I read the article below about value given by Eagle projects of a certain District to its community and comparing the value of Eagle projects in other Districts. The value was in dollars! Only one Eagle project was briefly described "resurfacing of the playground" as it had the highest value to the community at $10,091.

"Eagle Scout projects completed in the Powderhorn District — which covers western Oneida County and all of Madison County and serves more than 700 youngsters in 45 units — contributed an average of $2,053 per project, surpassing the contributions from other districts in the region, the announcement said. The Adirondack Foothills District averaged $1,719 per Eagle Scout project, while the Susquehanna Headwaters District averaged $1,329, officials added."

Really? The value of Eagle Projects is in the money spent?

Maybe the dollar amounts should be removed from Eagle Project Workbooks so as not to confuse people with the true value of Eagle projects.

My $0.02

Source:

https://www.romesentinel.com/townnews/politics/powderhorn-district-received-massive-contributions-through-eagle-scout-projects/article_f9346c9e-d988-11ef-b040-9fe4062a4095.html

Edited January 25, 20251 yr by RememberSchiff
trying to stay scout-like

I think mine was $50, and it was food (pizza & soda) for the volunteers. I still visit the site of my project now and again. Since then, others (scouts?) have taken it upon themselves to continue and expand my project. Almost 50 years and the unmarked path in an area of the park the county did not even know was their property is now a marked trail with a parking area and kiosk. 

This doesn’t sound like the cost of material, but rather labor. The bean-counters have been converting service hours to dollars for decades.

Edited to add …

@DuctTape undersold himself. Based on the amount of people that could be fed for that amount 50 years ago, his project must have taken hundreds of man-hours. Even with labor costs of the time, it could have been worth a thousand dollars.

 

Edited January 25, 20251 yr by qwazse

How calculated?   Usefulness to the community?  Appreciation by the "beneficiary" ? Volunteer person hours times minimum wage?  What a professional crew (Planner, engineer, surveyor, lawyer, carpenter, structural engineer, mason,,, ) would have charged to do the same thing? I hope the media hack that wrote that is "Counseled" by the  Journalism Merit Badge Counselor....

This is from a dig mid last year when making a general comment on local service, a figure the general public seldom hears of sees, and one that is only important from the standpoint of how much Scouting does return to communities.  Much of effort by Scouting America is almost unknown by the regular public, as media no longer publishes such things unless it is exceptional, or worse negative.

 

The Current Estimated National Value of Each Volunteer Hour Is:

$33.49

Volunteers in the United States hold up the foundation of civil society. They help their neighbors, serve their communities, and provide their expertise. No matter what kind of volunteer work they do, they are contributing in invaluable ways.

Independent Sector, with the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland, announced on April 23, 2024 that the estimate for the value of a volunteer hour was $33.49 in 2023, a 5.3% increase from 2022. Read the full report for national and state-by-state data on the value of volunteer time.

Yet another reason why we need to go back to the old way and not have an eagle project. 

16 hours ago, Tron said:

Yet another reason why we need to go back to the old way and not have an eagle project. 

I don't think we need to go that far, but I'd really like to reign in SMs, CCs  and Advisors that insist an Eagle project be far more than what is required in the GtA.