is wikipedia really a non-profit organization ?

Question

http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.wikipedia.org shows that wikipedia is making USD 412503 daily...
who to believe wikipedia or websiteoutlook ?

Answer 1

No, Wikipedia is not a non-profit organization. Wikipedia is raking in a lot of money in donations, but only a small amount of that is going to web hosting, little of it is going to web designers, and none of it is going to writers, photographers or editors. Just $412,503 A YEAR is enough to keep up a highly trafficked site like Wikipedia.



Don't trust jsut websiteoutlook.com or even my word. Look at charity accreditation websites like Charity Navigator and GuideStar. Oh, and the BBB doesn't even accredit Wikipedia.

Answer 2

Wikipedia is part of Wikimedia and is a non-profit. Check Charity Navigator.

Answer 3

Nicholas Hoult Wiki

Answer 4

Jimbo travels the world with 15 million dolars donated by people each year. Try ansiklopedika for a really non profit organization.

Answer 5

It's a 501(c) doesn't that make it a non-profit?

Answer 6

It depends on many things

Answer 7

The websiteoutlook page is nonsense. Wikipedia *doesn't run ads*, so saying that Wikipedia is making ad revenue is nonsense. You can see that the $412503 figure is repeated in the "Estimated data" section. It's completely made up—an estimate based on Wikipedia's status as one of the most popular websites on the Internet.



If Wikipedia ran ads, perhaps the Wikimedia Foundation that administers it could make that kind of money. It doesn't, for better or worse.



If you want to verify Wikipedia's non-profit status, there are a few different places you can check. One of the most authoritative is probably the IRS website's online Publication 78, which lists "organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions": < http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/ >. Search for "Wikimedia".



You can also review some of the reports on the Wikimedia Foundation's website at < http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Financial_reports >, which includes important documents such as the Form 990s; financial and other information that non-profits like Wikimedia are required to file with the IRS and make public. (See also < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_forms#990 >.)

Answer 8

According to the IRS, yes, the Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization.



But... doesn't the IRS have a somewhat warped view of reality? An organization can be a non-profit according to the IRS even if they spend only a little bit of their income on what they ostensibly do, or if they spend more than 20% on "administrative" expenses!



To be fair, Wikimedia spends just 15.1% on administrative expenses. But 19.7% on fundraising!!!???



Maybe 65.0% on program expenses doesn't look that bad on paper. But consider: the people who write articles or upload photos don't get paid for their work. Not even the people who spend 36 hours straight changing British spelling to American spelling. Nor those self-important admins who, well-intentioned or not, try to fix up Wikipedia's many problems but just wind up becoming either delusional or burnt out.



So what are Wikipedia's "program expenses"? My guess: consultants who spend a couple of hours looking at Wikipedia articles and then tell the Wikimedia Foundation a combination of stuff they already know and stuff they wanted to hear. I'm not exactly poor, but I wouldn't mind having a job like that.

Answer 9

That doesn't seem right. That website probably infers that amount of money based on the number of links from the page, not on actual reported revenue. The fact that they misspelled estimated also makes me suspicious.





However, with that being said, being a non-profit organization doesn't mean you can't get money. Just go to about any "non profit" church in the U.S. for an example. Wikipedia has to pay for its servers somehow. But almost $500000 a day just seams unrealistic for an organization like that. Even with that many backlinks and donations, there's no way they get that kind of profit.

Answer 10

It's really not. Mob fronts and money laundering operations sometimes run the way Wikimedia runs Wikipedia. Their board members get fat expense accounts to pay for things that have no direct impact on the service the charity supposedly offers.



Of course some expenses will get rejected, but that's really just for show.