WMF Form 990 (through June 2010) Options

[thekohser]

Once again, right on time (a little over 9 months after the closing date), the Wikimedia Foundation has published their federal Form 990, so that you can keep track of how much of every revenue dollar they're spending on program expenses (this year, it's up from 41 cents on the dollar to 46.2 cents on the dollar -- a ratio that would make any legitimate charity ashamed to exist).

If you're a WikiBeliever, there's even a PR-soaked version of the questions you should be asking the Foundation.


Recall from LAST YEAR's form:

Sue Gardner's total compensation:
$175,050

Mike Godwin's total compensation:
$128,139

Veronique Kessler's total compensation:
$121,859



Total program expenses: $3,308,546.

Total revenue: $8,137,235.

Ratio of program expenses to revenue: 40.66% (about half of what reputable charities strive for)



Highest-paid contractor:

SQUIRE SANDERS AND DEMPSEY LLP of Tysons Corner, Virginia, for legal services totaling $131,564 (stuff that Mike Godwin couldn't handle on his own)



Return on investments:

The WMF reported between $2.8 million and $6.2 million stuffed away in cash savings/investments. The interest on that was about $31,000. A net return on investment of somewhere between 0.5% and 1.1%.

[thekohser]

Folks, that was just a quick post to get people primed for the new sums. Those numbers posted above were from the PREVIOUS Form 990. This more recent one gives us a measuring stick over time:

Sue Gardner's total compensation:
$175,050 in 2008-09
$240,159 in 2009-10

During this time period, the U.S. unemployment rate went from 6.0% to 9.6%. Median household income did not grow, or slightly decreased, at around $49,800. That is, Gardner's personal income was nearly 5x the median household income, which includes many two-earner families. Her increase in compensation was 37.2 percent. By comparison, the CEOs of the S&P 500 during this same period saw their compensation decline 9 percent.

Mike Godwin's total compensation:
$128,139 in 2008-09
$133,209 in 2009-10

Compared to Sue, Mike received "only" an increase of 4.0 percent. Sue could have purchased a new 2009 Mercedes-Benz E Class sedan with her raise. Mike could have purchased a used 2005 Dodge Neon with his raise. Maybe that's why Mike Godwin left the Wikimedia Foundation.

Veronique Kessler's total compensation:
$121,859 in 2008-09
$135,844 in 2009-10

Veronique got an 11.5 percent raise -- about 2.75 times larger a raise than Godwin's, dollar for dollar.


Total revenue for the organization:
$8,137,235 in 2008-09
$16,254,866 in 2009-10

Revenues almost exactly doubled.

While program expenses a little more than doubled:
$3,308,546 in 2008-09
$7,503,956 in 2009-10

So that's why the ratio of program expenses to revenue rose from the practically criminal 40.66% to the simply shameful 46.2%.

Highest-paid contractors:

BRIDGESPAN GROUP of Boston, for consulting totaling $304,210.

FENTON COMMUNICATIONS of Oakland, for communications totaling $195,000.

SQUIRE SANDERS AND DEMPSEY LLP of Tysons Corner, Virginia, for legal services totaling $116,627 (stuff that Mike Godwin couldn't handle on his own).

Return on investments:

In this report, the WMF made only $11,205 in reportable investment income, even though by the end of the reporting year, they had $2,500,000 in savings and temporary cash investments. Still this year showed a huge increase in more diversified securities investments (about a $5.4 million increase). The "war chest" has grown from $8.2 million to $14.5 million. If Sue knows how to do one thing, it's squirreling away money into bank accounts and securities, rather than spending it on management of the sum of human knowledge.

PayPal:

PayPal made over $311,000 from all of the transactions that gullible donors made when giving to the Foundation.

Notes:

The organization still doesn't have a written document retention and destruction policy.

[taiwopanfob]

BRIDGESPAN GROUP of Boston, for consulting totaling $304,210.

I must be missing something here, as this appears to be a 501©(3) management consultant company. WTF? Are there 501©(3) oil refineries too? How do they disperse all of their money?

[Eva Destruction]

BRIDGESPAN GROUP of Boston, for consulting totaling $304,210.

I must be missing something here, as this appears to be a 501©(3) management consultant company. WTF? Are there 501©(3) oil refineries too? How do they disperse all of their money?

Bridgespan's a legit organization—the idea is that they teach charities (which are often run by enthusiastic amateurs with a hazy grasp of business) how to manage their staff, invest their money etc. Whether something with the size and reach of the WMF is what they had in mind is another matter, but the principle is sound. (I assume Bridgespan's argument would be that the cash they get from the WMF subsidizes their work with smaller groups, and that the WMF's argument would be that if they're going to buy in consultancy, better it goes to Bridgespan than into the shareholders' pockets of a private company.)

[Cock-up-over-conspiracy]

To me it looks like Bridgespan's exploits charities which are often run by enthusiastic amateurs with a hazy grasp of business but yet still managed to hit the vein of dumb donors ...

How many better ways to spend $300,000 ... and Paypal ... why not spend some of that $300,000 setting up your own donation channel that does not incur such high costs 2.9% + 20 ¢ a transaction (or whatever).

Perhaps I am just too stupid to understand these things