Expensify.org/hunger to reimburse families in need during COVID-19 crisis

Update June 2020: [NEW] We're no longer accepting new participants as our focus is on reimbursing existing claims. Thanks for your understanding!
The number of families signing up for reimbursement has vastly outnumbered the limited funds available. Though we’re unable to provide a specific timeline on when your report will be reimbursed, we’re doing our best to drive donations and keep reimbursements moving forward. Rest assured, we’ll review every report that has been submitted per our instructions.
If you know anyone who can donate to this campaign please direct them to Expensify.org/donate.
These are unprecedented times, and it's inspiring to see communities rising to the challenge. However, not everyone has the resources to "shelter in place" especially the millions of people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Living paycheck to paycheck is hard when millions of businesses around the nation are closing down indefinitely, and hourly workers (including those dependent upon tips) are the hardest hit. In particular, families with kids whose primary meals happen at school are especially vulnerable when those schools shut down.
With this in mind, Expensify.org is going to temporarily redirect all of its charitable funds to Expensify.org/hunger. With its ability to reimburse volunteers directly in real-time, Expensify.org is uniquely positioned to help families in need immediately. Until today, this fund was focused on paying off kids' "lunch debts" , but with schools closed around the nation, that isn't the top priority. Instead, we're devoting everything to a new program: matching SNAP grocery purchases (dated March 1, 2020 or later) up to $50 per family. It works like this:
- Purchase food as normal with your SNAP card
- Download Expensify on iOS or Android, for free
- SmartScan the receipt, which will tell us how much you paid and show that it was paid for with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card
- Submit it to [email protected]
- Set up your bank account to receive the funds
- So long as we have funds available, we will reimburse up to $50 per family (one time), the very next day.
To be clear, we can't commit to reimbursing every single person in need — we have no idea how many people will do this, and unfortunately, we don't have unlimited funds. We also don't know how long this crisis will last and how far our brand new charity's resources will stretch. But we're going to do what we can with the funds donated on behalf of Expensify Cardholders via the Karma Points feature, as well as by the extremely generous donors who have signed up for our Corporate and Personal Karma programs.
This is a truly global crisis, and it is only beginning. We all need to work together to weather the storm, and on behalf of Expensify.org's many generous members, we're eager to help.
-david
President of Expensify.org
PS: If you're able to donate to helping those in the program or know someone who can, please share this with them. Helping our local communities is what Expensify.org is all about!
Comments
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I really hope this isn't a scam.... I sent you guys my last grocery receipt.
buryware
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If you’d like to share this information on your social media, feel free to reshare Expensify.org's Twitter posts.
https://twitter.com/ExpensifyOrg/status/1240296423440121856?s=20
https://twitter.com/ExpensifyOrg/status/1240296244452503557?s=20
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Hello,
My name is Mel Ekins and I am a Program Specialist on the SNAP team at Feeding America. I'd love to learn more about this to see if it's something we want to share with our food banks to assist their clients. Can someone from Expensify email me more information at [email protected] ? I couldn't find any "contact us" options on your website.
Thank you,
Mel Ekins
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Hi @melekins! We actually put all of the information we have into this post. I recommend emailing a link directly to this page to your local food banks to share with their clients. We want to reach as many people as we can.
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I have my freshebt but not all my receipts can i still get the 50$ or does it have to be the receipt?
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I also have my purchase history which confirms it was paid by ebt from my grocery store but not the receipt.
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Can someone @Expensify_Admin_NY, @expensify, @ Expensify, please review my account to see if I completed the submission correctly?
I followed your instructions to a “T” however I didn’t have the ability to enter in some information in the fields you requested.
Please advise.
Thank you.
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Cortney Ofstad Expensify Success Coach - Admin, Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 173 Expensify Team
Hi @need7 and @SamIchBin!
Thanks for both reaching out — can you both reach out to [email protected]? This will allow our team to address your questions specifically for your accounts.
If you have any other questions or need anything else, please let me know!
