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About
I am a homeschooling mother and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) combining my experience and knowledge to help micro businesses, families and homeschool organizations such as co-ops. This blog will cover topics on running a small business, working from home, taxes and personal finance.
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9:42 AM, Nov. 4, 2006
Can you pay a volunteer?
(view similar articles on Q&A from Homeschool Leaders)
Can a volunteer be paid? Sometimes we want to pay a generous volunteer who has given a lot to a homeschool organization. I was asked recently : "Can we pay our volunteer Co-op director a small stipend? She works so hard."
I'm sure she does work hard and deserves some show of your appreciation, but volunteers are not paid. As soon as they are paid they are not a volunteer. They are (probably) an employee. What a mess. A small homeschool group doesn't want to deal with W-2 forms, Social Security taxes, federal and state tax withholding, etc..Don't think you can avoid the tax filings by just saying she's an independent contractor. The IRS has a 20 factor test to determine independent contractor status. If your homeschool group is like mine, you won't pass the test for independent contractor status. I've written about that in several other bolgs here and here.
What can you do to show your appreciation? Here are some ideas:
- Offer your hardworking volunteers a tuition discount or free membership.
- Give a gift such as a gift certificate, flowers or chocolate!
- Offer to babysit the kids so she has a day or night out
Avoid the cash payments. They will be taxable income the recipient and may cause her to be an employee which involves tax filings.
What does your homeschool group do to reward your hardworking volunteers? My Co-op gives tuition discounts to our director and other board members who put in a lot of time (I get a discount for serving as Treasurer).
Carol
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I have spoken on a few subjects for our group. Typically, we receive a thank you and that's fine with me.
Posted by berrymorin on Nov. 3, 2006 at 6:46 PM
In answer to your question about web design... I think RugbyHS does it for a small fee. I'm not sure who else does. Here are her links:
www.homeschoolblogger.com/RugbyHS
www.homeschoolblogger.com/RugbyHSWebDesign
As for mine. One night I couldn't sleep so I played around with my blog. It was a lot of trial and error.
Thanks for visiting me.
Stacy
Posted by AussieinAmerica on Nov. 5, 2006 at 1:17 AM
Gift certificates to craft stores, Pappas Restaurants, Kirklands, grocery stores, Amazon, or Dillards work nice, too! ;)
Posted by sprittibee on Nov. 12, 2006 at 3:50 PM
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volunteers
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