Expenses and Donations
Most of you will know that we are a voluntary organisation and receive no financial support from any other source. All our expenses must be met from voluntary donations from clients. Most of our expenses fall under two headings: Mileage Allowances and Overheads.

Mileage Allowances
These allowances, paid to our volunteer drivers, are our main expense as most requests we receive are for transport for one purpose or another. The current mileage rate is 30p which covers the cost of petrol/diesel and an element for keeping the car on the road (tax, insurance, servicing etc)
We have standard distances for the return mileage to our most common destinations – to make it easier for those drivers who forget to set their milometer.

Overheads
These include the expenses of co-ordinators, telephone rental costs, stationery and hire of halls and other costs for AGMs. Experience in recent years shows that when overheads are spread across all our activities they average between 50p and 75p per trip.

Donations
Clients are asked to place their donation in the envelope provided by the volunteer and seal it for forwarding to the Treasurer. Donations are voluntary but we can only continue to operate if, overall, donations cover our expenses. To assist clients in determining the appropriate donation, volunteers carry a card (see ‘Cost of Journeys’) showing the combined mileage and overhead expenses for the most common destinations based on the measured mileage and 50p for overheads.

Special Cases
If clients live a significant distance outside the village centre, increased donations may be needed to cover the extra mileage driven, and, if the times requested between outward and return journeys are very long and the journey cannot be combined with other activities by the volunteers, it may be necessary to arrange, and seek donations to cover, separate outward and return journeys.