Why do we have to report our volunteer hours?
To maintain Master Gardener status, each MG must give 20 volunteer hours each year, and devote at least 8 hours annually to continuing education. By reporting our hours on a regular basis we supply Virginia Cooperative Extension with the documentation it needs to obtain much-needed state funding for its programs.
If you're an MG intern, you're required to put in 50 volunteer hours during your first year to achieve MG status. Of those 50 hours, 15 must be put in at Horticulture Help Desk, City Market or Crozet Market.
Awards are given for 250, 500 and every 1000 hours of volunteer service.
How often do we need to report hours?
Once a month, if possible. That way you won’t forget any meetings or volunteer activities. If reporting once a month seems too frequent, then try to do it quarterly. Be sure to note the start and end dates for the period during which you logged your hours. Hours should be reported twice each year: by June 30 and December 31.
Our goal is document all of our hours on an annual basis (January through December).Do not combine hours from two calendar years; instead, use a fresh timesheet to record hours from January 1 forward. For example, if you're reporting hours logged from October to February, use two timesheets: on one, record hours from October 1 through December 31; on the other, January 1 through February 28.
Try to submit your late-in-the-year hours (e.g. October through December) as soon after the holidays as possible, and no later than June 30. Our Extension Agent, Peter Warren, needs all hours for the previous year to be reported by June 30 so that he can incorporate annual statistics into various reports. PMG also uses the annual numbers to measure how our volunteer efforts stack up from year to year.
Where can I get a copy of the timesheet?
Click here.
How do I report hours?
PMG’s timesheet asks you to summarize your hours by project or activity. Some people find it convenient to jot down their hours on a daily or weekly calendar and then later summarize by activity on the timesheet. Find a method that works for you. See the end of these FAQs for info on submitting timesheets.
Should partial hours be recorded?
Yes. Keep track in quarter hour (15 minute) increments. For example, two and a quarter hours = 2.25 hours. Four and three-quarter hours = 4.75 hours. Be sure to include travel time to and from the volunteer activity.
What are “approved” volunteer projects?
Our overarching goal as MGs is to help educate the public about good horticultural practices. With that mission in mind, we invest our time in community projects around the greater Charlottesville area. Obvious examples include our PMG Demo Garden (“The Rock”); JABA (Jefferson Area Board of Aging); the Albemarle County Fair; and our multifaceted Horticultural Help Desk reference service. Click here for a full list of our approved PMG volunteer projects. Time spent on any of these initiatives counts toward your annual volunteer duty. The Volunteer Coordinators list in the Members Only section of the website provides contact information to help you find opportunities to volunteer. Watch The Cultivator, too, for notices about projects that need a helping hand.
What are “contacts”?
A contact is an interaction with clientele during which there is an exchange of education information. Simply put, anytime you interact face-to-face, by phone, or online with a member of the public, that's a "contact." We keep track of the numbers of people we help.
The timesheet includes a category titled Administrative—what does that mean?
Administrative time covers VCE activities done at the request of the Extension Agent (Peter Warren). Examples: filing, database entry and maintenance, photocopying, generating mailings. This time counts toward your annual volunteer hours.
What is PMG Business Management/Administrative time?
This category covers all PMG-related activities of MGs that do not fall easily under volunteer projects or continuing education. Examples: Time before and after the main presentation at monthly PMG meetings; Virginia Master Gardeners Association (VMGA) meetings; planning time spent by association officers; financial duties by the treasurer; writing minutes by the secretary; preparing descriptions of our newest projects; designing logos, preparing programs and more. These hours count toward your annual volunteer hours.
What kinds of activities qualify as Continuing Education?
Keeping up-to-date on the latest horticultural issues, problems and solutions is part of our responsibility as MGs. To stay abreast of developments, every MG must log at least eight hours of continuing education annually. Approved continuing education activities fall into three categories:
1) Master Gardener College, held in June each year at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
2) MG sponsored classes and workshops. This category encompasses events hosted by MG groups throughout Virginia. Examples: PMG’s Spring Lecture series; VMGA’s workshops and seminars; educational workshops and classes sponsored by fellow MG associations in other Virginia locales. NOTE: The main presentation at PMG monthly meetings qualifies as continuing education time.
3) Other continuing education programs. This category includes horticultural education-oriented events sponsored by non-MG institutions or groups. Examples: horticultural conferences, workshops and classes at such places as Monticello, Tufton Farm, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Maymont, Norfolk Botanical Garden, Ivy Creek Natural Area, Blandy Farm (state arboretum), etc. If in doubt about whether an event qualifies as continuing education, ask our Extension Agent, Peter Warren.
What about our monthly PMG membership meetings?
The main presentation at our monthly membership meetings is usually educational and therefore qualifies as continuing education. The time before and after the main presentation—usually devoted to announcements and PMG business—qualifies as PMG Business/Administrative time. Example: A 90-minute meeting during which 45 minutes was devoted to a guest lecture on roses—1 hour (rounding up from 45 mins) can be counted toward continuing education and 1 hour (rounding up from 45 mins) can be counted toward PMG Business/Administrative.
What about driving time?
The time that it takes you to travel from your home to a PMG- or volunteer-related event can be counted as part of your total hours devoted to that event. For example, if you drive 30 minutes each way to attend a PMG monthly meeting, include that 60 minutes of drive-time in your total time for that outing.
Do I have to use the official timesheet?
Yes. Using the standard timesheet vastly simplifies the job of recording and totaling everyone’s hours and assures a high degree of accuracy in our reporting to VCE.
What are some common mistakes people make on their timesheets?
The most common problem we see on timesheets is a lack of dates letting us know the start and end dates of the period being reported. An easy way to avoid this problem? When you submit a timesheet, print out another one immediately and fill in the new start date. (Or keep photocopies of your old submissions.) Later, when you’re ready to fill out and submit the timesheet you won’t have to rack your brain to recall the last time you sent in hours. Use full months when reporting your hours: e.g. January 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009………..July 1 to December 31, 2009.
Who gets my completed timesheet?
Margie Adamson. You can submit your hours to Margie one of several ways. Mail it to her attention at VCE, 460 Stagecoach Road, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Or you can submit the timesheet electronically by sending it as an attachment to Margie at Margiea3@embarqmail.com. Or you can drop it off at VCE HQ by placing it in Margie’s folder at the front desk. In the future, we’ll be developing a method for submitting hours on-line on our website.
Thanks! 