Volunteers

Contributions of time, goods, or services from a volunteer to your organization are an important piece of a funding strategy. A community or watershed groups possesses a great amount of funding potential by the sheer nature of the voluntary citizen involvement. From planning and monitoring to actual hands-on work, volunteer hours are a valuable, and financially accountable, contribution to the success of the project. Federal standards state that volunteer hours can be valued at $16.05 per hour. With several people working on a project during its duration, you can conceievably contribute thousands of dollars to a project. By accounting for this time, you will be able to provide the necessary matching component to private or government grants. The following is a list of possible services that volunteers provide and that you may want to keep track of:

• bookkeeping service
• copying
• office equipment
• office/meeting space
• printing
• professional services (consulting, lawyer, etc.)
• refreshments
• volunteer time