2009/10/8 Anthony wikimail@inbox.org:
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
2009/10/8 George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com:
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.
The Wikimedia movement has perhaps 40 staff including the WMF and chapters. At the same ratio, that would give us 320,000 volunteers. I don't know how many volunteers we have, but I think it is rather more than that.
Depends how you define "volunteers". How many people were eligible to vote in the last board election? I have no idea the number, but I guess that's a reasonable definition of "volunteers".
Indeed, it is difficult to define fairly. The board election requires you to be an active volunteer that has already contributed significantly - I expect the 97 million figure is broader than that.