Spending money and being reimbursed

Below is a basic summary of what expenditure SOSS Tower Hamlets will reimburse money for.

Tracking and tracing expenses via open collective makes the process very easy, everything is transparent, and the reports follow automatically.

How to get your expenses reimbursed? What expenses are eligible? What's the decision making process? You can find the answers to those questions here. If you have a question that we haven’t answered - get in touch and let us know.

Please note, before you incur any expenses, please email (lovebethnalgreen@gmail.com) or chat to one of the admins to check first to make sure we know about your plans and that we have enough money to cover your expenses or invoices please.

This is a living document. As the work grows, we will regularly adapt our policies to make sure that we use the money that we have where it is most needed, while staying true to our values of transparency and inclusivity.

What we spend money on

We value all the money donated to SOSS Tower Hamlets and so we are careful and transparent about what we spend money on. All our expenditure will be to further the aims of SOSS Tower Hamlets and those who support it.

Before incurring an expense for something please contact the admins to confirm that your expense will be paid or you will risk being out of pocket.

Examples of expenses we may reimburse money for:

Events costs including: posters, food, games hire, venue hire, flyer printing and other things associated with community events. Please note we would rather spend money on recycled things, things that are second hand and vegetarian.
General running of the campaign: website hosting, social media promotions, Facebook advertising to local community groups etc.
Freelance work: sometimes we might pay freelancers to deliver a specific project. This would be agreed before and a contract drawn up.
General communication for the campaign including: posters, flyers and printing for general campaign information
Local community groups that need some money for a specific joint project

We will NOT reimburse for personal expenses that are unrelated to SOSS Tower Hamlets activities or expenses that do not align with our values or mission.

Admins will review and approve or reject an expense within two weeks.

FAQ

How do I submit an expense request?

Anyone that spends money on the campaign, can submit an expense to the collective page: by uploading a receipt or an invoice. Only expenses that have been pre-cleared with an Admin may be submitted.

Receipts are for things that you buy for the community and for which you need to be reimbursed. Think of food and drink for an event, printing flyers, paint for banners etc.

Make sure that you keep the receipt. Take a clear picture of it and submit it to your collective (click on "submit expense" on your collective page).

A valid expense must contain the name and address of the vendor, the amount, the date, and the description of the items purchased. More info here.

Here is the process: Firstly, please take receipts of any money spent. Then submit an expenses claim HERE (LINK). One of the administrators of the fiscal host (LINK) goes through this list every week and reimburses the approved expenses.

Documentation Requirements

Electronic copies of receipts are acceptable.
If a receipt is not available, a detailed explanation of the expense must be provided and is subject to approval by an admin.

What happens next?

If the expense has been approved by the group admins it will be paid directly into your account within a week. All transactions are transparent and on our open collective website HERE.

What about VAT?

To keep the administrative overhead to a minimum, we can only receive donations (on which there is no VAT), and you cannot get the VAT back from the purchases that you are making. Whenever an invoice is issued you need to add the VAT into the invoice

What about Invoices?

Invoices are used to pay people for a service (a vendor, a company, a freelancer). They directly charge the collective for this service. When you upload an invoice, you are considered an independent contractor or freelancer.

The invoice needs to contain following essential information:

- The invoice must include the name, address, Tax number of the beneficiary
- The invoice must include a tax rate and a VAT reference

Submit the invoice on the collective page (click on "Submit Expense"). If needed, here is a useful template to create a proper invoice.

Periodic review

This expense policy will be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure it remains relevant and effective

Thank you so much <3