Tracking the Value of Volunteer Contributions

I was cautioned early in my career, never to say that volunteers save money.  Unless you are prepared to deduct all program expenses, it’s best to look at volunteers as enhancing services to clients and community and building organizational capacity.

Tracking volunteer hours is important to funders, good data for annual reports, and important when recognizing volunteer contributions.

The Independent Sector tracks the value of volunteer hours. The most recent figure is $19.51, which includes a 12 percent estimate for fringe benefit costs. This figure does not adequately account for  individuals who provide specialized skills like attorneys.

By 2010, almost 64 million boomers are poised to retire. They represent a highly educated work force. As they begin knocking on nonprofit doors and offering more specialized skills, it is in your organization’s best interest to find a simple way to track the value of these hours.

One way is way is to utilize volunteer management software.  My favorite is Volgistics. You determine the value of the job based on what the local market will bear, plug in the figure and the software does the rest. Volunteers enter hours through your website portal and they are downloaded into your database.

The Points of Light Foundation has created a free tool, a calculator, which makes it possible to estimate the appropriate wage rate for volunteer time based on the volunteer’s position.

The calculator is simple to use! You just need to search for the job description and enter the number of hours given by the volunteer. Repeat this process until all volunteer hours have been entered. The system will automatically calculate the total for each job category and for the total across all volunteer jobs.

Calculating the value of volunteer hours is just one step in measuring your volunteer program’s effectiveness.

For more information about tracking volunteer hours and determing their value, check out the following articles:
• “Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line,” by Dennis Walsh, CPA.
• “Pro Bono Work Pegged At $120/hour,”  The Nonprofit Times, March 30, 2009.

You Can Organize Volunteers with Free Online Tool

What is VolunteerSpot?

VolunteerSpot is a free, online sign-up tool that makes grass-roots volunteering easier.  Volunteer leaders now have the ability to easily and quickly mobilize and coordinate volunteers in their community, congregation or social network.

VolunteerSpot is the brain child of Karen Bantuveris, an Austin, Texas, management consultant who launched the website in the fall of 2008.   ”I got involved with volunteering through leadership positions in PTA and Scouts,” she said. “Anyone who has volunteered knows how difficult it can be to organize groups of people.  There are a lot of phone calls, sign-up sheets and back-and-forth e-mails. Good people sometimes stop volunteering because it’s such a hassle.”

How does VolunteerSpot work?

There are three simple steps.

1. The leader creates a schedule of volunteer needs on the online calendar and invites people to sign up with an e-mail.

2. Volunteers click a link to see what spots are available and choose when and how they want to help.

3. VolunteerSpot sends automated confirmation and reminder messages which help everyone keep their commitments.

Because all of this happens in real-time, the schedule is always current.  This significantly reduces coordination time and makes the process easier for everyone.

VolunteerSpot will always offer a free service to local-level volunteers. They will, however, charge corporations and groups wanting to brand the Web site, and will be adding premium features, such as hours tracking.

“We’re thrilled with the positive customer feedback and how fast we are spreading to new groups,” says Karen. “It feels good to already be helping so many people.”  

Volunteer leaders have received a real gift from this free management tool.   Karen’s goal is that grass-root groups and nonprofits from all over the United States will use their Web site to make a big difference in their communities.

Giving Is Good For Your Health

(ARA) – During times of economic downturn, you may have to dig a bit deeper into your pockets to make charitable contributions. However, you can still end up better off. In addition to the tax breaks giving can bring, as it turns out, giving is also good for your health.

“Several studies over the years have found links between altruistic behavior and improved physical and psychological health,” says Dr. Ann Vincent, an internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic who researches the mind-body connection. “In general, I think altruism makes people feel better about themselves, which often translates into improved physical health. Other benefits that have been attributed to positive emotions include: enhanced creativity and ability to cope with stress and broadened cognition. In essence, thinking positively about ourselves is good for our physical and mental health.”

But the benefits of giving, whether in the form of volunteerism or making a donation, aren’t just a one-time deal. The more you give, the better you may feel, and that means finding ways to give back throughout the year. Generosity is also a wonderful survival skill to help you get through difficult times in your life.

