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Purchase Policy

Last Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Intro

This document walks you through how to spend money on behalf of SCH, from idea to reimbursement.

Policy

At a high level, if you plan to purchase something adhoc, you should:

  1. Share what you’re planning on Slack. Also discuss it with someone in person if you can to make sure it’s a good idea.
  2. If it’s $50 or less, buy it. No further approval needed.
  3. If it’s $50-$350, get approval from other volunteers on Slack.
  4. If it’s more than $350, get approval from the @board-members Slack alias.
  5. To get reimbursed, fill out this form. You must provide an itemized receipt or screenshot of the product listing.

For small purchases ($50 or less), let people know what you’re planning, then go for it. We’d rather see 9 useful things get done at the cost of 1 mistaken purchase than have only 1 useful thing get done because folks were stuck waiting for permission.

For medium sized purchases ($50-$350), wait at least 24 hours for people to provide feedback on Slack. Two or more people in the @routine-volunteers Slack group should agree with your idea before making the purchase.

Deliberative permission is only required for expenditures and commitments that might significantly impact the organization’s finances (>$350). For that, once you’ve followed the process for the medium sized purchase, ping @board-members in your Slack thread and wait to get approval or further questions.

Receipts are required for all purchases where they are provided. If you don’t have a receipt (e.g., buying secondhand from Craiglist), please attach a picture of the ad or agreed upon price instead.

All purchases are reviewed by a routine volunteer when they’re submitted for reimbursement. If someone makes a purchase that seems off, the volunteer will reach out to discuss, and at worst, issue a warning.

We will not reimburse medium and large purchases made without following the process above. For your own sake, do not make large ad hoc purchases without following these rules.

Buying Guidelines

Please follow these steps when making purchases:

  1. Get a good price.

    Understand what you’re buying, and do some online searching to make sure you’re getting a fair deal. It’s our neighborhood’s money, and we want to use it well.

  2. Buy for beginners.

    Especially for shop use items, buy things that are modern, easy to use, and have resources available to learn online. It’s worth spending more if it will concretely help patrons complete their projects faster, or be successful more often.

  3. Try to buy used before buying new.

    Search on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, eBay, and other used marketplaces before buying something new from Home Depot, Amazon etc. Buying used saves money and aligns with our sustainability mission, and often doesn’t sacrifice quality; for example, our SawStop table saw and shop sewing machines were purchased secondhand.

    That said, it’s not a failure to buy new. Some things can’t typically be purchased used in good condition (eg, glues, cordless drill batteries, or saw blades), and others aren’t available within a reasonable distance or time period.

FAQs

  1. Where should I ship things?

    Ship things to your home address. The tool library address cannot receive packages. We do have a PO Box, but it is extremely small (3” x 5.5”). If you aren’t able to receive packages at your home address, ask a Board Member to make the purchase for you.

  2. How long does reimbursement take?

    We can only reimburse by check or direct deposit at the moment. Direct deposits complete in one business day, checks take 7-14 days.

  3. What if I don’t have the cash flow to make the purchase on the behalf of the tool library?

    Ask a Board Member if they can make the purchase for you.

  4. What if I need to rent a car, travel a long distance, to get tools or supplies? Will the tool library reimburse me for car rental/gas expenses?

    We will consider renting a car to get a tool on a case by case basis. In general:

  • Ask in the #operations or other general chat for a volunteer with a vehicle that can handle the purchase.

  • There are folks with trailer hitches! Research whether a trailer could be used instead of renting a whole vehicle. Allan Waite may also loan us the church’s trailer on a case by case basis.

  • Record the mileage traveled. CHTL will reimburse you at the IRS mileage rate for charities ($.14/mile as of 2025)

    We will not reimburse rentals without prior approval.