Rocio Valdivia 4:47 pm on November 9, 2017

Discussion: replacing volunteer equipment

Hi Community Team!

This year, we’ve received two questions from two different WordCamps about the following, and I’d like to find out what the team thinks we should do these kind of cases:

Case 1: One of the co-organizers of WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. X, in charge of social media and the official photographer of the WordCamp, got the lens of his camera broken when an attendee, by accident, pushed him when he was taking photos the day of the event. He hasn’t asked for anything, but the organizing team is asking if they can pay the 140 USD of the repair of the len as they had 500 USD of surplus after the WordCamp.
Case 2: One volunteer of WordCamp Y, lent his laptop for the registration table for the first day of the event. At some point, the laptop was stolen and the organizing team reached out to us asking us if they could pay for a new laptop for the volunteer as they feel this person lost his working tool when helping the community. We’re waiting to receive an email with a written summary of what happened and how much a similar machine would cost. They didn’t have a surplus in this case.

And these are my questions for a discussion:
a) Do we want to have a budget for replacing volunteer-owned equipment?
b) If affirmative, how to manage that budget in order to be sustainable?
c) How could we avoid or minimize fraud in these cases?

Thanks very much for your thoughts, please leave your comments!

Ulrich 5:02 pm on November 9, 2017

If people are volunteering they should not have to pay extra out of pocket when volunteering.

Is there some type of insurance for these types of thing?

For case 1 I feel that the attendee should have owned up and covered at least some of the cost. If you break something in a shop you have to pay too.

For case 2 I think a certain amount of responsibility should be taken by the team at the registration desk. I have organised events myself and know that it is stressful. Maybe we can raise awareness of device security at events.

a) Do we want to have a budget for replacing volunteer-owned equipment?

It would be good to have some type of budget.

b) If affirmative, how to manage that budget in order to be sustainable?

We would need to track the number of cases. We could always set a limit of maximum that someone would help out with.

c) How could we avoid or minimize fraud in these cases?

There are a few ways. Do not pay out the whole amount. Give only a percentage e.g 70-80%. You need to have a receipt for the purchase so that it is not only money. There would need to be some type of report with 3 organisers backing the story.
Takis 5:22 pm on November 9, 2017

If these two kinds of damages requiring compensation should become accepted, we ought to find a way of logically separating them from other kinds of damages that any organiser/volunteer suffers from already but are never mentioned.

One volunteers their time, petty cash for everyday stuff, perhaps gas for their car (and cars break down as well) etc. One might even break a leg and lose days of work! How are these different from a broken lense or a stolen laptop?

We could argue that the first categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. are things that an organiser/volunteer has opted in to sacrifice in the first place, while the latter category are things that happen as part of an accident or an exceptional case. But there is an imbalance to it.

Also, both categories describe some kind of loss, while only the the latter contains stuff that can be -more or less- quantified in terms of money.

My first guess is that these are some really unlucky situations and are too difficult to tackle in a fair way. They are inherently unfair. If we were to do something about it, then we could simply rely on the trustworthiness of the organising team and the adequacy of their budget. In other words, if the organising team agrees that some kind of reimbursement is just and the budget allows it, then why not go for it.
- Andrea Middleton 7:05 pm on November 9, 2017
  
  if the organising team agrees that some kind of reimbursement is just and the budget allows it, then why not go for it.
  
  It gets a little more complicated when you consider that the budget surplus from one event goes to cover the budget shortfall of another event, or to help pay for meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. venue costs or our blanket insurance policy, etc etc.
  
  So there’s no real difference between the money spent “from a surplus” and the money spent from the general pool of funds.
  - Takis 7:15 pm on November 9, 2017
    
    Well, I think it does make a difference, because what I am proposing is that the team will be responsible for its own surplus. The reimbursement will become part of the budget! If the team does not provide a surplus, then they cannot claim for a such reimbursement from the common fund.
    
    I am not saying it is a great solution, but it could be good enough, provided we do want to enable such an option.
    
    Of course, there is always the matter of the trustworthiness of the team. But if the team is trustworthy enough to carry out a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more., then they should be trustworthy to add this bit of expense to their budget, even post-camp.
    - Kevin Cristiano 7:25 pm on November 9, 2017
      
      I agree with @andreamiddleton. I don’t want the criteria to be the surplus/deficit of a camp.
      
      If there should be a reimbursement due to loss or damage that should be evaluated on its merits. Not the camp’s surplus/deficit status.
      
      As Andrea stated the surplus of one event covers the shortfall of another. As a program we need to look at the entire picture, not just one camp.
      
