City of Hope makes volunteers shell out for their uniforms.
Requiring a certain standard of clothing for safety reasons (e.g., closed toe shoes) is justified. Requiring a uniform may be justified if it’s necessary to identify volunteers as distinct from staff or the general public, or for branding in public interface positions. Making those volunteers defray the costs of expensive articles of clothing also seems justifiable, although a similar argument could be made that volunteer efforts provide a net benefit that outweighs the initial cost. But it’s much easier to accept drawing a line at laying out significant amounts of hard cash for untested, unproven, and possibly ephemeral new volunteers.
I live in the nonprofit world and routinely interact with the highest level administrators of a number of local charitable organizations. Volunteers are a constant topic of conversation – how to attract them, how to keep them, how to use them, etc. I honestly don’t know of a single one that claims a turn-away number of qualified people bidding for the opportunity. Not to say it couldn’t happen. I can envision, say, a theater troupe in a large metropolitan area, or perhaps a high-end art museum, having an excess of people who want to get close to the stage or the artwork, indoors in the air conditioning, no physical exertion required. But the rest of us who need volunteers to supplement staff in actual dirty jobs (trademark not applied for) will have to keep on begging.
8 years working at a hospital ER. As far as I know, we didn’t require anyone to pay to volunteer there was a volunteers orginization and they may have charged to be part of that.
Anyway, we loved our volunteers and could not have gotten through the day without them. They were a vital contact between the patients and their families and the staff. They were super and made everyones life better. Somehow we never really got bad volunteers. Oh, and they didn’t show people where the elevators were. Believe it or not, we paid staff to do that.
I’d personally like to thank anyone who had volunteered at a hospital ER. I appreciate you very very much. Special thanks for those who paid the $15 to do it. Thanks.
It’s nearly 2 weeks since I offered my services to the Vet’s Home. Still haven’t heard a thing - not even “Thanks, but we’ve got plenty of help at the moment.”
I didn’t expect an outpouring of gratitude, but acknowledging my offer would have been nice.
Back to looking for something to do…
But you aren’t getting enough volunteers because it sounds like the “experience” you offer is insufficiently diverting for bored suburban retirees. Or not impressive enough for a scholarship application. It’s too much like work.
Hope you get the help you need. Other organizations might well need money more than untrained hands…
Yeah, amazingly enough, it really is a lot like work! 
Part of the plea I use when talking to a live audience goes something like:
Sometimes it actually succeeds in getting a new volunteer or two.
This is pretty simple. Clearly, the people who are “volunteering” are offering services that are of less value than it costs the organization to accept. It’s only fair to require them to make up the difference.
It’s that old thing: Your gift is actually a burden. It’s the proverbial white elephant.