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CHARITY REVIEW
Issued: July 2026 Expires: July 2027

Wikimedia Foundation

Accredited Charity
Accredited Charity

Meets Standards
(415) 839-6885
1 Sansome St Ste 1895
San Francisco, CA, 94104
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
📄 Full Report 🖨️ Print 📋 BBB Charity Standards

Standards For Charity Accountability

Governance

  1. Board Oversight
  2. Board Size
  3. Board Meetings
  4. Board Compensation
  5. Conflict of Interest

Measuring Effectiveness

  1. Effectiveness Policy
  2. Effectiveness Report

Finances

  1. Program Expenses
  2. Fundraising Expenses
  3. Accumulating Funds
  4. Audit Report
  5. Detailed Expense Breakdown
  6. Accurate Expense Reporting
  7. Budget Plan

Fundraising & Info

  1. Truthful Materials
  2. Annual Report
  3. Website Disclosures
  4. Donor Privacy
  5. Cause Marketing Disclosures
  6. Complaints

Wikimedia Foundation meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Stated Purpose:
"exists to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.  In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework for the support and development of multilingual wiki projects and other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation will make and keep useful information from its projects available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity." 

Year, State Incorporated:
2003, CA

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. Together these sites are among the top seven most visited web properties in the world. The Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

For the year ended June 30, 2025, Wikimedia Foundation's program expenses were:

Programs $147,726,285
Total Program Expenses $147,726,285

Chief Executive
Bernadette Meehan, CEO

Chair of the Board
Lorenzo Losa

Board Size
11

Method(s) Used:
Direct mail appeals, Print advertisements (newspapers, magazines, etc.), Television, Grant proposals, Cause-related marketing (affinity credit cards, consumer product sales, etc.)

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.

The following information is based on Wikimedia Foundation's audited financial statements - consolidated for the year ended June 30, 2025.

Source of Funds
Contributions of Cash and Other FInancial Assets $184,053,816
Unrealized Gains on Investments $9,246,817
Wikimedia Enterprise Revenue from Contracts $8,297,917
Investment Income $6,862,192
Contributions with Donor Restrictions $3,520,000
Other Income $2,323,435
Contributions of Nonfinancial Assets and Services $1,775,001
Foreign Currency Losses $-146,531
Total Income $215,932,647

Programs: 77% Fundraising: 11% Administrative: 11%

Total Income $215,932,647
Total expenses: $190,938,007
  Program expenses $147,726,285
  Fundraising expenses $21,820,375
  Administrative expenses $21,391,347
  Other expenses $0
Income in Excess of Expenses $24,994,640
Beginning Net Assets $271,555,390
Other Changes In Net Assets $0
Ending Net Assets $296,550,030
Total Liabilities $14,244,387
Total Assets $310,794,417

An organization may change its practices at any time without notice. A copy of this report has been shared with the organization prior to publication. It is not intended to recommend or deprecate, and is furnished solely to assist you in exercising your own judgment. If the report is about a charity and states the charity meets or does not meet the Standards for Charity Accountability, it reflects the results of an evaluation of information and materials provided voluntarily by the charity. The name Better Business Bureau is a registered service mark of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

This report is not to be used for fundraising or promotional purposes.

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Report completed by:
BBB serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California