2009/10/8 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
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.
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.