[Foundation-l] Charity Navigator rates WMF

[Thomas Dalton]

2009/10/8 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 2009/10/8 George Herbert <george.herbert at 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.