Visit.org calculates impact investment by using data from Independent Sector, an organization for nonprofits and nonprofit leaders.

Independent Sector partnered with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy’s Do Good Institute to quantify volunteer resources and assign each volunteer a theoretical hourly salary.

Independent Sector’s annual 2023 Value of Volunteer Time report suggests that in the United States, the dollar value of each volunteer hour is estimated to be $31.80, which is a 6.2% increase from 2021 to 2022. Independent Sector annually updates these figures to reflect current calculations and Visit.org adjusts volunteer hour calculations accordingly.

To discern volunteer investment, Visit.org multiplies Independent Sector’s estimated hourly value by the total volunteer hours that are automatically captured by our platform.

Independent Sector’s figures are based on the average hourly earnings of private sector workers — excluding those who work on farms or in managerial occupations. Independent Sector sources this data from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) database, made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

To correct for state-to-state variances such as cost of living and labor conditions, Independent Sector multiplies the national value of volunteer time by a state-specific hourly earnings index.

The hourly volunteer rate also includes the “fringe-benefits” of volunteers by factoring in an additional 15.4%.

Fringe benefits are included in the hourly calculation because volunteers “can increase the capacity and efficiency of service-providing organizations beyond the value of the work they do, which can help these organizations produce greater value to their communities,” explains Independent Sector.

Please reach out to your Visit.org account manager if you have any questions, or if you need help customizing impact reporting.