I don't know if this is something that is feasible for your organization but with ours it just kind of worked out this way. Within the board itself we are all on the same carrier so we all talk for free. Alot of our calls to vendors are able to be made on weekends which are also free and we divide the others ones up and keep an open line of communication open when it comes to who has what minutes left. Some of the gals have more than others. I know mine are the lowest and I make sure if I don't have enough that I let them know.
Another suggestion that you might want to bring to your board if it is allowed is the possibility of approaching a local retailer in your area for discounted service for the organization. Maybe there is a independent cell phone store that needs the business that retails for a bigger cell company that would be willing to eat some of the cost of a plan monthly for promotion in a newsletter or on the website as a business supporter. (again i'm not sure if this is allowed) Just a thought).
Thank you to all that responded. I really appreciated the feedback. Your responses were encouraging and I should have been more proactive in this area. Thank you.
Nothing prevents a PTO from reimbursing for expenses, but much of these common ones are merely absorbed by volunteers.
A similar question often comes up as part of mileage. Those of us heavily involved end up putting a lot of extra miles on our cars. And when gas prices began to skyrocket, sometimes this wasn't trivial.
Typically, if you are going to seek rembursement, it would be decided up front and any paremeters set in terms of documentation, deadlines for submission, limitations. As the others said, it does open a can of worms because many volunteers incur expenses. So where do you draw the line as to who gets reimbursed?
Some of it's a matter of choice and personal convenience. When I was pres, I often used my cell phone (which sometimes drove up my monthy minutes) but that was my choice. I could have made many of those calls from my home phone or even from the school.
On some of the mileage discussions we had in the past, arrangements for reimbursement were made for exceptional situations. Like a volunteer in a rural town who drove 50+ miles to pick up supplies for concession stand or someone who drove 200 miles to pick up a donated playground piece of equipment that would have cost a fortune to ship.
If you absorb expenses associated with volunteer work, you can explore the viability of claiming them on your taxes as a deduction. Frankly, an "increase" in phone charges might be stretch to document, but at least you can look into it.
Robert's Rules doesn't address issues of this specific nature (only issues regarding parliamentary procedure).
Your organization should have some precedent to reference regarding reimbursement of expenses of this type (either via actual transactions recorded in the financial report or from discussion reported in the minutes). I would start by asking the Treasurer for her advice.
If you didn't address this issue with the board early on (when it became clear that your expenses were increasing), you may be out of luck and have to chalk this one up to "taking one for the team" as a school volunteer.
If your by-laws don't already have this topic addressed, you may be out of luck for a reimbursement. That doesn't mean that the topic can not be approached and by-laws ammended. However, you may be opening a can of worms about how much reimbursement would be allowed, who would be elidgible, how frequently and how to document the expense. It's entirely feasable that reimbursing everyone for phone use, may negate any profit your group is working to generate.
If this topic were to come up at my school, as a board member myself, I would have to say that as a volunteer, phone use is an expected cost of doing business and I would not vote to approve reimbursement to board member or a chairperson.
I have a very sensitive issue regarding expenses I have incurred as a board member when using my home and cell phone to transact PTO business?
For example, during my service on the PTO board, I incurred a $10-$20 increase in my monthly home phone bill and $57 increase in my last billing cycle on my personal cell bill.
Although we do not have any stipulation in our bylaws regarding board expenses and reimbursements in this area, how do I handle this senstitive issue? How does robert's rules of order kick in to assist me in this matter? Where in the rule book can I locate this information? Can I still request a repayment for only the calls that were made for PTO business now that we have had our last meeting? If anyone has some helpful advice, please let me know ASAP. Thanks!
