[tim--]

The Wikimedia Endowment [0] has been created for this. From it's Financials [1] it mentions that

> ... [its mission is...] to act as a permanent fund that can support in perpetuity the operations and activities of current and future Wikimedia projects, which are projects that are approved by and advance the purposes of the Foundation or its successor if the Foundation ceases to exist

[0] https://wikimediaendowment.org/

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/f/f6/Wikim...

[realharo]

But Wikipedia only really exists as long as there are editors of a certain quality and dedication. Without those, what good is the foundation?

[tim--]

The Wikimedia Endowment (which is sorta-kinda separate) is to drive solutions to that exact problem.

By having a separate fund that the Wikimedia Foundation can access to help Wikipedia to have the technical expertise and knowledge workers required to continue the work of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Should the Wikimedia Foundation cease to exist, the funds in the endowment can be redirected to a successor.

EDIT: this is similar in style to the UK's Guardian Foundation, who provides funding to The Guardian newspaper. https://theguardianfoundation.org/

[tsimionescu]

The point is that without Wikipedians adding and improving articles, Wikipedia will die, even if the site could be kept up indefinitely. So it has to remain a relatively wide social phenomenon, an obscure Wikipedia that no students know about and care to use will knowledge rot, even if it doesn't but rot.