This really is not exactly the same. For nonprofits that do things like run big events, it's often a lot better to have 15 motivated event volunteers than 15 pa

This really is not exactly the same. For nonprofits that do things like run big events, it's often a lot better to have 15 motivated event volunteers than 15 part-time temps hired for the day. They're about equal in skill, but one is free and actually cares about the cause. I say this as someone who was involved in organizing many large events for an animal advocacy org in the Twin Cities metro. Volunteers are also better at many other tasks such as outreach, for example handing out leaflets. For that sort of thing you need a lot of bodies, and people who care about the cause will do a much better job. I say this as someone who spent about 19 years helping run a local animal advocacy org in the Twin Cities metro. Ironically, what we could have spent money on was hiring staff to reduce the load on people like me ;)