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Jimbo welcomes your comments and updates – he has an open door policy. He holds the founder's seat on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees. The current trustees occupying "community-selected" seats are Rosiestep, Laurentius, Victoria and Pundit. The Wikimedia Foundation's Lead Manager of Trust and Safety is Jan Eissfeldt.

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Thoughts on propaganda?

Hello Jimbo. What are your thoughts about Misplaced Pages forcefully used as propaganda? Misplaced Pages relies on reliable sources, but oftentimes historically reliable sources have been muzzled and used to only publish narratives favorable to the official narrative. For example in Guatemala, during the armed conflict that lasted around 40 years, the government routinely killed journalists, activists, critics that dared to speak too much against its interests. As a result, reliable sources during many years did not publish freely what they wanted but were likely heavily censored by the government. Even currently, a newspaper was shut down by the government. Its owner Jose Ruben Zamora and his lawyer were jailed on a disproportional persecution. Best regards, Thinker78 (talk) 02:49, 4 August 2023 (UTC)

I think it is important to use diverse sources, particularly those outside the reach of authoritarian goverments. In the case of a country like Guatemala this may be easier than in other places, since there are many other Spanish-language news sources outside Guatemala.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 10:46, 4 August 2023 (UTC)

Endowment

Mr. Wales, do you know the current value of the Wikimedia Endowment? If so, can you share it? Why is it so secretive about its value and holdings? Sandizer (talk) 23:25, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

Secretive, Sandizer? Not really. It took me less than one minute on Google to find this WMF document. Cullen328 (talk) 23:39, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

That's a year old, has a single digit of precision, and says nothing about holdings. What does it invest in? What has it invested in in the past? How often does it change investments? What are the criteria for how and how often to do so? These questions are important because as the next generation of AI billionaires attempt to launder their reputations through philanthropy, the Endowment is likely to benefit. Sandizer (talk) 23:44, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

Per its Forms 990N (available by searching "87-3024488" on https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/), it had "Gross receipts not greater than" $100,000 from 07/01/2021-06/30/2023, so I'm not sure where the $100 million number in the Foundation's annual report is coming from. — Mdaniels5757 (talk • contribs) 00:12, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

I think that may be because the bulk of its funds were held for management by the Tides Foundation, presumably until a few weeks ago(?) Sandizer (talk) 02:38, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

I do not personally know the day to day valuation of the endowment - it fluctuates of course with market conditions. I think it highly unlikely, as a side note, that AI billionaires seeking to launder their reputations would start with the WMF Endowment fund, since the endowment clearly has no ability to impact that whatsoever. At the last board meeting, I advocated (with universal agreement from the rest of the board) that we should publish more information, more often, because the accustions of "secrecy" do give rise (unfairly) to strange ideas that are not true.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 08:30, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

While I was being somewhat facetious, I am still very curious as to why there's never been a published comprehensive financial and investments statement. I understand "an update on the Endowment's activities" is expected by the end of the year. But, for example, do you think the total donations to date should be published on https://wikimediaendowment.org? Do you think the operational and investment update mentioned on meta:Wikimedia Endowment/Meetings/July 20, 2023 should be published? Sandizer (talk) 08:40, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

I think the latest published financial information should be posted on https://wikimediaendowment.org/. I'm surprised that it isn't, if it isn't. I do think that the operational and investment update mentioned should be published - this was indeed the document we discussed at the board meeting as a good thing to share. Now that we have a separate 501(c)(3) rather than being a fund at Tides, I think that sort of thing will become routine. Such materials do take staff time to prepare, of course, and they need to be really carefully checked for accuracy by finance and legal folks I would imagine, and I suspect that's that "by the end of the year" was mentioned somewhere. (Not sure where you saw that, but it sounds to me like a desire not to overpromise on the timeline!)--Jimbo Wales (talk) 08:47, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

