Thank you for reporting your hours. This is important information that we collect every month and we can’t do it without you volunteering the hours and reporting them to us.
Why do we report hours?
The number of volunteer hours reported is a very important metric for our agency. Here is what we do with the information:
- It is one way we validate our work when we talk to funders and report to the court.
- It is how we determine what to communicate to incoming volunteers about the commitment required to serve as a CASA.
- It accounts for the single largest part of our revenue (the Judicial Council values CASA time at $28.62 per hour).
When you accurately report your hours, our agency can use that information to improve fundraising, the quality of our services and recruitment.
What counts as volunteer time?
Each month you should report volunteer hours (time spent on your case/s), your continuing education (independent study, trainings, etc), and non-advocacy hours (putting up flyers, committee meetings, etc). Often people forget the many things that they do for our organization. Here is a list of common things people do:
First, let’s start with what counts for volunteering hours:
- Any interaction with CASA staff
- Any interaction with your child or parties to the case (visits, events, calls, emails, voicemails, texts, in person)
- All travel time to and from CASA activities (child visits, court, the CASA office, etc)
- Shopping for a Birthday Gift
- Writing a court report, notes, etc
- All time at court (including waiting)
For continuing education the following activities count:
- Reading an article/ book related to your CASA work
- Attending a class, training or presentation related to your CASA work
- Watching a video on a topic related to your work as a CASA
- Check out our online training page for a list of CE opportunities
How do I track and report my hours?
We want to provide you with tools to track your volunteer hours as accurately as possible. If you have a system that works- Great! If not talk with your advocate supervisor about a system that will work for you.
We understand that sometimes it is difficult to track your hours precisely and that volunteers tend to under-report their hours (out of modesty mostly). The following chart is guidance for estimating your volunteers when you are not sure how much time you have volunteered. The times are based on the minimum average time for each function. This chart does not include the court report which can easily be an additional 3-10 hours in that month.
4 child visits x 1.5 hours + 4 calls or emails with an Advocate Supervisor x .25 hours= 7 hours.Here is an example using the chart
Remember to report your continuing education separately.
You can report your hours online, by emailing or calling your Advocate Supervisor to report your hours. We have added a calculator tool to the website to help you estimate your hours using the guidance above.
When do I report my hours?
Please report your hours to your advocate supervisor by the 5th of each month for the preceding month. Or by using CASA Connect
