non-PLC members

[Ian Lynagh]

On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 10:45:29AM -0400, Tony Sebro wrote:
> On 03/29/2012 10:32 AM, Ian Lynagh wrote:
> >On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 11:01:37AM -0400, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
> >>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'').
> >[...]
> >
> >>==== Meals For Organizational Development
> >>
> >>Travelers may occasionally have the need to invite third parties,
> >>e.g., prospective donors, contributors, community members, etc., to
> >>meals in order to further a PLC's technical direction and/or Conservancy's
> >>mission.  Conservancy recommends that travelers seek pre-approval from
> >>their PLC and/or Conservancy for such meals.
> >I would have thought that "contributors" at least, and perhaps
> >"community members" too, would be covered under "project volunteers". I
> >wouldn't expect such people to need any sort of approval that PLC
> >members don't need.
> 
> To clarify, this is intended to address situations where
> contributors and/or community members are attending an event, but
> are not there on behalf of or at the behest of a PLC and/or
> Conservancy (e.g., their travel is paid for by their employer,
> they're paying their own expenses, etc.).  As such, they're not
> "travelers" as defined by the Policy, so we're defining them as
> "third parties" for the purposes of managing travel expenses.

Oho. This strikes me as odd. If I go on a Project trip, but my employer
kindly offers to pay my flights, would that mean that I am not a
Conservancy traveler, so wouldn't get a per-diem without this clause?

Oh, and a related question: If a Project has a trip to someone's home
town, do they still get a per-diem etc (as they will also have local bus
costs, may wish to join the others in restaurant meals, etc)?

> If it would help, we could tighten up the definition of "traveler"
> to make it abundantly clear that the Policy only applies to people
> who have been sent on a trip by a PLC and/or Conservancy, and not to
> other volunteers who happen to be going to the same location in
> parallel.  Thoughts?

I think I don't understand the difference between going "on a trip" and
going "to a meal".


Thanks
Ian