Eagle_23 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 After reading some of the responses to the thread this is spun from, lets ask this question. Not counting money given in FOS, not counting items purchased for events not reimbursed by the unit or council or somthing. What is a value of the time givin by voulenteers. If one was able to put a price tag on their services. What would that amount be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 When I was working in industry, I was told that in this society, we are paid according to what we contribute. On that basis, since we are not paid as volunteers, society places no value on our contribution because for practical purposes, there is no contribution (because we aren't paid). So the answer is 'zero'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle_23 Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 I dissagree. We are contributing our time and skills/recources to the program to benifet the scouts. There might not be a tangible result but it is there. What would the value of the contribution of time and everything be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callooh! Callay!1428010939 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 "The best things in life are free. But you can give them to the birds and bees." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packsaddle Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Eagle_23, you're working under a misconception that because you think your time is worth something then it IS worth something. I maintain that if you give it away for no pay, it is worth exactly what you were paid for it. That IS the American economic system and it is the way the volunteers are viewed by the professionals. Volunteers are easy to come by. They cost nothing. Moreover, if that other thread regarding extortion is correct, the volunteers can be a source of additional revenue. I remind you that my thoughts regarding pay and contributions to society are perfectly in line with those of Rick Santorum. He has said as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainerlady Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 When I worked a real job (pre National Supply) I was paid in the $20/hour range. I was not paid well for my skill set and knowledge but it was going rate in my field at the time. So if you figure a troop/pack/den meeting a week lasting 2 hours (pre opening to closing) (8 hours a month), monthly campout (36 hours of active duty/on call time at night), roundtable once a month for continuing education (2 hours), a trip to the scout shop for this or that at least once a month (2 hours round trip). Add in at home prep time for a meeting or special event of 2 hours a month and I'm at 50 hours easily per month. $20(hourly rate) x 50 hours/month = $1,000/month $1,000/month x 9 months/year = $9,000/year PLUS - 1 week of hard earned vacation time to attend summer camp as a volunteer with the unit that I had to pay a fee to attend not spent with the ENTIRE family - priceless. Conservatively, I give $9,000 (if I were paid my hourly rate) a year plus camping/event fees to scouting to spend time with one of my 2 children and his friends. Don't know many soccer parents that cough up that kind donation to their child's activity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle92 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 While some will say our time is worth nothing, and to a degree they are correct, ask the parent whose child is in your troop/ship/pack/team/crew. Ask the youth you work with. Ask the folks who are putting on the event you are staffing. BUT more importantly, ask your family. My time is priceless. The volunteer work I do makes a difference in someone's life, and for the community as a whole. And if folks do not appreciate that, well that's their problem. If they don't appreciate that, then I will focus on those who do appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KC9DDI Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Not so sure about the fixation with having to measure everything only in terms of money. I continue to get more out of Scouting than I put in. I know that it's a good investment of my time. I never felt the need to try to figure it out in terms of dollars and cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainerlady Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Kc, Only put it in to monetary terms given the situation my friend and possibly I are facing in my council to get signatures needed to volunteer at a national level event. Council wants another $155 to get the signatures on top of everything we volunteers here already give. I agree that my time is priceless and for the most part I do get more than I give at times. However, when I'm told that what I give isn't enough I get PISSED. Maybe my kids' school or our church would be more appreciative of my time donation. As a matter of fact my kids' school is more appreciative. Went to school yesterday to assist with son's class, due to a staffing change his teacher wasn't going to get a lunch break without the kids. I went in for 1 hour and took the kids to the lunch room, took them outside for a beautiful spring recess break, over saw a bathroom break and returned them to a grateful teacher. He'd had a chance to return a couple of phone calls, eat his lunch in peace and use the restroom himself. At the end of the day my son and the class student council rep gave me a beautiful homemade thank you card. The teacher was grateful he had an hour to himself to eat and attend to his needs, the kids were grateful to go outside to play. It was no big deal for me, I wasn't doing anything at home anyway. Even the principal thanked me on the way out. Never gotten anything like that from a DE or SE. Just get hey can you do this or that, how about another $$$? Need your help at xyz and by the way you'll have to pay $$$ to help out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reasonable Rascal Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I am starting a new job next week that offers better pay than what I was getting last but also is without benefits. No paid vacation means that in order to keep my commitment to my Scouts I will be taking off a week without pay, and losing in excess of $1,200 in gross pay to do so. It is not a precise calculation of what my time is worth but it is a starting point any way. I was told if I wanted to work all week-ends I could make an extra $6/hour. Tempting but as I told the new employer that would mean not taking my Scouts camping, so I'd need at least 1 week-end a month free. Another $1,800/year lost just in that one week-end. RR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMHawkins Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Well, to answer it in another way, if there were no unit level volunteers and the Council had to pay me to put on a weekly 1.5 hr Leadership Development Course for 30+ corporate trainees, along with a monthly weekend offsite, and one or two week-long off-site residential sessions each year, they would have to pay me between $30k and $50k per year as a part-time consultant. That might eat into their salaries a bit. On the other hand, I'll go camping for free. So, what does National want the focus of the program to be again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGreyEagle Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 And here I thought it was my patriotic duty to become one of the thousand points of light in the new world order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basementdweller Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Let me see Summer time off of work.....1 week Cub Scout day camp, 1 week webelos resident camp, 1 week troop resident camp, and 1 week troop backpacking. 3 weekends IOLS trainer Rest of the 10 months of the year 2 weekends a month, 3 nights a week. Popcorn season 4 friday, saturday Sunday weekends. 4 nights a week dealing with money, inventory....countless trips back to the warehouse or joey scouts house. I enjoy the boys, I have watched many of them grow from 1st grade thru now middle school. I enjoy the share experiences and success's and laugh at the failures....... Council and district does not care about you or your boys.......So stop whining about it. Run you unit level programs and succeed with out them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdidochas Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 "I enjoy the boys, I have watched many of them grow from 1st grade thru now middle school. I enjoy the share experiences and success's and laugh at the failures....... Council and district does not care about you or your boys.......So stop whining about it. Run you unit level programs and succeed with out them. " Exactly. We don't volunteer as a way to give money to BSA. We volunteer to turn boys into good men while having fun in the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout1996 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 If you are just looking for a number, the national average, according to http://independentsector.org/volunteer_time is $21.36/hour. I work for a International non-profit and we use Independent Sector's analysis when we are reporting volunteer labor to the federal government and when applying for grants. The methodolgy they use isn't just the value of your time working with youth, collecting food, or swinging a hammer, it's the leverage value you bring to the organization in additional funding, name recongition, services provided, ect. I'm sure BSA doesn't want us using that number for our hours spent with the youth, working camp, or fundraising, but I'm sure they use some calucation when they present reports of how much funding the voluteers have leveraged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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