Valuing volunteer time in your grant application, an addendum

Resource #68 addresses valuing volunteer hours for your grant application. Blue Avacado has a nice article, Tracking Volunteer Time to Boost Your Bottom Line: A Complete Accounting Guide, by CPA Dennis Walsh that expands on that topic.

I recommend that all grant writers read and share it with your clients/organizations. Three of the five reasons Walsh gives for tracking volunteer time relate to grants and funders.

1. "Our funders see volunteer inputs as a measure of effectiveness." Funders and donors want to know what resources your nonprofit already receives and from whom.
2. Too often volunteer inputs are not factored in properly, giving a false sense of the true cost.
   
3. Volunteer time can help you meet requirements for matching funds. Certain grants stipulate that the nonprofit must match a percentage of grant funds and that the value of volunteer time may qualify toward satisfaction of the match requirement.

The article gives specific advice, examples, and reference sites for collecting, valuing, and reporting volunteer time. It's a good reference for us all. [Article link]

By the way, I recommend you sign up for the free subscription to Blue Avacado, published by the Nonprofit Insurance Alliance of California, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and the Alliance of Nonprofits for Insurance, Risk Retention Group. It's informative and well written.

Limits on Exec Compensation in Grant Applications

Image by DavidDMuir via FlickrNow, here's a clause in an RFP that I've never seen before. This is from an OJJDP Gang Prevention RFP that came out this past week. I guess if Wall Street had to give up their bonuses, nonprofit managers have to make sacrifices, too.

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver. No portion of any award of more than $250,000 made under this solicitation may be used to pay any portion of the total cash compensation (salary plus bonuses) of any employee of the award recipient whose total cash compensation exceeds 110 percent of the maximum annual salary payable to a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES) at an agency with a Certified SES Performance Appraisal System for that year. (The salary table for SES employees is available at www.opm.gov.) This prohibition may be waived at the discretion of the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. An applicant that wishes to request a waiver must include a detailed justification in the budget narrative of the application.

To save you time, here's the link to the Salary Table No. 2009-ES The maximum compensation for a Federal Sr. Executive Service with a "Certified SES Performance Appraisal System" is $177,000. So, if any of your executives are paid more than $194,700, don't charge any of that compensation to your proposal budget.

My clients are all wishing this was relevant to their compensation! Oh, well...

We'll probably see more of this. Do you think it will be applied to Federal contracts in the for-profit sector?

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# 68: The match: How should a grant writer value volunteers hours?

Image via Wikipedia

When a grant application requires a match, most organizations will find it "in-kind." And, often much of the in-kind comes from volunteer hours. After all, where would non-profits be without volunteer hours? Many programs just couldn't fly.

So, how much are volunteer hours worth?

Independent Sector makes a rate available each year that's accepted by the Feds— currently $19.51/hour. They also list the value of a volunteer hour by state -- in NY state, where I am, the 2006 value was $26.18.

In addition, if a professional volunteers their professional services you can value them at their standard billing rates. Make sure you have documentation from them about their rate.

Points of Light Institute now has a calculator that uses Department of Labor rates to assign acceptable values for different kinds of volunteer labor. Careful, though. The rate is for the work, not the person, so, using the example from the Independent Sector, a doctor volunteering to paint a fence is worth a painters rate, not an MD's.

My clients use these different rates without any problem for both the grant application match and for valuing the documented in-kind hours for reporting purposes.

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#54: How to position your grant proposal financials

Yesterday I had lunch with a fellow free-lance grant writer, Jim Kopp. I don't often have the opportunity to talk face-to-face with other grant writers, so I enjoyed the camaraderie.

At one point in our conversation, Jim commented that he often has to explain to clients the importance of presenting a project proposal within the context of the organization's overall financial picture. Some clients resist sharing their financials with funders. They forget that information is available to the world on the organization's 990 form.

So, here's a tip from Jim. The funder can look at the agency's finances anyway. Your job, as a grant writer, is to make it easy for them to see how this project fits into the big picture.

This is so important. In fact, when the Foundation Center asked the question, "How do you usually read a grant request?" here's what some of the respondents had to say:

"I look at the budget. Over the years I've learned that narrative can be enriching, but the numbers are stark and straightforward. I want to see that the money is doing the job described in the proposal." Joel Orosz W.K. Kellogg Foundation

"I skip around the document in the following way: first the budget, to see if the request is appropriate and to see the agency's financials; then the project section, to see what they want to accomplish; then the board list." Lynn Pattillo The Pittulloch Foundation, Inc.

"I often look at the budget and then read the proposal backwards." Michael Gilligan The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc.

If you're new to preparing grant budgets, the Foundation Center offers this [free] basic tutorial.

Tutorials - Proposal Proposal Budgeting Basics: "This online course is designed to help with the basics of developing a project budget, and it is geared for those who have general knowledge of proposal development.