How many hours/year do you volunteer?

[Anonymous]

-government agency volunteer community advisory board - about 1 hour per quarter
-local environmental volunteer org #1 - 20 hours per year
-local environmental volunteer org #2 - 50 hours per year
-local environmental volunteer org #3 - 10 hours per year
-family service projects - 20 hours per year
-after school teaching volunteer, various locations - 20 hours per year
-kid's school various formal roles over the years - 2-10 hours per week depending on the role and the week (sometimes much more when big things are happening)
-kids' schools normal parent volunteer stuff - about an hour per month
-kid's school website - about half an hour per week
-guest writer for various web sites (community, schools, charities, etc.) - no set commitment, just as items arise in my areas of expertise

I've been doing these things for about 15 years now.

[Anonymous]

I donate blood every 8 weeks.
I sit on the board of a local organization which takes 4-10 hours/month depending on what is happening, if I'm currently involved in the fundraising efforts, etc.
I do alumni interviews for my undergrad, not sure if that counts, 10 hours/year.
Random one off volunteering at school events/gardening/etc. probably another 20-30 hours/year.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I never thought of donating blood as volunteering - duh!! I've been a regular donor for 16 years.

[Anonymous]

Average about 1-2 hours/week.

I'm on the BOD for a group related to my field, and I volunteer at DS's school.

[Anonymous]

Womens Shelter: 20 hours/month
Kids school: 20 hours/month
Teach community yoga for recovering addicts: 8 hours/month
Family Charitable Foundation: 10 hours month
Two different boards for country club: 10 hours/month

So about 68-70 hours a month. I only work for pay a few hours a week.

[Anonymous]

I volunteer 52 hours a year. I go somewhere each weekend.

[Anonymous]

Before I had kids I volunteered about 15-20 hrs/month with a music group and a kids service organization.

Since having kids I volunteer 2-3 hrs/month. Some music related stuff and now some neighborhood volunteer work driven by the kids. No time for the previous substantial commitments unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 young kids and I've primarily switched to volunteer activities I can do with them.
I would say I average about 50 hours a year but I'm including in the food packing type stuff that I do with the kids and also stuff that I do with their public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Two different boards for country club: 10 hours/month

Your other volunteer service is awesome and seriously a commitment, and I guess this is volunteer work, but I wouldn't consider it charitable. OP doesn't state charitable volunteer work, but just saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I never thought of donating blood as volunteering - duh!! I've been a regular donor for 16 years.

I don’t consider it volunteering. I find it odd that it would be included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Two different boards for country club: 10 hours/month

Your other volunteer service is awesome and seriously a commitment, and I guess this is volunteer work, but I wouldn't consider it charitable. OP doesn't state charitable volunteer work, but just saying.

Okay. People benefit, they just aren’t low income people.

[Anonymous]

Outside of work, probably 50/year. But if you include pro bono I'm closer to 400 hours/year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Two different boards for country club: 10 hours/month

Your other volunteer service is awesome and seriously a commitment, and I guess this is volunteer work, but I wouldn't consider it charitable. OP doesn't state charitable volunteer work, but just saying.

Okay. People benefit, they just aren’t low income people.

What kinds of things do the country club boards organize?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Two different boards for country club: 10 hours/month

Your other volunteer service is awesome and seriously a commitment, and I guess this is volunteer work, but I wouldn't consider it charitable. OP doesn't state charitable volunteer work, but just saying.

Okay. People benefit, they just aren’t low income people.

What kinds of things do the country club boards organize?

I'm low income, I volunteer, and I say the person who volunteers for country clubs DOES volunteer. If you work and don't get paid, and aren't learning (intern), then you ARE volunteering.

[Anonymous]

Because of how much of my time is taken up with child-related stuff (two young elementary kids), the past few years most of my volunteer hours have centered around the kids' schools/activities. You could argue that it's not necessarily charitable because most of the kids involved aren't coming from financial difficulty, but I think that's arguably short-sighted. If I run a couple of PTA fundraisers and part of what the PTA does with that money is provide school supplies and field trip funds for kids whose families can't afford those things and free family events they can attend, it does benefit lower income families in the community. Same with volunteering to coach a sports team -- free parent coaching keeps the cost of rec programs way down and makes them more accessible to lower income families. I do direct more of my financial contributions to organizations that don't benefit from my time and do benefit those with greater need, though, and once my kids are a bit older, there are a couple of organizations I would like to start working with more.