Methodology

How we calculate value

Annual volunteer value equals the number of active volunteers times the average hours each gives per year times the published hourly value of US volunteer time. We use $33.49, the 2024 Independent Sector, Value of Volunteer Time figure, and snapshot the rate on each row so a future rate change doesn't quietly rewrite historical shares.

Full-time equivalent translates total volunteer hours into FTEs at 2,080 hours per year, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics benchmark for a standard work year.

How we benchmark

Cohorts are defined by cause area and US region, derived from IRS data on the responding nonprofit (NTEE code, state, latest 990). Each cohort needs at least 30 consented responses before we surface a number. When a narrower cut doesn't clear that floor we fall back to the next broader one: cause area, then region, then national.

Self-reported fields and enriched fields are stored separately so every published number can be attributed to its source. Open-text answers are never published verbatim; they're used only to theme pull-quotes in the annual report.

Privacy

Email and org name are personally identifiable. We store them with consent. The public report and every benchmark use aggregates only; we never expose an individual response or make raw rows queryable. Anonymous mode hides the org name from public surfaces while keeping the row in the aggregate dataset.