What impact does Indigo have anyways?

July 2023

We have placed 228 volunteers with our nonprofit partners in the first half of this year and want to tell you all about it. But what does a number like this actually mean?

To add a little perspective, we've created this page.

This is Jane.

Jane is one of the volunteers who just had the brilliant idea of using their summer to give back to society and volunteer. They logged onto the web, found Indigo Volunteers, and submitted an application. (Thanks, Jane!)

While they are reading through the preparation resources we've shared with them, let’s consider the impact of their volunteering.

This little rectangle on the left represents one of the days Jane will volunteer. Cute isn't it?

Now, if Jane is anything like the other volunteers we placed over the past six months, they will volunteer for a total of 70 days. Wow!

How long do you think all 228 volunteers will volunteer together?

Let's have a look.

The 228 volunteers we have placed in the first half of this year will volunteer a combined 16,185 days, or 44 years.

Before we wrap this up, let's consider one more thing: Every day Jane is going to volunteer is a day that they could just as well spend working.

Whether they are a recent university graduate or a doctor with years of experience, we'll make sure their skills are well utilized during their placement.

But Jane is going to miss out on their salary.

How much do you think Jane - the average volunteer - would earn if they used their skills for their regular job instead of for one of our partners?

90€

Noted. In that case, with the help of Indigo, Jane creates 90€ of financial value every day they volunteer.

That means that over the course of their 70 days, one of our partners receives an incredible 4,500€ of added value from Jane and ourselves. This is value that simply wasn't there before!

And what if everybody earns the same as Jane?

Well in that case, Indigo Volunteers, Jane, Maria, Luca and the others have contributed quite a bit more this year.

1,040,464€

How great is that?

calculations the fincancial value of a single placement as well as that of all placements combined take into account weekends off (multiplication factor of 5/7)
The number of total days volunteered was calculated using historic data projected into the future. This should address any inconsistencies stemming from the fact that placement we arranged in the first half of 2023 might still be subject to change until their actual start date.
credits - Inspired by the work of Julian Fell, Ben Spraggon, Matt Liddy, Tim Leslie, and Cristen Tilley for ABC News (link). Illustration (Jane) by flexiple. Developed by Seb Dempf.