Accepting money for project
 

Hello,
I have been wrestling with a moral dilemma for the past few months. I do volunteer work for a non-profit group who is trying to start a mental health facility. They applied for a grant before I joined the board, which included funds for paying someone to prepare a presentation (slides/script) for the community. They asked me to do it and offered to pay me.
My dilemma:
-The money is much needed since I am applying to graduate school and need to save as much as possible. I also come from a low income background, and it is honestly a bit hard to turn down money for work.
-Since I am on the board, I am not sure if it is a conflict of interest.
-I feel bad to accept money from them because they are struggling to meet their financial goals. The money is not going to significantly hurt their budget, but every little bit helps.
-The grant says the money is to pay someone to make the presentation. So the group asked for the money specifically for this task, knowing that they would use it to pay someone.

I was thinking about accepting the payment, and donating a portion back. At the same time, I feel bad to accept anything from them, especially because all the other volunteers are not being compensated for their time/efforts. The presentation is taking a considerable amount of time/effort on my part, and the money is not a huge amount. I may be over thinking this, so I wanted to hear what other people think. As a board member, should I not accept the payment and do the work in-kind on moral principles, or is it fine to accept the money because it was allocated by the granting institution specifically for this project?

Thank you for your thoughts!!

Accept it. If you decide to make working in this field a living, you MUST EAT FIRST.
Otherwise, eventually no one will eat.

If you're that hard up and it makes a big difference to you, take the money. If you think it will make a bigger difference to them for you take the money and donate it back to them, then I'd take the money and donate it back. Who will it help more?

They were looking to spend the money on that service anyway. Why does it matter that they found the resource for it in-house?

The money was already budgeted. You watch The Office? Mommy and Daddy give you $10 to open a lemonade stand...

as long as its above board, and it was going to get spent anyways, its not a conflict of interest if the best person for the job happened to be someone on the board.

looks like you're in a tighter squeeze than they are. i'd take it.

Fantastic that they were able to get a grant. Fantastic that they want you for the job.
Take the money. Be appreciative. Be ready to help out later when you're in a better financial situation.