5.8.5 Volunteer Travel (Budgeting, Approval, & Review)   - approved 1/12/99 -

Budgeting

The M&C annual volunteer travel budget will be submitted by the Director of M&C to the Treasurer and presented to the Board of Governors for approval at a time it designates - no later than October 1 of the prior budget year.

The Budget will include budgeted travel for: (a) volunteer members of governing groups of the M&C department, including and not limited to, the M&C Board, the GICB, MILCOM, and any other governing board with which IEEE Communications Society has a professional business relationship; (b) volunteer members of conference organizing committees for conferences to be held in the next three years.

The Budget will exclude: (a) travel by ComSoc M&C staff (b) travel by the director of M&C or any other volunteer to a ComSoc Board function or on work relating directly to a Board activity.

The Budget will include, when possible, actual travel plans with estimated costs and brief descriptions. However, recognizing the fluid nature of the conference activity and the numerous conference entities involved , the M&C Budget may also include discretionary funds.

Travel Requests

Travel requests may presented to the M&C Department by budget or by memo. Budget requests are preferred and should be include in the annual operating budget of a governing board or steering committee or in the official budget of a conference organizing Committee. Memo requests, however, will also be considered prior (or after) to the submission of a budget. In either case the request must be submitted by the Chair or the treasurer of the appropriate entity. To the extent practical, each line item in the budget request will include: the conference entity; the likely month of the expenditure; the likely amount of the expenditure, the origin and destination, the conference position of the volunteer, the name of the volunteer, the "type" of volunteer (employed by corporation; employed by university, self employed , retired) and the purpose of the trip. Among those purposes that may be justified depending on the circumstances are: a) site inspection, b) planning meeting c) attendance at a competitive event; d) attendance at a conference as a member of the OC. Each entity is permitted to budget up to $1000 in travel expenses without explanation.

Request Approval

The Dept of M&C may approve or disapprove a travel request made by budget or memo. If the request is approved, those funds may be used by another individual for the same purpose as requested but may not be used for a different purpose. The Chair or the Treasurer of each entity is responsible for compliance with this policy.

Criteria for Approval

As a non profit association any travel request must be evaluated in the total contact of ComSoc expenditures. For example, what are the benefits of this travel versus other uses of these funds such as student travel grants, technical programs, audio visual or publications.? Here are some of the specific questions that may be considered I evaluating a specific request. a) How critical to the success of the event is this trip? b) Could this same trip be taken in conjunction with another trip? c) Is another ComSoc member or staffer more qualified to take the trip? d) Could another ComSoc staffer or member travel at lower or no cost? e) What is accomplished by the trip that could not be accomplished in a conference call or teleconference?

Budget Development

The budget will be developed by the Dept of M&C based on its best estimate of likely justifiable travel costs during the coming year. This, in turn, will be based on budget requests from (a) conference governing boards and (b) conference organizing committees. The Dept of M&C will weigh the reasonability of these requests, compare them to past expenditures, add anticipated requests that will occur during the budget year, and prepare a budget.

To the extent practical, each line item in the budget request will include: the conference entity; the likely month of the expenditure; the likely amount of the expenditure, the origin and destination, the conference position of the volunteer, the name of the volunteer, the "type" of volunteer (employed by corporation; employed by university, self employed , retired) and the purpose of the trip. Among those purposes that may be justified depending on the circumstances are: a) site inspection, b) planning meeting c) attendance at a competitive event; d) attendance at a conference as a member of the OC.

Travel Payment

Travel reimbursements to governing boards will normally be made by the M&C Department operating through IEEE. These requests must be submitted on IEEE expense report forms. Travel reimbursements to members of Organizing Committees will normally be made by the Treasurer of that particular conference. The treasurer is not required to use IEEE travel forms but is required to obtain original copies of all documentation in line with IRS rules. All travel must, however, utilize forms of transportation and be limited to the types of expenditures specified in IEEE Handbook XX - (see WWW address XX). This specifically includes purchase of advance purchase economy air tickets. No other tickets will be reimbursed.