Endowment:Meetings/February 8, 2024

Agenda

5:00 - 5:05 pm UTC: Welcome (Board Chair, Jimmy Wales)

Approval of July 20, 2023 meeting minutes

5:05 - 6:40 pm UTC: Committee Updates and Actions

Governance Committee (Chair, Peter Baldwin)
- Approval: Creation of audit committee
- Discussion and vote on Endowment Board Candidate Laura Duchatelet

Community & Grantmaking Committee (Chair, Phoebe Ayers)
- FY23-24 Grantees progress report (CEO, Maryana Iskander)
- Presentations by Denny Vrandečić (Abstract Wikipedia), Chris Albon (Machine Learning), Amanda Bittaker (Kiwix), Selena Decklemann (Wikidata)
- Update on Product & Technology’s overall strategy (Chief Product & Technology Officer, Selena Decklemann)
- Funding proposal (Caitlin Virtue)

Finance Committee (Chair, Annette Campbell-White)
- Approval: Adoption of investment policy statement
- Investment performance and budget update

6:40 - 7:05 pm UTC: Fundraising Update

Fiscal Year 2023-2024 year to date performance update, planned giving highlights, and endowment campaign

7:05 - 8:10 pm UTC: Wrap-up and Q&A

Confirm Next Meetings

8:10 pm UTC: Adjourn

Minutes

Endowment Board Meeting Minutes

Thursday, February 8, 2024 – 5:00 PM UTC

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Wikimedia Endowment, a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation, was held at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation office in Rockefeller Center in New York, NY and virtually (via web conference) on February 8, 2024 at 5:00 PM UTC. The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Phoebe Ayers, Peter Baldwin, Annette Campbell-White, Alex Farman-Farmaian, Michael Kim, Lisa Lewin, Patricio Lorente, Jimmy Wales, and Doron Weber. Also present at the meeting were: Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Jayde Antonio, Stephen LaPorte, Amy Parker, Dhaval Patel, Caitlin Virtue, and Eliza White. Maryana Iskander, Selena Deckelmann, Chris Albon, Amanda Bittaker, and Denny Vrandečić were present for portions of the meeting. Lisa Seitz Gruwell, Jayde Antonio, Anette Campbell-White, Michael Kim, Lisa Lewin, Amy Parker, Doron Weber, and Eliza White were in-person at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York. All others attended virtually. Jimmy Wales acted as Chair of the meeting. Stephen LaPorte acted as Secretary of the meeting. The meeting was called to order, and based on the number of directors in attendance at the meeting, the Secretary determined that a quorum was present and determined that the meeting could proceed.

Summary of Actions

Welcome (Jimmy Wales)

Greetings of in-person and virtual attendees
Approved minutes from July 20, 2023 (Stephen LaPorte)
- Based on a motion by Michael Kim, seconded by Annette Campbell-White, the Board members present unanimously approved the following resolution:

Resolved, that the Board of Directors approves the minutes from the July 20, 2023 meeting.

Committee Updates and Actions

Community & Grantmaking Committee (Phoebe Ayers)
FY22-23 Grantees progress report (Maryana Iskander)
Presentations by Denny Vrandečić (Abstract Wikipedia)
- The Abstract Wikipedia team is currently using Wikidata via Wikifunctions in mitigating irregular forms, while simultaneously updating the functionality of Wikipedia, as well as within NLG/itself, in allowing function calling from all Wikimedia wikis.
Chris Albon (Machine Learning)
- Machine Learning’s new infrastructure will allow for large language model opportunities, such as article description, checking edit references, and more.
Amanda Bittaker (Kiwix)
- The Kiwix team released a new version of Kiwix-Android (8.3.1) but ran into issues with the Google Play Store disallowing offline Wikipedia content from being imported into the device via USB due to file size.
Selena Deckelmann (Wikidata)
- The Wikidata team has made improvements to the Mismatch Finder by better modeling and organizing data; data ontology is to be reworked via EntitySchemas and through the implementation of online Data Modeling Days.
Update on Product & Technology’s overall strategy (Selena Decklemann)
Funding proposal (Caitlin Virtue)

Governance Committee (Peter Baldwin)
Approval: Creation of the Audit Committee
- Based on a motion by Michael Kim, seconded by Annette Campbell-White, the Board members present unanimously approved the following resolution:

Resolved, that the Board of Directors adopts the charter creating the Audit Committee for the Wikimedia Endowment pursuant to Article II of the Bylaws.

Resolved, that the Board of Directors amends the charter of the Finance Committee for the Wikimedia Endowment.

Resolved, that the Board shall appoint at least three members of the Committee, including at least one member of the Board to serve as a member of the Audit Committee.

Discussion and vote on Endowment Board Candidate Laura Duchatelet
- Based on a motion by Lisa Lewin, seconded by Alex Farman-Farmaian, the Board members present unanimously approved the following resolution:

Resolved, that the Wikimedia Endowment Board appoints Laura Duchâtelet to the Endowment Board, for a term beginning on 8 February 2024 and continuing until 8 February 2027, or until the Endowment Board appoints a replacement for their respective seat, whichever comes first.

Finance Committee (Chair, Annette Campbell-White)
- Approval: Investment Policy Statement
  - Based on a motion by Alex Farman-Farmaian, seconded by Jimmy Wales, the Board members present unanimously approved the following resolution:

Resolved, the Board of Directors approves and adopts the Wikimedia Endowment Investment Policy.

Investment performance and budget update
- As of December 31, 2023, the Endowment was valued at $130 million as of December 31, 2023.

Fundraising Update (Amy Parker and Caitlin Virtue)
- A FY23-24 YTD performance update was given including planned giving highlights, as well as upcoming plans for the current endowment campaign.

Wrap-up and Q&A (Lisa Seitz Gruwell)
- WMF staff proposed the distribution of its ongoing trends report to meet Endowment Board requests for regular technology updates.

There being no other business to consider, the meeting was adjourned at 3:01 PM New York local time.