All Community Organisations should record volunteer hours. There are several very good reasons for doing this. One that is often overlooked is the value of time contributed by volunteers for the purposes of a grant.
When making a grant application for a community project, get your members to record volunteer hours worked. These can then be added as an “in kind” contribution to the value of the project. Whilst there are varying values attributed to volunteer hours, they are also somewhat flexible. For example, you might value some painting or general labour at $20 an hour. On the other hand, grant writing or computer coding might be valued at $40 an hour. Possibly even more.
There are several articles online about valuing volunteer hours. The Victorian Government site has a very good article on the value of in kind contributions and volunteer hours. Another article by Strategic Grants shows the math on how volunteer hour values are calculated.
Apart from grants, a record of volunteer hours can also assist the management of a community organisation in recognising the work of volunteers. This is not to suggest there should be a competition for contribution of hours. All volunteer hours are valuable and people do what they can.
Where it is useful is in identifying how much work might be involved in acting as Secretary for an organisation. It can also be used for assessing workloads in other roles as well. Another area of value is recording the amount of time collectively by all volunteers on a project. Not all projects are supplemented by grant funding.
Often you will find that projects that are being undertaken by your community organisation will involve several members. A record of volunteer hours kept by all volunteers will allow the community organisation to see the amount of work done on a project.
You can download a volunteer time record spreadsheet that we have written at no cost. It calculates the hours automatically from the time entered. You enter your times preferably in 24 hour format such at 09:00 or 15:00(for 3pm).
Feel free to add a comment or ask a question about recording of volunteer hours.