You say you advocated (with universal agreement from the rest of the board) that we should publish more information, more often. I am surprised to see you say that. A couple of days ago I wrote a draft piece for the upcoming Signpost issue noting that you appeared to have decided to do the exact opposite at that meeting:

Collapsed for readability
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
(Signpost draft) Wikimedia Endowment board minutes becoming ever more minimalist A couple of weeks ago, the Wikimedia Foundation's Jayde Antonio posted the approved minutes for the January 19, 2023 Endowment Board Meeting on Meta. The minutes are remarkable for not divulging any new information at all – apart from noting the approval of the Endowment grants that had already been announced in a Diff post back in April. For example, the meeting agenda posted back in February 2023 contained the following item: 6:25 - 6:55 pm UTC: Fundraising Update (Board Chair, Jimmy Wales and Endowment Director, Amy Parker) FY22-23 year to date update Campaign strategy The Meeting Minutes now published cover this point as follows: Fundraising Update (Amy Parker) FY22-23 year to date update Presentation of campaign strategy Contrast this to the minutes of the January 2022 Board Meeting. They were not exactly detailed either, but did at least contain a financial summary: 8) Fundraising update Overview, lead by Caitlin Virtue Review of Fundraising Report, lead by Amy Parker Summary: As of December 31, 2021, the Endowment held $105.4 million. There is currently $99.33 million in the investment account and $6.07 million in cash. An additional $8 million raised in December will be transferred to the Endowment in January 2022. In fact, this summary marks the last time the Endowment Board Meeting Minutes contained a dollar figure for the Endowment's total value (cash plus investments). Requests for an updated figure remain unanswered. Unlike the Wikimedia Foundation, the Wikimedia Endowment has never to date published audited financial statements detailing its revenue and expenses. (End of draft piece).

The Signpost would, I am sure, be happy to publish ...

• the financial info contained in the fundraising report Amy Parker presented to you in January,
• the info contained in the operational and investment update you received last month,
• precise figures for the Endowment's annual revenue and expenses over the past 7.5 years,
• a summary of all moneys the Wikimedia Foundation has paid to the Tides Foundation over the past 7.5 years,
• a list of the Wikimedia Endowment's highest-paid contractors, if any, besides the Tides Foundation, over the past 7.5 years,
• the value of the Endowment's cash and investment holdings as of July 2023,

... if you could be so kind as to provide this information here on this page. I would then update the draft article copied above accordingly. Regards, --Andreas JN466 09:35, 10 August 2023 (UTC)

When you write "you appeared to have decided to do the exact opposite at that meeting", you are mistaken. At the meeting we discussed, to universal agreement, that we should publish more information and more often. I will check on each of the items that you mention - I'm on vacation at the moment and heading to Wikimania in Singapore tomorrow, so it will take a bit of time. I also don't know if the precise information you are asking for is what will be shared. I very much recommend that you not publish a story claiming that anything is becoming "more minimalist" since that's just not true. Be very careful and thoughtful with the timelines: at the summer endowment board meeting, the discussion about publishing more information and more often came about in no small part because the January minutes were something that I felt were not good enough in terms of being open and informative. (A financial report is forthccoming - I haven't seen it yet - but delayed because the relevant person creating it has taken a bit of family leave.) --Jimbo Wales (talk) 09:17, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Actions speak louder than words. Please allow us to report on the former as well as the latter. (If the January Meeting Minutes are duly expanded, giving a meaningful summary of Amy Parker's presentation, it would be my pleasure to report on this.)

As you are no doubt aware, the information I have asked for is no more than what the Endowment would have been legally required to disclose for the past 7.5 years if the Wikimedia Foundation had fulfilled its repeated promises, made since 2017, that it would soon convert the Wikimedia Endowment into a transparent 501(c)(3) charity making annual IRS disclosures of these data.

