Editors and volume editors of the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe as well as the members of the Commission for Social and Economic History in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities worked on an honorary basis. Other editorial assistants and specialists were paid.

The editorial work of the Max Weber Complete Edition was mainly funded as a project by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities within the framework of the so-called “academy program” by the Federal Republic of Germany together with the Free State of Bavaria and the respective federal host states. Since 1996/97, this has affected the funding of the edition areas “Economy and Society” (8 volumes, completed in 2015), “Letters” (11 volumes, completed in 2019) and the “Lectures” (7 volumes, completed in 2020) as well as the general editorial office in Munich .

The volumes of the complete edition were also supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, through foundation endowments (e.g. Werner-Reimers-Stiftung, Fritz Thyssen-Stiftung or Berthold Leibinger Stiftung) and, last but not least, by private donations.

The publishing house Mohr-Siebeck financed the printing of the volumes and some of the editorial meetings.