Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for 2010 - no riches in nonprofit salaries

The Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 (fiscal year 2009) has been made available. I seem to be one of the few people who reads these things, so perhaps a blog post about it won't be completely redundant. As I explained in my post last year about "Wikimedia Foundation Form 990, Jimmy Wales Speaking Fee $75,000+ ("salary")":

For people unfamiliar with this, a "form 990" is an IRS disclosure form required for charities. And it's often full of interesting financial information. Definitely worth a look if you're interested in the internal workings of an organization. Particular in terms of what people are paid.

We finally get to find out what Sue Gardner, Executive Director, receives for being ringmaster of the wiki-circus: $150,000 base salary, $6,350 benefits, and $18,700 of what looks to be a one-time housing relocation expense.

That's decent money in general in the midst of a recession, but in a relative sense, it strikes me as quite reasonable for the position, especially in Silicon Valley. The salaries of any technical people aren't given this time, per their FAQ "The requirements for inclusion on this schedule are more specific than in prior years. [requirements then specified]". But it can't be all that much, given those requirements.

It does point out again, though, that there just isn't a whole lot of money in the nonprofit per se. Apparently the way to (try to) get rich is using Wikipedia for publicity, to promote oneself for lecture fees, or a venture-capital funded start-up.

Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog (Wikipedia, Google, censorware, and an inside view of net-politics) - Syndicate site (subscribe, RSS)