2009/7/31 stevertigo stvrtg@gmail.com:
My impression is that Wikimedia currently lives year to year on donations, and that reserves are sufficient to pay a skeleton crew of fundraisers. I'm sure its been discussed before though, but yes, it would seem to make sense for Wikimedia - established as its flagship project is - to build an endowment or trust - donation-seeded and transparently managed of course - to cover most yearly costs.
My understanding is it was pretty much hand-to-mouth for ages, and that one of Sue Gardner's big projects is making it less so, precisely as you describe - which would be why the WMF has hired quite a few fundraisers in the past year or so. The idea being to build up a reserve and then make that something we might be able to live on. I can't see donations ending, though - and remember that the last one pulled in over its target quite nicely.
- d.