Wikimedia Foundation departments
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) maintains a professional staff to support the Wikimedia community and Wikimedia projects. The staff are organized under the leadership of the organization's Executive Director. They are primarily based at the organization's headquarters in San Francisco, USA, while some staff work remotely from other parts of the world.
The Wikimedia Foundation staff are organized into eight departments, each led by an executive. Some of the departments are composed of multiple teams and sub-teams.
The Office of the Chief Executive Officer includes the Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer and their immediate support staff.
The Advancement department leads the Wikimedia Foundation's fundraising and resource partnership efforts.
The Communications department leads the Foundation's efforts to openly and effectively share information—about the Wikimedia movement, the Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia Foundation's work itself—with a global audience including volunteer editors, site readers and other stakeholders.
The Finance and Administration department ensures responsible management of Wikimedia Foundation funds and resources, in keeping with our core values of transparency and accountability.
The Legal department oversees all legal matters for the Wikimedia Foundation and facilitates initiatives designed to support and grow the Wikimedia community and the Wikimedia projects. The department's work includes policy drafting, trademark law, copyright law, international law, employment law, litigation, fundraising and grant law, domestic and international contracts, privacy law, ethics, internet law, and non-profit corporate governance.
The department is also tasked with carrying forward the Foundation’s goals of advocating for the free knowledge movement, including fighting for content online, facilitating community discussions about critical Wikimedia Foundation policies, building and overseeing good governance where appropriate, and working to improve legal and legislative policy to aid the dissemination and use of free knowledge.
The Product and Technology department refers to the engineering, product, design, data science, and other technical teams employed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its mission is to build, improve and maintain the technical infrastructure of Wikimedia sites and projects (software and hardware), by supporting and complementing volunteer efforts.
The Talent and Culture department recruits and supports skilled, passionate people to advance the Wikimedia vision.
Past departments
editOver the history of the Wikimedia Foundation, there have been modifications to the composition of the staff departments.
- Product and Technology
- In 2022/2023, the Product and Technology departments were merged into one and went through an internal reorganization.
- Legal and Community Advocacy
- In 2015, the Legal and Community Advocacy department was split. The Legal team became its own department, and the Community Advocacy team joined the newly created Community Engagement department.
- Team Practices and Talent and Culture
- In 2016, the Team Practices and Talent and Culture department was split. Talent and Culture remained its own department, and the Team Practices team joined the existing Product department.