The Rising Value of Volunteers

Volunteers are valuable, right? We all know that but volunteers and the organizations they work for don’t often think of their value in dollars. However, a new study by Independent Sector in Washington is doing just that. In an economy where the bottom line means more now than ever, this study may hold the key to garnering volunteers and interns the long awaited recognition they deserve.

The Independent Sector study finds that the average value of a volunteer hour was $20.25 in 2008. This is an astounding 39% increase in 10 years. In 1998, the average value was only $14.56 per hour.

The study further breaks the statistics down by state and territory. The District of Columbia claims the most monetarily valuable volunteers with a worth of $31.55 per hour. In comparison, the biggest bargain for non-profit organizations can be found in Puerto Rico where the volunteer hour is valued at $10.56.

Congratulations to all our volunteers on your "pay raise!" Even in today's economy, volunteering still proves to be the best bang for your buck!

Details of this study can be found at

http://www.independentsector.org/programs/research/volunteer_time.html.

Anti-Choice Extremists By the Numbers

Here at PPWP we have a marketing device called "Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania: By the Numbers". Essentially, it tells the story of what PPWP does every year though numerical data. It is a handy little tool for getting the word out about all of our great services. The content is something like this:

79: Number of years PPWP has provided women, men, and adolescents with the information and services needed to make responsible choice about sex and reproduction.

 6: Number of PPWP health centers: downtown Pittsburgh (2), Bridgeville, Moon, Johnstown, and Somerset.



37,500 Number of women, men, and adolescents served by PPWP each year.



12: Number of counties served by PPWP: Allegheny, Beaver, Bedfored, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland.



75%: Percentage of PPWP clients age 20 or older.



17,000: Number of teens, parents, and professionals reached each year by PPWP's responsible sex education programs.



70% Percentage of PPWP health care clients with annual incomes below 150% of the federal Poverty level (an annual income less than $15,600 per single person household).