Are we looking for an accounting of value for match purposes here, or is our inquiry more general? There are tons of WSFR funded projects that receive voluntary contributions that are never used as match. I've seen contributions to hatchery maintenance from groups ranging from Scouts to 'Friends groups' or rotary clubs. I've seen volunteers used in Hatcheries and on Wildlife Areas for meeting and greeting visitors and conducting tours. A lot of times, we never anticipated or accounted for that for purposes of matching.
Are there some kinds of 'volunteers' that don't count. In conducting inventory / management projects I sometimes had assistance from my friendly neighborhood USFS Forest or District biologist; BLM range con; State Park employee; etc. Do we want to know about those kinds of contributions?
Question 4: Many IL DNR USFWS fed aid grants are continuous survey/monitoring/inventory type grants. Data often must be collected over a long period over a long period of time to identify trends and/or cause-effect conditions. So comparing one grant segment to another is not often very meaningful and can lead to misunderstandings as to what the data is representing. Also, many of our ongoing fed aid projects collect large volumes of data so is it something the Service wants clogging up their servers by attaching the data?
Question 8: The IL DNR only tracks volunteer time when it is used as in-kind match under a USFWS fed aid funded grant. That said, many partners of the IL DNR contribute throughout the year to the efforts of the Department. Many of those activities are associated with USFWS fed aid funded projects, but no record is kept of the volunteers efforts.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Paul. We will get a much better product from folks providing input. We will take all comments into consideration.
I have similar thoughts to others that have commented here that more clarification and what you are trying to get at here would be helpful.
If we are using volunteers as match towards our project, the volunteer time/match would be reported/tracked with the grant fiscal reporting and already documented to USFWS through that avenue. If we are not using the volunteer time as match for the grant or any other project related funding, we wouldn't be tracking it or wouldn't be able to spend time reporting it unless it was needed for grant match at this time. Oregon is developing a new volunteer tracking software currently, so this might be easier in the future (2018+?) for us to report overall volunteer contributions related to all projects, but for now would just be grant related.
Thanks for your thoughts Judson. We will consider this as we assemble all comments and move towards the finish line.
Ryan
Anonymous
Jan 18, 2017
I concur with the previous comments. I would ask for clarification on this question - are we to mention match volunteer hours (already approved and documented by USFWS) or only volunteer contributions that are not intended as match?
We already report on volunteer labor that is included in the budget. We do not track the many types of volunteer work done on projects that is not included as match. Reporting on this broader category of volunteer labor would either result in significant extra work for grant staff, or significant under reporting of volunteer work. We strongly urge you to limit this to volunteer labor included specifically in the grant budget.
-Heather Kieweg MN Dept. of Natural Resources
Anonymous
Jan 19, 2017
I agree that clarification is needed on the purpose of the question. If the purpose is limited to performance of the grant, then only those hours recorded toward accomplishing grant objectives should be included (e.g. hunter education volunteer instructor hours). In that context it is a reasonable to ask how many hours since the financial reporting of in-kind match (sf425) would provide a dollar value only. The question doesn't seem like it should be asked unless it is in relation to hours recorded as volunteer in-kind match.
Randy Curtis, NH Fish and Game Dept.
Anonymous
Jan 19, 2017
Because of the potential connection between volunteer hours and a monetary value, I understand why states are nervous about this. Seems like this could be associated with an audit risk. Perhaps it would be more palatable to ask "If volunteers assisted with the implementation of this project, please describe the partnership(s) with your agency." Something that captures the answer in narrative only, and allows the state to showcase all the cool partnerships they've developed. Again, I think this should be clearly optional for reporting, not mandated.
Andrea Crews, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
This seems appropriate and is already included if volunteer time is being used as match to the grant. Very few of our projects use volunteers as match, so this will often be N/A.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Anonymous
Jan 20, 2017
Seems reasonable.
