Historically, we have always allowed visa fees, as described herein, for
reimbursement. Technically speaking, they were prohibited because of this
text early in the policy:
"only those categories of expenses listed in this document qualify."
I've left that text in place and added visa fees explicitly.
The current "lowest fare + $100" rule is simple, but provides less and less
choice as distances get longer. The most common feedback we hear about the
travel policy is a wish to have more flexibility to choose shorter flights.
This provides that flexibility by allowing more expensive flights that
provide time savings, while keeping the rules relatively simple.
It can be difficult for the Executive Director to approve expenses in a
timely manner if they themselves are traveling or taking time off. Allowing
any officer to approve the expenses helps us be more responsive with minimal
additional risk.
The limit has been $1,500 since the first commit of the policy in 2012.
Inflation and other economic forces have brought us to the point that
international travelers routinely show us searches where the cheapest fare
is around or over $1,400. Increase the limit to try to level the number of
flights requiring preapproval.
This was always our intention. However, the previous wording didn't account
for gaps in the time that advance purchases (especially flights and other
long haul travel) are made and the time the travel actually occurs. This
updates the wording to match our intention.
* Introduce a "Rates" section that's referred to throughout.
* Explain how the total M&IE allowance is calculated.
* Update the info about currency conversions to explain we now use Open
Exchange Rates based on the date of the reimbursement request.
I hope this version is easier for readers to follow, by listing all
mandatory information first, followed by a single list of additional
information needed by country.
The "Board of Directors approval for 90 days late" rule was originally
instituted to make it clear that reimbursements beyond 90 days were
really difficult for Conservancy to process. In practice, the rule has
meant that travelers simply believe that they "have another out" if they
are late, and late reimbursement requests put an undue burden on
Conservancy staff for special processing, and they create extra work for
our volunteer Board of Directors.
As such, Conservancy now simply rejects reimbursement requests that are
received 90 days or more after the last day of travel.
In a conversation with our bankers, they told me that many non-USA banks
have correspondent banks in the USA they prefer to work with and it can
avoid fees.
In the "Easy Reference Guide", it had been noted that you must include "Your
fare search (i.e., a screen shot)" when submitting a reimbursement request.
However, the main body of the text didn't explicitly say that.
I've also reintroduced herein a list of fare search sites. We took out the
list initially because some complained that it prescribed a specific search
site. The new wording herein makes it clear that the list is a proper subset
of acceptable search sites. More can be added if folks like.
PayPal can handle mulitple currencies now. Therefore, we should collect
preferred currency ifnormation from the traveler, thus avoiding additional
round-trips to verify what currency they seek reimbursement.
Link to the list on PayPal's website of what currencies they support: some
travelers in the past have requested currencies via PayPal that it turned out
PayPal didn't support.
The receipt for hotel rooms must clearly show the dates of travel, so
Conservancy can verify that the dates of the stay matches the dates of the
event attended, and also to verify that no food or service charges were
included, since food and service charges go against the ME&I per diem charges
rather than the hotel room charges.
