View source for Wikimedia Foundation

{{Infobox organization
| name = Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
| logo = Wikimedia Foundation logo - vertical.svg
| type = [[501(c)(3) organization|501(c)(3)]], [[charitable organization]]
| tax_id = 20-0049703<ref name="WMF 2014 IRS 990">{{cite web | url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/27/Form_99_FY_2014-2015_-_Public.pdf | title=2014 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (form 990) | publisher=WMF (Public Inspection Copy) | date=September 14, 2016 }}</ref>
| founded_date = {{start date and age|2003|6|20}}
| founder = [[{{#property:p112}}]]
| founding_location = [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]], [[Florida]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| location = {{Plainlist|
* [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
* [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S. ([[registered agent]])
}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Contact us - Wikimedia Foundation|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Contact_us|website=Wikimedia Foundation|accessdate=8 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625061209/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Contact_us|archive-date=June 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| key_people = {{Plainlist|
* [[María Sefidari]] ([[Chairperson|Chair]] of the [[board of trustees|board]])<ref name="newbot">{{cite web | accessdate = July 21, 2018 | url = https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimedia-foundation-board-appointments-wikimania/ | title = Wikimedia Foundation announces Tanya Capuano as new Trustee, alongside leadership appointments at 14th annual Wikimania | author = Wikimedia Foundation | date = 20 July 2018 | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180720225107/https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimedia-foundation-board-appointments-wikimania/ | archive-date = July 20, 2018 | url-status = live }}</ref>
* [[Katherine Maher]] ([[Executive director]])
}}
| area_served = Worldwide
| focus = Free, [[open content|open-content]], [[wiki]]-based [[Internet]] projects
| products = [[Wikipedia]], [[Wiktionary]], [[Wikimedia Commons]], [[Wikidata]], [[Wikifunctions]], [[Wikiquote]], [[Wikibooks]], [[Wikisource]], [[Wikispecies]], [[Wikinews]], [[Wikiversity]], [[Wikivoyage]], [[MediaWiki]]
| revenue = {{ublist|class=nowrap|{{increase}} [[US$]] 104.5 [[million]] (2018)|91.2 million (2017)<ref name="2017-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/60/FY17-18_-_Independent_Auditors%27_Report.pdf|title=Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, Financial Statements, June 30, 2018 and 2017|last=|first=|date=September 26, 2018|website=Wikimedia Foundation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309113326/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/6/60/FY17-18_-_Independent_Auditors%27_Report.pdf|archive-date=March 9, 2021|access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref>}}
| expenses = {{ublist|class=nowrap|{{increase}} US$81.4 million (2018)|69.1 million (2017)<ref name="2017-2018" />}}
| endowment = US $35 million<ref name=endo>{{cite web |last1=Brent |first1=Marc |title=Peter Baldwin, Lisbet Rausing give an additional $3.5 million to the Wikimedia Endowment |url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/2019/04/24/peter-baldwin-lisbet-rausing-give-an-additional-3-5-million-to-the-wikimedia-endowment/ |website=Wikimedia Foundation |date=24 April 2019 |quote=With their gifts, the Endowment has now increased to more than $35 million and have moved us that much closer to our goal of $100 million. |access-date=April 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425065238/https://wikimediafoundation.org/2019/04/24/peter-baldwin-lisbet-rausing-give-an-additional-3-5-million-to-the-wikimedia-endowment/ |archive-date=April 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| endowment_year = 2019
| num_volunteers = 
| num_employees = ~301 staff/contractors ({{as of|2018|08|08|df=US|lc=y}})<ref name="WMF staff">{{cite web|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors|title=Staff and contractors page (Wikimedia Foundation website)|date=September 21, 2017|accessdate=August 8, 2018|publisher=Wikimedia Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602224407/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Staff_and_contractors|archive-date=June 2, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
| membership = [[Board-only]]
| non-profit_slogan = 
| homepage = {{URL|https://wikimediafoundation.org|WikimediaFoundation.org}}
| footnotes = 
| abbreviation = WMF
| volunteers = [[Wikimedia community]]
}}
The '''Wikimedia Foundation''' is an American [[non-profit]] foundation.  Their main [[headquarters]] is located in [[San Francisco]], [[United States]].  The Foundation runs many projects with the [[Wiki]] idea and [[MediaWiki]] [[software]] with [[Wikipedia]] being the most famous.  

