Wikipedia is big business in the form of a foundation.

Individual Donations: Over 8 million donors contribute the majority of the funding. Donation revenue specifically accounted for $189.5 million of the $208.6 million total revenue in 2024.

Wikimedia Enterprise: This commercial API product charges large tech companies (like Google) to use Wikipedia data at scale. It brought in $8.3 million.

Endowment & Investments: Long-term investment income and the Wikimedia Endowment generated the remainder of the funds.

The Foundation spends roughly $190.9 million annually. While critics often point out that basic web hosting and server costs only take up about $3.4 million, the vast majority of the budget goes toward standard operational costs for a massive global platform:

Programmatic Expenses (77.4%): Funding software development, site security, privacy infrastructure, and legal support.

Community Grants ($26.3 million): Funding localized initiatives, volunteer software development, and global wiki conferences.

Fundraising (11.4%): Managing banner operations, payment processing, and fundraising specialists.

General Administration (11.2%): Staff salaries and operational logistics for roughly 650 global employees.

Any excess revenue generated beyond these expenses is placed into the organization's working capital reserves to secure its long-term future.

I give Wikipedia a contribution each year.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/annualreports/2024-2025-annual-report/#toc-financial-accountability

Financial Accountability
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents 72,028,717
Contributions receivable, net 1,549,588
Investments 213,347,452
Restricted cash 503,336
Right of use asset - operating lease, net 530,951
Property and equipment, net 13,613,474
Prepaid expenses and other assets 9,220,899
Total assets $310,794,417
Liabilities and Net Assets
Liabilities:
Accounts payable 4,526,233
Accrued expenses 7,435,319
Deferred revenue 1,298,333
Lease liability 633,001
Donations payable to Wikimedia Endowment 187,674
Other liabilities 163,827
Total liabilities $14,244,387
Net assets:
Net assets without donor restrictions 292,735,030
Net assets with donor restrictions 3,815,000
Total net assets 296,550,030
Total liabilities and net assets $310,794,417
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.
Balance Sheet - Audited
July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025
Net assets without donor restrictions:
Operating support and revenue:
Contributions of cash and other financial assets 184,053,816
Contributions of nonfinancial assets and services 1,775,001
Wikimedia Enterprise revenue from contracts 8,297,917
Foreign currency losses (146,531)
Other income, net 2,323,435
Investment income, net 6,862,192
Release of net assets with donor restrictions 5,401,323
Total operating support and revenue 208,567,153
Operating expenses:
Salaries and benefits 114,039,077
Awards and grants 28,737,437
Internet hosting 3,474,785
In-kind service expenses 1,775,001
Donation processing expenses 8,252,081
Professional service expenses 15,904,262
Other operating expenses 7,683,682
Travel and conferences 6,478,914
Depreciation and amortization 4,592,768
Total operating expenses 190,938,007
Change in net assets 17,629,146
without donor restrictions
from operating activities
Nonoperating activities:
Unrealized gain on investments, net 9,246,817
Change in net assets 26,875,963
without donor restrictions
Net assets with donor restrictions:
Contributions with donor restrictions 3,520,000
Net assets released from restrictions (5,401,323)
Decrease in net assets with donor restrictions (1,881,323)
Increase in net assets 24,994,640
Net assets at beginning of year 271,555,390
Net assets at end of year 296,550,030
See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements