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/Audits/2021-2022_-_frequently_asked_questions
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AF%26A_Tuning_Session_FY21-22_Q3.pdf&page=5

On Tue, Nov 1, 2022 at 3:45 PM Andreas Kolbe <jayen466@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,

The WMF's audited financial statements are now available here:


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:


Best,
Andreas