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Volunteer Hours Certification

Status: Proposal draft for Ganjier Guild (pre-formation). Owner: Administrator (intake & verification); Board Chair or Vice Chair (signature on letters). Purpose: Provide volunteers with reliable, non-monetized documentation of their service for personal records, immigration applications, school credit, employer matching programs, court-ordered service, or other third-party uses.

1. Core principle: hours and role only, no dollar value

The Guild documents what someone did and how long they did it. The Guild does not assign a fair-market-value (FMV) dollar amount to volunteer hours in certification letters and does not state a "value of service" in any letter, log, public report, or member-facing record.

Why this matters:

  • Worker classification protection. Assigning a dollar value to volunteer work blurs the line between volunteers and contractors and creates IRS and DOL exposure for the Guild.
  • Benefits protection. Volunteers receiving SSDI, SSI, VA disability, or Medicaid-waiver supports can be harmed by documentation that implies in-kind compensation. POMS and CDR practice scrutinize work that resembles paid employment in scope, intensity, or "value." See benefits-aware-volunteering.md.
  • Donor-side confusion. Volunteers cannot deduct the value of their time on a personal tax return (IRS Pub. 526), so an FMV figure on a Guild letter has no tax benefit and only creates risk.

The Guild publishes an aggregate "volunteer hours contributed this year" total in its annual report. It does not publish or certify per-volunteer dollar valuations. Internal aggregate FMV figures used for grant applications are produced by the Treasurer using public benchmarks (e.g., Independent Sector value of volunteer time) and are kept on grant work product, never on a certification letter.

2. What a volunteer can request

Any volunteer in good standing may request a certification letter that states:

  • The volunteer's name (and pronouns if requested)
  • The Guild's legal name and EIN once formed (placeholder until then)
  • The volunteer's role(s)
  • A short description of the duties performed
  • The total hours contributed in the requested period
  • The start and end dates of the period covered
  • An attestation that the work was performed without compensation, on a volunteer basis
  • Signature of the Board Chair or Vice Chair

The letter does not include:

  • Any dollar amount, hourly rate, or FMV figure
  • Any wording that implies the volunteer received compensation, comp membership, fee forgiveness, or any in-kind benefit in exchange for service
  • Any statement of "value to the organization" expressed in money
  • The volunteer's home address, SSN, DOB, or other PII unless the volunteer specifically requests it for a third-party form (e.g., immigration USCIS forms)

The letter template is at template-library/communications/volunteer-certification-letter.md.

3. How hours are tracked

Volunteers self-log hours using the Guild's volunteer log (see data-and-records.md). Logging requirements:

  • Date of service
  • Role / activity (e.g., "event setup — NECANN booth," "committee work — Membership," "admin — replay processing")
  • Hours (rounded to the nearest quarter hour)
  • Brief description (one line)

The Administrator reviews the log monthly and flags entries that need clarification before they are certified. The Administrator does not adjust a volunteer's submitted hours without written acknowledgment from the volunteer.

Hard cap: No volunteer is asked or expected to log more than 80 hours in any calendar month. The cap exists to (a) protect volunteer status under worker-classification rules, (b) protect SSDI/SSI/VA/Medicaid-waiver volunteers from CDR exposure, and © signal that no volunteer is filling the substantive duties of an open paid role. Any month above 80 hours requires advance written sign-off from the Administrator and Treasurer, retained with the volunteer's file. A pattern of months above the cap triggers a board-level review of whether the role should be posted as paid.

4. How a letter is requested and produced

  1. Volunteer emails navigators@ganjierguild.com (or the Administrator inbox during pre-formation) with: requested period, intended use of the letter (school / employer match / immigration / personal record / etc.), recipient (if known), and any specific phrasing required by the receiving organization.
  2. Administrator pulls the volunteer's logged hours for the requested period, cross-checks against committee or event records, and drafts the letter from the template.
  3. Administrator sends the draft to the volunteer for review. The volunteer may correct factual errors before signature.
  4. Board Chair (or Vice Chair if Chair is unavailable, or the volunteer requesting is the Chair) signs the final letter.
  5. Administrator delivers the signed letter as PDF by email and, on request, by mail. A copy is filed at Volunteers/<lastname-first-initial>/Certifications/<YYYY-MM-DD>.pdf.

Target turnaround: 10 business days from request to signed letter.

5. Special-purpose letters

Court-ordered or diversion-program service. The Guild may host volunteers fulfilling court-ordered hours when the role and supervision are appropriate. Letters for these volunteers follow the same hours-and-role-only rule and are addressed directly to the court or program coordinator named in the order. The Administrator confirms the program's required wording matches the Guild's policy before accepting the placement.

School / academic credit. The Guild signs program-provided forms when the form requests hours, role, supervisor, and dates. If a school form requires a dollar value, the Administrator declines to fill that field and provides a cover note explaining the Guild's policy. Most schools accept this without issue.

Employer volunteer-matching programs. Many corporate matching programs offer the Guild a cash donation per volunteer hour logged by an employee. The Guild participates by certifying hours only. The matching dollar amount is the employer's calculation, not the Guild's, and appears on the employer's grant or donation rather than on the Guild's certification letter.

Immigration applications (USCIS, etc.). The Administrator works with the volunteer's attorney or accredited representative to ensure the letter satisfies the specific form's requirements. The Guild will state hours, role, duties, dates, and the volunteer relationship; it will not state a value.

6. What the Guild does not issue

  • Letters stating an FMV of donated time
  • Letters that resemble W-2s or 1099s (e.g., "in lieu of compensation, you received…")
  • "In-kind donation" receipts to a volunteer for their own time (the IRS does not allow a deduction for time, so such a receipt is misleading)
  • Confirmation that a volunteer "earned" a comp membership, fee waiver, discount, or any benefit through service — the Guild does not award benefits in exchange for service. See membership/complimentary-membership-policy.md.

If a volunteer needs financial relief on dues, the right path is the Scholarship & Hardship Waiver, reviewed on objective criteria by the Membership & Ethics committee — entirely separate from any volunteer service.

7. Records and retention

  • Volunteer logs: kept for 7 years in the Guild's records system.
  • Issued certification letters: kept for 7 years in the volunteer's file.
  • Aggregate hours by year: published in the annual report and retained permanently.
  • The Administrator audits the volunteer log against role, event, and committee records each quarter; discrepancies are resolved with the volunteer in writing.

Cross-references