Wikimedia Foundation—Paid departing CEO $623K severance, drew criticism for high nonprofit executive pay
The Wikimedia Foundation paid departing CEO Katherine Maher a severance package of $623,286 (about 1.5x her base compensation). Analysis showed total executive compensation from 2017-2022 placed WMF executives 'above the 95th percentile of US wage earners,' raising concerns about nonprofit governance.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Executive Compensation | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.221 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (low ×0.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Paid departing CEO $623K severance, drew criticism for high nonprofit executive pay
The Wikimedia Foundation paid departing CEO Katherine Maher a severance package of $623,286 (about 1.5x her base compensation). Analysis showed total executive compensation from 2017-2022 placed WMF executives 'above the 95th percentile of US wage earners,' raising concerns about nonprofit governance.