Travel Policy

Revised April 2015 

Drawing on a small fund raised from noncommercial donors, NCUC can provide limited travel support for members who are actively and verifiably engaged in important policy work and need to attend meetings to represent the Constituency.

Eligibility Criteria

To receive travel support, applicants must be NCUC members in good standing who:

1. Voted in the previous year’s NCUC election, if eligible at the time;
2. Are actively and verifiably engaged in NCUC’s work, for example, constituency governance, NCUC/NCSG policy discussions, or GNSO or cross-community working groups;
3. Need to be at a given meeting because the above-mentioned work will be advanced there;
4. Agree to participate in any NCUC, NCSG and GNSO meetings held during the meeting;
5. Agree to write a brief post-trip blog post for the NCUC website reflecting on the meeting’s main developments of relevance to NCUC;
6. Did not receive NCUC funding to attend the immediately previous ICANN meeting, unless exceptional circumstances require their presence at two consecutive meetings. (Note: this criteria only applies to regular ICANN meetings, as below)
7. Agree to make their own travel, accommodation, visa, and related arrangements and be reimbursed after the trip. NCUC cannot provide funds in advance of meetings or any administrative support.

ICANN Meetings

NCUC can make available up to US $12,000 per calendar year to facilitate participation at ICANN’s three regular meetings. For each meeting, up to two members may each receive support of up to US $2,000. Covered travel expenses may include conference-related airfare, visas or related fees, lodging, and airport taxis. If the actual cost of these items is greater than $2,000 the member will be responsible for the difference. NCUC cannot provide a per diem or cover other expenses.

The application process is as follows: At least two months prior to each ICANN meeting, the NCUC Chair will send a message to the ncuc-discuss list inviting applications. Interested members have two weeks (until midnight UTC) from the announcement date to submit proposals. Applications should address each of the eligibility criteria and be submitted via email to the NCUC Chair, with a Cc: to one other member of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will review the proposals and strive to make decisions within one week of the close of the application period.

Separate from the above process, NCUC may occasionally provide on-demand support to attendees at regular meetings for an additional night of lodging, e.g. arriving one night earlier or leaving one night later in order to participate in essential NCUC work or meetings. The Executive Committee will assess such requests for assistance on a case-by-case basis and strive to make a decision within one week of receipt.

Procedures for EC funding allocation

 – ICANN Meetings funding allocation for Executive Committee representatives

–  Executive Committee representatives travel support allocations

For each ICANN Meeting, the NCUC leadership team is allocated three travel slots. One of these travel slots must be assigned to the NCUC Chair. The remaining two travel slots, or a reallocation of the Chair’s travel slot if he or she relinquishes it, will be assigned to representatives who fulfill the following criteria:

1. The representative develops an activity plan that he or she will carry out in the ICANN meeting. This plan must contain a detailed account of the representative’s current engagement in ICANN activities, their plan of engagement at the face-to-face meeting, and explain why and how their physical presence in that meeting is important for achieving the NCUC’s objectives and mission. The timeline for the submission of this application will follow the procedure described in the NCUC Travel Support Policy unless initiated sooner by the NCUC Chair at his or her discretion. The EC travel funding allocation should precede NCUC travel support programme.
2. The representative must observe all criteria for eligibility as described in the NCUC Travel policy session above, highlighting the participation on NCSG and NCUC activities.
3. In case of a tie between applicants, the Chair will ask representatives to make reasonable efforts to find an alternative source of funding. Evidence must be provided to the Chair of these attempts. If a representative seeks alternative funding but is declined or rejected, this will not be held against them. Representatives who make no reasonable efforts to find alternative funding will receive lower priority for NCUC resources than those who make reasonable efforts;
4. Where there are more candidates for a slot than there are slots available, the regional designation of the EC representative may be a factor weighing in its allocation. The EC representative must send a detailed action plan outlining their plans for inreach/outreach of membership within their region;
5. As described in Eligibility criteria, EC who have received travel support for the previous meeting cannot apply again.
6. In receiving funding for a meeting, travellers agree to write daily reports during the meeting to update the membership on the proceedings . At his or her discretion, the NCUC Chair may choose to publish these reports as a blog post, or may request that the representative convert their report into a blog post.
7. If a representative receives support, and does not meet their commitments as outlined above, they will be ineligible to receive further NCUC resources.
   

References:

NCUC Operating Procedures

https://www.ncuc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NCUC-Operating-Procedures-Sept-2017.pdf

(Noting item III Travel support selection and VI Outreach and VII Funding)

NCUC Bylaws (Esp. Item XI.A on Transparency)

https://www.ncuc.org/bylaws/

ICANN-Related Meetings

At times it may be in NCUC’s interest to be represented at other meetings where important GNSO/ICANN matters will be discussed. Generally, such meetings would be held by GNSO or cross-community working groups, but on an exceptional basis, they could be organizationally separate events.

NCUC can make available up to US $5,000 per calendar year to facilitate participation in such meetings. A member may receive support of up to US $1,000. Covered travel costs include conference-related airfare, visas or related fees, lodging, and airport taxis. If the actual cost of these items is greater than $1,000 the member will be responsible for the difference. NCUC cannot provide a per diem or cover other expenses.

The application process is as follows: At least two weeks before the relevant meeting, an interested member should submit a proposal that explains the importance of the event to NCUC and what the proposed representation would entail; provides complete information about the program and logistics; and addresses each of the eligibility criteria. The proposal should be submitted via email to the NCUC Chair, with a Cc: to one other member of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will review the application and strive to make a decision within one week of receipt.

Reimbursement of Expenses

After completion of a trip, a traveler must a) submit the brief post-trip blog post mentioned in the Eligibility Criteria via email to the NCUC Chair, with a Cc: to one other member of the Executive Committee; and then b) submit scans of receipts for the above-mentioned expenses and a list showing the sums in US dollars via email to the NCUC Chair and Treasurer. Arrangements will then be made to reimburse the itemized expenses via an interbank wire transfer.

Allocation of NCUC Travel Slots Under NCUC Travel Support Policy