Economic Benefits to Nonprofits from Volunteerism
Topic 1:
Volunteers and the act of volunteering bring multiple benefits to organizations, communities and people. Organizations receive enormous contributions of time, talents and skills. The tools that help nonprofit organizations understand the scale and significance of volunteering need to be invested in and maintained. There is often limitations and reluctance when trying to assign a value to volunteerism. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. Like the nonprofit sector in general, volunteering is an often overlooked and underappreciated force in our economy (Baldwin). For perspective, according to the Urban Institute nonprofit sector is almost a two trillion dollar segment of the …show more content…
Using the Independent Sector’s hourly estimate, this was valued at more than $170 billion (Baldwin). This proves that the volunteerism holds a lot of value, especially monetarily. World leading corporations do not make that much money. Knowledge brings respect and understanding, which is why the financial estimate is important. This will be discussed as a recommendation. The estimate supports the effort to put the vitality of volunteering into a context we can relate to, protect and understand. It provides a common denominator to compare activities across organizations and is a reminder that sometimes it is possible to get more than what you pay for. Facts and figures can challenge us to rethink our assumptions and our expectations. The number should merely bring visibility to the importance in volunteerism in nonprofits. It is imperative to focus on the thousand acts of kindness to reanalyze our understanding of our economy and ourselves in the community. Volunteering is at the heart of every healthy community and good information about its economic value is the best strategy to keep it that way …show more content…
Work by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies has shown that, even conservatively estimated, the value of volunteer work throughout the world is roughly double the value of contributions of cash or other valuables by individuals, corporations, and foundations put together ("How to Measure the Value of Your Volunteers ", 2011). That’s a staggering thought –our volunteers are worth twice as much as our donors. Based on previous research, and what is shown by nonprofit staff experience every single day, there’s no question that volunteers create economic value. Overall, it is estimated that volunteers contribute around $400 billion to the global economy, in unique ways that complement that of paid workers ("How to Measure the Value of Your Volunteers ",
Topic 1:
Volunteers and the act of volunteering bring multiple benefits to organizations, communities and people. Organizations receive enormous contributions of time, talents and skills. The tools that help nonprofit organizations understand the scale and significance of volunteering need to be invested in and maintained. There is often limitations and reluctance when trying to assign a value to volunteerism. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. Like the nonprofit sector in general, volunteering is an often overlooked and underappreciated force in our economy (Baldwin). For perspective, according to the Urban Institute nonprofit sector is almost a two trillion dollar segment of the …show more content…
Using the Independent Sector’s hourly estimate, this was valued at more than $170 billion (Baldwin). This proves that the volunteerism holds a lot of value, especially monetarily. World leading corporations do not make that much money. Knowledge brings respect and understanding, which is why the financial estimate is important. This will be discussed as a recommendation. The estimate supports the effort to put the vitality of volunteering into a context we can relate to, protect and understand. It provides a common denominator to compare activities across organizations and is a reminder that sometimes it is possible to get more than what you pay for. Facts and figures can challenge us to rethink our assumptions and our expectations. The number should merely bring visibility to the importance in volunteerism in nonprofits. It is imperative to focus on the thousand acts of kindness to reanalyze our understanding of our economy and ourselves in the community. Volunteering is at the heart of every healthy community and good information about its economic value is the best strategy to keep it that way …show more content…
Work by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies has shown that, even conservatively estimated, the value of volunteer work throughout the world is roughly double the value of contributions of cash or other valuables by individuals, corporations, and foundations put together ("How to Measure the Value of Your Volunteers ", 2011). That’s a staggering thought –our volunteers are worth twice as much as our donors. Based on previous research, and what is shown by nonprofit staff experience every single day, there’s no question that volunteers create economic value. Overall, it is estimated that volunteers contribute around $400 billion to the global economy, in unique ways that complement that of paid workers ("How to Measure the Value of Your Volunteers ",