Dear WMF Finance staff,
I inquired over a week ago on Meta-Wiki why the WMF is reporting a negative
investment income (–$12 million). There has been no answer to date.[1]
I am a layperson, but how can an investment income be negative? Would you
mind sharing what this is about?
I was also surprised to find that the reported increase in net assets for
the 2021–2022 financial year was "only" $8.2 million. The third-quarter F&A
tuning session published in May (based on data as of March 31) forecast a
far higher surplus, with an increase in net assets of $25.9 million.[2]
Would you mind sharing what happened in the fourth quarter to reduce the
surplus by so much?
Best wishes,
Andreas
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_reports/Financial…
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AF%26A_Tuning_Session…
On Tue, Nov 1, 2022 at 3:45 PM Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,
The WMF's audited financial statements are now available here:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/2/26/Wikimedia_Foundation…
Some key figures from the page numbered 4 (page 6 in the pdf):
– Net invest income was negative: –$12M (down $16M)
– Total support and revenue was $155M (down $8M due to that negative
investment income)
– Total expenses were $146M (up $34M)
– Salaries and wages were $88M (up $20M)
– Net assets at end of year increased by $8M
For reference, the end-of-year increase in net assets forecast in the
third-quarter Finance & Administration tuning session deck published in May
2022 was $25.9M:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AF%26A_Tuning_Session…
Best,
Andreas