Anonymous
Jan 20, 2017
This is easily answered if the volunteer time was planned for and taken into account as third party match, but it will be more difficult to report on when volunteers are used in an incidental nature (e.g. a local Trout Unlimited Chapter helps with a stream habitat improvement project.)
As with the other questions we responded to, it would be helpful to know how the WSFR program intended to use this information.
Question 8 is only relevant for grant agreements that include in-kind match in the form of volunteer services. Including in-kind match would require approval during the initial grant submission process in accordance with 2 CFR 200.306(b)(6) and 2 CFR 200.306(e). If the volunteer services aren’t being used as a formal match, there is no relevance to including these data in the performance report.
Thanks for your comments and your comments mirror many of the others who commented as well. I will make sure to have your thoughts presented at the TRACS Working Group meeting.
Need clarification here. Is this number for hours that was used as toward the budget (i.e. in-kind match)? Our agency utilizes volunteers to implement programs but is not used for monetary value against the grant budget.
Great point. Several other commenters had the same clarification request. This will be discussed at the upcoming TRACS Working Group meeting, so stay tuned. Thanks for your comments to this effort. I really appreciated them.
Agree with quite a few folks. Why are number of volunteer hours needed in a performance report? What value does that add? If being used as match already reported. What is the regulatory basis for asking for the number of hours? Please don't add unnecessary work to the states.
Anonymous
Jan 27, 2017
This can be difficult to track unless required upfront per the grant.
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21 Comments
Anonymous
Jan 04, 2017Are we looking for an accounting of value for match purposes here, or is our inquiry more general? There are tons of WSFR funded projects that receive voluntary contributions that are never used as match. I've seen contributions to hatchery maintenance from groups ranging from Scouts to 'Friends groups' or rotary clubs. I've seen volunteers used in Hatcheries and on Wildlife Areas for meeting and greeting visitors and conducting tours. A lot of times, we never anticipated or accounted for that for purposes of matching.
Are there some kinds of 'volunteers' that don't count. In conducting inventory / management projects I sometimes had assistance from my friendly neighborhood USFS Forest or District biologist; BLM range con; State Park employee; etc. Do we want to know about those kinds of contributions?
Phil King
Jan 05, 2017You make a valid point. We need to clarify the purpose for reporting on volunteer hours contributed. More discussion needed.
Paul Vehlow
Jan 09, 2017Questions 1-3, 5-7: No comments
Question 4: Many IL DNR USFWS fed aid grants are continuous survey/monitoring/inventory type grants. Data often must be collected over a long period over a long period of time to identify trends and/or cause-effect conditions. So comparing one grant segment to another is not often very meaningful and can lead to misunderstandings as to what the data is representing. Also, many of our ongoing fed aid projects collect large volumes of data so is it something the Service wants clogging up their servers by attaching the data?
Question 8: The IL DNR only tracks volunteer time when it is used as in-kind match under a USFWS fed aid funded grant. That said, many partners of the IL DNR contribute throughout the year to the efforts of the Department. Many of those activities are associated with USFWS fed aid funded projects, but no record is kept of the volunteers efforts.
Phil King
Jan 09, 2017Thanks for taking the time to comment Paul. We will get a much better product from folks providing input. We will take all comments into consideration.
Holly Huchko
Jan 09, 2017I have similar thoughts to others that have commented here that more clarification and what you are trying to get at here would be helpful.
If we are using volunteers as match towards our project, the volunteer time/match would be reported/tracked with the grant fiscal reporting and already documented to USFWS through that avenue. If we are not using the volunteer time as match for the grant or any other project related funding, we wouldn't be tracking it or wouldn't be able to spend time reporting it unless it was needed for grant match at this time. Oregon is developing a new volunteer tracking software currently, so this might be easier in the future (2018+?) for us to report overall volunteer contributions related to all projects, but for now would just be grant related.
Ryan Oster
Jan 10, 2017Thanks Holly, appreciate the comment.
