Can grants pay volunteer expenses? A practical budget guide

Yes, some grants can pay volunteer expenses, but you need to check the particular programme and include the costs in your request. For example, the National Lottery Community Fund lists volunteer expenses among the costs supported by its Solidarity Fund. That does not mean every grant covers them, or that your organisation meets that programme's wider criteria. Start with the actual costs volunteers will face, then check which ones the funder allows.

What counts as a volunteer expense?

GOV.UK distinguishes expenses from payment for a volunteer's time. Its examples include travel, food, drink and equipment needed for volunteering. It also warns that other payments, rewards or benefits in kind could mean someone is classed as a worker or employee, with associated employment rights.

Keep a budget for reimbursing costs separate from any proposal to pay people for delivering sessions. Calling a fixed payment an “expense” does not settle someone's status. If you intend to pay for time, resolve the working arrangement before presenting the cost to a funder.

Ask volunteers what participation would cost them. Do not assume that everyone can walk to the venue or afford to buy a ticket while waiting for reimbursement. NCVO's expenses guidance also recommends considering reasonable costs such as care of dependants and support worker expenses. Check these individually with your chosen funder rather than assuming a general volunteer-cost heading covers every item.

Check the programme before building the request

Read the eligible-costs guidance alongside the applicant criteria and project priorities. A cost being eligible is only one part of deciding whether a programme fits. Use a short checklist for each potential funder:

• Does the guidance explicitly include volunteer expenses, or do you need clarification?
• Which costs are covered: travel, meals, caring costs or something else?
• Are there limits, required rates or evidence rules for these costs?
• Which project dates and activities can the grant support?
• When would grant payments arrive relative to the expenses you need to reimburse?

For example, the Solidarity Fund's cost guidance lists volunteer expenses alongside staff costs, transport and other core costs. Treat this as evidence of that programme's approach, not a recommendation to apply without checking its purpose and eligibility.

If the wording is unclear, ask a specific question: “Our project needs volunteers at [activity]. We expect [number] return journeys costing approximately £[amount] each. Can we include this reimbursement budget, and what evidence or limits would apply?” Save the response with the application.

A worked example: budgeting for volunteer travel

Suppose a fictional community group plans 12 weekly sessions, each supported by four volunteers. For this example, every volunteer attends every session and needs a £6 return bus ticket. These are illustrative figures, not recommended rates or a funder's allowance.

The travel budget is 4 volunteers × 12 sessions × £6 = £288. The application could say: “We request £288 to reimburse volunteer travel for 48 attendances. The estimate uses the current £6 return fare for the planned route. We will record actual journeys and reimburse eligible costs against evidence.”

Keep the fare evidence and the attendance assumptions with your working budget. If volunteers rotate, count expected attendances rather than multiplying the whole volunteer roster by every session. If journeys differ, calculate each likely route separately and explain the total.

Now test the plan. Would an induction require another trip? Can two volunteers travel together? Does someone need a different transport arrangement? Price those needs explicitly instead of adding an unexplained round sum. The final request should show how volunteers can actually take part.

Keep expenses, supplies and volunteer time separate

Use distinct working lines for reimbursed travel, materials bought by the organisation and any paid coordination. This makes it easier to explain the request and spot duplication. For example, if the group buys bus tickets directly, remove those same journeys from the reimbursement estimate.

Do not add a cash payment for volunteer hours to an expenses line. If an application separately asks you to value volunteer time as an in-kind contribution, follow that programme's method and show it separately from the cash you are requesting. See our match funding guide for the questions to ask about contributions.

Where a coordinator supports several projects, explain how you allocated their time. Our full cost recovery guide gives a worked approach to shared costs. Keep this supporting calculation outside the volunteer travel arithmetic so a reviewer can follow both.

Plan how volunteers will receive the money

NCVO recommends a written expenses process covering eligible costs, limits, claims, payment methods and timing. It also suggests reducing the need for volunteers to spend their own money, for example by booking travel centrally. For advances, its guidance says to retain receipts and records and recover unused money or deduct it from a future claim.

Before submitting, choose who will approve claims and who will pay them. Make a simple record with the volunteer's name or reference, activity date, purpose, cost, evidence, approval and payment date. Add the relevant project code so you can reconcile the spending with this grant.

Check that your promised reimbursement timetable works with the project's cash flow. In the fictional example, £288 is the total travel budget, but the group still needs a way to pay claims as sessions happen. A grant request alone does not provide that cash.

Finish by checking the figures against your activity plan and explaining why the expenses are needed. Use our grant application checklist for the rest of the bid, or investigate potential funders through OpenGrant's charity and community grant search. Verify each funder's current rules before applying.