Expense policy

An expense policy defines what can be expensed and the process to ask for money (page in progress)

Why an expense policy?

It's important to have a public expense policy so that rebels can know in advance what can be expensed. Also, you need a public document that you can go back to to justify why you are accepting or refusing a given expense. This makes sure that decisions are fair for everyone.

What should be in an expense policy?

• General philosophy

  • What are we trying to achieve with the money?

  • Always ask first if someone can offer it before making an expense

  • Favor the local and sustainable economy (e.g. second hand shops)

  • Make sure it respects the values and principles of XR

• Types of expenses that can be submitted

  • Can rebels expense their public transport tickets?

  • What are the restrictions? (e.g. don't pay for meat, fast fashion, etc.)

• How to submit an expense?

  • Is there an online form somewhere or an email address?

• Decision making process to approve them

  • Light process for small amounts?

  • Is there an amount above which the decision process should be different?

  • Is there a pre-defined budget per working group?

Where to publish it?

Wherever the rebels might look for information about your finance; on your website on the page where you ask for donations, in your vade mecum (aka onboarding handbook), on basecamp in the documents related to your finance working group, etc.

If you use Open Collective, you can write a summary of your expense policy that will show up right above the form to submit an expense (and you can add a link to the more complete expense policy if it's a long one).

Submit expense form on Open Collective

Examples

• XR Hackney

  • Expense Policy (google doc)
  • Submit expense form (open collective)
  • Public record of expenses (open collective)
• XR Tower Hamlets

  • Expense Policy (google doc)
  • Submit expense form (online form)
  • Public record of expenses (google spreadsheet)