Software Freedom Conservancy Travel and Reimbursable Expense Policy

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:Date:      27 August 2012

== Overview

This Travel and Reimbursable Expense Policy (``Policy'') applies to all

Conservancy Member Projects (``Projects'') of Software Freedom Conservancy

(``Conservancy'') and has been created to memorialize Conservancy's

reimbursement policies relating to travel and other business expenses

incurred by Conservancy staff, Project Leadership Committee (``PLC'')

members, and project volunteers while engaged in business on behalf of, or

at the behest of Conservancy and/or a Project (``Travelers'').

This Policy includes an Easy Reference Guide that can be used as a 

template for most of the travel covered under this Policy.  When in doubt,

refer to the more detailed sections below.  

== Purpose

Conservancy must maintain effective control of business-related expenses

in order to maintain its financial viability and tax exempt status.  

Conservancy and each Project is also accountable to our donors to ensure 

that we manage their contributions wisely and maximize our ability to 

pursue our charitable mission.  As such, Conservancy expects Travelers to 

use good judgment and to claim reimbursement for only those expenses that 

are necessary and reasonable.  Excessive expenses, including but not 

limited to luxury accommodations and services unnecessary for, or unrelated 

to the furtherance of Conservancy's charitable mission are not eligible for 

reimbursement. 

Any travel expense that adheres to this Policy is considered In-Policy

and does not require special approval, so long as the trip itself

has been approved in writing by Conservancy's Executive Director or

by a Project's Leadership Committee (``PLC'') in a regular and documented

PLC vote.  Conservancy and/or a PLC can limit allowable travel expenses

to an amount less than what would otherwise be considered acceptable

according to this Policy. If so, the smaller budget is the maximum

allowed expense. 

PLC's may, in fact, have their own travel policy that is more restrictive

than this one.  Please consult the PLC for your Conservancy project before

incurring an expenses to ensure you understand what expenses can be

reimbursed.

== Easy Reference Guide

Travelers should adhere to the following guidelines to stay In-Policy. 

* Flights.  

	* Book 14 days in advance. 

	* Air fares within $100 of the lowest fare (using standard 

	  airfare search tools) are In-Policy.  Fares > $750 domestically 

	  and > $1,500 internationally require Conservancy's pre-approval. 

* Hotels. 

	* Hotel fares < GSA rates are In-Policy.  Visit 

          http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem to determine the rate for your 

	  destination.

* Receipts.  Keep and submit PDFs of the following, as applicable:

	* Your fare search (i.e., a screen shot)

	* Your plane/rail ticket (e-confirmation of purchase is sufficient)

	* Your hotel/lodging invoice

* Per Diem. 

	* Use your per-diem to cover meals and incidental expenses.

	* Your per-diem is based on GSA guidelines.  Visit 

	  http://www.gsa.gov/perdiem to the determine the per-diem for your

	  destination. 

	* Try to be frugal - GSM per-diem rates are rather generous. 

	* When attending a conference where food is included, Do The Right

	  Thing and claim a lower per-diem.   

* Reimbursement.

	* To receive reimbursement, send hotel and flight/rail receipt, 

	  along with a list of Per Diem days and totals to 

          accounting@sfconservancy.org.  Refer to the Expense Report 

          section below for details.  

== Reimbursement Procedure

If you seek to be reimbursed for Conservancy Project expenses, please send

the following, in a self contained email (with attachments as necessary),

cc'ing your Project Leadership Committee address (PROJECT@sfconservancy.org)

for Project approval:

  * a brief paragraph explaining what was accomplished for the project

    during your travel and/or with the funds being reimbursed.  This can

    be informal; it's just for our records to confirm the travel advanced

    the not-for-profit mission of both Conservancy and the project.

  * A brief report listing the items to be reimbursed.

  * Full receipt(s) for everything, unless the travel policy does not

    require receipts (e.g., for per diem expenses).

    If your receipts are in a different currency than you're preferred one

    for reimbursement, include documentation of the rate conversion (e.g., a

    redacted credit card statement in your preferred currency).  Otherwise,

    Conservancy will use the prevailing rate for the date of the expense for

    conversion.

    Please verify that the receipts that you submit are within the attached

    travel policy requirements.  Note, however, that your Project Leadership

    Committee may have set a stricter budget than what the general

    Conservancy policy allows.

  * How you'd liked to be reimbursed. The four payment options, in order of

    Conservancy's preference, are:

    * Paypal.  For this, we need an email address that is valid for the

      Paypal account be paid.  Note that sometimes PayPal fees are

      assessed.  Usually we're taking funds from our PayPal balance, which

      means no fees appear on our side, but they may appear on yours.  It

      might be worth it to check the fee schedule before choosing this

      method.

    * Issue you a check in USD from a USA bank, sent to you via post.

      For this option, I just need your postal address.

    * Wire the amount in your local currency to your bank account in your

      country.  For this option, I need as much of the following information

      as it's possible for you to collect.  While some of this information

      isn't always needed, the more I have, the less likely there will be

      problems with your wire.  I note below in parenthesis which fields are

      mandatory, which varies based on where you are in the world.

                  SWIFT and/or BIC Code (mandatory for non-USA wires)

                  ACH or ABA routing number (mandatory for USA wires)

                  Account Number  (absolutely mandatory)

                  Full Name of the Account Holder  (absolutely mandatory)

                  Full Address of Account Holder

                  Bank Name

                  Bank Address

                  Tax ID of account holder (mandatory for Colombia)

                  Phone Number of account holder (mandatory for Colombia)

                  IBAN (if available, *required* for EU countries)

                  BSB Code (mandatory for Australia, not required elsewhere)

                  Preferred Currency (absolutely mandatory)

      Note that if there is an intermediary bank involved in the USA, you

      should provide all this information for both the intermediary bank

      and the final bank.  Note in particular that if the intermediary

      bank is in the USA, an ACH or ABA routing number is absolutely

      mandatory.

    * Issue you a check in your local currency, sent to you via post.  For

      this option, I just need your postal address and what currency you

      want.

Project Leadership Committees: when you see emails of this nature, please

be sure to have your designated Representative review the materials and

send an approval message to Conservancy.

== Project Leadership Committee Review

Conservancy foresees the need for periodic reasonable exceptions to

this Policy.  Persons working on behalf of a specific Project seeking

an exception to this Policy must petition their PLC to obtain written

approval from Conservancy authorizing the exception.  Persons working

directly on behalf of Conservancy must seeking an exception to the

Policy must obtain written approval from Conservancy authorizing the

exception. 

PLCs are responsible for creating procedures for requesting exceptions, 

and submitting to Conservancy reimbursement requests associated with

their respective Projects.  PLCs are also responsible for making available

a list of required response times for inquiries, including but not

limited to, the following two cases

* a specific number of days to respond to regular reimbursement requests,

and

* a specific number of days to respond to pre-authorization requests.