504
Note: This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council (SSHRC) INE Public Outreach Grant (Canada). The authors are grateful to all ARNOVA
members who participated in this study.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 3, September 2007 504-520
DOI: 10.1177/0899764007300388
© 2007 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action
RESEARCH NOTE
The Value of Volunteering for a Nonprofit
Membership Association: The Case of ARNOVA
Laurie Mook
University of Toronto
Femida Handy
University of Pennsylvania
Jorge Ginieniewicz
Jack Quarter
University of Toronto
Although research indicates that volunteer labor is of significant value to many non-
profit organizations, this value is generally not included in the organization’s financial
accounting statements. This study discusses the value added to nonprofit membership
organizations of the volunteering done by its members. It uses an exploratory case
study of the Association for Research on Nonprofits Organizations and Voluntary
Action (ARNOVA) to demonstrate how volunteer labor is valued and presented within
a social accounting framework by utilizing the Expanded Value Added Statement. This
is followed by discussion of some of the benefits and limitations of such a method and
policy implications.
Keywords: volunteer labor; value added; social accounting; nonprofit membership
organization
This article focuses on the value of volunteers to professional membership
organizations. Although volunteering in the United States is ubiquitous, with
the 2006 U.S. Current Population Survey reporting that just more than 23% of
men and 30% of women are engaged in voluntary activities (Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2007), this activity is quite diverse, spanning across different sectors
and subsectors of the economy and various types of organizations.