To reimburse a volunteer or staff member by check, get a written request with receipts, have someone other than the requester approve it, write the check for the exact amount shown on the receipts to the person's legal name, put the event or fund in the memo, and file the receipts with the check record. Keep expense reimbursements separate from pay.
Reimbursements are the payments that most often arrive in an envelope with no paperwork. A small routine turns them into clean records that your board and your accountant can follow.
What do you need before you write a reimbursement check?
- Original or clear copies of every receipt, showing the vendor, date and amount.
- A short request form with the person's name, the event or program, the purpose and the total.
- Approval from the person your policy names, who is not the requester.
- The fund or budget line the cost belongs to.
- The payee's legal name as they want it on the check.
A receipt that shows only a total is often not enough on its own. Where an itemized receipt is available, ask for it, and where a purchase had no receipt, record the reason in the request so the approver can decide.
How do you reimburse a volunteer step by step?
- Collect the receipts and the request form from the volunteer, ideally within a few weeks of the purchase.
- Add up the receipts and compare the total with the form. Fix any difference before you go further.
- Have the approver sign or initial the form and note the fund.
- Enter the check to the volunteer for the exact total. For example, $86.42 for vacation Bible school supplies is written Eighty-six and 42/100.
- Put a clear memo on the check, such as VBS supplies, and the receipt dates or a form number on the stub if you can.
- Get the check signed by your authorized signers and give it to the volunteer.
- File the form and receipts with the check record, and write the check number on the form.
The rules for writing the amount and the payee line are in how to write a check to yourself for the self-reimbursement case, and what the memo line is for covers the memo. Do not round the amount. A reimbursement is the real cost, to the cent.
What about mileage, advances and stipends?
Different payments call for different handling. Here is a quick comparison, with a reminder that tax treatment varies and is a question for a professional.
| Payment | What to collect | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt reimbursement | Receipts, purpose, fund, approval. | Missing receipts and personal items mixed in with organization purchases. |
| Mileage | Date, purpose, start and end points or miles, and the rate your policy uses. | Do not guess a rate; use the one your board and accountant have agreed on. |
| Advance before an event | Written request, expected cost, due date to return receipts. | Unspent money and unreturned receipts. Track the advance until it is settled. |
| Stipend or honorarium | Written agreement on the amount and the reason. | This is a payment for service, not a reimbursement. Ask your accountant how to handle reporting. |
| Staff expense report | Itemized report with receipts, approved by a supervisor. | Treat it separately from the payroll check for pay. |
How reimbursements and stipends are treated for tax purposes depends on how they are documented and on who receives them, and the IRS sets requirements for substantiating expenses. Ask your accountant what to collect before you adopt a policy. Pay for work belongs in payroll or contractor payments, not in an expense reimbursement; see how to print payroll checks and how to print contractor checks for those.
How do you reimburse the treasurer or another signer?
The person who spends the money should never be the only one who approves and signs the check for it. If the treasurer buys supplies, another board member should approve the request and be one of the signers. If your organization requires two signatures, make sure neither is the person being reimbursed.
This is a common weak spot, especially in small groups where the treasurer is also the most active volunteer. A simple written rule fixes it: no one approves or signs a check payable to themselves.
How do you record reimbursements so the board can read them?
Record the payee, the amount, the event and the fund, the same as for any other check. Using the same memo wording each time makes it easy to total all the costs for a single event, such as the summer camp or the fall dinner. The register tells the board what each event really cost.
- Use one memo style, such as Event - item.
- Keep the signed request form with the check record.
- Review reimbursements at the monthly check-up, looking for repeated payees and round numbers.
- Export the register at the end of the year so your accountant can see all payments to each person.
How to keep a digital record of printed checks and how nonprofits keep check payments organized describe the register and the monthly routine in more detail.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Paying without receipts and without a written reason.
- Mixing reimbursement and pay on the same check, which hides both.
- Letting the person who spent the money approve their own request.
- Writing the check to a nickname rather than the legal name the person will deposit under.
- Waiting months, so receipts are lost and the fund balance is wrong.
- Leaving the memo blank, which makes event costs impossible to total later.
Putting it together
A one-page request form, a clear approver, an exact amount and a consistent memo are enough to make reimbursements dependable. For the full picture of how a congregation or charity handles checks, read the page on check printing for churches and nonprofits.
In Check Writer 123 you can save volunteers and staff as payees, put the event in the memo, paste receipt or form numbers into the stub lines, and attach the approved request as a PDF, PNG or JPG up to 1 MB. Tax treatment questions go to your accountant, and approvals follow your board's policy.