firm “No Big Tech Money” policy… we’ve relied entirely on subscriptions and one-time contributions from all of you.

One of the most effective tools in our “Keep us Big Tech free” tool belt has been discounted subscription sales. Things like “25% off new Subscriptions”.

Over 60% of The Lunduke Journal’s income, over the last year, has come in via such sales. In previous years that number was even higher.

But what would happen if we did away with sales entirely? I wanted to answer that question (in large part because that would free me from needing to run such sales). And, with the rapidly growing audience size, now seemed like a reasonable time to give it a try.

So I resolved to run zero sales during the month of September (last month) and see how it went.

The results were… not sustainable. To put it mildly.

After a month of “no sales”, at the start of October, I decided to run a different kind of promotion… but not a traditional “discount sale”. And those results were nowhere near what was needed to make up for the lack of traditional sales.

I’m still looking through the numbers (I keep lots of spreadsheets), but one thing is clear:

In order to keep The Lunduke Journal sustainable into the future, traditional sales need to make a return. Oh well. Getting rid of sales was worth a shot!

On the plus side, bringing back sales will allow us to remain Big Tech free… and keep us running well into the future.

Which is already a big improvement over the other, Brand X Tech News. So not too shabby!

Thank You!

Seriously. None of this would be possible without all of you. I strive to do you proud every day.

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