A look at the impact and value of volunteers in our community.

It is hard to overstate the value of volunteers in our community. From supporting big annual events to helping keep the social safety net intact, those in the know are certain the results are priceless.

There is no local central repository for the total number of volunteer hours donated every year, so understanding the direct economic impact is difficult. Still, there is reliable isolated data that is worth a look.

According to the Community Foundation for Monterey County, there are between 800 and 1,000 nonprofit organizations actively operating in the county. In 2021, a subset of that total took part in the Monterey County Gives! campaign (a special project of the Weekly, in partnership with the Community Foundation and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation). The 162 groups that participated last year listed a combined total volunteer number of over 13,000 people.

Figures compiled by AmeriCorps say that 25 percent of Californians volunteer an average of six hours a month. Independent Sector, a national group that tracks the value of volunteer time, pegs the wage equivalent price in California at $35/hour. Using a conservative estimate of 100,000 volunteers in Monterey County donating six hours a month, that’s 7.2 million hours a year donated. For context, consider that the largest employer in Monterey County is the county itself with around 4,400 full-time employees – equivalent to 9.1 million hours a year. Those figures show that the monetary value of volunteer labor (at $35 per hour) is some $252 million a year.

Paulette Lynch, interim executive director of the Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County, says that a silver lining of the pandemic is that volunteerism gained a real allure and proved to policymakers that it is a sustainable and effective way to connect to people in need. “There is not enough money in the world to match what volunteers do,” Lynch says.

It’s long since been known that much of the social safety net – and the local economy – is dependent on volunteerism. Local nonprofits that offer rides to the doctor, sponsor beach cleanups, assist with immigration services, feed the homeless, host destination marathons or present community theater are largely successful as a result of those who give their time in support of the various missions. The same goes for the houses of worship around the county; their impact is enhanced by the unpaid work of members of their congregations.

Similarly, some of the largest employers and organizations in the area boast some of the largest volunteer cadres. The local hospitals, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and golf tournaments at Pebble Beach all extend their capacities as a result of the volunteers who donate their time.

In a proclamation designating April 17-23 as National Volunteer Week, President Biden noted it’s not just organizations that benefit. “Volunteering also benefits the volunteers. People who volunteer develop new skills, build their personal and professional networks, forge a deeper connection with their communities and service organizations, and experience the joy of serving a larger cause,” the proclamation reads.

Blue Zones Project Monterey County, the local affiliate of an international organization that encourages a community-wide approach to healthier living, says that volunteering is also good for your health. They cite an American Psychological Association study from 2011 that found that those who volunteer for non-self-oriented reasons live longer than those who do not volunteer.

It gets better. Not only do volunteers help vital organizations in Monterey County prosper, and enjoy some benefits themselves, but they self-propagate and are a core component in civic fabric. As President Biden’s proclamation further states, “Volunteers are more likely to become further involved in volunteer groups, participate in civic organizations, attend public meetings, and lend a helping hand to their neighbors.”

Sometimes the impact of nonprofits is hard to measure, but as Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation President and CEO said on a phone call as he looked over the 2021 Impact Report from Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula: “I see the faces of those volunteers and I’m moved. That’s the glue that makes communities work.”

ERIK CUSHMAN is the Weekly’s publisher. Reach him at erik@mcweekly.com