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Need of food for 9 year old grandson, son, and self in Wheaton, IL. How do I get in touch with donation? Thanks
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Has your team done research on SNAP users? Are there ways to make this more accessible by translating the information into additional languages and having alternatives ways of participating if someone does not have a smart phone? I appreciate what you all are doing, but I hope you can make this count for the most marginalized folks right now, the ones that are hard to reach and provide aid to.
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Jason Li Expensify Success Coach - Admin, Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 231 Expensify Team
Hi @DonnaMaday - welcome to the Community! Here's a Community post with a set of instructions on how to get started. For additional information, please feel free to check out the website.
@LizVL - thanks for your feedback, we appreciate you writing in with your ideas! I've gone ahead and passed them onto our wider team for consideration.
In regards to your question about participation, I'd like to also point out that users can also forward receipts to [email protected] (via email), and that would result in their receipt being SmartScanned and added their Expensify account. However, please do keep in mind that the smart phone instructions we've provided are the quickest way for users to get those receipts SmartScanned.
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Me either! I dont understand what they used, cause mine didnt look anything like theirs
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They are either really swamped or just don’t reply in general to customer concerns/inquiries. Shame.
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Thank you for the opportunity during such a trying time you are truly a blessing I thank God for your Charity. I submitted my report and am so excited to hopefully get this money as I have spent all my foodstamps and really need to feed my family.
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April Bekkala Expensify Customer, Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 117 Expensify Team
@Kkupner , @SamIchBin and @Brandon_24
I do see that your reports have been submitted on the hunger policy and reimbursed! You should be all set!
@Kkupner it appears you initially created a report and submitted it on your personal policy rather than the hunger policy which caused some delay here!
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Sheena Trepanier Expensify Team, Approved! Accountant, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 1,362 Expensify Team
Just a heads up, we accept FreshEBT receipts as long as the payment type shows FS, SNAP, or EBT. Cheers!
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I made an account and downloaded my receipt, it's saying my request to join expensify.org/hunger has to be approved, is that why it won't let me select "Volunteer Reimbursement" under "Categories"? I can't get past this step to do anything else
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Isn't it illegal to reimburse for Food Stamp purchases to a bank account?
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Does this work with Walmart grocery orders? They don't give you a paper receipt. They send your receipt via email (and it also shows how you paid, etc). Thanks!
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Cortney Ofstad Expensify Success Coach - Admin, Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 173 Expensify Team
Hello! Thanks for reaching out!
@Sjc8187 — please reach out to [email protected] and our team will be glad to look into this for you!
@gramsyboo — this is considered a donation, and does not violate EBT/SNAP benefits as we only reimburse up to $50 and do not match purchases cent for cent.
@Joannlkk — This should work! I recommend writing into [email protected] with a copy of the receipt, and we can double-check this with our team.
If you have any other questions or need anything else, please let me know!
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I don’t know if I did it right it kept saying to re take the picture so I did an now it says it will submit on Sunday?
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Hi I submitted my receipt and it says it was closed on the report. I don’t understand. It says I need to be accepted into the hunger program...
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@Melaniekay @Alaniscondors It sounds like you both need to join the Expensify.org/Hunger policy. This is an important step to link you up with the program. You can do so by clicking here.
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Are you only allowed to take one picture? Unfortunately, my receipt is 2 feet long, I don't think it scanned properly. I'm lost.
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Hi! I have tried 2 times and I can't see that mine was submitted. Is there a way to verify that it was received and was entered correctly? Thanks!!
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Hey @Meleea and @BabyBee - it sounds like the trouble you're having is specific to your accounts. Could you send a message to [email protected] so that we can look into it?
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@Lauren Schurr Sent! Thank you for responding so quickly.
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Unable to select volunteer Reimbursement and also a class that option is not showing!. I have already 3 transactions that got declined. I would like help because I have a transaction open right now.
Edit: Looks like I was finally able to figure it out myself. So hopefully everything is fine now.
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I've created an account but have no clue as to how to get my receipt to [email protected]. Help please?
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Clueless how to submit it. I’m so lost. Created the account. Uploaded receipted and was accepted . Please help