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WIKITONGUES INC
NEW YORK, NY · EIN 471463955 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE B99 · Education · Small ($100K-$1M) · wikitongues.org
revenue
$367K
expenses
$248K
net assets
$205K
employees
2
volunteers
50
program ratio
69%
mission · from form 990

TO PREVENT LANGUAGE EXTINCTION, WIKITONGUES FIGHTS FOR EVERY LANGUAGE TO BE CELEBRATED, RESPECTED, AND INSTITUTIONALLY SUPPORTED. WE INVEST IN LANGUAGE ACTIVISTS, ACCELERATE ENDANGERED LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION, AND DEFEND MULTILINGUALISM WORLDWIDE.

profile · synthesized from sources

Wikitongues is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing language extinction by supporting language activists and revitalizing endangered languages worldwide. The organization maintains a crowdsourced archive of oral histories and language materials, offers toolkits and training for community-led documentation, and runs the Language Revitalization Fellowship to fund grassroots projects. It promotes multilingualism through public education, digital content, and partnerships with global archives.

irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2024

What they reported doing

  1. #1 primary $38K
    STORYTELLING - WIKITONGUES EDUCATES THE GENERAL PUBLIC ABOUT THE SCOPE AND VALUE OF MULTILINGUALISM THROUGH ORIGINAL CONTENT, PUBLIC EVENTS, AND OTHER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. IN 2024, WE PUBLISHED LANGUAGE VIDEOS TO AN AUDIENCE OF APPROXIMATELY 150,000 SUBSCRIBERS, TOTALLY 4 MILLION UNIQUE VIEWS. IN PERSON, WE ORGANIZED A LANGUAGE ACTIVIST ROUNDTABLE AND CO-HOSTED A JEWISH LANGUAGES WALKING TOUR IN NEW YORK CITY. WIKTIONGUES STAFF ALSO CO-AUTHORED A CHAPTER TO DESIGNING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: COMMUNITY-ENGAGED APPROACHES IN TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE.
named programs · 4 · from sources

What they call their work

Language Archive
Crowdsourced repository of oral histories and linguistic resources in over 800 languages, hosted on Wikitongues and shared with Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress, and YouTube based on licensing
Language Revitalization Fellowship
Annual cohort program providing funding, technical training, and mentorship to community leaders working to revitalize endangered languages through education, technology, and documentation
Language Sustainability Toolkit
Free downloadable guide offering step-by-step instructions for documenting languages, launching community programs, and using Wikimedia tools for language preservation
Wikitongues YouTube Channel
Educational content platform publishing language videos and stories to raise public awareness about linguistic diversity and language extinction
activities · 4 groups

What they do

  • Open Research Infrastructure & Publishing 1 activity
    • Develops and distributes language documentation and revitalization resources
      Creates and publishes practical tools and guides such as the Language Sustainability Toolkit, free documentation templates, and online platforms to support linguistic research and community-led language preservation efforts worldwide.
  • Archival Digitization and Preservation 1 activity
    • Hosts and maintains a public archive of language materials
      Operates a crowdsourced archive with over 1,000 oral history videos in more than 715 languages, including resources in 820 languages and a collection of 2,055 lexicons, oral histories, and other linguistic materials accessible to the public.
  • Indigenous and Diaspora Cultural Preservation 1 activity
    • Supports grassroots language documentation and revitalization projects
      Provides direct support for community-led efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, including the creation of educational resources such as translated children's stories with audio and illustrations, and technical tools like language-specific keyboards and online editors.
  • Uncategorized 2 activities
    • Operates the Language Revitalization Accelerator program
      Runs a year-long funded fellowship and accelerator program that provides selected language activists with $2,000 in funding, technical training, mentorship, and access to a global network to launch or grow community-based language documentation, education, media, and Wikimedia projects.
    • Produces and shares public educational content on multilingualism and language preservation
      Creates and publishes language videos and presentations for public education, reaching over 130,000 subscribers and 4 million unique views; engages global audiences through YouTube, podcasts, panel discussions, and international events such as TEDx and International Mother Language Day.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$367K
Contributions & grants$354K96%
Program service revenue$12K3%
Investment income$9500%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$248K
Program expenses69%
Admin / overhead16%
Fundraising14%
Salaries & benefits$150K
Grants paid out$14K
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$245K
Cash$220K
Investments$0
Liabilities$40K
Net assets$205K
Liquid reserves10.7 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +59.1%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 2
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
DANIEL ADRIAN UDELL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD MEMBER 10 $65K
KRISTEN TCHERNESHOFF PROGRAMS DIRECTOR 40 $65K
board members · 4
  • ALEKSANDRA PRZEGALINSKA — BOARD MEMBER
  • DARIO MAESTRO — BOARD MEMBER
  • FREDERICO AFRANGE DE ANDRADE — CHAIR
  • KAMAL EL-WATTAR — BOARD MEMBER
relationships · 11

Who they work with

  • 7,000 Languages Partner — Collaborates to host digital language courses for Tamazight varieties.
  • Binh Phan Partner — Collaborating with Sylvia Tkac on translating and localizing children's stories into Anindilyakwa with audio and illustrations.
  • CUNY Queens College Partner — Collaborated with Wikitongues to create an archival schema for managing and preserving linguistic data.
  • David Good Partner — Fellow leading a language revitalization project integrating Yanomami language with scientific education.
  • Jewish Language Project at Hebrew Union College Partner — Collaborated to record oral histories of critically endangered Jewish diaspora languages.
  • Library of Congress Government — Hosts select Wikitongues videos that meet specific archival standards.
  • Living Tongues Partner — Recipient of donated Poly technology and content; collaborates on language revitalization through the Living Dictionaries platform.
  • U.S. Treasury Government — References U.S. Treasury’s OFAC Sanctions List for compliance in grant distribution.
  • Wikimedia Partner — Supports language revitalization efforts through Wikimedia platforms, including the development of Wikipedia projects in under-resourced languages like Fon.
  • Wikimedia Commons Partner — Hosts Wikitongues videos licensed under CC-by-SA or more open licenses, enabling integration into Wikipedia pages.
  • Wikipedia Partner — Links to Wikipedia for additional information on Guarani.
strategies · 2

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Community-Led Language Revitalization Accelerator
    methodology: community_led_accelerator
    By investing in grassroots language activists through funding, training, and mentorship—particularly via a year-long accelerator program—the organization scales local revitalization efforts, because empowering community-rooted leaders leads to more sustainable and culturally authentic language preservation.
  • Crowdsourced Community Documentation with Open Tools
    methodology: crowdsourced_documentation
    By providing free documentation tools and maintaining a crowdsourced archive of oral histories, the organization enables community-led language preservation, because lowering technical and financial barriers allows speakers and local activists to directly contribute to and control their linguistic heritage.