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Comment by yucky | Hacker News Reader

The money you contribute to the Wikimedia Foundation is managed (and strategically distributed) by The Tides Foundation. "Hey ChatGPT, tell me more about the Tides Foundation and their ideology."

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> In January 2016, the Foundation announced the creation of an endowment to safeguard its future. The Wikimedia Endowment was established as a donor-advised fund at the Tides Foundation, with a stated goal to raise US$100 million in the next 10 years.

> The Foundation itself has provided annual grants of $5 million to its Endowment since 2016. These amounts have been recorded as part of the Foundation's "awards and grants" expenses. In September 2021, the Foundation announced that the Wikimedia Endowment had reached its initial $100 million fundraising goal in June 2021, five years ahead of its initial target.

That's 2.7% of the money donated to the Foundation, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation#Wikimedia...

Yes. And the endowment is also moving off Tides now that it has its own approved 501(c)(3) status.

https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/10/26/governance-updates-for...

Can you please specify what it is that concerns you about the foundation?

Well, because Tides Foundation is a Donor Advised Fund[1], which is the Dark Money PAC equivalent in the non-profit world. That means when you donate to Wikimedia because you think you're supporting their infrastructure costs, what is actually happening is your donations are being funneled to other causes that you may or may not agree with by the Tides Foundation.

Why would anybody support that?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Donor-advised_fund

Thanks, that is interesting.

Tides Foundation - great view if you can visit in the Presidio SF; very smart people with a lot of actual experience.. stable, professional, highly recommended.

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