Volunteering - claiming expenses.

I volunteered for many years with one of the big national charities. Although we were volunteers, we were all required to do a minimum number of duties per month and several overnights stints per year. I was aware that certain volunteers were claiming expenses – especially some elderly ones who came a good distance by bus. I drove in - only a few miles and didn’t claim mileage or the £2 parking charge. However I was more than surprised to learn that our Director and other deputies were claiming, despite being considerably better off than me and most of the other volunteers and it seemed greedy, when we were running in-house raffles in order to buy biscuits and teabags.
Just my opinion.

yogitree - I can't believe any charity would think it's a good idea to have volunteers pay for their own supervision!
What a waste of training.

In my Church there is one rather well off member who funds the Mother's Day posies and the Christingle oranges. She has been persuaded to claim expenses as the next person to occupy those positions may not be able to absorb the costs. If the repayment of expenses isn't required then the recipient can always donate back to the cause. Totally agree biglouis

Charities these days are run as businesses so I think its important to keep things on a businesslike level and claim back expenses. As other posters have said you can always donate them back but should never feel awkward about claiming a business expense. I certainly dont feel guilty about claiming back every penny I can from the tax man,

GreenGran78

Not exactly volunteering, but I was a very poorly paid foster parent, many years ago. Most of the short-term children that we fostered turned up with only the clothes on their backs, and had to be kitted out. Friends and neighbours sometimes donated items to us, but we regularly bought a lot of clothing. No charity shops then, either.
It was possible to claim expenses, but it was such a palaver that we never bothered.
It's mind-boggling to see what foster parents are paid nowadays.

I was also a local authority foster parent throughout most of the 1970;s and 80's. Back then none of us were actual paid. There was a very minimal amount of cash we received for 'expenses'. If anything really big came up, we could put in a request in advance and may or may not get this (eg: bed, including foster child in holiday arrangement, etc.). It was quite clear that we were not in receipt of any form of salary.

Indeed, due to this (I fostered young babies and toddlers mainly), obviously I could not go out to work, and therefore had many years NI stamp missing when I came to retirement age. Due to this, when I finally did retire I had to claim Pension Credit, as all those years at home fostering meant I lacked so many NI stamps.

Whereas I think that fostering should be more recognised, I do sometime worry as to the reasons now that people take in foster children.

I did work as volunteer administrator for a sport regional governing body for many years from home. Always received expenses for postage stamps, telephone calls, paper, and toner, and travel etc. Never felt bad about accepting this, they got my time and expertise for nothing but I could not afford to be out of pocket.

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If you want to I would claim, then donate back. I do the Oxford survey for Covid, I was recently asked if I still wanted the vouchers, I asked what would happen to it if I did have it ... reply ... nothing . I thought why should the government profit as no doubt saves their money . Decided to have the voucher, use it, value of voucher take out & give the money to a cause that is close to my heart & helping, given them £20 & this month hopefully give another one , will continue to do so aswell. If people want to do it, do it of not no problem at all

I ve never been offered expenses in anywhere I ve volunteered I don’t need them as I ve always walked there but no we don’t seem to have that option one was a national organisation and one a countywide organisation The third was a local one

cornergran

In a previous life I was a (paid) volunteer coordinator for a national charity. It was expected that volunteers claimed expenses for all the reasons mentioned also it was a way of valuing their input without which much of the work would have been impaired.

This was carefully explained at interview. If the response was expenses were not needed we suggested that the individual donate them quietly to a charity of their choice without discussion with other volunteers in order not to embarrass those whose budgetary constraints would otherwise be a barrier to volunteering. It always amazed me how many people hadn’t considered that not everyone had the same level of disposable income.

As a volunteer I have worked with organisations paying expenses and also those who had no expenses policy. My experience was of feeling I was treated with more respect if expenses were paid without fuss or an attempt to trigger guilt that I was accepting them. Just my personal experience of course.

Thank you for sharing your story and experiences in volunteering. I have only recently begun to study this issue and try myself in this. For me, the most important impetus was the desire to help people and do it on a voluntary basis. Now I'm preparing my story and vision of this. And this source proved to be very helpful in these matters graduateway.com/essay-examples/volunteering/ The examples helped me better formulate my thoughts and find out the position of other people on this matter.

I’ve volunteered at a local charity shop for about five years now, and have never been told that I am entitled to claim expenses. Admittedly, I would donate it back to the charity, but I would appreciate having the choice. I’ll mention it when I’m next there.

