Dear Jayantilal and all,

I regularly report on Wikimedia Foundation spending and fundraising for the Signpost, Wikipedia's community newspaper.[1] 

In my view, the best and most reliable way to see how much money the Wikimedia Foundation is spending in India is the Form 990.[2] This is a form that U.S. non-profit organisations like the Wikimedia Foundation are required by law to submit to the U.S. Inland Revenue Service. 

The Form 990 is also required by law to be publicly accessible. You can find all the Wikimedia Foundation's Forms 990 here: 

https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/

The Form 990 includes fairly detailed information on international spending. In June 2022 I analysed this spending per the WMF's most recent Form 990 for The Signpost. The results are here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2022-06-26/News_and_notes#Where_does_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_spend_its_money%3F

As detailed in that Signpost report, I found that the amounts spent in South Asia (program services + grantmaking) were absolutely tiny – 0.4% of Wikimedia Foundation revenue. (The Form 990 does not say how much of that was in India.) Grantmaking in South Asia was even less: 0.05% of revenue according to my calculation.

Of course spending in South Asia may have increased since then. The Wikimedia Foundation typically publishes its Form 990 in May, so in a few weeks' time a new Form 990 should appear on the WMF Financial Reports page linked above. It should be possible to provide an update at that time.

As for Raju Narisetti's interview in the Indian Express, I did find parts of it misleading, especially a statement attributed to him that originally read as follows (my emphasis):

"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 was discussed at the time on the Wikimedia-l mailing list and on Meta-Wiki, and reported on in The Signpost:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2022-06-26/In_the_media#Raju_Narisetti_interview_in_the_Indian_Express

The mailing list discussion is here:

https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/OVT3MRNP6VELKPSJAMWB3SOCESKLOPX7/?sort=date

The discussion on Meta-Wiki is here:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising/Archive_7#Raju_Narisetti_interview:_most_of_the_money_is_flowing_into_the_Global_South

As a result of these discussions, the Indian Express article was edited about a week after publication, and this statement was changed. (There is a note at the bottom of the article today, drawing attention to this fact.) The Wikimedia Foundation said Raju Narisetti had been misquoted:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AFundraising&diff=prev&oldid=23357618&diffmode=source

Personally, I felt the revised wording in the Indian Express is still misleading. According to my calculations, as reported in The Signpost, WMF spending in the entire global south amounted to 2.4% of revenue in the most recent year for which the Wikimedia Foundation has filed a Form 990. In my view, 2.4% is not "a lot", and it is not what a reader of the Indian Express would imagine when they read that "a lot" of the money raised flows into the global south (especially as the part going to India was much smaller still).

According to the Form 990, the vast majority of WMF money is actually spent in the US, most of it on salaries.

As for the Wikimedia Foundation never publishing misleading fundraising statements, the English Wikipedia community came to a different conclusion last November.[3] People felt that statements on the fundraising banners were indeed misleading. As a result the fundraising messages were changed, and new wordings found in collaboration with the volunteer community. This was reported on in the U.S. media:

https://slate.com/technology/2022/12/wikipedia-wikimedia-foundation-donate.html

I hope this helps.

Best,
Andreas



[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Author/Andreas_Kolbe
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_990
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)&oldid=1124174948#RfC_on_the_banners_for_the_December_2022_fundraising_campaign 

On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 8:14 AM Julia Brungs <jbrungs@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Dear Jayantilal,

Hope you are well. Thanks for your email and patience in our response. 

Contrary to what you mentioned, the Indian Express article titled Raju Narisetti interview: ‘Wikipedia is building trust with transparency’ (here) does not make any reference to grants or any statement by Raju Narisetti mentioning any percentage of grants directed specifically to India. The Foundation has never made any misleading statements to raise funds for the Wikimedia Projects, as alleged in your e-mail, and the Foundation carried out all its fundraising initiatives in compliance with applicable laws.

