National Convention & Washington Seminar Guidelines & Procedures for Grants/Travel Expenses
Updated 12/12/2023
Procedures for Requesting Grants/Travel Expenses
GRANTS ARE FOR AFFILIATE MEMBERS.
TRAVEL EXPENSES ARE FOR AFFILIATE BOARD MEMBERS.
- Persons seeking financial assistance to help with National Convention or Washington Seminar expenses should tell their chapter president. If there is no chapter in their area, contact the affiliate president, or call our community outreach number at 860-289-1971. Members who wish to receive a grant/travel expense must register ahead of time.
- Chapter presidents, directors and officers will forward the request to the grant/travel expense approval committee, with an opinion on whether the person qualifies for our assistance.
- Their recommendations will be based on these guidelines:
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Non-first timers must be paid-up members of their chapter. If we do not have a chapter in their area, they must be members-at-large.
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Members must have made a consistent contribution to our movement over the past year.
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- We will give a grant or travel expense to a family member of first timers when approved by the affiliate president on a case-by-case basis.
- We will give a grant or travel expense to a blind child and one parent or authorized guardian.
- If a couple (parents of a blind child) wants to attend without the child, we will give a grant or travel expense to one parent.
- We will not give a grant or travel expense to those who received our assistance last year but failed to meet our attendance requirements.
- The grant/travel expense approval committee will make the final decisions on eligibility after getting advice from chapter presidents and other leaders.
- People must submit receipts for covered expenses within 30 days of return. Receipts must be individualized; if sharing a room, the bill must show what you paid. The same is true for airfare, food, and all other expenses.
- We will try our best to provide a grant/travel expense in advance if asked. Our ability to do this depends on our cash flow.
Guidelines for Grants/Travel Expenses Request
National Convention Guidelines:
Grant/travel expense recipients must attend all convention sessions and one other meeting (such as a division, board of directors, resolutions committee, or the banquet) or contribute in other ways for the well-being of our movement, such as childcare, NFB of CT exhibit hall table or hospitality. Chapter presidents are responsible for monitoring the convention session attendance of the people in their chapter. The state president will appoint an attendance monitor for first timers who are not associated with a chapter and for members-at-large. The chapter president and the attendance monitor will report abuse of our attendance guidelines to the president as quickly as possible.
Washington Seminar Guidelines:
Grant/travel expense recipients must attend the afternoon training meeting, the Great Gathering In, and assigned legislative meetings.
National Federation of the Blind Code of Conduct:
Please read and agree to the National Federation of the Blind’s Code of Conduct. It can be found at Code of Conduct.