I regularly volunteer at our local hospital shop , some of the ladies claim mileage if they are travelling from out of our town. I don’t claim as I live locally and hubby drops me off and picks me up . I think it’s up to the individual to see how much out of pocket they’re going to be and whether it’s worth claiming petrol money.

As a long term volunteer it is important to claim even if you then donate back , as it shows the costs and as many have said enables those who are time rich but £poor people to volunteer.
If it bothers you imagine that instead you were given a parking permit to park at the hospital for example instead of paying and claiming back. You'd not worry about the permit would you. Our local hospital volunteers get a small amount off a meal in the canteen if they are there over dinnertime, so it would pay for a small amount if food and you can obviously top it up
Something that always sticks with me is the trainer that said that ensuring that volunteers could claim back expenses is a sign of a well run reputable charity
If you do donate it back this has to be niteds, so that it is recorded in the accounts
And if you are in a position to donate it back and gift aid it there has to be an actual claim and repayment and then an actual donation which might mean that if you can't gift aid it but your husband can then he can.
Gift aid and unrestricted donations are always helpful as that income can be used for anything needed that is not covered by grants, so win win
There is an amount per mile for using your own car agreed by hmrc, which covers wear and tear as well as petrol.

I volunteer at the local foodbank and mostly do deliveries to people who cannot collect their bags of food. I could claim expenses but I don't really need the money so I consider my petrol to be a donation to the charity. I never thought about the aspect of knowing what the true costs are. I probably still won't claim as the amount would be quite small and the paperwork time consuming both for me and whoever administered it.

When I was treasurer for a local charity I did lots of printing out of invoices that were often emailed to me by companies or by volunteers claiming expenses. It was so difficult to quantify but I generally bought 1 black ink cartridge each year so I wasn't out of pocket, but didn't claim for paper etc. I often printed onto the backs of junk mail to save costs but some things required use of new paper especially all the letters I wrote appealing for funds. Some volunteers submitted receipts as donations which could be gift aided. I'm currently in the process of shredding old accounts and am amazed at what some of the old invoices are printed on the back of!

Prior to Covid-19 I used to do some voluntary work. My only real expenses were the parking which cost me between £4-6 each time. I never claimed expenses.partly because it was too complicated and partly because I could afford not to.

I volunteer for 6 charities, 2 large ones which insist we claim our travel & parking expenses, the small charities do not offer any and even expect us to chauffeur other volunteers around at time. I know where I prefer to volunteer, but I do enjoy them all.

Oopsadaisy1

I volunteered at our local Red Cross shop and never claimed nor was I encouraged to claim for anything.

What do you all claim expenses for?

I have volunteered for Saneline, BHF and an animal rescue, have never claimed expenses. Other than busfare what would one claim for? No one in my current charity claims expenses and neither would we.

If expenses are not paid only the wealthy can be volunteers. the wholepoint about volunteering is that it should be open to any one. If a person does not need the expenses, as others have said, donate them quietly and silently so that those who do not have the same disposible income are not embarrassed.

The great advantage for a manager is that they can see what wrok, hours etc. the volunteer is doing. This may be helpful.

My volunteering involved driving patients to hospital or doctors. There was no way I could afford the petrol and we were encouraged to claim our mileage, so I did.

sorry,that should read "work" not "claim"

I used to claim at a
Cancer Research shop and was never encouraged to claim for expenses so I didnt. I did have to pay for car park and think I should have been able to claim that back. But it was never mentioned.

If I was happy to do whatever the expense was validated for then I'd turn it around and donate to kitty, but if I felt I was justified in claiming exes for a job then would have no qualms in claiming and keeping. Use your judgement/instincts.

You MUST claim expenses because otherwise it means that the charity doesn't budget for them and only those who are well off can volunteer! People on low incomes sometimes use volunteer work to get vital experience for future paid work so it's wrong that they cannot afford to do it. So, PLEASE, claim the expenses and then just donate them back straight away. They're not any worse off but they have to appear on different parts of the charity's accounts - so they get a clear picture of how much it costs to run it.

Always claim expenses and then donate the amount you wish each month/annually. Some people need the expense money especially for travel costs.

I was a Brownie Guider for many years and often paid for craft, stationery etc from my own purse. I was told I should claim it back, even if I could afford it others may not. Wise words. Consequently I claimed for things I bought but stationery, printing came out of the household budget.

I was a volunteer at the local hospital until covid hit and I never claimed any expenses. I could claim for petrol, parking was free with a permit and I could claim for a free lunch if I was there for more than 4 hours. I donated my time and small expenses free. Didn’t fee l right to claim back. I was there to help them.