Guidance: Volunteers as Match

Created by: actualizedevs
Modified on: November 2, 2023

Volunteer Match

CNCS grant provisions and guidelines state the DOs and DO NOTs of volunteer match.

DO count as match:

Services that contribute to organizational functions, e.g., accounting or training of staff or members that are elements of the grantee’s cost allocation plan or budget narrative, such as a training related to the performance measures

DO NOT count as match:

The value of direct community services performed by national service members and volunteers specific to program community impact objectives.

Using your approved grant budget as a guide, you can identify necessary program services or functions, and
then solicit volunteers to provide those functions to use as match.

Consider this . . .

If an internal medicine doctor volunteers to perform required physicals for your volunteers — and if physicals are a prerequisite of participating in your program — then it is acceptable to estimate the dollar value of that donated service at the hourly rate normally charged by that doctor, and to count it as match. However, if that same doctor volunteers to drive clients to a community gathering or play chess with participants, his actions can be deemed as a volunteer that was recruited to assist the program participants and therefore cannot be counted as match.

You must assess the value of each volunteer assignment based on what it would cost you to purchase that type of work in the marketplace.

Valuing Volunteer Match

Now that you know what volunteer services are allowable, let’s look at how to value those services to meet matching requirements.

CNCS administrative requirements (45 CFR 2541.240 and 45 CFR 2543.23), applicable to all streams of national service, mandate how to value volunteer services. The CNCS requirements state:

Volunteer services furnished by professional and technical personnel, consultants, and other skilled and unskilled labor may be counted as cost sharing or matching if the service is an integral and necessary part of an approved project or program.
Rates for volunteer services shall be consistent with those paid for similar work in the grantee’s organization.
In those instances when the required skills are not found in the grantee’s organization, rates shall be consistent with those paid for similar work in the labor market in which the grantee competes for the kind of services involved. Checking the local paper’s help wanted section is one way to get ideas about market rates.
In either case, paid fringe benefits that are reasonable, allowable, and allocable may be included in the valuation.

To calculate the value of volunteer and donated time, programs need to keep accurate records of their volunteers’ service that include:

How many hours they work, and
The type of work they do

Volunteer Wage Rates

If you do have volunteers supporting your program, locate a salaried position in your local job market with tasks equivalent to those assigned to your volunteers, and apply a similar wage rate to the service performed by your volunteer.

Remember, wages vary across the U.S., and the wage rates you claim must be reasonable for the tasks volunteers perform though they may not be the wage rates normally commanded in the workplace.

For example: If a semi-retired lawyer volunteers part-time as a program coordinator with your program’s community partners and service sites, you cannot value her time at her normal attorney fee level; the value of her volunteer service is that which you would pay a program coordinator.

Some organizations publish a general volunteer rate to be used for this purpose; however, remember that the direct service of volunteers is not allowable as match. Therefore, use the rate of what someone would be paid to perform the task in question.

Check Your Knowledge

Question: One of your program objectives is to rehabilitate houses for low-income seniors. You hired several contractors to assist with the work, but also had several volunteers sign up to assist with the work.
Which of the following can you count as volunteer match?

A handyman who specializes in plumbing and trim carpentry work cut down dead and broken tree limbs.
A roofer repaired the missing and torn roof shingles.
A bank president painted the siding.