"WMF has operated in the past without staffing and with very minimal staffing, so clearly it's _possible_ to host a high traffic website on an absolute shoestring. But I would argue that an endowment, to actually be worthwhile, should aim for a significantly higher base level of minimal annual operating expenses, more in the order of magnitude of $10M+/year, to ensure not only bare survival, but actual sustainability of Wikimedia's mission."
Revenue goal for the current year has been set at $175 million. The WMF more than doubles its expenses every five years:
This is not about keeping Wikipedia online – it's about financing the growth of the Wikimedia organisation. Donors by and large are left quite unaware of this fact; they mostly think Wikipedia is in some sort of trouble.
Well, maybe the VP has a point. A "bloated" Wikimedia organization is probably at least more resistant to hostile takeover / being sued into oblivion / swamped by some sort of crisis than a shoestring one. The more people derive money and social status from running an independent Wikipedia, the more collective incentive there is to maintain the status quo, as opposed to accepting some juicy offer from Google which we'd all hate.
