[NCUC-EC] Travel Expenditures

[Tapani Tarvainen]

On Fri, Jun 07, 2013 at 02:46:47PM +0000, Milton L Mueller (mueller at syr.edu) wrote:

> [Milton L Mueller] Whatever was written would just be on the mail
> list discussions we had. There was a pretty firm policy however, and
> it was this: set a FIXED budgetary amount for travel per meeting
> that would ensure that over the course of the year we could send 2,
> sometimes 3 people.

That sounds like a very good idea. Not only for travel but other costs, too.
That is, making a budget on a yearly basis.

> The virtue of such an approach is that it made planning easier and
> imposed a slightly longer term perspective on the group as a whole
> in making its decisions. Allocate within the budget constraint. If
> you think about travel budgeting as something you do a month or two
> before a meeting, rather than as a budget item for the entire year
> (or even a 2 year cycle) then you are guaranteed to have a rush of
> demands for travel support at the last minute as excitement about
> the meeting grows. Decisions will tend to be made without reference
> to the long-term sustainability of the level of support.

I'm in 100% agreement with this.

The only thing I'd change is that I'd put the budget somewhere
in our website for future reference rather than just leaving it on
the mailing list. And of course include all expenses, not
just travel costs.

-- 
Tapani Tarvainen