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<div class="markdown-here-wrapper" data-md-url="Thunderbird"
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<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Hi everyone,</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Following up on my last
message: based on comments and requests I’ve heard from you all
while helping with accounting, I’ve prepared a second branch
with proposed rule changes to the travel policy. It’s
2017-08-proposed-updates. <a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changelog?branch=2017-08-proposed-updates">Here’s
the history</a>; <a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/files/51d8a9b8899af5da131e1a0eb3284ec917a21ba9/Travel/conservancy-travel-policy.md">here’s
the latest policy in the branch</a>. I wanted to start a
discussion about the proposals by describing the rationale
behind each, and hear your thoughts on them.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;"><a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changeset/ad6eb47205f5eb788e22bd7aa4895f933a3a42e0">The
90-day limit on reimbursement requests is from the last day of
travel.</a> - Strictly read, the current travel policy says
that we won’t reimburse expenses that are over 90 days old. This
means that, for example, if you book a flight a month in advance
of a trip, you only have about two months after the end of the
trip to submit for reimbursement for it. We didn’t intend the
90-day deadline to be this strict; we just want it to start at
the end of the trip for all trip-related expenses. This change
spells that out.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;"><a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changeset/9569a5bbae38cffa181caa9df9cd91fcd3169e8e">Add
$150 to the limit on international airfare that requires
preapproval</a> - Just based on economic factors, it’s become
somewhat routine for some international travelers to have fare
searches where the cheapest flights available start at $1,400 or
higher. This means relatively normal flights that shouldn’t
require preapproval suddenly do. $1,500 has been the limit since
at least 2012, so this is just an update to keep pace with
changing fares. The total limit on international travel expenses
goes up to match.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;"><a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changeset/dfb0b65537d652fdc6a7aaf2f2cf902a2af0282c">Allow
specific expenses to be approved by any officer of Conservancy</a>
- Normally individual expenses that require preapproval must get
it from the Executive Director. It can be difficult for us to
respond in a timely manner to those requests if Karen is
traveling or otherwise busy. This change would let any officer
of Conservancy preapprove those requests, helping us turn them
around faster.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;"><a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changeset/ee9e440d6d1662b718222422b88abfadd2041aec">Set
a budget for flights based on how much time they save compared
to the cheapest flight</a> - I saved the best for last. You’re
all familiar with Conservancy’s current “cheapest fare + $100”
cost limit for flights. This is easy to understand and follow,
but the most common feedback we get—either sent directly or via
requests for exceptions—is that you’d like to be able to spend
more on flights that save a lot of time.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">This change makes that
possible. It sets a flight budget that starts at the same
cheapest fare + $100, then goes up to book a flight that saves
substantial travel time over the one with the cheapest fare. Any
flight you book that’s within its corresponding budget would be
in Policy and eligible for reimbursement. <a
href="https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/files/ee9e440d6d1662b718222422b88abfadd2041aec/Travel/conservancy-travel-policy.md#L353">Here
are the exact rules.</a></p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">There are a lot of ways
we could’ve implemented this, and we discussed a lot of them
internally. We ultimately went with this tiered system to try to
keep the rules simple to understand and follow. The obvious
alternative would be to set a budget that increases a set amount
per hour of travel saved. That’s “simpler” in the sense that
it’s a single rule that covers more cases, but it’s harder to
write accurately and harder to predict the financial
consequences of.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">I prepared all these
changes with the hope that they’ll make travel easier for our
projects, and I hope they do that for you. If you have any kind
of feedback on them—whether you don’t like them, or just have
wording suggestions, or even just agree they’re useful—I hope
you’ll share that with the list. I look forward to hearing from
you.</p>
<p style="margin: 1.2em 0px ! important;">Thank you,</p>
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<div class="moz-signature markdown-here-signature">-- <br>
Brett Smith</div>
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