There is another thing I have noticed here. While the 501(c)(3) has now been operational for over a year, it appears that most of the money continues to be with Tides, and perhaps even to be sent to Tides. Is this true? At any rate, the most recent Form 990N (thanks for locating these, Mdaniels5757) shows Gross receipts not greater than: $50,000 on the 2022 Tax Year Form 990-N (e-Postcard) – Tax Period: 2022 (07/01/2022-06/30/2023). The Endowment averaged over $20 million per annum during its first five years. So what happened to all the Endowment donations made since July 1 2022? It appears they were not declared as revenue for the 501(c)(3).

Lastly, I second Sandizer's questions above about the nature of the Endowment's investments. More transparency in that area would be welcome as well. Regards, Andreas JN466 11:29, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

First, I don't have any ability or desire to "allow" or "disallow" you to write whatever you like. That's an odd way to phrase it. Second, as I said above, a financial report is forthcoming, although the relevant person has taken some family leave. You might find this document interesting: https://meta.wikimedia.org/Talk:Wikimedia_Endowment#/media/File:Tides-Transition.png --Jimbo Wales (talk) 16:45, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

According to the graphic, the Tides transfer has been "initialized", though it does not provide a completion date.

I note you say at meta:Talk:Wikimedia_Endowment#Update_on_endowment: We ended the last fiscal year with $118 million in the WIkimedia Endowment and are projecting to grow the corpus by approximately $6.5 million depending on market performance and after expenses.

This is a start. Providing a figure for the year's revenue and expenses, and the split between investments and cash, would be further steps in the right direction. Regards, Andreas JN466 19:20, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

This document may prove very helpful in terms of understanding the current state of play for the endowment: Wikimedia Endowment 2023-2024 Endowment Plan.

A few other points which directly or indirectly answer some other questions:

1. The Wikimedia Endowment fund has always been audited every year - as a part of Tides. If anyone is concerned that this is a giant pile of money with no oversight, that's not true. We have no means of initiating a new separate audit of Tides.

2. Most of the endowment is moved. One of the good things about Tides is that they employ very rigorous financial controls, and as a part of their due diligence on the move (they have a fiduciary responsibility to do all this the right way) they of course need to make sure that the move is consistent with the donor's intentions. We are waiting for 2 more major donors to sign releases, and then those will be moved. We will also keep the Tides account open for several more months because they are receiving some residual income from some investments. This is all normal practice. The overall point is that people (like me!) who would have preferred that we just initiate a bank transfer for $118 million may not have realized how much care and control there is in these institutions. Everything takes time and there are many signoffs and moments of due diligence on all sides. Tides has tight financial controls in place that do not allow us to easily pull money out of the endowment, which is a good thing.

I'd like to add once again that a further financial report is delayed because the relevant person took some family leave.

My understanding of the cadence of other information releases at the moment is this: an annual fundraising report in the fall which is retrospective of FY 2022-2023 and covers both the WMF and the Endowment will be relased in the autumn, at the usual time. And after that the Annual Report for both the WMF and the Endowment will be released and that includes financials for the previous fiscal year. (Some of that information (in preliminary form) is in the deck that l link above.)--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:30, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the document. On your two points:

1. The Tides Foundation's most recent audited statements are here. The Tides Foundation's most recent Form 990 is here. Could you please indicate to us where in these documents the community and the general public can see how much money the Wikimedia Endowment took in that year, how much money it spent, to whom it issued grants (or where it says that it did not do so), and who were the Endowment's highest-paid contractors?

