COVID-19 Travel Policy amendment, effective

[Bradley M. Kuhn]

Conservancy's Board of Directors has approved this temporary but indefinite
change to the Conservancy travel policy.  It effects all member project
travel since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

We apologize that there was not time to discuss the policy changes here, but
if you have questions, please feel free to ask them on this list.

The canonical version of the policy on Conservancy's website now includes
this amendment:
https://sfconservancy.org/projects/policies/conservancy-travel-policy.html

The change in the revision history logs is here:
https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies/changeset/3b1bc93469c1bb9ceb479f32c29fd7a8ee3521e3
https://github.com/conservancy/policies/commit/3b1bc93469c1bb9ceb479f32c29fd7a8ee3521e3


And I've included in the body of this email for your reference as well:
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COVID-19 Travel Policy, Software Freedom Conservancy

In this difficult time, Conservancy is committed to reimbursing both employee and volunteer travelers who canceled program-related travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please keep in mind that Conservancy is a small charity, and we ask travelers to help us save the most money for Conservancy's projects. You can do this by maximizing the value for cancellations and by avoiding or reducing reimbursements when the vendor of the travel service offers credit and refunds.

This Policy will remain in effect indefinitely. We will officially rescind this Policy after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. Check back to our travel policy page for the rescinded date before you submit canceled travel reimbursement or book any new travel.

# New Travel Hiatus

No new travel may be **booked** for reimbursement for Conservancy without explicit preapproval directly from Conservancy's Executive Director.  Any travel booked without such preapproval during that period will not be reimbursed.  If you need such preapproval, please write to the approvals queue and describe why the travel warrants an exception to this Policy.  Ask your PLC for the contact information if you don't have it.

Canceled trips due to COVID-19 pandemic will be reimbursed as follows.

# Trivial Amounts Exception

If the entire cost of any specific item is less than or equal to US$150, you need not provide additional documentation for cancellation. Simply submit the expense with the documentation as required under the main travel policy, and include a statement that asserts you did not travel (e.g., "I am submitting a request for reimbursement for Conservancy-related travel for PROJECT which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.")

Note that the US$150 limit is for five different items: US$150 for airfare, US$150 for hotel/accommodations, US$150 for ground transportation, US$150 for visa fees, and US$150 for conference registration fees.

This limit may be further reduced by any overall budget set by your project. For example, Outreachy interns, whose travel budget is typically $500 total, may not exceed a $500 reimbursement in any event.

# Airfare

Most airlines are offering flight credit for canceled flights, although some are offering full refunds. Typically, you **cannot** receive this credit or refund unless you phone the airline.

If your airline's online system does not offer a refund or flight credit, please phone your airline and request a refund. If the airline refuses a refund, ask for flight credit. Many airlines have written policies on their website, such as [Delta's](https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisories/coronavirus-travel/overview).

Please take notes during your call, including the name of the agent, any confirmation number they give you, the date by which your credit must be used, and the amount of the credit. Most airlines are offering credit for use within one year of the purchase and/or travel date.

Submit to Conservancy for reimbursement the following three things:

       * Your original flight search
       * Your original receipt
       * A document officially from the airline that shows that flight(s)  is/are canceled
       * Your notes (or if possible, written documentation from the airline) documenting your attempt to receive refund/credit. The notes should include when you called, who you talked to, what you requested, of what refund and/or credit you received (if any) and when it expires

These items must be submitted in full no less than 90 days after your original first date of travel.  We will not reimburse if submissions are not timely.

If all documentation is in order and the submission is timely, Conservancy will reimburse on usual NET-30 terms the amount you paid out-of-pocket to the airline. If you received flight credit, **you may not use the credit for personal travel** unless you return that amount to Conservancy.  We encourage you to use this credit for Conservancy travel. We will track the flight credit on our books, and expire it on the date of expiration. You will be given a new accounts-payable (A/P) ticket to use with an expiration set to the date of your credit expiration. Please be sure to use that ticket for any reimbursement that includes your flight credit. If you ultimately do not travel for Conservancy and/or your member project before the expiration, the ticket will expire and we'll move the funds off our books.

In the unlikely event that your airline has a written policy that they are offering no future flight credit nor refunds for COVID-19 cancellations, you can submit that as documentation for reimbursement in lieu of documentation of your phone call.

# Hotels

Most hotels are offering full refunds, even for advance purchase, non-refundable rates. For example, here is [Hilton's poicy](https://www.hilton.com/en/corporate/coronavirus/).

In our experience, even smaller non-chain hotels are offering refunds if you phone to request them.

For prepurchase hotels, where your original receipt shows that the fare was a prepurchased and non-refundable rate, please follow the procedures above for flights to seek a refund and/or credit.

For nonprepurchased hotels, for example, those that have a cancellation period before arrival, it is your responsibility to cancel these in a timely manner. Conservancy will not reimburse for hotel costs where you failed to take advantage the free cancellation period.

In the unlikely event that you were scheduled to travel immediately before COVID-19 cancellations began (e.g., if you were scheduled to travel the first week of March), and you had to cancel too quickly and were charged by the hotel, please follow the non-refundable fare procedures.

# Ground Transportation

Cancellation policies vary for ground transportation (such as trains). Please follow the rules for airfare in this case.

# Visa Fees

Visa fees are generally non-refundable in any event, and our research has shown that most countries are not refunding visa fees for canceled travel due to COVID-19. Accordingly, you may submit your full visa fee receipt for reimbursement pursuant to the main travel policy.

# Conference Fees

We have yet to hear of a conference that is not refunding conference registration fees for individuals.  However, in the unlikely event that the conference you sought to attend is not refunding, please follow the airfare refund/credit documentation procedures above.

# M&IE Per Diem

All other items of reimbursement are typically covered by M&IE Per Diem. No items that are typically covered by M&IE Per Diem are reimbursable if you do not travel, and therefore only the items listed in this document are currently covered for COVID-19 cancellations. If you incurred other expenses not explained here, please write back to your A/P ticket and explain the situation.

# Other Difficulties

Please contact us via your reimbursement ticket if for some reason it is impossible or very difficult for you to follow this Policy.

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-- 
Bradley M. Kuhn - he/him
Policy Fellow & Hacker-in-Residence at Software Freedom Conservancy
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