Independent Sector (IS) has announced that the estimated value of a volunteer hour in the United States reached $29.95 in 2021, up 4.9 percent from $28.54 in 2020.

According to the Value of Volunteer Time, based on data from AmeriCorps on volunteer hours, in the United States volunteers typically contribute nearly $200 billion to their communities. There is evidence that the number of hours volunteered declined in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While it will take years to assess the full extent of COVID-19’s impact on volunteering, a study by Fidelity Charitable found that as of Labor Day, 2020, 66 percent of volunteers had reduced the amount of time they volunteered or stopped volunteering entirely due to the pandemic.

The value of volunteer time varied from state to state, ranging from $22.57 per hour in Mississippi to $50.48 in the District of Columbia.

The latest value, calculated by the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute, is measured based on hourly earnings released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics (CES) database estimate for private nonfarm and non-managerial occupations, plus a 15.7 percent increase for the value of fringe benefits. While the pandemic certainly had an impact on volunteerism, wages in 2021 for the employed actually increased, possibly due to inflation, leading to the rise in the value of volunteer time.

“The essential contributions made by our nation’s volunteers to lift up, strengthen, and restore communities to make them healthy and equitable for people are always deeply appreciated, but never more so than during the pandemic,” said IS president and CEO Daniel J. Cardinali. “Despite COVID-19’s devastating impact, which began in 2020 and continues through today, our country’s volunteers continued to show up, virtually and in person, with their compassion, skills, and abilities. They often put their own lives at risk. They are the threads that connect us as a nation, constantly reinforcing the foundation of civil society and helping build pathways so we all can thrive.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/kuarmungadd)