Other sites include [[Wiktionary]], [[Wikiquote]], [[Wikisource]], [[Wikinews]], [[Wikibooks]], [[Wikiversity]], [[Wikimedia Commons]], [[Wikifunctions]], [[Wikidata]], [[Wikivoyage]] and [[Meta-Wiki]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikimedia_wikis |title=List of Wikimedia wikis on Meta |access-date=2010-11-22 |archive-date=2012-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123084423/http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikimedia_wikis |url-status=live }}</ref>  The Foundation runs other Wikis that are more closely related to the operations of the Foundation itself.  They include the Wikimedia Foundation wiki, the MediaWiki wiki, the [[Test Wikipedia]], the Wikimedia [[incubator:|Incubator]], [[Bugzilla]], and the [[Wikimania]] wiki.
== History ==

== Founding ==
The foundation's creation was officially announced by [[Wikipedia]] co-founder<ref name="sanger-NYTimes">{{cite news | first = Peter | last = Meyers | title = Fact-Driven? Collegial? This Site Wants You | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E5D6123BF933A1575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink | work = [[New York Times]] | date = 2001-09-20 | accessdate = 2007-07-31 | quote = It's kind of surprising that you could just open up a site and let people work," said Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's co-founder and the chief executive of Bomis, a San Diego search engine company that donates the computer resources for the project. | archive-date = 2022-05-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220527122158/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/technology/fact-driven-collegial-this-site-wants-you.html?sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="co-founder">{{cite news | first = Brian | last = Bergstein | title = Sanger says he co-started Wikipedia | url = http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2980046 | work = [[ABC News]] | publisher = [[Associated Press]] | date = 2007-03-25 | accessdate = 2007-07-31 | quote = The nascent Web encyclopedia Citizendium springs from Larry Sanger, a philosophy Ph.D. who counts himself as a co-founder of Wikipedia, the site he now hopes to usurp. The claim doesn't seem particularly controversial&nbsp;— Sanger has long been cited as a co-founder. Yet the other founder, Jimmy Wales, isn't happy about it. | archive-date = 2009-02-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090206081711/http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2980046 | url-status = live }}</ref> [[Jimmy Wales]], who was running Wikipedia within his company [[Bomis]], on June 20, 2003.
== Operation ==
The foundation gets most of its funds from [[Donation|donations]], as it is non-profit. It also looks for grants. Some [[Company|companies]]{{Clarification|date=January 2025}} have helped Wikimedia by giving free [[Computer hardware|computer hardwares]] and by hosting its servers. Since people can write the wikis, Wikimedia projects are free to use. Funds are used to run computer [[Server|servers]] and to pay staff. The Foundation had 700 employees in 2023.
== 2010s ==
* In 2013, [[Sue Gardner]] was the [[executive director]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/magazine/jimmy-wales-is-not-an-internet-billionaire.html |title=Jimmy Wales is Not an Internet Billionaire |newspaper=The New York Times |date=27 June 2013 |access-date=2019-07-05 |archive-date=2013-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630200950/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/magazine/jimmy-wales-is-not-an-internet-billionaire.html |url-status=live |last1=Chozick |first1=Amy }}</ref> 
* In 2015, Patricio Lorente was the Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board.<ref name="bot2">{{cite web | accessdate = July 22, 2015 | url = https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees | title = Board of Trustees | author = Cbrown1023 | authorlink = foundation:User:Cbrown1023 | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | archive-date = August 19, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170819202216/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees | url-status = live }}</ref> 
* In 2016, [[Katherine Maher]] became the [[executive director]].
* In 2018, [[María Sefidari]] is [[chairperson|chair]] of the board.<ref name="newbot">{{cite web | accessdate = July 21, 2018 | url = https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimedia-foundation-board-appointments-wikimania/ | title = Wikimedia Foundation announces Tanya Capuano as new Trustee, alongside leadership appointments at 14th annual Wikimania | author = Wikimedia Foundation | date = 20 July 2018 | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180720225107/https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimedia-foundation-board-appointments-wikimania/ | archive-date = July 20, 2018 | url-status = live }}</ref>
== 2020s ==
* In 2022, [[Maryana Iskander]] became [[Chief Executive Officer]], replacing Katherine Maher.
== Projects ==

== Content projects ==
{{As of|2021|post=,}} Wikimedia has many content projects. These include:
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Wikipedia]]: An online [[encyclopedia]].<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=[[Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wikipedia |access-date=2023-06-09 |title=Wikipedia}}</ref>
* [[Meta-Wiki]]: A place for talking about ideas about Wikimedia projects.
* [[Wikibooks]]: A collection of educational books.
* [[Wikidata]]: A shared collection of data that can be accessed by other projects.<ref>{{Cite web |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/apr/26/wikidata-launch |title=Welcome to Wikidata! Now what? |access-date=2023-06-09 |first=Betsy |last=Reed}}</ref>
* [[Wikifunctions]]: A collection of code.
* [[Wikimedia Commons]]: A collection of free images, videos, and sounds. Things there can be used on other projects.
* [[Wikinews]]: A collection of news articles.
* [[Wikiquote]]: A collection of [[:quotation|quotes]].
* [[Wikisource]]: A library of source texts and documents.
* [[Wikispecies]]: A [[Taxonomy|taxonomic]] collection of [[species]].
* [[Wikiversity]]: A collection of educational materials.
* [[Wikivoyage]]: A travel guide.
* [[Wiktionary]]: A dictionary.
{{Div col end}}
== Infrastructure projects ==
There are other projects that help the [[Wikimedia movement]]'s infrastructure and interface. They do this by making them work smoothly. These include:

