Dear Alex, Anne
Please see the 2019 Form 990, which is the most recent one available:
Line 5 on the first page states that the "Total number of individuals employed in calendar year 2019" was 291.
Line 15 on the same page states that "Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits" together amounted to $55,634,913.
If you divide $55,634,913 by 291, you arrive at a figure of $191,185 per head (this includes payroll taxes averaging about $8,650 per employee).
If you look at the most recent financial statements –
– you'll see that salary costs ("Salaries and wages") rose from $55,634,912 to $67,857,676, year on year. That is an increase of over 20%.
Based on the development in past years, I assume a substantial part of this reflects increases in salaries, rather than increases in staff numbers.
Why? For a timeline of how WMF salary costs per employee have increased over time, see –
This shows that, over the most recent three years we have Form 990 figures for, salary costs per employee have increased year on year by 15% (2017), 7% (2018) and 6% (2019).
Given that we are now in 2022, I think it is safe to assume that salary costs per employee now substantially exceed $200,000 per head. (Of course, the WMF could give us a fairly precise 2021 figure if it chose to.)
Anne, you are conflating employees and contractors. Employees enjoy very substantial benefits (see part IX of the Form 990) and are generally paid more than contractors, many of whom are also abroad where living standards are lower.
Moreover, contractors' pay is not included in the Line 15 figure, nor the "Salaries and wages" figure on the financial statements (which is the same figure, the $1 difference notwithstanding). My understanding is that contractors' pay is covered under "professional service expenses" in the financial statements, along with the various external consultants.
Best,
Andreas