Dear Alex, Anne Please see the 2019 Form 990, which is the most recent one available:
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/200049703/202101319349300105/full Line 5 on the first page states that the "Total number of individuals employed in calendar year 2019" was 291. Line 15 on the same page states that "Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits" together amounted to $55,634,913. If you divide $55,634,913 by 291, you arrive at a figure of $191,185 per head (this includes payroll taxes averaging about $8,650 per employee). If you look at the most recent financial statements – https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWikimedia_Foundation_FY2020-2021_Audit_Report.pdf&page=5 – you'll see that salary costs ("Salaries and wages") rose from $55,634,912 to $67,857,676, year on year. That is an increase of over 20%. Based on the development in past years, I assume a substantial part of this reflects increases in salaries, rather than increases in staff numbers. Why? For a timeline of how WMF salary costs per employee have increased over time, see – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salaries#Salaries,_other_compensation,_employee_benefits_and_number_of_employees_as_reported_in_Form_990 This shows that, over the most recent three years we have Form 990 figures for, salary costs per employee have increased year on year by 15% (2017), 7% (2018) and 6% (2019). Given that we are now in 2022, I think it is safe to assume that salary costs per employee now substantially exceed $200,000 per head. (Of course, the WMF could give us a fairly precise 2021 figure if it chose to.) Anne, you are conflating employees and contractors. Employees enjoy very substantial benefits (see part IX of the Form 990) and are generally paid more than contractors, many of whom are also abroad where living standards are lower. Moreover, contractors' pay is not included in the Line 15 figure, nor the "Salaries and wages" figure on the financial statements (which is the same figure, the $1 difference notwithstanding). My understanding is that contractors' pay is covered under "professional service expenses" in the financial statements, along with the various external consultants. Best, Andreas On Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 1:38 AM Risker <[email protected]> wrote: > I don't think there is any such source. In another thread, Andreas also > states that there are over 800 WMF and affiliate employees (which is > probably true); however, that would mean that *just salaries* would come to > more than the 2021-22 annual budget.[1] (i.e. - 800 employees x $200,000 > each = $160 million; 2021-22 budget is $150 million. That is taking the > smaller number of "over 800 employee" from the other post and "over > $200,000 per employee" from this one.) While I have no doubt that salaries > and benefits make up the majority of expenditures in both the WMF itself > and the WMF and affiliates together, I think these statements are > exaggerations. > > Risker/Anne > > > [1] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/Annual_Plan_2021-2022 > > On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 at 20:04, Alex Monk <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Do you have a source for that number? >> >> On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 at 20:38, Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> As for nobody at Wikimedia profiting off the free content created by >>> volunteers, that is relative. WMF salary costs currently average over >>> $200,000 per employee. In most parts of the world, that would be considered >>> wealthy. A minor issue in the grand scheme of things, certainly, but still >>> relevant to us here at least. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/AW6WDMV66RGYVAGCKMNYHXVHV5KFNRLK/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/TDLU5RAG57LL74Z65D3DL24WFO6WV6YV/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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