[Foundation-l] Travel policy

[Dan Rosenthal]

Because Dependent care is not the responsibility of the foundation's  
expenses. There is a reason why other boards do not do this. If one  
is volunteering one's time as a board member, the volunteer is making  
a decision for themselves to give up that time. They must weigh that  
decision carefully against their own personal needs.

If I were a board member, for instance, it would be incredibly  
unreasonable for me to ask for reimbursement for boarding, care, and  
feeding of my cats while I was gone. It was my decision to get the  
cats, and the assumption of responsibility is my own. Similarly, the  
decision to be on the board would also be my own, and therefore the  
foundation would not be beholden to the care of my cats.

It's the same thing with dependents... if you cannot afford to keep  
care of them in the execution of ones duties, then do not sit on the  
board.

On Jul 9, 2007, at 11:59 AM, Florence Devouard wrote:

>
>> 2.  Dependent care expenses are not reimbursed by most other
>> organizations and should no longer be reimbursed by the WMF now  
>> that it
>> has matured.
>
> Why ?
> And, what does maturity have to do with that ?


Not uncertain benefit: quite certain benefit. In any major  
organization, for profit or not, you cannot just say "I want to go  
here" without having the travel itself approved first. This  
significantly cuts down on irresponsible costs...There is plenty of  
travel that a foundation employee COULD go on and be reimbursed for,  
but does not NEED TO go on. If you want to travel some place you  
should be prepared to justify first why you are going there, and then  
once it's approved for you to go there, then you start discussion on  
how to minimize costs in transit.

i.e. if there is a meeting for say free software that is really not  
all that important, and closely proceeds a major event, such as  
Wikimania, or a major annual open source/free software convention,  
it's not necessary to go to the first one.

Similarly, there is no reason for every single member of the staff  
AND board to attend most events.

The Uninvited Co., Inc wrote:

> 1.  It should be made clear that travel must be approved in advance
> before arrangements are made, in addition to the post-travel  
> approval of
> expense reports.
>

 >Florence Devouard wrote:
 >  Lots of bureaucracy for a quite uncertain benefit.
 >  If a person travelling for WMF provides expenses not fitting with  
the
 >  policy, he can reimburse afterwards. If the case is borderline,  
this can
 >  be discussed afterwards and case clarified.

In all the boards I have been involved with, either having sat on or  
been an employee thereof, all of them have required prior approval of  
travel, and none of them have allowed reimbursement for dependancy.

It comes down to a single fundamental rule: You absolutely,  
positively do NOT go ahead and do something first, and then get  
reimbursed for it later. That is one of the most fiscally  
irresponsible thing an organization can do, either for or not for  
profit.

-Dan Rosenthal