Purpose: The purpose of this article is to suggest that a benefit-cost analysis should be performed for mentoring activities so as to justify the effort and expense and as a tool for measuring effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: Pulling from field literature, this article provides some examples of mentoring programs and resources as well as an example for conducting an analysis. Findings: The author feels that applying a cost model to mentoring programs can strengthen their appeal overall. Originality/value: The article and its conclusions are the product of this author and his experiences with such programs.