* [[Kiwix]]: A community project that allows offline access to the content projects.<ref>Sutherland, Joe. ''[https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/09/12/emmanuel-engelhart-inventor-of-kiwix/ Emmanuel Engelhart, Inventor of Kiwix: the Offline Wikipedia Browser]''. In: Wikimedia Blog. 12 September 2014. Accessed on 26 November 2014.</ref>
* [[MediaWiki]]: The open-source platform that powers the Wikimedia projects.<ref name="Barrett">{{cite book|title=MediaWiki|author=Barrett, Daniel J.|publisher=O'Reilly Media|date=October 2008|isbn=978-0-596-51979-7|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780596519797|access-date=April 23, 2010|url-access=registration}}</ref>
* [[Wikitech:Portal:Toolforge|Toolforge]]: A community space that hosts software projects.
* [[Wikipedia:Volunteer Response Team|Volunteer Response Team]]: A community group that handles email inquiries.
* [[Wikitech:Help:Cloud Services Introduction|Wikimedia Cloud Services]]: A platform for shared cloud computing, based on [[OpenStack]].
* [[Wikitech:|Wikitech]]: A group of developers with a wiki and mailing list.
== Public Opinions ==
The United States Congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened an investigation into the operation of Wikipedia in September 2025. The initiative was initiated by two Republican representatives, who explained their actions in a letter from Congress to the Wikimedia Foundation. The commission's investigation is charged with examining "efforts by foreign entities and individuals within academic institutions funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars to influence American public opinion".<ref>[https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5473331-wikipedia-bias-probe-republicans/ Republicans investigate Wikipedia over allegations of organized bias], [[The_Hill]], 2025-08-27</ref>
== Boards ==

== Board of Trustees ==
[[File:Wikimedia Foundation Board Members Wikimania 2009.jpg|thumb|Board members at Wikimania 2009 in [[Buenos Aires]]]]The Board of Trustees in charge of the affairs of the Foundation has 10 members:
* four who are appointed by the Board itself;
* three who are selected by the community of all the different Wikimedia projects;
* two who are selected by the local chapters and thematic organizations;
* and one emeritus for the foundation's founder, [[Jimmy Wales]].
''[[The Signpost]]'' reported that two new trustees were elected in 2019:
* Nataliia Tymkiv, user:antanana ([[English language|English]] or [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]])
* Shani Evenstein, user:Esh77 (English or [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-06-30/Op-Ed |title=Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2019-06-30/Op-Ed |access-date=2019-07-16 |archive-date=2019-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630210811/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-06-30/Op-Ed |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Advisory Board ==
The Foundation also has an [[wmf:Advisory Board|Advisory Board]], an international network of experts who have agreed to give the foundation meaningful help on a regular basis in many different areas, including law, organizational development, technology, policy, and outreach.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Advisory_Board | title = Advisory Board | accessdate = 2009-10-07 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20180131215357/https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Advisory_board | archivedate = 2018-01-31 | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | url-status = dead }}</ref>

== Wikimedia Foundation Media ==
<gallery widths='160px' heights='100%' mode='traditional' caption=''>
File:Wikimedia logo family complete-current.svg|Logos of Wikimedia projects. Clockwise from directly above the Wikimedia logo: [[Wikimania]], [[Wikifunctions]], [[Wikibooks]], Meta-Wiki, [[Wikiquote]], [[Wikispecies]], [[MediaWiki]], Wikimedia Incubator, [[Wikidata]], [[Wikivoyage]], [[Wikiversity]], [[Wiktionary]], [[Wikinews]], [[Wikisource]], [[Wikimedia Commons]], and [[Wikipedia logo|Wikipedia]].

File:Wikimedia_Enterprise_logo.svg|Logo of Wikimedia Enterprise

File:Wikimedia Foundation Servers-8055 13.jpg|Wikimedia Foundation servers

File:WMF Support and Revenue, Expenses and Net Assets at Year End.jpg|Wikimedia Foundation revenue, expenses and end-of-year net assets (in US$), 2003–2023Green: revenue (excluding direct donations to the endowment)Red: expenses (including WMF payments into the endowment)Black: net assets (excluding the endowment)

File:Finance Meeting Paris 2012-02-18 n06.jpg|Wikimedia Foundation and chapters finance meeting 2012, Paris

File:Wikimedia All Hands 2019 Group Photo.jpg|Foundation staff in January 2019

File:149 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco.jpg|The [[New Montgomery Street]] building which housed the headquarters until 2017

File:One_Sansome_Street.jpg|[[One Sansome Street]] has held the headquarters since October 2024
</gallery>
== Other websites ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikinews}}
* {{Official website}}
* [[foundation:Home|Governance wiki]]
{{Wikimedia Foundation}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Wikimedia Foundation| ]]
[[Category:2003 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Companies based in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations of California]]
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:21st-century establishments in the United States]]