Attributing Monetary Values to Volunteer Contributions Jack Quarter Laurie Mook October 18, 2004

Two Primary Methods Opportunity costs Replacement costs SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Opportunity Costs Looks at value from the perspective of the volunteer The cost of volunteering is time that could have been spent in other ways What is an hours time worth to the volunteer? SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Opportunity Costs: Problems Mismatch between volunteers worth and task Bill Gates vs. an unemployed person volunteering at a food bank Variable rate for same task SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Browns Approach One half to sixth sevenths of the average hourly wage With adjustments for mismatches SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Other Approaches Wolfe et al. ask volunteers what they would have received if they had worked additional hours for pay Handy and Srinivasan ask volunteers to estimate how much their tasks were worth They bridge the gap between replacement and opportunity costs SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Replacement Costs Volunteer value from the perspective of the organization paying the market rate for such a service Volunteers could be replaced by wage earners as perfect substitutes in terms of skills and productivity SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Replacement Costs: Different Approaches 1.Generalist 2.Specialist 3.Modified Specialist SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Generalist Approach One rate for all tasks; i.e., gross average Average hourly wage for nonagricultural workers plus 12 percent for fringe benefits (Independent Sector) 2002: $16.74 ($9.10 – $24.75 by state) 2003: $17.19 SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Specialist Approach Targets rate to the task Choice of profession for comparison crucial SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Junior Achievement of Rochester U.S. Department of Labor, National Compensation Survey plus 12 percent board of directors, hourly rate for executives, administrators, managers $31.30 company coordinators hourly wage rate for managers in service organizations, not elsewhere classified$26.85 SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Teachers of the Junior Achievement curricula hourly rate for teachers, not elsewhere classified $25.86 Special event volunteers hourly rate for administrative support occupations, not elsewhere classified $12.22 Junior Achievement of Rochester SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Modified Specialist Approach Targets rate to organization and its skill level NAICS Paid staff wage scales More practical than specialized approach SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Jointly developed by statistics agencies Canada, United States, and Mexico Jane/Finch Community and Family NAICS subsector 624, social assistance$13.38 SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation NAICS subsector 813 grant-making, civic, professional and similar organizations Rates were assigned based on the task skills Hourly rate in Ontario$14.51(runners) Salaried rate$19.72 (event planners) Midpoint$17.11(clerical) SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Board of Directors Human Resources Development Canada (HDRC) Senior managers of health, education, social services (Code 0014) $35.56 Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

NAICS 2003 rates (Ontario) SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS HourlySalaried Service producing industries $15.85$ Social assistance $14.26$ Performing arts; Spectator sports & related $17.07$ Grant making; civic; Prof. & Similar $15.08$21.86

Issues to consider if using replacement costs Volunteers may be less productive than paid labour; therefore, volunteer value could be overestimated Replacement rates might not evaluate properly the contribution of volunteers might bring higher levels of skill than the volunteer task requires Should there be an amount added for fringe benefits? SOCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR NON-PROFITS

Recent survey of nonprofits (Mook et al. 2004) Of those who put a value on volunteer hours, what rate they used (n=83) # of orgs Per cent Minimum wage810% Statistics Canada rate1923% Paid staff wages2935% Estimates given by volunteer22% Other2530%

References Brown, Eleanor. 1999, May. Assessing the value of volunteer activity. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 28 (1): 3–17. Handy, Femida, and Hans Srinivasan Volunteers in hospitals: Scope and value. Toronto: York University. Wolfe, Nancy, Burton Weisbrod, and Edward Bird The supply of volunteer labor: The case of hospitals. Nonprofit Management and Leadership 4 (1): 23–45.

Manual Mook, Laurie & Jack Quarter (2003). How to assign a monetary value to volunteer contributions. Toronto: CCP. Available at: cdc.ca/attachments/Quarter_final_eng. pdf