Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2023-10-03/News and notes

Wikimedia Endowment financial statement for 2016–2023 published
Following discussions at User talk:BilledMammal/2023 Wikimedia RfC and elsewhere (1, 2, 3), the Wikimedia Foundation has published a "Wikimedia Endowment Financial Statement" covering the period from 2016 to June 30, 2023 (pictured, click to enlarge). This is the time period during which the Endowment was held by the Tides Foundation.

The Foundation has thus fulfilled Jimmy Wales' promise to increase the Endowment's transparency (see previous Signpost coverage).

The statement was accompanied by the following summary:

A look at the figures shows that the Endowment suffered significant unrealized losses (almost $22 million) in 2022. The investments held by the Foundation itself also suffered that year (see Wikimedia Foundation financials).

To put this in context, readers should bear in mind that 2022 was one of the worst years for the financial markets in modern history. As Fortune reported:

According to Meta-Wiki, the Endowment is currently valued at $119 million. Documentation of the Endowment's policies and charters is available on the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki; there is also a Phabricator task aimed at setting up an Endowment namespace on that wiki to house all related documentation. – AK

Knowledge Equity Fund: 6 October community call
The Wikimedia Foundation's Equity Fund Committee has announced a community call concerning the upcoming third round of grantmaking from the controversial, $4.5 million Knowledge Equity Fund that provides grants to charitable and advocacy organizations. Concerns have focused on the fact that Wikipedia donors may not be aware that the Wikimedia Foundation spends several million dollars funding organizations outside the Wikimedia movement (see previous Signpost coverage).

The announcement posted on Wikimedia-l on 23 September read as follows:

– AK

Brief notes

 * New administrators: The Signpost welcomes the English Wikipedia's newest administrator, User:Hey man im josh. His RfA passed 315/3/0.
 * Articles for Improvement: This week's Article for Improvement (beginning 2 October) is The arts. It will be followed the week after by Superstition. Please be bold in helping improve these articles!