Dear all,

A full year has now passed since the WMF received IRS approval for its new, transparent 501(c)(3) organisation, set up to take over the Wikimedia Endowment and end almost a decade of financial non-transparency.[1]

Let us not forget – Caitlin Virtue told us over two years ago, in April 2021:[2] 

"We are in the process of establishing a new home for the endowment in a stand-alone 501(c)(3) public charity. We will move the endowment in its entirety to this new entity once the new charity receives its IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter."

Said determination letter was received[3] in late June 2022 and announced[4] in late October 2022.

Today, more than a year on, the Wikimedia Endowment website still says[5] that the money – an undisclosed nine-figure sum – is with the Tides Foundation. Unlike a standalone 501(c)(3), Tides publishes no audited accounts for the Endowment and releases no figures for the Endowment fund's revenue and expenses.

The WMF has been talking[6] about this move to a transparent standalone 501(c)(3) since 2017. 

When will the move take place?

Andreas

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2023-03-09/News_and_notes and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2022-05-29/Opinion
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Endowment&diff=prev&oldid=21366511
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IRS_Determination_Letter_dated_6-28-2022_-_Wikimedia_Endowment_(01523354-2xA3536).pdf
[4] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/10/26/governance-updates-for-the-wikimedia-endowment/
[5] https://wikimediaendowment.org/#contact and https://archive.ph/CjcvW
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AWikimedia_Endowment&diff=16507295&oldid=16503857


On Thu, Mar 9, 2023 at 7:12 PM Lane Chance <zinkloss@gmail.com> wrote:
...
> It's not causing any form of disruption to make these changes in a deliberate and thoughtful manner.  Everyone can take a deep breath.
> Risker/Anne

The WMF has never claimed that setting out a fixed timetable that
their CEO and the Endowment "agents" can be held accountable to is
either impossible or bad. They have been talking this change up for
years, and failed to move forward for reasons that have been
obfuscated deliberately, as demonstrated by "thoughtful" tangential
and delaying responses to basic yes/no questions. Considering that the
aim here is ethical accountability, any delay is a choice for
"non-accountability".

The facts are public, the failure to be transparent or accountable
with many millions of dollars is a public failure. The WMF has damaged
the reputation of the "Endowment Fund" within its own community of
volunteers* and employees, and now risks a loss of public trust in its
own claims to its donors and in the media for a declared value of
transparency. Let's debunk the myth, as this is now playing pass the
parcel with millions of dollars of donated charitable funds, the WMF
can no longer have any credible claim to be transparent. This does not
pass the sniff test, it wouldn't for any other not for profit or
organization that claims to have charitable values or world leading
ethics but chooses to hide millions of dollars from correct scrutiny.

* Really, do volunteers believe the Endowment Fund is or has done the
things it was set up to do? Do we volunteers have reason to be
confident that in 10 or 30 years time, these monies will be spent on
the original objectives that were claimed for it by Jimmy Wales and
others? I no longer have reason to be confidence in these purposes or
that this very large sum of money will not be chipped away by "agents"
or the careful re-spinning of what the words in the Endowment
incorporation mean by the unelected board of trustees that are
responsible for it.

As a polite observation on "take a deep breath", I would never say
that to any member of my staff or a customer with a complaint unless I
wanted them to walk out or put the phone down on me.

Thanks,
Lane
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