The Value of Volunteers--Quantified
It's easy to identify the terrible and significant ways the pandemic affected our world. One thing that's overlooked is how it diminished opportunities for volunteers to serve in nonprofits—sometimes to be “the face” of that nonprofit with members of the community. And while there's plenty of evidence, unfortunately not discussed often enough, that the ability to volunteer helps the one who volunteers, the financial impact of a volunteer continues to rise now that we’re moving past pandemic conditions.
Add to this the difficulty in personnel and inflation. This is led more nonprofits to become increasingly dependent on volunteers to ensure services are provided and missions met.
Independent Sector and the University of Maryland have produced their annual assessment of the quantifiable value of volunteering. Nationally, they estimated $31.80 per hour of work. What strikes me most immediately is that that appears to be nearly double the average minimum wage in the United States. But then if you think about it for a moment or two, it also gives immense weight to the financial contributions volunteers make even though no monetary transaction takes place.
Consider a volunteer working a job for 40 hours per week. That saves the nonprofit almost $1,300 in that seven-day period. And in a month, more than $,5000. And in a year more than $61,000 is saved by a volunteer doing the work but not receiving a paycheck. But let's go into a much more largesse viewpoint. For a nonprofit that has volunteers who are actively engaged on a regular basis, providing baseline support or interaction with those in need, 10,000 hours amongst all of your volunteers really isn't that much. At least in terms of the number of hours. But the quantifiable value is well over $300,000. That's the equivalent to four-to-six employees.
I think about all the meals volunteers serve at our local Ronald McDonald House. Every night, 365 days a year, volunteers are inside the house preparing meals for those families who have kids that need medical attention. You're going to get way north of 10,000 hours from that group alone. It becomes a major financial assistance. Moreover, in today's economic market, with increased wages and a limited workforce, for many nonprofits, volunteers are not a luxury, but essential.
All nonprofits should track this value. It tells a great story of how people support the organization from a community-wide perspective. It allows those who may not have financial resources to be philanthropic by giving of their time and talent. It also saves nonprofits immense amounts of money allowing them to continue their noble work due to the graces of those who are willing to support the organization by showing up and doing a job--and tells the community the value of not only those volunteers but what the organization provides to those in need.
