Hour Tracking

Log Volunteer Hours

Track every volunteer hour from submission through approval and reporting. Alignmint's hour tracking connects directly to your fund accounting so volunteer time flows into in-kind contribution reports, grant applications, and board presentations without manual data entry.

How to Log Hours

There are three ways to record volunteer hours in Alignmint:

1. Self-Service: Volunteers log their own hours from any device. They enter the date, project, activity type, start/end time, and optional notes.
2. Staff Entry: Coordinators can log hours on behalf of volunteers—useful for group activities or when volunteers don't have accounts.
3. Automatic Tracking: When volunteers check in to a scheduled event via the Volunteer Scheduler, their hours are calculated automatically from the event duration. No manual logging needed.

Hour Entry Fields

• Date: When the volunteer work took place
• Project / Program: Which program or campaign the hours are tied to
• Activity Type: Direct service, administrative, fundraising, governance, or custom categories
• Duration: Start and end time, or total hours
• Notes: Optional description of work performed
• Mileage: Optionally log miles driven with start and end locations—Alignmint calculates reimbursement at the current IRS standard mileage rate

Approval Workflow

Submitted hours go through a review process before they count toward reports:

1. Submitted: Volunteer or staff member logs the hours
2. Under Review: Coordinator sees pending hours in their approval queue
3. Approved or Flagged: Coordinator approves, flags for correction, or rejects with a note

Set weekly review cadences so coordinators are reminded to review pending hours. Every approval action is logged with a timestamp and the reviewer's name for a complete audit trail.

In-Kind Valuation

Approved volunteer hours can be valued for financial reporting. Alignmint calculates the dollar value of volunteer time using:

• Independent Sector Rate: The nationally recognized value of volunteer time (updated annually)
• Custom Hourly Rate: Set your own rate for specialized volunteer services

This is essential for FASB ASC 958-605 compliance, which requires nonprofits to recognize specialized volunteer services as revenue. The valuation flows directly into your fund accounting.

Reports & Exports

Generate volunteer hour reports filtered by any combination of:

• By Volunteer: Individual hour summaries with totals
• By Project: Hours grouped by program or campaign
• By Date Range: Weekly, monthly, quarterly, or custom periods
• By Activity Type: Direct service vs. administrative vs. fundraising

Export to PDF or Excel—ready for grant applications, board presentations, and volunteer recognition programs.

Recognition Milestones

Alignmint automatically tracks when volunteers reach hour milestones (50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 hours). Use these milestones to trigger recognition emails, certificates, or appreciation events.

Connected to Your Accounting

Unlike standalone volunteer apps, Alignmint connects every hour to your finances:

• In-Kind Contributions: Valued volunteer hours appear in your financial reports automatically
• Grant Reporting: Pull volunteer data alongside financial data for grant applications—no exporting from separate systems
• Mileage Reimbursements: Volunteer mileage flows into your expense reporting
• Complete Relationships: See which donors also volunteer and vice versa—all in one profile