volunteer paid night out - outrageous?

[spaghetticarbonara]

I volunteer for one of the UK's big charities in one of their shops. Our shop has one full time member of staff and the rest of us are volunteers. Obviously as volunteers we don't get paid. We can claim expenses for travelling to and from the shop but nobody ever does.

At Christmas, the charity says "thank you" by contributing £11 per head towards a Christmas meal. We had our night out last night at a local pub. The £11 doesn't cover the whole price of the meal or drinks so we pay the extra ourselves.

A couple of relatives have voiced the opinion that it's ridiculous that charities are funding a "jolly" for volunteers and that people contributing to the charity would be horrified to think that (an extremely tiny) percentage of the money is being used in that way.

AIBU to think an £11 "thank you" to volunteers once a year is actually OK?

Of course it's fine. Recognising the efforts of Volunteers is so important!

I don't agree with those who think everyone who works for a charity should be thrilled to do so for a pittance - large (well-run) charities also need professionals in finance, HR, clinical etc, and they would earn far more usually in the private sector anyway. Most people don't spend time and effort to qualify/train/gain skills to then work for sod all.

Of course it’s fine. I’d happily pay an £11 donation to a “say thanks to our volunteers!” campaign as I’m sure many others would. I regularly donate to several charities and would be happy for any one of these charities to use my donations treat their hard working volunteers to a thank you lunch...

I think the volunteers have more than earnt an £11 meal!

Yanbu. You should say "Actually you are right, what we decided to do next year is every volunteer will take the expenses all year round that we don't usually take, we'll pool it, stick it in an account and at Christmas we'll have a night away and a big boozy Christmas rave, it's our own money so nobody can moan about charity money", fucking begrudgers, I bet not one of them volunteer either

I volunteer for a local specialist organisation. We get invited to a summer barbecue, christmas dinner and several coffee mornings throughout the year. The paid staff host each one and it's all paid for. It makes us volunteers feel very appreciated and willing to go the extra mile, so everyone wins.

A woman I vaguely knew once told me she didn't give to charity. We spoke for a while until we finally got to the bottom of it - she doesn't think anyone working for a charity should be paid (though of course she didn't volunteer herself, what with being independently wealthy and having retired early she was far too busy doing up her kitchen.) What a massive twat she was.

Yes. Hurrah for the charity recognising their army of volunteers keep the charity going.

Looking after volunteers once you have invested in recruiting and training them makes good business sense as it encourages volunteers to stay and to recommend the opportunity to others. It’s also good for team building.

I have a relative like this. Objects to my choice to have a paid job in the sector while also dismissing my volunteer commitments .

Charity needs people to run it, a few perks here and there are fine.

Now I work for a charity, and I was a little miffed that our board spent hundreds of pounds on a Xmas meal wining and dining themselves after they voted to give us a below-inflation pay rise next year, but hey,

When my MIL first retired she volunteered for a church charity almost full time. She regularly contributed her own money for things. Every year the charity put on a Christmas lunch and gave a little present to the volunteers. It meant the world to her to feel appreciated. A new vicar came in and decided that the lunch/present was a poor use of money and introduced paid drinks machines instead of the kettle and free drinks previously provided. The charity shut within a year as all the volunteers quit - they all just felt completely used.

Well there you have it!

People who won’t give to charity on the grounds that “it all goes on admin/waste” make me truly sick.

I think it’s fine - charities couldn’t operate without volunteers and £11 is a smal price to pay if it’s makes volunteers feel appreciated.

That said, I volunteer (just a few hours a week), and I think I would feel a bit uncomfortable if the charity paid for a Christmas do for us, as I would feel like the money was being taken directly from what I consider to be more important things.

Volunteers need to feel appreciated or they will walk! And then the charity would collapse . People have all sorts of motives for volunteering and it the little things that help persuade them to keep doing it.

I expect your relatives, as well as not giving to charity, have not done a day's volunteering in their lives.

"as I would feel like the money was being taken directly from what I consider to be more important things."

such as?

I think it's fine. I suppose next they will be complaining about the cost of the volunteers putting the kettle on to make a cuppa.

Also I've never understood why people think that charities can get people to work in their top jobs without paying them a decent amount.

I bet your relatives have not actually done any volunteering themselves so they are being even more miserly by moaning about it. A small token to say thank you is absolutely fine.

Oh dont worry about it OP. I work for a charity and I swear a lot of people think its a travesty that I'm paid at all. They give £20 a year and therefore I should work 40 hrs/week for free.

I bet these outraged relatives don’t volunteer themselves. Do they even give to charity?

I always find these ‘it’s outrageous!’ people are the same ones who say ‘you should look after your own’ and yet have never helped anyone in their lives!

3p per day.... your relatives are being silly.

What absolute rubbish. I do the finance for a voluntary lead charity. The free time given by each of our volunteers is invaluable and the backbone of our service. Recruitment and training of volunteers is a big outlay so volunteer retention is a massive focus. Our funders are aware of this and our budgets are written with this in mind. I cannot speak for other charities but we have restricted funding that incorporates volunteer recruitment, training,expenses and RETENTION. The restrictions on these budgets are set by the funders themselves. I know that there has been a lot of press about charity spending and ceo’s Salaries but I hate this charity bashing.

I have volunteered for 4 organisations and, yes, being valuables matters. I volunteer a skill that the charities all promoted and did so happily. Until I volunteered in the NHS. They treated the volunteers really badly. Moved straight back to the 3rd sector.

And by appreciated I don’t mean money! I mean a ‘thank you’ here and a surprise card on my birthday. Tiny things make you feel part of it. Being used doesn’t.

I’ll happily give you 3p a day towards your Christmas do OP

Mm, I feel a bit twitchy because DH has run a charity for 5 years, having come from a more commercial background... which they specifically needed. He took a big drop to be there, but still earns a big salary. Thing is, I've just copyedited his end of year report, and in those 5 years, they have grown really significantly, after a pretty flat 10 years, and as far as I can see, it was a worthwhile investment by them. But I'm still very wary of those who try and find out "how much does a not for profit ceo make, anyway?" Because I'm not sure if they just can't work out why he would make the move, or are disapproving that he doesn't do it for love.

You need good people at all levels.

Volunteers are essential, they need recognising. 11 pounds seems a great investment.

£11 for a years hard work is absolutely fine

Are people so miserable that they begrudge somebody £11 ayear for giving up their time. I volunteer we get a christmas lunch the people who use our service are wonderful and they would never say we don't deserve it, Volunteers need looked after too and a get together likethe one you went to is fantastic for organisation morale .