Adding an Organization to Wikidata

Wikidata is the largest free knowledge database and a Wikipedia's sister project. Unlike Wikipedia, an organization is not described in nice sentences here, but rather presented in individual statements.

The Wikidata data can then be freely used. For example, the data can be read in Wikipedia's infoboxes or graphs can be created. Queries can also be embedded in external pages. This is how the data for the list of largest organizations is pulled directly from Wikidata.

Here's a brief guide on how to add and maintain a nonprofit organization (whether association, foundation, nonprofit LLC, nonprofit corporation...) on Wikidata. For this, you should create your own account. The account can be used for both Wikipedia and Wikidata. A general introduction is also available on Wikidata itself.

1. Creating an Organization

First, check if the organization already exists. Simply use the search function for this. If there's already an entry, verify that it's correct. Often there are entries like SOS Children's Villages, which don't represent the German organization but rather provide a general explanation of SOS Children's Villages. The German organization SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. is then a separate entry.

If the organization doesn't exist yet, you can create a new data object. The basic data includes:

  1. Label
    The official name of the organization without legal form like "e.V." or "LLC".
  2. Description
    A brief description that prevents confusion. For example, "aid organization based in Bonn" or "German section of Amnesty International"...
  3. Aliases
    Optionally, aliases such as the organization's common name can be entered.

2. General Information

Every organization should have the most important general information so it can be identified as a nonprofit organization.

Important information should be accompanied by a source as reference. At minimum, a URL of the source and a date (accessed on) should be entered. A title, page number, date... can also be provided.

  • instance of (P31)
    A general indication of what this actually is. Commonly used is: nonprofit organization (Q163740).
  • inception (P571)
    Founding date as year or complete date.
  • legal form (P1454)
    Legal form such as registered association (Q9299236), foundation (Q18631225), nonprofit LLC (Q1500859), nonprofit corporation (Q1500848).
  • country (P17)
    Country such as Germany (Q183).
  • headquarters location (P159)
    Organization's headquarters. Can be enhanced with geographic coordinates.
  • official website (P856)

3. Financial Figures

The most important financial figures can be found and entered from annual reports or public databases.

Since these are variable numbers, each figure must include the fiscal year as point in time (P585).

  • revenue (P2139)
    All income for a year. Usually found in the profit and loss statement.
  • donations (P8093)
    Sum of monetary donations, in-kind donations, bequests, endowments, supporting memberships, and fines. Tracked by DZI, for example.
  • total assets (P2403)
    Sum of assets or liabilities in the balance sheet.
  • endowment (P6589)
    Inalienable foundation capital of a foundation.

4. Personnel Numbers

Additionally, information about the number of active people in an organization can be provided.

  • number of employees (P1128)
    Number of actually employed persons (not full-time equivalent) at a specific point in time.
  • member count (P2124)
    Number of voting members of an association.
  • number of volunteers (P6125)

5. Contact Information

In addition to the website, information about social networks can be provided, which is included here. Cividata currently displays Instagram (P2003), LinkedIn (P4264), TikTok (P7085), YouTube (P2397) and Facebook (P2013). Additional networks may be added later.

6. Additional Information

There are many other interesting details that can be provided. Particularly about active people such as management, chairpersons, and founders. However, only people who already have a Wikidata entry can be added. Often, the person must first be created, which makes the task quite time-consuming.

  • part of (P361)
    Part of an organizational network. For example, Amnesty International Germany is part of Amnesty International.
  • member of (P463)
    Organization's memberships. For example, NABU is a member of the German Nature Conservation Ring.
  • founder (P112)
    The people who founded an organization, such as the founder.
  • chairperson (P488)
    Presiding member of an organization such as the president or board member.
  • chief executive officer (P169)
    CEO, General Secretary...

I would be happy if more people from the nonprofit sector would nurture and maintain Wikipedia and Wikidata.

If you'd like to do more here, just contact me. I'm happy to help you get started in this digital volunteering.