Expenses (VOOPE)
Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR) recognizes that volunteers and their significant contributions provide the backbone of all our operations.
As a registered charity, TCR must strictly follow parameters for issuing charitable receipts. In 2023, TCR’s “Gift-in Kind” receipting policy was updated to ensure full compliance with CRA requirements.
The VOOPE Policy has changed for 2025. TCR will no longer be offering reimbursement for food, litter and driving expenses. We will issue solely tax donation receipts for eligible expenses starting Jan 01st 2025.
The 2025 full policy for Volunteer Out of Pocket Expenses (VOOPE) is here.
This page was updated 27th April 2025.
What You Can Claim.
Allowable expenses for reimbursement or gift-in-kind receipts will be limited to mid range wet & dry food, treats and litter for foster cats, and logged kilometers for approved drives. Purchases outside of food and litter that are necessary for the health and well being of the cat will be permitted in unique circumstances and would require approval of the Executive Director via your FC prior to making the purchase.
Gift-in-Kind receipts for food and litter does not include HST.
You can log & claim your kilometres for your personal vehicle when you pick up the foster cat from the shelter, recovery centre, vet appointments, drop off to a store or an adoption event or another requested pick up location. You cannot claim ubers unless they were previously approved by the Executive Director via your FC. For driving expenses, volunteers must provide a driving log which includes the date of each drive, the starting address, the destination address and the return address, the purpose of the drive and/or the name of the cat transported, as well as the total number of kilometers.
Making A Claim.
Each quarter you will need to send in your claim. No email or reminders will be sent after the initial email in April. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to submit the claims form and supporting documentation for reimbursement or tax donation receipt within 30 days of the last quarter for which the receipts are being submitted.
Deadlines are as follows
Q1: Jan/Feb/Mar deadline is April 30th
Q2: April/May/June deadline is July 31st
Q3: July/Aug/Sept deadline is Oct 31th
Q4: Oct/Nov/Dec deadline is Jan 31st
Please send in your submissions to expenses@torontocatrescue.ca with the required forms.
Keep your receipts.
Receipts must include the name of the store where the item was purchased, the date the item was bought and the amount of tax separated out. A copy of each receipt must be sent with your spreadsheet. Please highlight the relevant expense on each receipt.
It's okay to have your other pets food on the same receipt, however a separate receipt only for TCR expenses is preferred. If you do have personal items, make sure to highlight the TCR food or litter on the receipt and write the total amount on it. You can do this on the receipt with a pen, on a photo on your phone, or as a pdf. Anyway that you can clearly indicate what you are claiming from TCR is okay. As long as the receipts are reasonable, you can split them out proportionately and we’ll be meeting CRA guidelines. So, if you have one cat and are fostering two TCR cats, you could use two-thirds of your total cat costs for your claim.
2025 Gift in Kind Direction Direction cover page (word doc or pdf)This only needs to be submitted ONCE a year.