DIAPER BANK NC-
Travel, Conferences, & Professional Development

Professional Development

We believe in professional development of our staff. We encourage you to take steps to learn new things. Many folks come into the nonprofit world with zero nonprofit experience--that's ok!! Diaper Bank of North Carolina was built on the backs of employees who had to learn, over time, every single thing they know about running and working in the nonprofit sector.

We're lucky to be members of some really great local and national organizations that offer regular, high-quality trainings and conferences. Discuss your interests and professional development needs with your supervisor to create a plan and projected budget for your learning. On average, each employee has $100 annually to spend on trainings from local opportunities.

Conferences can sometimes be a mixed bag when it comes to learning, so we’re shifting our professional development policy to encourage experiences that can be shared with the staff as well as providing some guidance on the amount of time and money we expect you to spend (while still allowing people to go to a relevant conference if they want to). As with everything, if you have something specific that doesn’t fall within the bounds of this policy, we’d still be happy to discuss it with you.

Conferences

We love conferences! And we also want them to be meaningful and provide insights and new ideas that can move our entire organization forward.

Each year, we expect that as many staff as possible will attend the U.S. Conference on Poverty and Basic Needs, put on by the National Diaper Bank Network. (This is also the conference each year where we highly encourage our staff to submit proposals to present and speak!) The location changes each year, but every other year (starting in 2022) the conference is held in Orlando.

There are also opportunities to attend the:
Ruby for Good Conference (usually on the East Coast/DC area); directly related to our inventory and partner agency management software.

Is there another conference in your specific field (virtual or in person) that you want to attend? Talk to your supervisor and we'll do everything we can to make it happen. The more advance notice you can give (like...a year in advance so we can put it in the budget!) the better chance we have of honoring your request.

Travel Expenses and Reimbursements

  • While traveling on behalf of our company for a conference (most likely) or other business opportunity (less likely), an employee’s flights, lodging, and rental car will be paid upfront when the booking is made.

  • If traveling without a company credit card (or without a supervisor who has a company credit card), meals, tolls, taxis, baggage fees and a variety of other costs will be paid with an employee’s personal credit card or cash and a receipt should be obtained.

  • Promptly submit receipts for reimbursement to your supervisor.

Travel Best Practices

  • The Golden Rule - Please treat the company’s money as if it were your own

  • Book early, at least a month before the event.

  • Group outings require prior approval

  • Submit expenses for reimbursement to your supervisor at most 30 days after trip

  • Keep emergency contact/ insurance information nearby

Guidelines

We don’t normally travel for anything other than conferences, but sometimes we might do other business activities which require you to travel. The following guidelines should be used in those cases.

Ideally, you are booking your own travel and expensing it.

  • Flights: If booked by us; Economy

  • Hotel: If booked by us; Private room

  • Car: If booked by us; Accept all insurance coverage; Not for NYC or other mass transit accessible cities

  • Train: If booked by us; Always Business Class

  • Taxi/Ride Share: Reimbursed by us

  • Meals: Eat conference/office-provided meals when possible. Diaper Bank of North Carolina does NOT reimburse for alcohol.

  • Flexible Stay: Resulting expense >$100 covered by employee

Speaking at Conference

Description

We believe in encouraging people to speak at conferences. If you have questions as to what's appropriate to disclose about the company to a public audience, please discuss it with your supervisor. In general, we favor transparency and tend to overshare.

Conference Travel Expenses

We will handle all expenses for the conference that are not provided by the hosting conference, subject to our rules for travel.

Conference Time Off

If you're invited to speak at a conference, the day that you speak is not counted against your work days. Other days should be counted against vacation or floating holiday days. If the engagement requires traveling a long distance, please discuss it with management before you apply to speak to make sure this opportunity is worth the time dedicated to it.