The value of a volunteer is priceless, so how does one put a concrete value on volunteer work? Thanks to a recent report carefully put together by Independent Sector, it is possible to calculate the dollar value of volunteering – and you won’t believe the results!
Breakdown of the Dollar Value of Volunteering
Details from the most recent Independent Sectors report include:
- The dollar amount for volunteering now stands at $24.14/hr.
- That’s a 2.4% increase from 2015
- Nearly 63 million Americans volunteered in 2016
- These volunteers donated 8 billion hours total
- Calculated together, American volunteers contributed about $193 billion to the nation in 2016!
The Dollar Value of Volunteering in Hawaii
The most recent dollar value for volunteering in the state of Hawaii is:
- $23.80/hr. in 2016
- That’s a 2% increase over 2015
[bctt tweet=”Just 2 hours of #volunteering per week for 6 months contributes over $1,237.00 worth of work!” username=”HandsOn_Maui_”]
This means even a few hours of volunteering can really add up over time. To put it another way: a Maui resident who volunteers just 2 hours per week for 6 months contributes over $1,237.00 worth of work to our island community!
How the Dollar Value of Volunteering is Calculated
According to the Independent Sector, the above values were calculated based on, “approximate hourly earnings of all production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls,” provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They then indexed this value according to each state and increased it by 12% to account for benefits.
The result? A concrete dollar value that really puts the impact of volunteering into perspective! For example, just this summer, the County of Maui Volunteer Center calculated the volunteer impact of a storm drain project at $720.
