Volunteer Hours Log
Volunteer hours recorded and totalled, ready for a supervisor to sign.
Details
volunteer hours logUploads
Your logo
A photo or picture
Goes on this page only. Drag it anywhere and pull its corner to resize it.
Your signature
Draw it with a finger, a mouse or a trackpad, and it goes on the page like a picture.
Pictures and signatures stay on this device. Nothing is uploaded to a server.
Red highlights mark what is still blank. Click anything on the page to change it. Your draft is kept on this device as you work.
| Volunteer | [volunteer name] |
| Supervisor | [supervisor] |
| Period | [date] to [date] |
| Required for | — |
| Date | What you did | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| [add one session per line] |
I confirm the hours recorded above were worked as stated.
What is a Volunteer Hours Log?
A volunteer hours log records each session a volunteer works — date, activity, start and finish, hours — and totals it for a supervisor to sign. It matters because volunteer hours are usually claimed for something: a school service requirement, a Duke of Edinburgh or Gold Award section, a court-ordered community service order, a scholarship application, a professional body's CPD return. Without a contemporaneous signed record, the hours are just an assertion, and the body receiving it can decline to count them.
Students logging service hours for graduation or an award scheme are the largest group, alongside volunteers at charities, hospitals, animal shelters, food banks, faith organisations and sports clubs. Volunteer coordinators keep the other side of the same record so they can report activity to trustees, funders and insurers. Adults use one for professional volunteering — pro bono work, school governor duties, committee service — where a professional body or employer wants evidence. People completing unpaid work as part of a court order use a version issued and controlled by the supervising agency rather than a form they print themselves.
What counts as a volunteer hour and who may certify it depends entirely on the receiving body. A school district, an award scheme, a university admissions office and a regulator each publish their own rules on travel time, training time, remote work and the minimum seniority of the person who signs. Volunteering also brushes against employment law: in the UK, paying a volunteer anything beyond genuine expenses can create worker status, and similar tests exist in the US, Canada and Australia. Check the requirements of the organisation you are submitting to, and the volunteer policy of the organisation you are helping.
The log is a record of time given, not a contract and not proof of employment. It creates no right to pay, no entitlement to a reference, and no insurance cover — cover comes from the host organisation's policy, so confirm you are named or included before you start. It also does not verify itself: a sheet of totals with no supervisor signature and no contact details is routinely rejected. And for court-ordered hours, only the supervising agency's own paperwork counts.
What to put in a Volunteer Hours Log
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Organisation | For example: Kinnear Road Food Bank |
| Organisation address | For example: 1420 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Volunteer | For example: Micah Romero |
| Supervisor | For example: Dana Whitfield, Volunteer Coordinator |
| Required for optional | For example: a school service-hours requirement |
| Period from | Free text |
| Period to | Free text |
| Hours | One per line: Date | What you did | Hours |
How to write a Volunteer Hours Log
Identify the volunteer and the organisation
Put the volunteer's full name and, where the scheme uses one, the student ID, award number or membership reference at the top. Add the host organisation's legal name, address, and the name, role, email and phone of the supervisor who will sign. The verifier's job is to phone or email that person; if they cannot, the hours do not count.
Log each session on the day it happens
One row per session: date, start time, finish time, hours, and a short description of the actual work — Sorted and shelved donations, Ran under-9s training session, Staffed reception desk. Write it the same day. A block of hours reconstructed in June from memory reads as reconstructed, and a suspicious verifier will ask for the underlying rota.
State how breaks and travel are treated
Decide in advance, in writing on the sheet, whether unpaid breaks are excluded and whether travel or training time counts. Most schemes exclude travel; some count induction and safeguarding training. Put the rule at the top of the sheet so the signer is confirming a stated basis rather than a bare number, and check it against the receiving body's guidance first.
Total the hours and carry them forward
Total each page and carry a running cumulative figure to the next, so a multi-page log shows the same final number the applicant is claiming. Where a scheme requires a minimum over a set period — a term, a year, a twelve-month award section — show the period dates and the target alongside the total so the reader can check compliance without arithmetic.
Get the supervisor to sign and date it
The supervisor signs, prints their name, states their role, and dates the signature at the point of certification, not in advance. If they are certifying only part of the log, have them note which rows. Keep the signed original, submit a copy, and ask the organisation to retain their own copy — schemes commonly verify by contacting the organisation months later.
Common mistakes
- Filling in a term's worth of hours the night before the deadline, which produces round numbers and vague descriptions that verifiers recognise immediately.
- Leaving the supervisor's contact details off, so the receiving body cannot verify a single hour and rejects the whole sheet.
- Counting travel or training time without checking the scheme's rules, then having the total cut back below the required minimum.
- Having a fellow volunteer or a parent sign as supervisor when the scheme requires a staff member or officer of the organisation.
- Keeping only the submitted copy, so when the award body queries an entry a year later there is nothing to produce.
Frequently asked questions
Does a volunteer hours log need to be signed?
Almost always, and by someone the receiving body accepts — usually a paid staff member, officer or trustee of the host organisation rather than another volunteer. Check the scheme's rules on who may certify before you start, because a full log signed by the wrong person generally has to be redone. Include the signer's role, email and phone so verification is possible.
Do travel and training hours count as volunteer hours?
That depends on the body you are submitting to. Many schemes exclude travel and count only time spent on the activity itself; some include induction, safeguarding or first-aid training required for the role. Read the published requirement before you log anything, and state on the sheet which basis you are using so the signer knows what they are certifying.
Can I log volunteer hours retroactively?
You can, but expect scrutiny. Reconstructed logs tend to show implausibly round hours and generic descriptions. If you must backfill, work from evidence you can produce — rotas, sign-in sheets, emails, photographs with dates — and tell the supervisor that is what you are doing so their signature covers a checked reconstruction rather than a guess.
What counts as proof of volunteer hours?
The signed log plus a verifiable contact is the core of it. Many organisations will also issue a letter on headed paper confirming the total, the dates and the nature of the work, which some universities and scholarship panels prefer. Ask for that letter while you are still active there — obtaining it after the coordinator has moved on is much harder.
Is a volunteer log the same as a timesheet?
No. A timesheet supports payment and sits inside an employment relationship with all the obligations that brings. A volunteer log records unpaid time given and creates no right to pay. Keep the language and the format distinct, and be careful about anything that looks like a wage — in several jurisdictions paying a volunteer beyond genuine expenses can change their legal status.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.