Hi Andreas, We have followed up to your questions on the fundraising meta talk page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising#Raju_Narisetti_interview:_most_of_the_money_is_flowing_into_the_Global_South> .
Thank you, Megan On Thu, Jun 2, 2022 at 6:52 PM Peter Southwood <[email protected]> wrote: > This seems a reasonable request. > > Cheers, > > Peter > > > > *From:* Andreas Kolbe [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* 02 June 2022 15:13 > *To:* Wikimedia Mailing List > *Subject:* [Wikimedia-l] Fact-checking Raju Narisetti in the Indian > Express > > > > Dear all, > > > > Last weekend, an interview with Raju Narisetti, titled "Wikipedia is > building trust with transparency", was published in the Indian Express, one > of the major daily newspapers in India. > > > > For your convenience, here is an archive link for the article: > https://archive.ph/RaCwX > > > > The Indian Express link is: > https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/raju-narisetti-interview-wikipedia-trust-transparency-7940621/ > > > > The article quotes Raju as saying (my emphases), > > > > ---- > > > > “*More than 75% of the money we raise globally* goes to two things. One > is to *give money back to the volunteer community* so they can launch a > new language. Two is about *half of it goes to the infrastructure.* You > need to have databases and put it on the cloud and make sure it’s > reliable,” he said. Although a lot of the money is raised in the more > developed Western markets, *most of it is actually flowing into the > global south,* where the growth will come in languages and users. > > > > ---- > > > > This diverged sharply from my understanding of WMF finances. So I looked > at the records to try to fact-check these statements. > > > > I found the Foundation raised $163 million in the 2020/2021 financial > year.[1] But it actually only spent $112 million of it (69%).[1] If the WMF > kept 31% of its revenue to itself, it obviously can't have spent "more than > 75%" (i.e. over $120M) of the money it raised on anything. > > > > This is a trivial point. But I was even more astonished by the other > statement in the article, that most of the money raised "is actually > flowing into the global south". > > > > Raju was talking to an Indian audience. This article was timed to coincide > with the start of the Indian fundraiser – Indians are currently faced with > fundraising banners on Wikipedia as well as emails soliciting repeat > donations.[2] So I appreciate it is a good soundbite that might motivate > Indian citizens to reach for their purses and wallets. After all, few > people in India feel it is their job to send financial aid to the US, > right? > > > > But is this soundbite really true? > > > > To fact-check that claim, I looked at the official figures in the latest > (2020) WMF Form 990 tax return detailing WMF spending outside the US. > According to the Form 990 section "General Information on Activities > Outside the United States", spending on activities outside the US amounted > to a total of $20,076,181 in 2020.[3] This means well over 80% of WMF > expenditure was in the US. > > > > The Form 990 also provides a breakdown by global regions, detailing the > precise amounts the WMF spent in each region. Again, I found this paints a > very different picture to what the Indian public has been told in the > Indian Express. > > > > First I added up all the amounts (Program Services, p. 29, and > Grantmaking, pp. 30–31) that were spent in Europe and North America > (excluding the US). I arrived at a total of $14.8M – which means that 73.5% > of the total spending on non-US activities was in these regions of the > affluent north. > > > > This left only $5.3M, or about 3% of total WMF revenue in 2020/2021, for > the entire rest of the world, which also includes countries like Saudi > Arabia, Russia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, which are not usually included in > the Global South. The actual money flowing into the Global South is thus > even less than 3% – hardly "most" of the money raised. > > > > Raju mentioned the volunteers. I thought, let's leave Program Services > expenses (which presumably would include servers and caching centres > abroad) out of the equation and look at Grantmaking alone (pages 30 and 31 > of the Form 990). > > > > The Grantmaking total for activities outside the US given in the Form 990 > is $3,475,062. > > > > Almost exactly $1.2M (35%) of that went to Europe and North America > (excluding the US). > > > > So total grantmaking in the entire rest of the world outside Europe and > North America was $2.3M, or 1.4% of the money the WMF raised in 2020/2021. > > > > Again 1.4% is not "most of the money raised", by any stretch of the > imagination. And the Global South only accounts for a part of that 1.4%. > > > > Lastly, as Raju was speaking to the Indian public, I wanted to find out > how much money the WMF actually spent on grantmaking in India. The Form 990 > only gives grantmaking totals for "South Asia" – which along with India > includes other major countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. > > > > These totals are $75,198 (grants and other assistance to 22 individuals, > certainly not rank-and-file Wikipedians, given the average amount) and > $3,339 (grants to organisations). This yields a total of $78,537 for all of > South Asia. > > > > I make that 0.048% of the WMF's 2020/2021 revenue. Only a part of that may > have been spent in India. > > > > Please verify these figures for yourselves; I have provided the sources > below. If I have made a mistake somewhere, please tell me. > > > > It occurred to me that perhaps some grantmaking figures in 2020 were > particularly low because of the Covid pandemic, which began in the spring > of that year. But Covid was a global pandemic affecting countries around > the world. So all countries would have been affected equally. And Covid was > not as serious in India in 2020 as it was in 2021. > > > > I also know the WMF increased its grantmaking budget for the current year. > But even if grants to South Asia were to increase a hundredfold compared to > 2020, they would still represent only 5% of WMF revenue. Such is the gap > between what is said in the Indian Express and the reality on the ground. > > > > Allow me to make an appeal to your conscience. > > > > The Wikipedia idea is to provide neutral and accurate information to the > public. I would say that Wikimedians – especially Indian Wikimedians – who > believe in that idea have a job to do here, because based on the above, > what the Indian public has been told in the Indian Express simply does not > match the reality. > > > > Look at it like a Wikipedia article. If you found an article making claims > so wildly at variance with published facts, would you let them stand? Or > would you at least start a discussion on the talk page, to try and find out > why there is such an apparent discrepancy? > > > > Let's have that discussion now, here and on social media. > > > > Best, > > Andreas > > > > [1] > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1e/Wikimedia_Foundation_FY2020-2021_Audit_Report.pdf#page=5 > – see also > https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundraising/ > > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising#Indian_email_texts > > [3] > https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/e/e4/Wikimedia_Foundation_2020_Form_990.pdf#page=29 > > > > > <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > Virus-free. www.avg.com > <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient> > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ZJQC7TFR3BGQIJ2CM54SPCTFXNHZMRVW/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] -- Megan Hernandez (she/her) Vice President of Advancement Wikimedia Foundation
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