Ryan
Anonymous
Jan 10, 2017I don't believe reporting on volunteer hours belongs in a performance report unless the state is claiming volunteer time as In-Kind match. Judson
Ryan Oster
Jan 11, 2017Thanks for your thoughts Judson. We will consider this as we assemble all comments and move towards the finish line.
Ryan
Anonymous
Jan 18, 2017I concur with the previous comments. I would ask for clarification on this question - are we to mention match volunteer hours (already approved and documented by USFWS) or only volunteer contributions that are not intended as match?
DeAnn Johnigk, WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife, deann.johnigk@dfw.wa.gov
Heather Kieweg
Jan 18, 2017We already report on volunteer labor that is included in the budget. We do not track the many types of volunteer work done on projects that is not included as match. Reporting on this broader category of volunteer labor would either result in significant extra work for grant staff, or significant under reporting of volunteer work. We strongly urge you to limit this to volunteer labor included specifically in the grant budget.
-Heather Kieweg MN Dept. of Natural Resources
Anonymous
Jan 19, 2017I agree that clarification is needed on the purpose of the question. If the purpose is limited to performance of the grant, then only those hours recorded toward accomplishing grant objectives should be included (e.g. hunter education volunteer instructor hours). In that context it is a reasonable to ask how many hours since the financial reporting of in-kind match (sf425) would provide a dollar value only. The question doesn't seem like it should be asked unless it is in relation to hours recorded as volunteer in-kind match.
Randy Curtis, NH Fish and Game Dept.
Anonymous
Jan 19, 2017Because of the potential connection between volunteer hours and a monetary value, I understand why states are nervous about this. Seems like this could be associated with an audit risk. Perhaps it would be more palatable to ask "If volunteers assisted with the implementation of this project, please describe the partnership(s) with your agency." Something that captures the answer in narrative only, and allows the state to showcase all the cool partnerships they've developed. Again, I think this should be clearly optional for reporting, not mandated.
Andrea Crews, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
Sheila Cameron
Jan 19, 2017This seems appropriate and is already included if volunteer time is being used as match to the grant. Very few of our projects use volunteers as match, so this will often be N/A.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Anonymous
Jan 20, 2017Seems reasonable.
Anonymous
Jan 20, 2017This is easily answered if the volunteer time was planned for and taken into account as third party match, but it will be more difficult to report on when volunteers are used in an incidental nature (e.g. a local Trout Unlimited Chapter helps with a stream habitat improvement project.)
As with the other questions we responded to, it would be helpful to know how the WSFR program intended to use this information.
NYSDEC, Division of Fish & Wildlife
Michael Sawyers
Jan 20, 2017Question 8 is only relevant for grant agreements that include in-kind match in the form of volunteer services. Including in-kind match would require approval during the initial grant submission process in accordance with 2 CFR 200.306(b)(6) and 2 CFR 200.306(e). If the volunteer services aren’t being used as a formal match, there is no relevance to including these data in the performance report.
Ryan Oster
Jan 23, 2017Michael,
Thanks for your comments and your comments mirror many of the others who commented as well. I will make sure to have your thoughts presented at the TRACS Working Group meeting.
Best Regards,
Ryan
Julie Kempf
Jan 20, 2017Need clarification here. Is this number for hours that was used as toward the budget (i.e. in-kind match)? Our agency utilizes volunteers to implement programs but is not used for monetary value against the grant budget.
Ryan Oster
Jan 23, 2017Julie,
Great point. Several other commenters had the same clarification request. This will be discussed at the upcoming TRACS Working Group meeting, so stay tuned. Thanks for your comments to this effort. I really appreciated them.
Best Regards,
Ryan
Sherry Crouch
Jan 26, 2017Agree with quite a few folks. Why are number of volunteer hours needed in a performance report? What value does that add? If being used as match already reported. What is the regulatory basis for asking for the number of hours? Please don't add unnecessary work to the states.
Anonymous
Jan 27, 2017This can be difficult to track unless required upfront per the grant.