Reimbursable Staff Expenses

To sum this up: It's mostly about using your best judgment to either make an expenditure or to seek feedback from others. The only thing that requires a formal proposal is #4, when it's over $2,000 and you aren't authorized to spend it according to the Circle Budget. When you submit a reimbursement request, please make sure to include the class referring to where the money is coming from–usually a specific Circle Budget.

1. Is the expense less than $300? Use your best judgment!

2. Is it on the budget? And are you the person or Circle authorized to make that purchase or payment? Use your best judgment, and/or get feedback if it feels appropriate from your Circle comrades, as long as it's not going over budget.

3. It's not on the budget? Is it LESS than $2,000? Get feedback from your Circle, if it feels prudent to do so, then get feedback from the Expenditure Request Coordinator or the whole Financial Circle, whichever seems most appropriate.

4. It's not on the Circle budget? Is it MORE than $2,000? Bring it as a proposal or expenditure request to the Financial Circle or Stewardship Committee, whichever you believe is the most timely and/or appropriate circle to provide feedback. For expenditures brought to the FC, anyone may request that a higher circle process it, especially if it seems like it could be controversial.

Mileage Expense Policy

Per our Transportation Policy, SELC will reimburse $0.625 per mile for staff and volunteers who use their own vehicle for SELC-related travel. Travel by bus, train and other such forms of public transportation is strongly encouraged whenever possible.

Conference and Travel Expense Policy

Core Staff are empowered to attend conferences of their choosing as long as they do not exceed the most relevant circle’s budget for conference registration and travel, AND that circle approves it. If someone wants to attend a conference that exceeds the current budget or is not budgeted for already, and that does not qualify as an appropriate use of professional development funding, follow the general staff expense policy.

After attending a conference, staff are encouraged to share notes and important contacts in the shared Conference Reportbacks document.

Bar Dues Expense Policy

Core Staff attorneys may receive reimbursement for annual bar dues (excluding any voluntary donations, section memberships, or additional state licenses) that are (1) required to maintain their license to practice law in the state where they primarily work for the Law Center and (2) incurred during the period of their employment at the Law Center. If you haven't gotten the amount that the Bar Dues Badger has confirmed SELC will reimburse, reach out to them before renewing. Reimbursement for dues for additional states may be decided on a case-by-case basis by external request to the Financial Circle. We will strive to cover 100% of Core Staff bar dues. If an attorney terminates their employment with the Law Center prior to the end of the year for which they received bar dues assistance, the Law Center reserves the right to seek reimbursement from the attorney for those dues in proportion to the amount of the year remaining when the attorney leaves the Law Center.  

Updated 2/29/24 

(AC/FC)

Staff Meals Budget and Policy

The purpose of this policy is to set boundaries around food and drink items that the Law Center provides to staff. This helps us to budget, maintain transparency about spending, and provide assurances against undue private benefit.

• Happy Hours and Legal Cafes: Staff are strongly encouraged to attend monthly happy hours and regular Legal Cafes because they are a way for staff to meet new and prospective volunteers, donors, fans, and other people that we should generally network and converse with. As such, unless the Board approves an increase on a case-by-case basis, the Law Center will pay for no more than one drink for each staff member at every happy hour and Legal Cafe, in addition to any food items the Law Center orders to share with all attendees.

• All-staff meals: Unless the Board approves an increase on a case-by-case basis, the Law Center may buy a meal for all staff no more than twice per month, such as during Research Explosion Days, lunches to welcome new staff, and all-day strategy meetings. This limit does not include meals during the annual staff retreat.

• Coffee/lunch meetings: It is sometimes necessary for staff to attend meetings in cafes. Staff may seek reimbursement for food and non-alcoholic beverages the staff member would not otherwise have wanted to spend money on, but for the need to have the meeting in a cafe. Staff are expected to make their own judgment call about what to get reimbursed for. Staff should make reasonable efforts to hold meetings in the office when they are reasonably available, in order to prevent unnecessary expenditures at cafes.

• Travel meals: When staff must travel for work and stay overnight away from home, staff are entitled to $20 per diem for meal costs for each night spent away. To make a per diem request, create an expense in your Expensify Report that specifies: (1) the number of nights, (2) the total amount, (3) the purpose of the trip, and (4) the appropriate tag for the circle your trip is related to.

(FC)

Expense Reimbursement Process

General expense reimbursements should be submitted on a monthly basis, by the end of the first week of the month following when the expenses were incurred.

• Upload receipts into your Expensify.com account

• Create a new Report and categorize expenses with drop-down list of tags

  • Remember to tag lobbying expenses!

For more detailed information on our Financial Operations, see the Financial Operations document.

(FC)

Invoicing for work SELC has done (aka Revenue) Policy

If a staff member or volunteer does advising, consulting, event, or speaking engagement work that SELC should get paid for, they should fill out the Invoice Request Form. In general, any checks payable to SELC should be given to the Income Squirrel.

(FC)