Looking at the value of employer supported volunteering
Calculating the financial value of volunteering for the employer
When thinking about the financial value of volunteering, a clear distinction needs to be made between the input costs to the company and the output values to the voluntary organisation
Secondments or assignments
For full-time, long-term secondments the calculation of the monetary value can be based on salary plus additional costs. For shorter-term assignments, where the work is comparable with consultancy work, a fixed rate per hour may be more appropriate
Volunteering programmes
Employers may calculate the value of volunteering programmes in one of several ways.
For inputs:
- by multiplying the number of volunteer hours by the hourly employment cost of that employee - for example a business volunteer providing professional advice
- by the number of hours multiplied by some notional wage for a group of employees
For outputs:
- by the number of volunteer hours multiplied by the cost of paying someone else to do the job - for example, a company director who volunteers to dig a garden
- by calculating the value of the completed project to the community organisation - for example, the cost of converting an old building into a day centre.
In the case of employees who volunteer in their own time, the company cannot claim to have donated the monetary value of their time to the community. However it can claim to have donated the cost of running the programme and to have enabled a contribution of this value to have been made.
Calculating the financial value of volunteering for the volunteer-involving organisation
There is increasing interest in putting a measurement on the economic value of people giving time to the community, as many VIOs are increasingly being required to justify funding and investment in volunteering. Strategic funding bodies are increasingly comfortable with accepting volunteer time or business support as ‘matched funding’ to support funding bids, and voluntary organisations can consider putting economic worth to volunteering that is supporting their work and their beneficiaries. Counting and measuring the worth of volunteering makes sure it is valued and given more priority in policy development.
VIOs can consider a number of ways to count the value of the employer supported volunteering they receive:
- standard volunteer hour: taking an average hourly rate based on the employer’s average hourly rate, or based on national or regional hourly rates
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings shows that the average hourly wage for 2005 was £12.55.
- programme specific rate: taking into account the value of the volunteer in terms of specific professional or technical skills levered (a lawyer providing legal support for example).
- replacement cost or volunteer wage equivalent: what it would cost the organisation if they paid for the service or activity i.e. what it would have cost to have paid a building firm to decorate and renovate a premises, or paid an accountant for financial support.
Many employer supported volunteer activities may be supported by the employer in terms of equipment budgets, matched fund-raising and giving etc, and it is important to factor these in as well as the volunteering time. Whatever the method used, and VIOs may have other ways to capture the value and worth of volunteering, it is important to be consistent.
In all cases, VIOs should be clear about why they are calculating a value or worth for employer supported volunteering, and who the information is for - employers, funders, bids, press articles, annual reports etc. VIOs should not lose sight of the fact that as well as calculating the monetary value given to an 'employer supported volunteering hour', there are the additional benefits and impact that can be accrued such as community development, integration, diversity, awareness of social issues and raised self-esteem of service users and beneficiaries.
Want to know more about assessing the value of employer supported volunteering?
Find out how you can purchase our publication Employer Supported Volunteering: a toolkit for Volunteer Centres
Volunteer Centres can download the toolkit free of charge from the members section of the VE website.
Also visit our Evaluation pages for lots more information on this subject area.
