Who hasn't looked at Wikipedia for any information? Now, the online encyclopedia par excellence is on its way to its end due to its financial problems , according to El Confidencial. The company's editor since 2006, Guy Macon, has published a report in which he warns that if the project continues to receive as few donations as it currently does, its viability will be in danger.
The Wikimedia Foundation is the collective of all editions of the encyclopedia, which receives a total of 16 billion visits. The company spends 2 million dollars a year, which is equivalent to 1.78 million euros. In total, it has 300 employees, and its total expenditure has increased by 85% in the last three years.
Macon noted in the report that “nothing can grow forever ,” and that sooner or later “something will happen” that will cause the few donations they receive to decrease rather than increase. Despite this, the company’s editor has been clear: “ Wikimedia will not respond by cutting expenses, but by increasing efforts to increase funding while burning through our reserves and our legacy.”
The editor also denounces the corruption that has existed for years around the company , which has not helped the economic growth of the encyclopedia, but rather has enriched a class of professional bureaucrats. Thus, the veteran editor advises the company to be more transparent about the economic pillars behind the encyclopedia.
Wikimedia says its current budget for 2016 and 2017 includes expenses bosnia and herzegovina phone number worth $63 million (53.03 million euros), a figure already lower than the previous period's expenses. At the end of 2016, they managed to spend about $5.4 million (4.8 million euros) less than budgeted. Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson Samantha Lien has assured that this money goes into more than just "maintaining servers." The team contributes to the growth of the encyclopedia , providing technical support and working from the different websites (Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikimedia Commons...) to give the best possible service.
Regarding donations, Lien noted that more than five million people donated money to Wikipedia in 2016, with an average of $15 (just over €13). “We have not seen this trend slow down in recent years.” He also assured, in response to Macon, that transparency is one of Wikimedia’s guiding principles as an organization and that they publish numerous financial and fundraising reports.
Despite Lien's statements, the company is aware of the need to protect itself for the future and encourage donations to the encyclopedia , in order to increase a permanent fund to avoid possible problems for the foundation in the long term. This donation project is called the Wikipedia Endowment, and the goal is to make it "a more permanent source of funding for Wikimedia projects."