2009/10/8 Thomas Dalton <[email protected]>: > 2009/10/8 George Herbert <[email protected]>: >> The WMF is not entirely unique in that regard; many other charities >> are largely volunteer (cf Red Cross). > > According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cross#Activities: > > "Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve > with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National > Societies. And there are about 12,000 total full time staff members." > > That is a ratio of about 8,000 volunteers per staff member.
I think before we get too tied up in using the Red Cross as an example, we should note that it doesn't have ninety-two million volunteers; it has less than a quarter of that number. Most of them are not volunteers as we would meaningfully use the term, but are instead described variously as "members" or "supporters" - in other words, people who give money. "The Movement currently has some 97 million members and volunteers throughout the world, including some 20 million active volunteers" http://www.ifrc.org/voluntee/index.asp?navid=12 As to the 11,000 staff... well, the American Red Cross alone states that it has "more than half a million volunteers and 35,000 employees". I think we're on a bit of a hiding to nothing trying to make a meaningful comparison here, because we don't know how vaguely meaningful the source figures are, beyond "at least partly wrong". As to your second question, a tenth of that figure - about 30,000 - seems right as a number for "active volunteers"; it's about the order of magnitude of people active enough to vote for the Board, for example. -- - Andrew Gray [email protected] _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
