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RSVP director asks Winneshiek County for $15,000 to maintain volunteer coordinator and expand services
Summary
Dina, director of RSVP, told supervisors the program contributed roughly $900,000 in volunteer-hour value to Winneshiek County and asked the county to raise its annual contribution from $10,000 to $15,000 to sustain staffing and grow services.
Dina (last name provided in meeting packet) presented the county’s RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) summary and a funding request, asking Winneshiek County supervisors to increase the county’s annual contribution from $10,000 to $15,000.
Dina said the program serves three counties and leverages a small county investment into substantial volunteer hours and community services. She said RSVP had about 700 volunteers before a recent pen-pal program accounting change reduced the headcount to roughly 600 active volunteers; the program reported 42,000 volunteer hours across the three counties in the stated fiscal period and calculated an independent-sector value of volunteer hours in Iowa to estimate a return on investment of about 776%.
Local numbers: For Winneshiek County specifically, Dina said the county accounted for more than 31,000 volunteer hours in the July–June reporting year — which translated to roughly $900,000 of service value attributed to Winneshiek County alone. Last year the county contributed $10,000; Dina said the program requests $15,000 this fiscal year to sustain the newly hired volunteer coordinator position (Michelle McClain Kruse) and support program expansion (for example, tax-prep VITA expansion, meal delivery partnerships, and intergenerational activities).
Board follow-up: Supervisors and attendees praised RSVP’s work and asked about budget figures and the program’s total budget. Dina said the RSVP annual operating budget is roughly $100,000 with $40,000 in in-kind contributions (office space, staff, etc.), for a total program value of about $140,000. She said Winneshiek’s requested contribution would help maintain the volunteer coordinator position and support growth in VITA and meal-delivery activities.
Ending: Supervisors thanked RSVP staff and volunteers; no appropriation was made at the meeting. The request will be reviewed during the county's budget process.