“Recent studies have examined individuals who have survived trauma, natural disasters and being prisoners of war,” says Dr. Edward T. Creagan, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic. According to Creagan, people who seem to thrive in adversity have many characteristics in common, but especially a few:

• A sense of connectedness. The recognition that family and community are crucial to survival.

• A sense of altruism, somehow sharing of themselves to make the lives of others a little bit better.

• An optimistic attitude and sense of humor.

If you have trouble motivating yourself to give time, money or goods, focus on how giving back can benefit you. “There is a ‘helper’s high’ that people sometimes say they feel in connection with altruism/philanthropy,” says Vincent. “But that initial euphoria is also sometimes followed by a longer-lasting period of improved emotional well-being.”

Philanthropy can also have positive effects that help people maintain or improve their physical and mental health. It often creates broader social networks, which can help people cope with stress and anxiety, and it can provide a sense of purpose and empowerment.

The emotional and physical benefits of philanthropy may be even more significant right now. Nonprofit organizations everywhere are increasingly looking for charitable individuals to partner with them in their goals for the future. Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit organization, is one of the world’s premier medical treatment and research facilities and is currently conducting a campaign to transform patient care, research and education. The gifts Mayo Clinic receives now will help people today, as well as benefit future generations of patients and medical professionals.

For more information on how giving can make a life-changing impact, visit www.mayoclinic.org/campaign.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Suffering From ‘Recession Depression?’ Try Volunteering!

(ARA) – Downsizing. Difficult. Depression. Dread. These are a lot of “D” words. But “D” words seem appropriate — even reflective — of the grade many of us might give our financial and mental states right now.

Corporate downsizing and increased unemployment can take a heavy toll on everyone. And the impact is more than economic. Difficult economic times also produce increased incidence of depression as well as a dread of dealing with personal finances.

Tough, even scary, news about our country’s worsening financial condition continues to bombard us from television and radio broadcasts, printed pages and the Internet. To compound the problem, many Americans without jobs have too much time to dwell on their misfortunes and seemingly bleak futures. A downward mental spiral can lead to a range of feelings from a general uneasiness to serious depression.

Clinical psychologist Mary Gresham says, “This is a scary time even for those who are not in an immediate crisis,” on the American Psychological Association’s Web site.

“Many people,” Gresham adds, “mistakenly believe that money stress can only be reduced by money itself … the more you think about money and how not to lose more of it, the more anxious you will become and the less likely you’ll be able to solve problems.”

This certainly seems to be sensible advice, but it provokes an obvious question: How do you stop thinking about money problems? And that query prompts a simple response: Think about something else.

Thinking about something else may be accomplished best by thinking about someone else.  Focusing on how you can make even a tiny effort to help another human being will immediately present a new perspective. Volunteering offers all kinds of benefits, some of them particularly important as we struggle to maintain our financial composure.

Research by the Corporation for National & Community Service has found that volunteering leads to greater life satisfaction, lower rates of depression and improved physical and mental health. It reported that “when patients with chronic or serious illness volunteer, they receive benefits beyond what can be achieved through medical care.”

American companies have taken this kind of research to heart and some even encourage employees to volunteer, offering them paid time off and company-supported volunteer opportunities. During the current economic downswing, this approach is more important than ever.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a member-based financial services company in Minneapolis, Minn., has gone so far as to form an alliance with Habitat for Humanity International called Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity. The company committed $125 million over four years to assist with and help administer the construction of hundreds of Habitat homes each year.

It then reached out to members and employees, encouraging them to volunteer on Thrivent Builds construction sites in the United States and abroad. One form of encouragement was to subsidize 50 percent of a limited number of days to volunteer through its “shared release time” policy. Another was to provide special discounts to members who wished to volunteer on Thrivent Builds sites in other countries. In providing these special benefits, Thrivent Financial was recognizing the importance of volunteering to the health and well-being of employees and members.

“We understand the life benefits that volunteering engenders,” says Brad Hewitt, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Thrivent Financial. “And our alliance with Habitat for Humanity also aligns well with our company’s values. We are committed to offering our members programs that engage their hearts, impact communities and demonstrate the value of their membership.”

“We’ve heard time and time again from member and employee volunteers just how delighted they are in their volunteer experiences,” adds Hewitt.

Another “D” word with a decidedly different spin.

Courtesy of ARAcontent