Volunteering - claiming expenses.

I have been around volunteers all my life, and I think it very important to claim expenses so that it is the norm.
I have recently been on a committee where people often didn't claim, and eyebrows were raised a bit when I did. I said that everyone should feel comfortable about claiming, then do what they like with the money. I didn't want people on limited budgets to feel uncomfortable.
So yes, for the sake of future volunteers, please claim.

My dad, who was a volunteer sports coach, kept his stopwatch by the phone so he could record the length of each call and claim properly!

I was a volunteer for MIND for some years. My manager ( paid)
insisted that we claim expenses but it never felt right, I still don’t know why I felt like that ?

I agree with NannaRose some people would be unable to volunteer if their expenses were not paid £100 a month is not inconsiderable. Those who can afford to can donate the money back to the charity or another one.

I have volunteered for two organisations in my younger days.
One was minimal expense but we still claimed and donated it back.
The other was very different in that it was time we gave, 4/5 hours every week, much more in school holidays and occasionally overnights.
There was a set rate per hour which added up in a month.
We were told we must claim as some people needed the money.
Again we donated it but not to the organisation itself.
It was funded partly by the LA so we gave to other charities.
There were several paid managers.

I always used to claim expenses ( bus fares and incidentals) for the reasons already stated. More recently I am working from home, but cannot really quantify my home expenses, light and heat, ( would incur anyway) paper and printer cartridges, stamps. So now I no longer do printing. One of the paid staff does it, which I am sure they will claim for. I give my time for free.

It’s all very well not claiming expenses if you can afford to do that, but remember that it might put off others volunteering, if they cannot afford to.

You are giving your time freely.

I expect MP’s and others all claim anything they are entitled to.

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 many years and have always claimed but donated it straight back, either on the original form(s) or through the bank.

Oopsadaisy I had to travel, frequently 100 miles+, so fuel costs mainly.
Calendargirl Nobody could have known that I wasn’t claiming my expenses except the treasurer.

Part of the firms budget will be allocated to expenses, if they are not claimed the budget for the following year will be cut. I would claim and donate if you can afford to.

My Husband runs 2 charity shops, his volunteers can claim back travel fares (particularly some of the older volunteers who start work before their bus pass times) , as long as they work a 4 hour shift all they do is supply their tickets and its given to them from the till as a petty cash pay out

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 all your replies.

I do know that I should be claiming really.

My expenses would be petrol for 3 miles (x 2) plus car parking once a month. I might sometimes fill in at other locations.

Periodically, I travel to other parts of the county for 5 weeks in a row which can be 25+ miles each way (and maybe pay parking)

One charity I volunteered with refused to pay any expenses if the volunteer was eligible for a bus pass!

Expenses would be:
mileage - usually the organisation has a set rate, but otherwise the amount set by HMRC as standard for mileage claims
car parking
fares
phone calls (which may depend on the phone system you use)
materials such as art & craft supplies
food & drink that you are providing
cost of an activity when you accompany someone
specialist clothing & equipment
courses that you are required or requested to do & the cost of some certificates - for instance a friend has to show they can operate a chainsaw safely in order to fell trees for a local wildlife charity - I had to keep up a current First Aid certificate at on point - and a lot of sports coaching needs up-to-date training.
I'm sure there's more!

For some years I have had to do some printing at home, and agree that quantifying printer cartridges is difficult. I told the committee that I would claim for a ream of paper, and then take a few sheets for myself in lieu of ink.

We volunteer for a cat charity, and don't normally claim any expenses, most of us don't at out local branch and no one is paid. We incur regular fuel and phone costs. However with fuel prices increasing we are going to claim for the cost of heating the run this winter.

Why not claim the expenses and then donate them back to the charity? Silly paperwork but maybe then everyone would be happy.

I agree that volunteering expenses should be claimed for the reasons explained by others above. If you don't need the money you can donate it back or to another charity. You can avoid the 'raised eyebrow' problem by proposing that claiming should be an explicit policy to enable others to volunteer. I chaired a substantial charitable trust for several years and always claimed.

An interesting thread! I volunteer for two very small charities and don't claim expenses for either, but if it were a larger charity/business, I can see that one should, and donate back if wished.
One of the things I do is cook a huge pan of curry every week for the Street Food Project, feeding homeless people/people in need 365 days a year. I'm pretty sure that people can claim the food costs if they want to, as the organisers are very sensitive to people's circumstances. But they have struggled to keep it going over the years and I wouldn't want to add extra cost.
The other is one afternoon a week in a small charity's shop; I can walk there, so feel that I don't need any expenses even when I opt to drive and park (when it's raining and/or I'm feeling lazy!!

I have done a lot of different volunteering in the past and did 10 years of 3 days a week taking patients to hospital in my car.These were long distances in rural yorkshire to various different hospitals. I claimed for fuel mileage which covered the cost of the actual fuel but would not have covered the deprecation etc for the car which I was satisfied to do. But with the high cost of fuel now it would be different, I gave my time free and quite often went out before 7am to ensure a patient got to hospital for early appointments, whatever the weather. I knew that the patients had a better journey in a car than in the ambulance , more comfortable and took 3 or occasionally 4 people at a time rather than the 8 in the ambulance so usually meant they had less time to wait at the hospital.

As a ex-volunteer myself, I agree with NanaRose. My income is low, and as a volunteer counsellor I had to pay for supervision and travel expenses. My travel was paid but supervision wasn't so eventually I had to give up as I couldn't afford this. My hard earned and fought for expensive training was then wasted. It's very important that people should claim expenses and that those who don't actually need to, realise the reasons why they should too. Then they can donate to whichever charity they want.

I've volunteered for various charities and claim expenses, then donate it back to the charity (or a different one). As I'm able to Gift Aid donations, this means the charity actually gets money back in addition to what has been paid out! As hon Treasurer for a couple of the charities, I similarly encourage others to do the same...plus as has already been said, it's important to show both costs and income for correct accounting. It does also depend on the amount involved, so I probably wouldn't claim for small amounts.

I have managed volunteers throughout my working life and would always strongly encourage volunteers to claim expenses. The OP is right to say that it does reflect the true costs of the charity. It helps when applying for grants and funding,

When I was treasurer of an organisation, we asked volunteers to fill in their expenses on the form and to indicate if they wanted to be reimbursed or not. Many volunteers did not claim their expenditure, but the true cost of the activities was transparently recorded.

Unfortunately I have had to give up my volunteering. I did it for 19 years, and miss it. Sometimes I did ask for my parking money back, but felt awkward about it. A friend who volunteered for a different charity, had to give up driving herself there and back, so had a taxi, which she never claimed for. It must have been expensive!

I'm paid to work for a charity and it still feels wrong to claim expenses on top!