FYI: What’s a volunteer’s time worth? In 2002, it was $16.54 an hour, fifty cents an hour more than the previous year, according to the Independent Sector. And, collectively, volunteers put in an estimated $256.4 billion in work during 2002. Each year, Independent Sector measures the value of volunteer hours by taking the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ determination of the average hourly earnings for non-agricultural workers and adding 12 percent for benefits. It’s part of the group’s efforts to document and measure national giving–both temporal and monetary. [2/21/03