Churches and charities rely heavily on their volunteer workforce to achieve their vision and purpose. Without volunteers, much of what you do as an organisation wouldn’t be possible. Therefore, it’s important to consider how best to thank volunteers. Let’s explore how you can give gifts to volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third Sector<\/a> recently reported that volunteering in England and Wales contributes over \u00a3300bn annually. This shows just how important volunteers are to charities!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many charities work hard to ensure that volunteers feel appreciated and valued. This can involve coming up with meaningful ways to thank volunteers and celebrate their contributions; the time they give, and the difference this makes. This might be a handwritten card, a thank-you meal, or you might wish to purchase a gift to express appreciation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All charitable expenditure must be within the charitable objectives of your organisation \u2013 that\u2019s non-negotiable. Additionally, all restricted expenditure must also<\/em> be within the boundaries of the restricted donation or grant. Trustees have a duty to ensure the charity keeps to these rules. But you may decide that spending some money to show your volunteers how much you appreciate them and their contribution to the work of your organisation is money well spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are wondering whether your proposed expenditure is permissible, you should contact your Independent Examiner or Auditor for advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Volunteer time is so valuable to churches and charities that the desire to demonstrate appreciation makes complete sense. In fact, volunteers feeling appreciated is both important and necessary for most churches and charities to function and achieve their charitable purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, it\u2019s important to remember that a volunteer is actively deciding to give their time to your organisation for free. There should be no expectation of remuneration or thank you gifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is <\/em>an expectation<\/em> of remuneration or gifts, or a requirement<\/em> for an individual to give their time, then you should review this carefully. Where there are these expectations, you risk the individual’s legal status changing from a volunteer to an employee. And that brings potential unintended consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There should be no intrinsic need for churches and charities to show appreciation to volunteers by giving gifts, monetary or otherwise. Indeed, in some circumstances, giving a gift may diminish what the volunteer is trying to do for your church or charity. Or it could even upset volunteers who would rather you use the money for other things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Equally, giving gifts to some volunteers and not others can devalue, demotivate, and disillusion some groups. You may think it would have been better to give none at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You may want to consider adopting a policy on volunteer appreciation, meaning you have guidelines to follow. This allows you to be consistent and not have to exercise individual discretion in every case. Don\u2019t forget to both regularly review policies and have a plan to ensure you can action them operationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reimbursing out of pocket expenses is entirely separate to giving discretionary thank-you gifts. Reimbursing expenses is important, since while volunteering is unpaid, your charity should cover expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if someone asks a volunteer to buy refreshments for an event, then the charity should offer to cover this cost. You should also consider whether your process for claiming expenses is quick, easy and accessible for volunteers. If claiming expenses either takes a long time or requires the volunteer to start what might be an awkward conversation, this is both unfair and may be de-motivating to the volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some volunteers may turn down the offer to claim expenses. Whilst this can be helpful in lowering charity expenditure, it can be unhelpful in having proper visibility of expenditure. It can also make other volunteers who do wish to reclaim their expenses feel uncomfortable. It also means your charity misses out on Gift Aid you could claim. The volunteer who turns down the reimbursement should instead accept the reimbursement and then donate the money back to the charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out this helpful article<\/a> by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations for guidance on which expenses to cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most churches and charities have an expenses policy for staff and an expenses policy for volunteers. The two may not necessarily be the same. If you don\u2019t already do so, then in your volunteer induction, it could be helpful to provide volunteers with information about your (volunteer) expenses policy, what expenses can be claimed, and details of how they go about submitting claims, with an expectation as to how quickly you typically pay claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more about policies, including a template policy you can download, in this blog post: Purchasing Policies for Churches<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gifts generally fall into two categories: monetary and non-monetary. Your organisation\u2019s trustees will need to decide which is appropriate in each case, but our experience tells us that non-monetary gifts (which are less quantifiable by the recipient) are usually safer. These communicate that you want to thank the recipient with an experience or item to convey your thanks, rather than placing a financial value on their time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some ideas of non-monetary gifts you could consider (ranging roughly from most to least expensive):<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know someone who knows the volunteer well, then you may find it easier to find out about their interests or what they would enjoy. This will enable you to give a gift that is even more meaningful and communicates thoughtfulness as well as gratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, you should avoid regular financial gifts for a service or duties, as you could unintentionally move from the individual being a volunteer to them being classed as an employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There may be a place for small one-off gifts to thank someone for an out of the ordinary contribution to your organisation. For example, being a guest speaker at an event, or stepping in to provide cover in a critical situation where this was particularly inconvenient or sacrificial for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As long as payment isn\u2019t pre-arranged, and therefore the service was given genuinely voluntarily, you may feel it is appropriate to offer a monetary gift of appreciation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If, for example, the guest speaker is employed by another organisation, you may like to offer this gift from your organisation to their organisation, avoiding any personal liability for receipt. If the gift is made personally, the individual recipient may need to account for this for tax purposes, depending on the size of the gift and the total value of \u2018gifts\u2019 they receive in any one year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanking volunteers is important! So, you may like to establish a regular pattern of expressing thanks. For example, through team socials, thank you cards, celebratory meals and non-monetary gifts at specific times of year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know of examples where churches and charities hold volunteer parties or dinners (where the staff serve!), provide Christmas gifts to team members, or operate other volunteer appreciation initiatives such as \u2018volunteer of the month\u2019 or discount schemes such as Charity Worker Discounts.