      It would not be fair that a loss was not funded because a camp did not meet it’s ticket or sponsor goal. To the volunteer their loss is just as real regardless of how the camp does.
      
      To me the question is how do we handle these loss and make it so volunteers don’t take all of the risk.
    - Takis 8:52 pm on November 9, 2017
      
      Let me put it in another way. I believe there are two consecutive questions here:
      
      1. Do we think it is fair and necessary to give these kinds of reimbursements?
      
      2. How do we make the claims for these reimbursements trustworthy?
      
      If the answer to question 1 is yes, and it should obviously be so, then how do we go about ensuring question 2? That is tricky!
      
      Or is it not?
      
      If we believe that our organisers are trustworthy, then we simply choose to trust them and send the reimbursements they are asking for via the common fund. Problem solved!
      
      If we believe that they are not 100% trustworthy or -to be more polite- that they might not have judged the situation totally correctly, then we could allow them to take the matter into their hands, like they already did with the rest of their camp, and add the reimbursement to their budget, if their budget allows it.
      
      Of course, it is always best to try and minimise the possibility of these situations from even happening. To this I do not have the answer. The central is already providing the option to send video recording equipment to the organisers and I guess it could do the same with laptops and cameras. If someone chooses to not take this option, then they take take the risk and they should be informed so in advance.
      
      .
      - Andrea Middleton 7:38 pm on November 21, 2017
        
        we could allow them to take the matter into their hands, like they already did with the rest of their camp, and add the reimbursement to their budget, if their budget allows it.
        
        I think this overstates the level of autonomy that organizers currently have to spend money on anything they consider reasonable. 🙂 There’s a lot of autonomy, don’t get me wrong, but WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. budgets are reviewed & approved by community deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook., and teams don’t add new expense items to WordCamp budgets without checking in with community deputies anyway. 🙂
gabbystewart1983 3:06 am on November 10, 2017

Probably more important than budgeting for volunteer equipment breakages, is getting insurance that covers any WordPress and volunteer equipment, up to a defined value.

It should also be explained that if individuals decide to use their equipment, that it may be damaged, and this damage may not be covered by WordPress, so do so at their own risk.
Hugo 9:18 am on November 13, 2017

So I am of the opinion that if you as a volunteer bring your own equipment to an event then you should already have it insured, for example I have a camera that I take to events, it is covered by my house insurance and I also pay extra for accidental damage. Thus the equipment is covered.

I would say don’t take your own equipment if you are not willing for it to be damaged in some way, I suppose this does raise the question of whether WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. needs to add camera’s to its AV equipment which in the long run might work out cheaper.

I am also of the opinion that surplus money from any camp belongs to WordCamp Central, and therefore is in the main pool. And therefore they would have say on how it is spent (I am under the impression it goes to cover WC’s that overspend).

Summary

1. Do we think it is fair and necessary to give these kinds of reimbursements?

In my opinion no.

2. How do we make the claims for these reimbursements trustworthy?

This is always going to be an issue for any kind of reimbursement payment, WC operates under in a trust environment anyway, unforeseen expenses will always be an issue, one of the reasons every WC needs to build a contingency fund into their budget, but again I think having a statement (agreement that the claim was necessary to the WC) and some sort of back up (I would say a second signatory or sign off on unforeseen claims seems like a good idea).
- Andrea Middleton 7:31 pm on November 21, 2017
  
  I suppose this does raise the question of whether WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each. needs to add camera’s to its AV equipment which in the long run might work out cheaper.
  
  We do provide video camera kits for WordCamps in Europe, Canada, and the US, but not still-photography equipment. It might be worth trying out a still-photography kit, just to see if it increases the quality and quantity of event photos; interesting idea. 🙂
Rocio Valdivia 5:18 pm on December 13, 2017

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful input 🙂

We’ve received word from the insurance company that covers all WordCamps and they said damaged property was covered but stolen property is not.

Based on the diverse, conflicting opinions on this matter, we’ve not arrived at a clear consensus. For now, my proposal is that we move forward with making an insurance claim for the damaged property in Case 1, and that we take this approach in future cases of damaged property.

In the case of the stolen property, I propose that we deny the request to replace the volunteer equipment that was stolen. If we take responsibility for replacing any volunteer-provided equipment stolen at an event, I think that we’ll soon be diverting enough money from community programs to this effort to harm the goals of our program. I think we should be clear with volunteers that they must take responsibility for ensuring the security of the equipment they use for WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more..

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Discussion: replacing volunteer equipment

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