Remember that there is a lot of anti-Wikipedia propaganda going around these days. Most "outrage" against Wikipedia is created and pushed artificially.

If Elon doesn’t like it then you know Wikipedia is good.

Wikipedia, being a free source of information, is an incredibly important resource and a net good for humanity. But since Wikipedia is free for all they rely on donations to keep the lights on.

There are groups who would prefer it if that free access to information did not exist, or could be more easily be controlled and/or manipulated. It is in their interest to convince people not to donate to Wikipedia

I'm convinced that this "don't donate to Wikipedia" messaging that has cropped up in recent years is a psyop, set up by these groups with the goal to starve Wikipedia of income.

Don't fall for it. Support one of the last truly good places on the internet.

In the current day and age of misinformation I think donating is more important than ever. It doesn't need to be much.

I give small monthly donations to three things:

• Wikipedia
• EFF
• Internet Archive

I give through my employer which matches donations. You should look into whether that's available since it'll double the amount.

Decentralized truth is essential to human freedom. It's not enough to just run wikipedia as a bare bones site, they need to be able to adapt to the times and maybe even fund new projects with the same goals. For people who actually care about the future, it's hard to think of a better use of the money.

I’ve increased the amount I donate since the campaign to discredit them has been in effect.

Maybe they aren’t perfect, but I don’t like the idea of a world without such a wonderful resource being freely available to everyone no matter their background or financial status.

I used it a lot as a student but couldn’t afford to donate then. I don’t use it directly a lot these days, but I’m sure indirectly it contributes to articles I read, & I can afford to donate now, so I try to pay it back & some.

Information is power, & those in/with power seem to currently be trying their best to bring everyone else down. Any small thing I can do to help prevent that is a win in my book.

This question got asked a couple years ago and I said what I found in their reported finances. Unless something changed over the last couple years, they likely still need the money.

Reddit users and now lemmy users seem to have a riotous distaste for non-profits generally.

Wikipedia is one of the last, good parts of the internet, and it's under increasing threat.

Wikipedia is being actively attacked by fascists who dont want it to exist or be well maintained. More important than ever. Criticism can be safely ignored.

I'm also curious about this. If there are any transparency reports, I'd love to read through that.

The Wikimedia Foundation are trying to implement some AI solutions (for helping humans, not write articles/information), which is likely quite costly, unless someone donates it. However, I imagine many others' scrapers for AI are constantly demanding a lot from the Wikipedia servers since some years ago, probably resulting in increased costs. Hopefully the AI builders use a local copy of the torrent instead, but I fear they don't...

I'm still happily donating though, as I think the Wikipedia Foundation are still doing a solid job, despite me not always agreeing with their decisions.

Always fund Wikipedia if you have the ability to

It may not need a donation at any given time, but given how volatile things are in the USA right now, there's every chance they might find themselves needing to suddenly spend a lot on lawyers

It's arguably one of the most important resources we have as humanity. It's imperative we protect it.

I do not have the means to donate to things that I care about. Most weeks, the difference between overdrafting my bank account or not is literally a few cents. I donate the $3.10 every time the pop up shows up on Wikipedia. I'm sure there are other organizations that need the money more, but I think Wikipedia is SO important, and so far has remained earnest in their behavior. Proud of you for donating what you could, glad I could help a little bit too.

Be well, friend

If the only non-profit you care about is the Wikimedia Foundation, then yeah donate.
But otherwise, go donate to other non-profits as Wikimedia is the least needy of the foundations (they are one of the most "well off" of the non-profits in the world afterall

I simultaneously believe that Wikipedia is valuable and that it's not clear that WMF needed $185 million dollars.

As far as I can tell the situation has not significantly changed since "the last time(s)" this was discussed. Wikipedia remains a valuable resource, and WMF continues to aggressively increase both spending and fundraising revenue. Whether you think that means you should donate or not is probably the same answer as it was several years ago for most individuals based on personal preferences.

edit: typo

Usually its the far right or tankies that hate wikipedia, it seems pretty neutral for the most part.

I give them a little every year, and do not consider it a waste at all. I give $ each month to the community radio station with local news on it too.

Those free nonprofit media companies are important. They are the voice of the people.

I find it valuable and worth supporting, so I donate a dollar a month. It’s not much, but I want to contribute (monetarily, in addition to editing)

Do you use it?

Donate. I donate $5/mo. Gonna bump it up to $10/month soon.

I'm another monthly donor. I use Wikipedia nearly every day and appreciate the effort that goes into maintaining it.

Making a monthly contribution. Who knows where the money goes but I've never heard of a wiki project I disapproved of and there is a lot to like about what they do.

I don't know if they "needed" donations in the past, but the America right wing fascists have just taken aim at it. So they are going to need money to defend themselves.

Lets say they are being very stupid in how they handle their money. They spend as much as they get every year. If they get more money, they spend more money. From the graph you can see that donation growth is slowing down, because of course it does, it cant just grow forever. The questions is whether they can lower their expenses when the donations inevitably shrink, or if they will sacrifice Wikipedia (the thing that people actually donate for) in favor of all the other things they are spending money on.

A completely different perspective on this is that you should ask yourself whether the Wikimedia Foundation really is the organization/charity that needs your money the most. Or more bluntly, i am 100% certain that there are better things to donate to than the Wikimedia Foundation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising_statistics
Black: Net assets / Green: Revenue (Donations) / Red: Expenses

It's good to see Fediverse people actually supporting paying for something. Sometimes I think they want everything for free.

I love Wikipedia and have donated a lot of time and money, but damn is their foundation wasteful

I'm not giving money to Wikipedia anymore until they move out of the United States personally.