2. You say most of the Endowment is moved. When will the website at https://wikimediaendowment.org/ be updated to indicate that the funds are now mostly held by a 501(c)(3)? Regards, Andreas JN466 16:24, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

I really appreciate being able to read that document. Is there anything you can share on investment holdings, strategy, and tactics (i.e., when and how to change investments)? Sandizer (talk) 00:55, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

You can't find that information in Tides audited financials - it isn't broken out that way and there's nothing that I can do about that. Again, Tides is a separate organization and we can't do anything about how they are audited or report their financials. As to the specifics of your questions, I can confidently answer that the endowment did not make *any* grants until the initial grants which have been disclosed. As to "highest-paid contractors" - I don't know the answer, other than that the Wikimedia Foundation is the highest paid by far (the Endowment contracts with the WMF for various fundraising, accounting, and legal services as you know), and that anything else is very low. (In the most recent year, in the presentation I answered, the total for all "Contractors, interns, and fellows" combined was just over $50k. Are you interested in more detail on that?). For last year, you can see all the expenses in the document that I shared. I'll be asking here in Singapore if we can get a simple breakdown of exact numbers on revenues, investment returns, and expenses for prior years in a single document.

A question I have for you: why do I keep hearing the expression "highest paid contractors"? Can you be more specific about what you're concerned about?

For the second question, I do not know when the website will be updated. That's a level of operational detail that isn't the sort of thing that the board gets involved with.

For Sandizer, leave that question with me for a bit, as I want to give you an accurate answer on investment policy - speaking off the cuff gives too much risk for error. Remember, as I have said, a financial report is forthcoming but has been delayed due to family leave by the relevant person.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:21, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

• You can't find that information in Tides audited financials – that is exactly the point. The information cannot be found there, or anywhere. This is a lack of transparency, don't you agree?
• Transparency would have been all the more desirable given that the Head of the Tides Foundation moved to take a position at the Wikimedia Foundation during the life of the Endowment, creating the possibility of conflicts of interest – or at least the appearance of such a possibility.
• Disclosure of the five highest-paid contractors in each fiscal year is one of the IRS requirements for 501(c)(3) non-profits. If the Wikimedia Endowment had indeed been converted into a 501(c)(3) non-profit upon reaching $33 million, as we were told would happen back in March 2017, the Wikimedia Endowment would have had to make annual disclosures of its five highest compensated independent contractors that received more than $100,000 in compensation for services, whether professional or other services, from the organization. Independent contractors include organizations as well as individuals and can include professional fundraisers, law firms, accounting firms, publishing companies, management companies, and investment management companies. This has not happened.
• The document you have now uploaded (thank you), for example, states on page 11 that the Endowment had about $1.8 million in expenses in 2022–2023, including over $400,000 for unspecified "professional services". The Endowment appears to have had a similar level of expenditure in the year prior, according to the minutes for the July 2022 board meeting, which mention $1,803,622 of expenses for the Endowment. These are not trifling amounts. And we know nothing at all about the Endowment's expenditure in the five or six years prior to that; it may have been higher or lower.
• Basically, I think the Endowment should be held to the same standards of transparency as any other Wikimedia affiliate. And I believe I am correct in saying that no other Wikimedia affiliate would be allowed to provide so little transparency over its spending. Regards,

Andreas JN466 14:15, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

"five highest compensated independent contractors that received more than $100,000 in compensation for services" - given that the total for all interns, contractors, and fellows was just over $50k, then the basic answer is that there were none to be disclosed. Does that settle this particular issue for you finally? And I fully agree with you that now that we have a separate 501(c)(3) it should be held to the exact same (or even more stringent, to set a good example in the movement) transparency and reporting requirements as all movement affiliates. In the past, we had (essentially) only 2 expenses: the WMF staff and the Tides fees. There a few other things which ramped up due to the move away from Tides of course (it's a big job with a lot of ins and outs).--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:53, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Eye images increase charitable donations

Studies have shown that eye images increase prosocial behavior in humans. This has been studied by measuring charitable donations. One study found that the presence of eye images increased donations by 48% relative to control images. Something to keep in mind when designing donation drives. TarkusAB 20:41, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

That's super interesting. I'm not personally involved in banner design but I'm sure some of the readers of this page will know who to pass this along to!--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:21, 12 August 2023 (UTC)

• Misplaced Pages pages referenced by the press