Hi all -
I have some good news to share. Five years ago, we launched the Wikimedia
Endowment <https://wikimediaendowment.org/> as a permanent safekeeping fund
to enable us to fulfill the part of our mission that says we will provide
support to the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement>. Our goal was to
raise an initial USD $100 million for the Endowment by 2026, after which income
earned from investing the fund
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment#Endowment_Investment_Policy>would
become a new stream of financial support for Wikimedia projects.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters and the hard work of
the staff and the Endowment Board, the Endowment now holds $90 million. We
anticipate that we will surpass the $100 million goal next fiscal year.
At the outset, the Endowment was established as a Collective Action Fund at
Tides Foundation, with the plan to move it to a permanent structure as the
fund neared critical mass. In preparation for the approaching $100 million
milestone, we are now beginning the work of taking the Endowment to its
next stage of maturity: establishing it as an independent public charity
with the mission of providing financial support for the Wikimedia projects.
We are grateful to the future-focused community members who began
considering the idea of an endowment years ago, to those who participated
in community conversations on meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Endowment_Essay> to help us think through
initial decisions regarding its launch, to the WMF Board that gave the
Endowment its full support, and especially to the Endowment Board
<https://wikimediaendowment.org/#undefined>who, among many other things,
introduced us to their friends and opened their homes to host fundraising
events for us.
While we look forward to celebrating the achievement of the $100 million
milestone in the next year, the work of growing the Endowment will not be
over. Our direct fundraising efforts will continue, as will our pursuit of
planned gifts (such as gifts in wills and other legacy gifts). To date, we
have over 1,000 members of the Wikimedia Legacy Society – donors who have
agreed to leave a portion of their estate to the Wikimedia Endowment. Their
long-term commitment is a sign of deep respect for the work of our
volunteer communities and of a desire to help us reach the ambitious 2030
Strategic Direction.
As we move forward in these efforts, you can follow updates on meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment>, and we welcome
your questions
on the Endowment’s Talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Endowment>. We started this
endowment conversation with the community on that page five years ago and
that is the best place to continue it as we move into this next phase.
Thank you to everyone who has helped bring us to this point in the road.
Best regards,
Lisa Gruwell
Chief Advancement Officer
--
Lisa Seitz Gruwell
Chief Advancement Officer
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>