NAT Expense Policy

Not a Trend believes in ensuring that the people and organisations who work with us beyond a voluntary role are financially compensated wherever and whenever we have the capacity to do so. We also work openly and transparently, therefore, any funds coming into or out of the collective can be viewed publicly on our Open Collective page. The expense title, amount and name of the person submitting the expense are displayed (personal/sensitive details are not displayed).

Expenses will be covered for costs which support and progress Not a Trend (NAT) and its projects, including (but not limited to):

Hardware and/or software purchases, upgrades, and subscriptions which support the development of NAT and its related projects;
Invoices for services provided to NAT (e.g. contracted research or design support for NAT projects or social media, event contributions, etc.);
Travel costs for events and related activities.

Expenses should be discussed with a member of the NAT team and approved (normally prior to any purchases being made or services commenced), before being submitted to the Open Collective. You must upload a valid receipt or invoice clearly showing the total amount, date, address and what the payment is for.

Expenses (particularly those related to reimbursements for goods or travel) can only be paid by NAT if there is enough income to cover the expenses within the collective. However, we are an inclusive organisation and do our best to make sure that any and all supporters can participate in our work, no matter what their personal circumstances are.

Expenses must be documented with a receipt or an invoice and approved by a collective admin.

These are the basic steps in spending the money on the collective balance:

Someone submits an expense on the collective page (click on "Submit Expense"), of which there are two main types:
- Reimbursements of a prepaid purchase (with receipt)
- Invoices for paid services
A Collective admin (someone on the NAT team) approves it.
Our fiscal host -the Social Change Nest - reviews it (confirms that the expense meets requirements e.g. having a valid receipt, a clear picture, amounts match, invoice is legal and correct), then approves the payment.

Note: if you have an invoice ready, you can upload it as an attachment to the expense. However, you are still required to set invoice details such as description, date and amount when submitting the expense on the OC page.

We aim to approve expense requests within 2 working days. After claims are approved, the Social Change Nest team will process it on their next working day (which are before 1pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

If you have any questions or need help submitting an expense, please do get in touch with a member of the NAT team by emailing blm.notatrend@gmail.com.

Contribution to Not a Trend

Grant funding - Blagrave

Collective balance