GBW donations and expense claims
Donations
We do not charge a talk fee for Ambassador talks but a donation to the BTO is received gratefully. The suggested donation is £40. The donation to the BTO is best presented as a cheque made payable to the ‘British Trust for Ornithology’. Please ask for your travel expenses to be covered by the organisation to which you are giving the talk (we suggest a working rule of thumb of 35p per mile). You can arrange the method of payment for covering your travel expenses with the group as you see fit.
Following consultation with the BTO finance department, we have been advised that we should not claim Gift Aid on talk donations, even if the cheque has been written by the Ambassador and he/she is a UK taxpayer. Because the donation is, in effect, from a group rather than a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid cannot be claimed. To claim Gift Aid on a cheque written by an Ambassador, the Ambassador would need to declare the donation as income, then transfer the payment as a donation to the BTO. Our feeling is that this would create some problems, including paperwork for Ambassadors and potential complications in regard to income and tax thresholds. As a result, please send donations made payable to the ‘British Trust for Ornithology’ as cheques, either made out direct from the group or, if they donate in cash, as a personal cheque from you to us (address below).
Expenses
Ambassadors expense claim forms can be downloaded from the Ambassadors restricted webpages.In general, expenses can be claimed for travel (if not offered by the group to which you are giving a talk), parking and postage. We cannot, as a matter of course, cover food/drink costs. You will have other expenses that will crop up from time to time but please run these past Clare Simm() before spending any money. If your travel costs for any single engagement (i.e. return journey) are likely to exceed £40, and will need to be covered by the BTO, please run this past Clare in advance.
If you use public transport on Ambassadorial business, please keep any tickets and send these into the GBW Team along with your expense claim form. Standard class fares only, please. Mileage for private car use is reimbursed at 35p per mile. Please circle the engine type/size as this is used to calculate the BTO’s ‘carbon footprint’. The ‘Other Expenses’ section of the expense claim form is applicable for parking charges and postage costs (again, please keep any receipts and send them into the GBW Team with your expense claim form).
Please print your name at the foot of the form, sign and date. Please send your completed expense claim form, including any receipts and any donation, to:
GBW
BTO
The Nunnery
Thetford
Norfolk
IP24 2PU
The GBW Team will then arrange with the BTO finance department for a cheque to be sent to you to reimburse your costs.
Please note, we will try to cover the expenses of anyone who helps you at events, but it is essential that you let Clare know about any helpers before the event and what their probable expenses will be.
Note: A few Ambassadors have taken to subtracting any travel expenses from donations or sales made at a talk/event. This is fine in that the BTO still receives the correct money but the Finance Department are keen to keep all incoming money (e.g. donations, GBW membership sales, Gift Pack sales, book sales) clearly separate from any outgoings (e.g. travel expenses, cost of having a stand at an event) for auditing purposes. Please can you help with this? We will ensure that expense claims are turned round quickly for you.