I’m sure most of you have now read the Time Well Spent 2023 report by NCVO which was published back in June. I’ve only had the chance to digest it properly in the last week or so.
Naturally, my lens is around understanding if paying volunteer expenses impacts volunteer retention and diversity.
Firstly, I was thrilled to find the report we published in 2021, Volunteer Expenses: The true cost to charities was referenced!
Here are my three takeaways from the Time Well Spent 2023 report in relation to volunteers’ expenses, I also discuss recommendations of how to resolve these issues.
If you want to engage younger volunteers, listen, praise and pay expenses
Here are some interesting facts quoted by the report about young volunteers:
- Younger volunteers are less likely to continue volunteering than their older peers and are less satisfied than their older counterparts and feel less valued.
- 18% of younger volunteers worry about not getting paid expenses ‘I’d be worried I might end up out of pocket’ (eg transport costs to go volunteer)
Action:
- Ensure your charity pays volunteer expenses
- Ensure you ask questions and listen and that your volunteers receive regular recognition for their contributions
In our experience we found younger volunteers adopt technology very easily and appreciate using a system that makes claims quick and reimburse them in a timely manner.
Retaining volunteers is closely linked to reimbursing their expenses
The report also finds that practices around paying expenses haven’t changed much since their 2019 report. This is really alarming, especially since life today, for most people, with the cost-of-living crises is a lot harder than in 2019.
A third of charities know that the cost of living is impacting volunteer expenses, so why are they not acting and paying volunteers expenses? When charities do pay expenses are they considering how long it takes for the volunteer to get their money back?
I give you an example, most of the charities we talk to take 1 to 4 weeks to reimburse their volunteers. This is a long time for volunteers to wait.
Only 55% of volunteers said their organisation would reimburse expenses. A staggering 28% of organisations don’t pay expenses!!
The organisation will also need to consider the level of diversity they want within their volunteers as this is closely linked to paying expenses - if you don’t pay expenses your volunteer pool will be mainly white, middle aged and middle-class people.
However, when you reimburse expenses efficiently you encourage people from various backgrounds to take part. We wrote this blog a while ago which touches upon this issue, Why is paying volunteer expenses important for inclusion
Action
- Make the expense claiming process as easy as possible
- Pay expenses quickly! Taking weeks to process a £3 bus ticket is no longer acceptable
Tell volunteers that you pay expenses
Make it clear to volunteers that you pay expenses and shout loudly about it. It’s not acceptable that 16% of volunteers don’t know whether the organisation pay expenses, this should be made crystal clear as part of the volunteer recruitment and onboarding processes.
This isn’t surprising though. We wrote about The stigma around volunteers claiming expenses and how volunteers find it embarrassing to ask if expenses are paid. You will find this blog useful as it gives you tips on how to remove this stigma.
We found through dealing with charitable organisations of different sizes that sometimes charities think if they make it clear they pay expenses then the number of claims will go up and it will cost them more. This is false economy - by keeping your policy close to your chest and only revealing it to those who ask, it is probably costing you the loss of volunteers and we know how costly it is to recruit new volunteers.
Action:
- Ensure you have a volunteer expense policy on your website
- Mention explicitly on your website what expenses you cover, how long you take to reimburse and any other relevant details.
- Include this information on your volunteer onboarding/induction processes
By being transparent and open about your policy you are helping volunteers understand what they are committing to and assure them they will not be out of pocket.
Photo by Sarah Agnew on Unsplash