I just found out that Wikipedaa are registered as a non profit charity which enables them to avoid paying taxes. What makes this site able to be registered as a charity?
Wikipedia doesn't pay taxes because it is nonprofit. They do not make any money and their goal is to serve the common good. Just because you don't hand out free soup doesn't mean you aren't a charity. There are many ways of helping fellow man.
I've seen the creators of wikipedia on shows before. They are a nonprofit organization that relies on donations and volunteers to survive. What income do you think that they're making?
Their supreme goal is to serve the common good with out taking money for it. The only question is what profits Wikipedia's owners have on it? I believe claiming that they do not make any money on it would be very naive. What do you think about it?
Wikipedia is a non-profit charity. Non-profit charities are allowed to pay their employees (owners), after all, people can't work for free.
Of course they get paid a salary, but being a non-profit means there is some government oversight in the way they conduct their business. They have to register as a non-profit, and when they register they have to explain how their organization works, how salaries are determined, etc. The founders could be making much more money with other ventures, especially now that they are well-known in the tech community. Their resume would get them a lot further than most of ours would, and I'm sure venture capitalists would be more willing to fund a project by an established internet icon, so it's not like they aren't getting anything out of this.
well i was watching a show on the red cross and a lot of their high level employees make six figures a year...obviously they should get paid but not that much
Why not? Running a multi-million dollar non-profit organization is not something you want a low level person doing. To get top business people to run that organization, they need to be paid according to their skills and the market for those skills. The employees of a non-profit do not need to donate their time.
For the size of the Red Cross, a six figure income is a pay cut when compared to what private companies would pay board members for similarly sized (both in people and money) organizations. Red Cross gets around a million volunteers each year and has a member roster in the tens of millions. They have an annal budget of nearly 2 billion dollars. It would be nice if these people donated their time, but with something that large you cannot expect to get qualified people if you pay them nothing.
Wikipedia rely on donations, and general people to help edit and add information. They are nonprofit, and make no profit, and don't even try too. They often raise 6-7figure money for charity too.