GRANTS: HOW TO VALUE VOLUNTEER HOURS?
Updated: Jan 18, 2025
Volunteers like the ones pictured above from the Salvation Army are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. Where does the value of volunteer hours come from? We know charities can’t live without volunteers. Volunteer hours provide valuable human capital. Certain types of volunteer hours can even be booked as revenue on your financial statements. And, volunteers also tend to donate at higher levels. And, did you know, volunteer power-by-the-hour can be leveraged as match in most grant programs? What is volunteer time worth? Is a doctor’s donated hour the same as a data entry clerk’s? And, why does it matter?
USING VOLUNTEER HOURS AS GRANT MATCH
What makes volunteer time the hour of power? We’re talking about the power to leverage more grant funding by making a higher matching contribution. If you don’t put a value on volunteer time, you’re missing a key piece of the fundraising puzzle. And this one is pretty easy to measure! The gold standard for valuing volunteer labor is: The Independent Sector’s Value of Volunteer Time. When writing a grant proposal follow these steps:
Find out if the funder accepts in-kind matching contributions (as opposed to cash only match).Estimate how many volunteer hours will go into the project (be conservative; it is far, far better to under promise and over deliver!).Put a value on the volunteer time using the Independent Sector’s site (this assumes you’re using general labor – if your project involves a donation of professional services such as accountants, attorneys, appraisers, or craftsmen then see the next segment below).Add the in-kind matching contribution as a line item to your proposal budget.Document the volunteer time with time sheets signed off by the organization.
WHERE CAN I SHOW THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEER HOURS?
Demonstrating to potential donors and funders your nonprofit’s substance, stature, and community dedication to your cause is so important. An all-volunteer organization has an incredible resource of free labor. Accounting professionals (like the blogger here) knows, FAS 116 and FASB, Accounting Standards Update 2013-06, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958) (April 2013) generally doesn’t allow non-professional volunteer hours to be booked as revenue on the financial statements. BUT, the value of volunteer hours can be used in annual reports, marketing materials, and, of course, in proposals for grant funding.
Defined as services requiring specialized skills provided by accountants, attorneys, carpenters, doctors, electricians, nurses, plumbers, teachers, and other professionals and craftsmen.Booked as revenue on financial statements IF the professional contributed their specialized skills (donated service), AND the organization would have otherwise had to pay for the service.May be reflected as in-kind grant match on financial and performance reports.Defined for Independent Sector purposes as: non-management, non-agricultural workers.Not booked as revenue on financial statements, BUT may be reflected in annual reports, marketing materials, etc.May be reflected as in-kind grant match on financial and performance reports.
So what? So, when a doctor, attorney, accountant, plumber, or anyone with a specialized skill volunteers, the value of his/her work is based on the volunteer hours of work actually done – NOT on the individual’s earning power. In other words, if a doctor is painting a fence, or an electrician is sorting groceries, he/she is not performing their specialized skill for the nonprofit. The value of that hour is the value of general unskilled labor and is not counted as revenue. However, if the doctor is performing his/her specialized skills for the nonprofit (i.e., treating sick children as part of the charity’s mission), the cost the nonprofit would otherwise pay for the doctor’s services is recorded as revenue on the books.
THE TAKEAWAY…
Lessons here: Don’t forget about the value of in-kind donated services when applying for grant funding or recording revenue on your books! Matching funds are required by grantors more and more (especially government), and, even when not required, showing the value of your human resources is very persuasive. Volunteer time or donated services can be a great source of your cost-share.
The topic of connecting technical ideas with hands-on learning gives me a few things to think about, especially when the discussion moves beyond general advice. Trying a simple task can reveal which parts of an explanation still feel unclear. I would use that point as a starting question when considering technical skills education. I am more curious about the process than a polished result, because the steps in between are usually where questions appear. How would you connect a practical exercise with the reasoning behind each step?
I can see why learning cooperation through secondary school projects would invite discussion, since different people will bring different experiences to the same question. Comparing different approaches can help a group see options it would otherwise miss. For me, that is a useful way into the broader subject of secondary school collaboration. I can imagine different answers depending on the situation, so I would want to understand the context before drawing conclusions. How do students decide which approach to try while keeping everyone involved?
I find building confidence in continuing education easier to think about when there is a concrete question to start from. A manageable first assignment can help learners understand the pace and expectations of a course. This is why I would approach continuing education skills with a specific question rather than a fixed expectation. The part I would like to explore further is what happens when the idea meets a real situation with its own limitations. What kind of introduction would make a new learning environment easier to approach?
My first thought about exploring cultural memory through monuments is that the everyday experience deserves as much attention as the larger explanation. A monument can prompt questions about which stories a community chooses to preserve. That is the kind of detail I would keep in mind while exploring cultural monument education. I would probably come back to this question after trying to work through one concrete example rather than deciding immediately. How can learners discuss a memorial while recognising different perspectives on its meaning?
The topic of exploring wildlife through educational adventures gives me a few things to think about, especially when the discussion moves beyond general advice. Looking closely at an animal's habitat can be more informative than memorising its name alone. It gives me a more concrete starting point for thinking about wildlife learning activities. I am still thinking through the details, and a small example would help me picture how this works in practice. How could a wildlife activity encourage observation without disturbing the animals?