Small to Medium Event

It is very difficult to put a dollar value on volunteer time. Volunteers provide many intangibles that can not be easily quantified. For example, volunteers demonstrate the amount of support an organization has within a community. According to Independent Sector, the estimated 2006 value of a volunteer is $18.77 per hour.

Estimating the value of an effective volunteer manager is much easier to quantify, but the variables presented by different organizations makes "package pricing" unrealistic. Rather, here are some examples to help you justify your investment in a successful event run by experienced professionals.

A relatively small afternoon concert that was held recently on Maui utilized the services of approximately 100 volunteers contributing 5 hours each - that's 500 hours or $9,385 of labor. The cost of t-shirts, water and miscellaneous supplies was insignificant compared to the overall success of the event.

The event utilized the professional services of volunteer manager, Keith Ranney, and assistant volunteer manager, Maggie Welker, who managed the entrance (ticket sales, ticket taking, will call and re-entry).

Services:

• Involvement with strategic planning (committee meetings)
• Volunteer recruiting (drawing from Art of Volunteering database and working within the organizations ranks)
• Creation of site plan for fire permit
• Acquisition of 12 two-way radios and an ATM machine
• Volunteer Website with instructions and detailed maps
• Management of master list and comp list (for gate)
• Delivery of volunteers for pre-event set up and event

In the end, volunteer management was approximately 25% of the projected labor cost ($2,500) and the event surpassed its fundraising goals.