Valuation Guidance

Question IV.F: Total Volunteer Hours

This question seeks to capture key metrics for employee-engagement programs at your company.

Survey Instructions:

o You may only answer this question if you indicated in Question IV.C that you have a domestic or international volunteer program, or both.

o If you are unable to distinguish between “On-Company-Time” volunteer hours and “Outside-Company-Time” volunteer hours, take the conservative approach and record all hours as “Outside-Company-Time.”

o Do not include pro bono service here. Pro bono service should be recorded as non-cash in Questions II.A-III.C.

On-Company-Time Volunteerism: This is time spent by employees during a normal paid work schedule to volunteer with a 501(c)(3) organization, within corporate policies. The company incurs costs associated with these volunteer activities. On-company-time volunteer hours are also referred to as “paid-release-time” hours and should be interpreted as such. Typically, if your company has a paid-time-off program, your company will have a formal policy on file. Flexible scheduling is not included as on-company-time volunteerism, because no company costs are incurred as a result. For example, an employee may leave a few hours early to attend a nonprofit meeting, yet will make up the time by coming in early the next day.

Cost to the Company of On-Company-Time Volunteerism: Value the employee-volunteer time at the full cost to the company of lost productive time (including benefits). Erring on the side of caution, count only clearly identifiable and substantive paid time off allowed under formal programs. If your company uses the Independent Sector’s rate for calculating cost, you can simply enter “NA” in the row titled “Cost to the company of on-company-time hours using company figures.” The survey system will automatically calculate the cost based on the Independent Sector’s current rate for on-company-time volunteer hours (the rate is currently $21.36/hour -www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html).

Loaned Executives (Short- or Long-term): Includes the time an employee is formally released to undertake a specific task or program of work (or even a full-time job) for a charity or other community organization. The minimum time commitment is one week; there is no maximum.

o Value the time of loaned executives as the full cost to the company of lost productive time. For executives loaned long-term, you may include the cost of any significant fringe benefits package, such as a company car or any other genuine expenses related to maintaining the employee on the company payroll.

o If the assignment is part of a professional-development plan, exclude an amount approximately equal to what the company would have had to pay to a training course had the employee not learned new skills by volunteering.

Outside-Company-Time Volunteerism: Time spent by employees, retirees, and family members (but not additional unassociated persons) outside a normal paid work schedule to pursue a company-sponsored/related community activity (such as a Habitat for Humanity weekend work project). Do not include hours of employee volunteering at a charity not sponsored or organized by your company.