The Foundation supports several Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia movement, funded by donations from around the world through several means, including grants. The Foundation's Annual Report describes our "programmatic activities" that support the Foundation's projects and the movement.   


In short, the breakdown for activities as a proportion of the Foundation's total spending in the 2021-2022 fiscal year is as follows, on an approximate basis:


  • 43 percent - direct support to websites (engineering improvements, design, legal support);

  • 32 percent - support to the volunteer community through programs, grants, training, and tools.


The article mentions millions of pageviews from India (832 million in February 2022 out of 22.6 billion worldwide) to the Wikimedia projects, representing the fifth highest number of views from any country. These would not be possible without the 5000 monthly active editors from India (3rd highest globally) whom the Foundation supports through various programs and tools, which would not be possible without the above distribution of funds.  


As part of our commitment to transparency, the Foundation publishes an annual fundraising report providing a region-wide breakdown of funds raised. The Foundation’s standard policy is not to release country-level fundraising information as part of the fundraising report. For further information regarding our fundraising initiatives, please refer to the Fundraising page on Meta. 


Happy to continue the conversation on Talk fundraising.


Best,

Julia




On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 12:00 AM Jayantilal Kothari <jayantilalkkd@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Julia,

I am writing to express my concerns regarding the upcoming Wikimedia Foundation fundraising campaign in India. While I appreciate the efforts being made to raise funds, I am unsure about how donations are collected from India.

According to an interview with WMF's Raju Narisetti in the Indian Express[1], 10% of the grants raised by the Wikimedia Foundation go back to the Indian Wikimedians who write and edit on Wikipedia. However, there seems to be a lack of transparency about which projects in India are receiving these funds.

Last year, WMF raised $165,232,309[2], which means that 10% of this amount is approximately 13 crores rupees. Could you please share more details about the projects in India that received this funding? Such claims are used as emotional hooks to encourage more Indians to donate, but no one seems to know which Indian community or projects are benefiting from them. As an Indian community member, I am not personally aware of any community-facing initiatives that have received such funding. I would appreciate it if you could let me know if I am missing something.

It is important to note that making false claims to raise money from Indian citizens is a serious matter and may have serious legal consequences. To ensure that the Wikimedia Foundation is true to its commitment, it is essential to be transparent and provide accurate information about the allocation of funds while raising funds in India.

In my experience, WMF employees often come up with lengthy replies that do not directly address the concerns raised by community members. Therefore, I suggest that actual spending numbers be included along with information about the projects in India that received funding. Expected reply could include a list of projects with money sent to Indian communities. This would provide greater transparency and help build trust within the community.

Is there a report on how much money has been raised from India and how it has been spent? 

Also, are you aware of how Wikipedia have led to riots in Delhi?[3]

Thank you,
Jayantilal


On Fri, 10 Mar 2023 at 2:39 AM, Julia Brungs <jbrungs@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Dear community members,

I would like to inform you all about the upcoming annual Wikimedia Foundation fundraising campaign in India. 

The fundraising campaign will have two components. 

  1. We will send emails to people who have previously donated from India. The emails are scheduled to be sent between the 2nd of May and the 1st of June.  

  2. We will run banners for non-logged in users in India on English Wikipedia itself. The banners will run from the 30th of May until the 27th of June. 

Prior to this, we are planning to run some tests in April and May, so you might see banners for 3-5 hours a couple of times before the campaign starts. This activity will ensure that our technical infrastructure works.

I will be in touch again in the next few weeks, to share with you a community engagement page where we will outline more detail around the campaign, share some banner examples, and give you space to engage with the fundraising campaign. 

I will also be hosting a community call during April (date to be confirmed) to which you can bring your questions and suggestions. 

Generally, before and during the campaign, you can contact us:

Thanks you and regards,

Julia 

--
Julia Brungs
Senior Community Relations Specialist 
Wikimedia Foundation
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Regards,

Jayantilal

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