Time is not money to volunteers

Time is not money to volunteers

By Kevin Palmer

In America, volunteering is one reason why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. By using volunteer promotional campaigns, ordinary Americans have been persuaded to give away their time and labor, even though there is enough money available to compensate volunteers.

In 2017, the United States was listed as one of the ten richest countries in the world. In 2016, according to Forbes, “the 400 richest people in America have a record-breaking, combined total net worth of $2.4 trillion, up from $2.34 trillion in 2015. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member hit $6 billion, also a record high, up from $5.8 billion last year.” Therefore, ordinary Americans should not be giving away their time and labor.

Indeed, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, “about 63 million Americans gave 8 billion hours of volunteer service worth $193 billion dollars.” In Georgia, over 1.8 million residents gave away 199.02 million hours of free time and labor worth $4.9 billion dollars. In Mississippi, the state with the highest poverty rate, over 400 thousand residents gave away 61.7 million hours of free time and labor worth $1.3 billion dollars.

Moreover, ordinary Americans are misguided to give away time and labor when they owe an enormous amount of consumer debt. According to the latest Federal Reserve statistics, “consumer debt was about $3.6 trillion dollars in April 2016.” According to Census Bureau statistics, “that works out to over $11,140 in debt for every man, woman, and child that lives in the United States.”

In short, ordinary Americans have been hoodwinked into giving away time and labor. In return, the rich get richer while volunteers receive a warm, fuzzy feeling without compensation.