On 4 Jul 2012, at 04:27, Alain Berranger wrote: > for volunteer stipends to compensate for volunteering direct and opportunity costs... I would not argue for remuneration for volunteers as that would be non-sensical. I do not really understand the difference. Getting money for doing stuff is getting money for doing stuff. being a volunteer means not getting money to do stuff. being paid means getting money. I know people give it all sort of names: renumeration, stipend, honorarium ... it all looks like pay to me. The only reason I have ever thought people used words like stipend and honorarium was that it made it possible to pay people less that their going rate when doing so. I beleive volunteers should be treated well and have all of their expenses and incidentals taken care of. But I beleive that once some gets paid any monies beyond a reasonable per diem, they are not longer a pure volunteer. E.g I no longer see the Board as volunteers, if i remember the amounts of stipend they (will) get, it would put them beyond the poverty level in most countries of the world. avri