On 1 December 2015 at 23:09, Mardetanha mardetanha.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
do we have any definite number that if reach then we would not any fundraiser again in the future (I really would like to to see WMF in the position in which, it would not need yearly fundraiser to stand up and keep running ) , like 100 M mentioned in the meta page ?
That $100m number sounds oddly familiar, so a quick historical footnote:
The endowment idea was first suggested seriously in 2006 (at least, I can't see it being discussed before) and a figure of $100m was being generally quoted as what would be needed by 2008. There had been some discussions about a hypothetical "$100m donation" before that, in 2006-7, and it might be that this helped shape the discussion of how big an endowment might need to be.
In 2008, the number was examined a bit and it was seen as plausibly solid - our annual operating costs were a little under $5m at that point and getting a 5% return on endowment was a reasonable expectation.
As Anne points out, though, we do a lot more now than we did then!
Andrew.