The Dagmar Perspective

Volunteering has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. There’s something deeply fulfilling about contributing directly to the community you belong to. I truly believe you’re not fully a resident of a place until you plug into a local organization, ideally, by giving your time to a cause that matters. As I settle into my new(ish) home of Mountain View, California, I’ve been looking for ways to get involved and support the local community in a tangible way.

That search led me to Hope’s Corner, a nonprofit in downtown Mountain View that serves free hot breakfasts and packed lunches three times a week to anyone who needs them. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, they serve between 300 and 600 guests depending on the day. For the past four or five months, I’ve been volunteering there about every other Saturday, usually for a few hours at a time, helping with meal prep, serving, or wherever help is needed. Between food donations from local stores and community contributions, Hope’s Corner is able to bring the cost of each meal down to just $2.75 per guest. It’s an impressive operation.

When I first learned that $2.75 could provide a hot meal, I found myself thinking, maybe the best way I can help is by donating. With just $200, I could help feed over 70 people. That felt meaningful. So in addition to my volunteer time, roughly 8 to 10 hours a month, I began giving about $50 monthly as well. But that thought sparked a bigger question: what actually provides more impact to an organization like Hope’s Corner, my time or my money?

According to the Independent Sector, the average value of a volunteer hour in the U.S. is $34.79. In California, it’s estimated at $40.14. That means the monthly value of my volunteer work alone is over $400; far more than my monetary donation. Yet, that $50 directly funds meals that reach just as many people as I serve during my shift. So which matters more?

Before I try to answer that, I want to take a quick detour to say: Hope’s Corner is one of the most organized, thoughtful, and motivating nonprofits I’ve ever worked with. They run an incredibly smart volunteer system that feels both efficient and impactful. When you check in for a shift, you’re given an apron color that represents your volunteer status. Newer volunteers get tan aprons, indicating you are new to the organization and that others should jump in and help you when needed. This allows for a smooth onboarding into the organization. Once you become a regular, you have the option to be promoted to a green apron, which signals that you’re a volunteer “lead” and are trusted to train others and manage one of the five volunteer stations: hot bar, cold bar, coffee service, dishwashing, or the kitchen. These green aprons are highly coveted. I still remember how excited I was when I got an email from the coordinator letting me know they saw leadership potential in me (evidence below). It was from that point, I was hooked and determined to achieve the green apron status.

And then there are the red aprons, the highest status a volunteer can earn at Hope’s. These are the people who have been showing up consistently for years. Their is only one red apron-er per shift, and they coordinate all programs and green apron-ers for the day. I’d be lying if I said the idea of one day wearing a red apron doesn’t motivate me to wake up at 6:00 am for each shift.

But back to the question. What’s more important: donating your money or donating your time?

In places like Silicon Valley, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that money alone is enough. Financial support absolutely matters, but in my opinion, money without people doesn’t work. Especially with organizations that serve the community and the disadvantages like Hope’s Corner, it is impossible to run someone chopping the onions, washing the dishes, running the programs, and distributing the meals. A check can only go so far without hands willing to put it to use. Even major companies like Microsoft seem to understand this; they not only offer donation matching, but also match employee volunteer hours and encourage hands-on involvement in local communities (source).

This is the difficult balance of nonprofit work. Donations help pay staff and cover operating costs, but that leaves little room to fund the actual services if those staff are paid fairly. So often, nonprofits rely on people willing to work for far less than they deserve, or not at all. I’ve been one of those people. After college, I worked for 4-H, an after-school educational program, earning $17.50 an hour. My job was to support the hundreds of volunteers who ran local clubs and helped teach students valuable life skills. Even with generous donations, the work wouldn’t have happened without those volunteers. Donors helped keep the lights on (so to speak), but volunteers kept the program alive.

Of course, the opposite is also true. Volunteerism without financial support has limits. A few years ago, I volunteered weekly at Bay Area Maker Farm (BAMF), a small urban educational farm in Alameda, CA. My role was to feed the animals (goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, and even a few fish) using food donated by local grocery stores and bakeries. But BAMF had no reliable income and no donors.  The food for the animals was stored in a broken truck with a window AC unit jury-rigged to the side, and was often moldy or expired. Some volunteers lived on-site in converted shipping containers. Occasionally they’d sell eggs, or even live chickens, to cover utility bills and vet care. There were only about ten of us keeping the place afloat. I stopped showing up eventually, not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t want to be associated with an organization that couldn’t properly care for their animals and felt like it could collapse at any moment. It was a clear example of how passion and effort can’t sustain a mission if there’s no funding behind it.

Side note: In another post, I may dive into how universal basic income might be a better way to support struggling communities than relying on fragmented nonprofit systems. I believe UBI could allow people to meet their basic needs with without having to jump through hoops (like applying for EBT or other assistance programs) or hope a charity is well-funded enough to help them (if there even is a charity in their area). But for now, in the absence of such a system like UBI, nonprofits continue to be a vital social support and they depend on both time and money to function.

As much as I’d love to argue that volunteering is far more important, and that donating alone is a cop-out, I’ve come to believe they’re deeply interconnected. One is rarely effective without the other. Hope’s Corner works because it has both: the volunteers to serve and the regular donations to provide supplies. My experience at BAMF proved to me that volunteerism alone is relatively ineffective and not sustainable. 

So if you take anything from this post, let it be this: find a way to support your local community. If you’re in a season where your time is limited but you can donate, that’s meaningful. If you have time to give, even better. And if you can do both, you’ll have an even bigger impact. But please don’t fall into the trap of thinking donating lets you off the hook. Societies aren’t built on money alone. They’re built on people who show up.

If you’re not sure where to start volunteering, I recommend starting your search here: https://www.volunteermatch.org/search

Dagmar

PS: here are photos of my time with Hope’s Corner. Please excuse how I look, the photos were taken at the end of my shift.