The log contains instructions and tips for logging service hours. Below are general guidelines to keep in mind.
- Enter your volunteer hours every month for each organization benefiting from your service. So, if you served Habitat for Humanity 2.5 hours and Briggs Avenue Community Garden 3 hours during the last month, you would complete the Volunteer Log twice, once for Habitat hours and once for Briggs Avenue volunteer work.
- Eligible service hours include hours spent in service to any unmet community need in any location. The activity must provide a direct benefit for a nonprofit entity or a group of underserved individuals. Preferably the service will be in Orange or Durham counties, but service in any location counts. (Note: This is a change from previous announcements.)
- Service hours provided to labor unions, partisan political organizations, or religious activities do not qualify. If the service is provided to the community through these organizations, the volunteer hours count. If the service is provided to the organization or its cause, the service hours do not count. For example, ushering at church serves the religion and its followers, so the hours spent ushering will not count. However, if the church collects school supplies and hosts a Back-to-School bazaar and giveaway, the hours spent organizing, collecting, and disseminating the supplies all count. Log them!
- Direct service hours obviously count but so do hours you spend organizing, planning, or publicizing a service event. For example, if you organize a 5k race event, count all hours you spent planning, emailing, writing, calling, posting fliers, and/or setting up the event, as well as the actual event hours if you are present. As long as the meeting or work pertains to service and its execution, log the hours!
- The most important factor in determining an activity’s qualification is whether it serves an unmet need in the community. The goal of these guidelines is not to exclude any meaningful service, but rather, to provide a very basic framework for understanding service. If you feel an important service doesn’t meet these guidelines or if you have any questions, please contact us at volunteer@durhamtech.edu.
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