Speaking of which... I was reading with a lot of interest the new policy
regarding severance packages...
I read on the diff (1)
"The guidelines have also provided an opportunity to better align our
processes globally when staff leave the Foundation. This includes a new
standardized severance policy for staff at all levels of one month of
severance pay for every year of their employment, up to nine months
(unless local laws require otherwise) – any exceptions require a joint
recommendation by the Head of Talent & Culture and the General Counsel,
with final approval from the CEO. The guidelines have allowed us to make
these and other policies more transparent to staff irrespective of where
they live and work. "
I suppose this decision was partly made because some staff did not
benefit from a severance package (or only from a very poor one), in
particular in cases of non-US based staff. If that's the case, it is a
good move to introduce more equity.
Out of curiosity...
1) is the one month of severence pay entirely based on the last month
salary, or the last year salary, or does it take into account the
previous years (which were presumbly at lower salary) ?
2) for those staff who are "exceptions", is the agreement with the
exception done at the beginning of the tenure, at the end of the tenure
(as part of the departure discussion) or can be discussed-rediscussed at
any time during the agreement ?
3) do you plan to communicate on the number (or percentage) of staff who
are actually in the "exception" packages ? (no name obviously, but an
idea of the size of that segment. Because if the "exception" segment is
50% of the 700+ staff, then equity is not it...)
4) do you plan to adopt a "maximum" for those in the exception segment
(for example, the standard is 1 month per year employed... to limit the
severance to equivalent "xx months of employed years")
5) last... is there an incentive system in place to invite WMF staff to
make donations to WMF or to the other Wikimedia entitites (such as
doubling their donations)
Salaries at the WMF seem to have climbed tremendously the past few years
(2). Severance packages seriously climb as well. Many will turn a blind
eye on this, but I am sure you realize that others might be concerned.
I fully understand and support the approach that would result in more
equity for WMF staff and recognise that this must be a challenge to
implement due to the diversity of countries they live in.
I also recognise the need to make working for WMF appealing, hence
confortable packages.
But still...Is there anything done to better address the serious
escalation of severance packages of the high level executives ? (beside
inviting them to leave asap they have been employed more than 5 years
that is)
Flo
(1)
I'm sure someone at the Foundation will have a
better response, and
you may have puzzled this together yourself already, but we've seen in
previous years that the reported salary went up in the last year of
someone's service, possibly due to consulting fees and severance
packages. Both Maher and Uzzell left the Foundation in 2021. Typically
the WMF has been cautious to give much detail on this though
(understandably).
Lodewijk
On Tue, May 9, 2023 at 10:03 AM Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,
Page 49 of the new Form 990 (2021) shows the following total
compensation figures for former CEO Katherine Maher and Janeen
Uzzell in that year:
*$798,632 and $515,553 *respectively. Both figures far exceed all
prior records.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/14/Wikimedia_Foundation…
The Form 990 now shows a total of *six* executives whose total
compensation exceeded *$400,000*.
For comparison, the Form 990 for the year before (2020) showed a
total of *eight* executives whose total compensation exceeded
*$300,000*:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/e/e4/Wikimedia_Foundation…
These are interesting developments.
Andreas
On Tue, May 9, 2023 at 4:25 PM Nataliia Tymkiv
<ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear all,
Today, the Wikimedia Foundation published the Form 990 [1], an
informational tax form required annually of all nonprofit
organisations based in the US. The Form 990 provides a
financial overview of the Foundation, including the balance
sheet, revenue and expenses, as well as grantmaking,
governance, and other financial policies. It also includes
compensation information required for senior executives. This
document is reviewed by the Board each year before it is
published on the Foundation website.
Because of reporting periods, the Form 990 provides a look
back at the activities and budget for the Foundation in prior
years. This year’s Form 990 covers last fiscal year (July
2021-June 2022), and for compensation related reporting, it
covers the 2021 calendar year. Because the Form 990 is a tax
document with a complicated format, this year the Foundation
has also published a Diff post [2] that provides an
overview of the different sections of the form; an executive
summary [3] of the Form, and an FAQ on Meta [4].
This year’s Form 990 contains several key takeaways:
*
Growth in support of Wikimedia projects: In the 2021-2022
fiscal year, the Foundation invested 77% in Program
Services, an increase of 4 percentage points as compared
to fiscal year 2020–2021 of 73%. This measure reflects how
much of the organisation’s expenses are allocated towards
the programs and services that it exists to deliver. This
surpasses third-party standards for how much nonprofit
organisations should spend on programs, which should be
the majority of their budget (more than 65% according to
the Better Business Bureau).
*
Increase in community grants:During fiscal year 2021-2022,
the Foundation’s revenue received through donations and
grants, totaled $164.2 million, a roughly $9 million
increase from the prior fiscal year. The Foundation
increased its grants programme by 50%, from $10.1M in the
prior fiscal year to $15.2M in fiscal year 2021-2022.
*
Comprehensive governance policies: The Foundation follows
a number of best practices for governance as an
established nonprofit organisation. The Form 990 includes
a section confirming written policies regarding our
approach to conflicts of interest
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Conflict_of_interest_policy>,
protecting whistleblowers
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Whistleblower_policy>,
guidelines for data retention
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Data_retention_guidelines>and
governance practices, including those related to the
Foundation's Board structure, voting rights, and
independence. These governance policies and practices have
helped the Foundation to receive the highest rating from
sites like Charity Navigator
<https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/200049703>.
*
Leadership Transition: This year’s Form 990 also reports
on a period of significant leadership transition at the
Wikimedia Foundation, including the CEO stepping down. The
Form includes compensation information as well as
severance disclosures for Foundation executives who
departed in 2021. This January, the Wikimedia Foundation
introduced a new standardised severance policy, which was
shared in a Diff post [5].Separation payments to two
additional executives that precede the implementation of
this standardised policy will be disclosed in future Form
990s.
Finally, the Form 990 is one of several documents that the
Foundation publishes each year, to provide more visibility
into the budget and how the Foundation allocates resources
towards its work. In addition to the Form 990, you can find
additional information in this year’s Annual Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024>,
in the Foundation’s Annual Report
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/annualreport/2022-annual-report/>,
and in a series of Diff posts about the Foundation’s
compensation practices
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/02/17/wikimedia-foundation-remote-first-and-global-community-of-staff/>,
global guidelines
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/04/06/wikimedia-foundation-global-guidelines-policies-practices/>,
and our approach to hiring
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/03/building-a-global-staff-community-at-the-wikimedia-foundation/>.
The Community Affairs Committee of the Board will host its
regular Open Conversation with Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2023-05-18_Conversation_with_Trustees>next
Thursday May 18 at 1800 UTC where this topic will be on the
agenda along with a final opportunity for feedback on the
Foundation’s Annual Plan. Questions about the Form 990 are
invited on the talk page on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_Foundation_Form_990_Frequently_Asked_Questions&action=edit&redlink=1>.
[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/#a2-2021-2022
[2]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/09/highlights-of-form-990-for-the-wikime…
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_…
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_…
[
5]https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/04/06/wikimedia-foundation-global-guideli…
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
/NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your
normal working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a
volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to
answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!/
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