Ever wonder how much it costs to be a Search & Rescue Volunteer? Your answer is below.
CASE STUDY:
Search & Rescue Team
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"Pat" manages an all-volunteer, Search & Rescue team. The team relies on members that are spread out across four counties. As a new member, "Sam" must meet minimum requirements for 1) training 2) attendance and 3) performance before he can respond on a real search.
That process required before Sam can be deemed 'operational' can take up to a year or more is one of several reasons that many new members like him quit. This poses a challenge for Pat since not having enough qualified members to deploy on real searches can result in serious consequences for the mission to find the lost or missing person.
Many new members like Sam also come from the private sector, where the expectation to be productive is common. They expect that the training they attend is:
- Well organized?
- Time efficient?
- Cost effective?
- Valuable for their personal development?
Besides the extensive delay in training, frequent drop outs are the result of these failed expectations:
- Too many hours spent driving to and from training, meetings and seminars
- Too many hours spent attending training, meetings and seminars
- Too much money spent going to training, conferences, seminars, buying books, etc.
It can be argued of course that the mission is better off without people like that, but the fact remains that quality SAR responders are hard to come by. Identifying why some leave helps fuel a solution.
Let's expand some detail for Sam's journey:
- Like most teams, Sam's team trains once per week and schedules a business meeting each month that often includes a training element. Sam's team also hosts or attends pricey seminars, external training classes, certification courses, buys books, pays for testing fees, etc.
- In Sam's case, he also is training a dog for search & rescue. The optional weekly training he attends to work with the team's experienced handlers and the related education is yet another commitment of time and expense.
- Not including equipment costs, Sam's annual costs associated with earning an operational status can be gigantic. Remember too, that other volunteer members are also contributing their time to help Sam receive the training he requires.
- And that doesn't include the yearly 'maintenance' costs to keep Sam trained and his knowledge refreshed.
So, what's all of that time worth? The non-profit trade group Independent Sector tracks and publishes this data every year:
"The value of a volunteer hour is $24.14 and the value of a volunteer mile is .14 cents."
2016
Using those figures, here's a conservative breakdown of Sam's volunteer time and expense to participate in his SAR team on a monthly basis:
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Activity per MONTH | MINIMUM Time Spent Per MONTH | MONTHLY Costs @ $24.14/hour |
|---|---|---|
Time driving to and from training | 8 hours | $193.12 |
Time attending training & meetings | 20 hours | $482.80 |
Time attending misc training, seminars, etc. | 8 hours | $193.12 |
Fees, mileage costs, etc. | $150 | $150.00 |
Optional K9 Training | 20 hours | $482.80 |
Team member support | 20 hours | $482.80 |
MINIMUM Costs Before Equipment | 76 hours MINIMUM | $1834.64 MINIMUM |
In just Sam's first year - before he even goes on his first search - he spends nearly 1000 hours of time worth over $22,000. And has a 50/50 chance he'll quit before he even gets that far.
It should be noted that these are very conservative estimates. In my first year in SAR, I spent nearly TWICE as much time training than the above example.
For instance, here are my actual training hours for just my first ten years in search & rescue (yes, I tracked my training activity using THIS).
First 10 Years of SAR | Training HOURS Spent | MILES Driven for Training |
|---|---|---|
Year 1 | 1590 | 14400 |
Year 2 | 1156 | 9600 |
Year 3 | 907 | 6000 |
Year 4 | 1073 | 5000 |
Year 5 | 555 | 2200 |
Year 6 | 750 | 5374 |
Year 7 | 1048 | 7956 |
Year 8 | 757 | 7151 |
Year 9 | 430 | 4800 |
Year 10 | 459 | 1200 |
AVERAGE = | 872 hours PER YEAR | 6370 miles PER YEAR |
Sam and other new members like him may spend more or less time on their SAR training compared to the data above. However, anyway you slice it, the costs to train a new member are enormous and vastly under recognized.
If these teams were businesses, they'd be broke and still short of employees.
So it's easy to see why the burden of time and money breaks the will of many eager SAR prospects, doesn't it?
Therefore, if there's a way to trim 10%, 15% or even 20% percent off of that huge time and expense burden, it should be worth considering.
Solution:
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Now it's your turn. Scroll down to the bottom and leave a comment with your experience with what it costs to be a volunteer in SAR.
Thank you for adding your experience and insight, RAJohnson.
SAR ,is very challenging. I have personal experience about conducting SAR Missions. Training and understanding your role is key. A lot of organizations lack proper guidelines about SAR ,hence most missions turn out unsuccessful.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with the other readers, Marius.
I am located in South africa and is staying in a place where mountains is close to my work. Working as a medic we go on a regarly basis to the mountains. This will help me to focus on my search and rescue
Excellent, Stephen. SAR is a big commitment but is always in need of self-less and dedicated people ready to serve others.
I really want to do this I want to help people I think in these times the more humanity that people give the more circumstances that people will help each other and we don’t get enough of that but this is what I want to do
Thanks for sharing your experience, Eric. Sounds like your situation worked out well for you financially. Each person’s mileage – literally and figuratively – will differ depending on the area they’re in, the team’s expectations, the member’s commitment and of course the distance between training locations.
in 2006 i joined rhe cert team through the fire dept. it didnt really cost me anything except a few dollars for gas to get there. my gear was free too. i didnt have to pay anything for training
det finns många sök- och räddningsresurser på denna webbplats för att hjälpa dig. Kontakta mig direkt om du inte ser vad du letar efter. Tack för besöket.
Jag letade upp sökning och räddning efter vårt område eftersom vi har en hel del människor som försvinner i vårt län varje år. De har ett volontärprogram med hundar. Ganska intressant!
Great advice and insight, Kimberly. Your experience is a lesson for us all.
Keep all records, all receipts. The tax laws and deductions have changed drastically this year, so all the old rules we’re familiar are different, or just gone. Sometimes being audited is because something is so radically different than a previous year; for me, after 25+ years, that’s the way my SAR expenses ALWAYS are (but that was a watermark year, for sure).
One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is that most SAR teams fail to get or maintain their 501c3 status, fail to file 990s, and give incorrect tax law advice.
Instead of saying “your donation is 100% deductible!” like many teams do, it is more legal and correct to say, “your donation may be deductible to the extent of the law; please consult your qualified tax adviser for advice.”
Because if the TEAM isn’t doing things correctly, then whatever you do will also be suspect, and can trigger your audit.
So… “please consult your qualified tax adviser for advice.”
Wow, that’s an expensive year. Thanks for sharing. Any tips on not getting audited?
It was 1993, so I’d need to go back and consider what that would be worth today. However, I was audited by the IRS in 1996, after having more than $11,000 in receipts alone. Since I’d held some back, every time the auditor would deny one receipt, I’d hand him a new, different one. In the end, he wiped out a $1,000, and I entered in a new $1,000, and it was a complete wash. So, for 1996, just in receipts, $12,000.00 cash.
How much time and money did YOU spend in your first year of training?