It has indeed been raising an endowment for several years, but every time I ask them to structure the endowment so that the WMF cannot legally dip into the principal when times get bad the answer is "maybe next year".
If the endowment is just one more account that can be drained at will we have no protection from a sudden drop in revenue while the WMF maintains the current spending levels in the hope that revenue will recover.
I also looked into whether the endowment is legally protected against a large payout as a result of a lawsuit. I am not a lawyer, but it looks like the WMF needs to structure the endowment so that the WMF cannot legally dip into the principal to get that sort of protection.
Full disclosure: I am the author of the Wikipedia essay "Wikipedia has cancer".
If the endowment is just one more account that can be drained at will we have no protection from a sudden drop in revenue while the WMF maintains the current spending levels in the hope that revenue will recover.
I also looked into whether the endowment is legally protected against a large payout as a result of a lawsuit. I am not a lawyer, but it looks like the WMF needs to structure the endowment so that the WMF cannot legally dip into the principal to get that sort of protection.
Full disclosure: I am the author of the Wikipedia essay "Wikipedia has cancer".