The value of a volunteer’s time is priceless. Their selfless work is what keeps our nonprofits running. It is therefore critical to make volunteer recruitment as seamless as possible. That’s why the County of Maui Volunteer Center provides our community with the GetConnected portal, a free Virtual Volunteer Center that connects potential volunteers with agencies and opportunities with just a few clicks. Thanks to GetConnected, a recent storm drain painting project was a huge success. One day, $720 of volunteer time. This is a GetConnected success story.
The Value of Volunteer Time
It can be hard to pin down a single value that volunteers provide, but the Corporation for National and Community Service has placed an average value of $24 per hour of volunteer work in 2017. This not only acknowledges the incredible impact that millions of American volunteers offer every year, it also helps agencies track the financial value of their volunteers’ time.
Calculating the Value of GetConnected for the Storm Drain Painting Event
Last month, in honor of World Oceans Day, the County of Maui hosted a storm drain painting project to help protect our coastal waters from pollution. Of the 30 total event volunteers, 10 signed up through the HandsOnMaui.com GetConnected platform, putting in 3 hours of work each. Using the 2017 hourly value provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service of $24, that comes out to:
10 volunteers x 3 hours worked x $24 per hour = $720 worth of volunteer work from GetConnected in a single day.
[bctt tweet=”HandsOn Maui’s GetConnected provided $720 worth of volunteer work in a single day!” username=”HandsOn_Maui_”]
That is 1/3 of the total value of the entire project – likely more, because of the hours and effort saved in the recruitment process.
The GetConnected Impact
The positive impact of the GetConnected portal goes far beyond the number of volunteers who sign up for an event. GetConnected also generates interest in an agency, promotes awareness of volunteering on Maui, and helps save agencies dozens of hours of volunteer recruitment time.
For example, the Storm Drain need listing on GetConnected resulted in:
- 28 agency views (people getting more familiar with the Volunteer Center)
- 299 need views (people interested in the storm drain project via the Needs listing)
- 18 event views (people interested in the storm drain project via the Events calendar)
In addition, volunteers who signed up through GetConnected arrived on time and better-prepared than many of their peers. They had the advantage of the event listing’s supply list, start time, location, and even direct communication with the event coordinator.
The County of Maui Volunteer Center’s GetConnected platform is so much more than a bulletin board of volunteer opportunities. It is a virtual community that saves volunteers, agencies, and the County of Maui, valuable time and money. It’s impact on the recent Storm Drain painting event illustrates its value – and the value of Maui’s volunteers.
Looking for volunteers, or upcoming volunteer opportunities? Maui nonprofits and volunteers are encouraged to visit www.handsonmaui.com to learn more and sign up to our GetConnected volunteer portal — it’s free!