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n You should make sure the value of the gift (amount of money) is appropriate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group<\/a> helpfully outlines some of the tax implications regarding making a gift to volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should consult your Independent Examiner or Auditor regarding how to account for gifts. Gifts can refer to \u2018grants\u2019 to other organisations or individuals who are not working for your charity. It can also be an organisation-to-organisation payment made without a supporting invoice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018Gift of Money<\/a>\u2019 functionality with ExpensePlus <\/a>will allow you to enter this type of transaction correctly, and you can add documentation where this is helpful as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a policy in place to support the justification for giving a gift of money, and a multi-person approval process to demonstrate accountability and good governance is also good practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any gifts given must not be given as remuneration for any work or duties carried out on behalf of the charity. By definition, volunteers must not receive pay for work, and can only receive genuine out of pocket expenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This highlights the main area of risk for charities when making monetary gifts to volunteers. Making a financial payment to a volunteer for their work in a charity setting could suggest an employment relationship, resulting in specific legislative and taxation obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A volunteer provides services to an organisation for free. Someone may be volunteering under a written agreement (which is good practice \u2013 see below), but they are not obligated to complete their service. They are freely giving their time and can choose not to at any point. Volunteers must not receive any financial remuneration (or benefits-in-kind) and can only receive reimbursement for genuine out-of-pocket expenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversely, an employee or paid worker is contracted to provide services to an organisation in exchange for remuneration. They are obliged to fulfil their contractual duties, and their remuneration is proportionate to their working hours and duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These two categories of charity workers (volunteer and employee) are distinct. This distinction should be maintained by avoiding providing financial remuneration or financial gifts to volunteers. This ensures the volunteering arrangement remains \u2018voluntary\u2019 and you should refer to expectations not obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Volunteer = No payment and serving by choice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee = Regular financial payment (salary) and meeting obligations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even remuneration described as a grant, bursary, subsistence payment or honoraria, when given to a volunteer who is serving your organisation can <\/em>constitute payment and help, create an employment relationship and tax obligations. This is a common pitfall for internship schemes. This 9:38 article<\/a> addresses this issue for a church context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In your year-end accounts, you will need to declare any related party transactions. These would generally include payments to trustees (as well as donations from trustees), payments to relations of trustees, and payments to relations of Key Management Personnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, you should seek permission from the Charity Commission before making (non-expenses) payments to trustees, unless this is specifically permitted in your governing document. You can read more about the Charity Commission\u2019s guidance on payments to trustees here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should discuss with your Independent Examiner or Auditor what this means in your context, which gifts need declaring and in how much detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out more about what is important to state in your year-end accounts in these blog posts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are our 5 top tips when giving gifts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some links to further information on this topic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find out more about employment status, please view these links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find out more about writing volunteer agreements, please visit these links: <\/p>\n\n\n\n This blog explores how your church or charity can thank its volunteers by giving gifts. What type of gift and amount is appropriate?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-resources"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat to consider when giving gifts to volunteers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Are we allowed and is it appropriate to give a gift?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What does giving a gift to a volunteer communicate?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What about volunteer expenses?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Expenses Policies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. What form should the gift take?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What type of gift is appropriate for volunteers?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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One-off or regular gifts?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What amount is appropriate to spend or give?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Technical factors to consider when giving gifts to volunteers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How should we account for gifts?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When does a volunteer become an employee?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What if the volunteer is also a trustee, related to a trustee, or is part of your charity’s Key Management Personnel?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Top tips to remember when giving gifts to volunteers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Further Information for giving gifts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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