The value of volunteering is estimated at $400 BILLION globally based on previous research and reported in a Volunteer Match blog, approximately “double the value of cash and other valuables contributed by individuals, corporations and foundations”.
The Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Studies and the International Labor Organization have put together a manual that adopts a replacement cost methodology for calculating the economic value of volunteer work.
We all know that we value what we measure and with this manual, NGO’s and governments across the globe can apply a consistent methodology for measuring the value of volunteer work.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Civic Studies and ILO project studied 37 countries and found that the level of human power engaged in volunteering is staggering. Approximately 140 million people in the countries studied do some kind of volunteer work in a typical year. Those 140 million volunteers equate to almost 21 million paid full-time-equivalent workers!!!