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Volunteer hour is worth a lot, according to Independent Sector

Volunteers may lend their time for free, but the service they provide to their communities doesn’t come cheap. That’s because according to the most recent calculation by the Independent Sector, the estimated dollar value of volunteer time is $19.51 per hour for 2007, up from $18.77 per hour in 2006.

Here in Rhode Island, the hard work done by volunteers across the state is truly invaluable. A report from the National Corporation for Community Service estimates that between 2005 and 2007, Rhode Island's 210,000 volunteers dedicated 23.8 million hours of service per year. That totals up to nearly $465 million dollars annually in economic contribution.

The Independent Sector calculates the hourly value of volunteer time based on the average hourly wage for all non-management, non-agriculture workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 12 percent increase to estimate for fringe benefits.

Other facts:

-- Rhode Island ranked 41st in the country for volunteering in 2007, ahead of larger states like New York, California, Florida and Nevada.

-- Rhode Island was one of only 17 states in the nation in 2007 in which providing professional services was one of the top four activities for volunteers.

--Rhode Island had the second- highest college student volunteer rate for the Northeast in 2007.

The Volunteer Center of Rhode Island is a Rhode Islander’s best resource for connecting with opportunities in the community. Our Volunteer Opportunities Database includes hundreds of current volunteer positions and over 400 organizations that we use for individualized matching and referral by phone or in person. We also refer volunteers to agencies through major newspaper columns and various annual publications. Last year,

VCRI referred many thousands of individuals to non-profit organizations, government agencies or proprietary health care institutions in the state of Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts.