WY/CO Region Red Cross Volunteers, you are all so generous with your time that you often don’t take credit for the work you’re doing. However, the Red Cross organization needs to take as much credit as possible for your work to support our fundraising and business operations. Because volunteer hours are so important to us, starting in January 2018, the WY / CO Region will receive monthly email reports summarizing your hours to ensure we’ve captured all of your hard work.
Please read below for more information about Worked hours, Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) hours, and On-call hours so that you know why each matter to us and what you can do to help.
Why are “Worked” volunteer hours important?
Worked hours help the Red Cross in several critical ways:
- They prove to our donors and the Federal Government that we are an organization run by volunteers, with over 94% of the work performed by volunteers;
- They support fundraising efforts from foundations, corporations, and the federal government by demonstrating all of the great work we do;
- They help National Red Cross evaluate how the WY/CO region is performing to ensure we have the resources we need and they allow us to track how engaged we are in the community.
These hours are so important to the organization that the WY/CO region has a 2018 fiscal-year (7/1/2017 to 6/30/2018) goal to achieve over 140,000 Worked hours. In our monthly reports to you, we’ll keep you informed of how we’re doing.
What do I need to do to ensure my Worked hours are recorded accurately?
Record them through Volunteer Connection! Remember that “work” includes the time to travel, prepare, organize, train, perform the work, email, attend meetings, and read documents. Other than time supporting DRO and being on-call, any time you spend on Red Cross business should be recorded as Worked hours.
Why are Disaster Relief Operation (DRO) hours important?
Every DRO hour recorded helps state and local governments offset cost-sharing with the Federal Government and allows affected areas to keep more money within their communities. Because this is so important to the communities we help, we automatically record 10 hours for each day that you give helping disaster victims.
What do I need to do to ensure my DRO Hours are recorded accurately?
NOTHING!!! We took the burden of recording them from you, so you don’t need to do anything.
What about On-Call hours?
We appreciate that some of you set aside so much personal time to be available if needed. Unfortunately, we can’t take credit for these hours in the same way as Worked or DRO hours. That’s why it’s so important for you to record both On-call hours and Worked hours when you work while you’re on-call! Remember that time you spend organizing and preparing to be on-call, even if it’s just 15 minutes, counts as Worked time.
Guest Post: Andy Carstens, Volunteer Hours Admin
Photo Credit: Heather Fairchild, Volunteer Photographer
I cannot find any way to get to Volunteer Connections. As a result, it is extremely difficult to post hours.
We have sent your comment to the Volunteer Services Team and someone should be reaching out soon to help connect you to the right place. Thanks for reaching out!