Understanding the GPN budget

Every year the Tech Inclusion allocates sponsor budget to different priorities and initiatives that we believe will best support and grow GPN! This includes advertising, travelling to new nodes, tutor engagement, Tshirts etc.

The GPN Executive is the team that is responsible for spending and tracking this budget - if you need something or have an idea on how we could be spending money that isn’t in the listed budgets here, please reach out to them!

Each node also has its own budget that it can spend throughout each year. This is tracked in this spreadsheet GPN Australia Budgeting (note: only committee members will be able to access this). The purpose of each category and how to use them is explained in this page.

How to get reimbursed for GPN expenses

Rules for GPN expenses

There are a few things that GPN will not or can not pay for. Please understand these rules before you spend any money on things for GPN

• No alcohol (people who are legally allowed to drink can do so at appropriate GPN events such as the annual dinner, but we will not pay for those drinks)

• No gambling (e.g. lottery tickets, casino events)

• No venues or products that could cause reputational damage (also see inclusivity guidelines)

• Nothing illegal (obviously)

• No significant gifts for individuals (e.g. small thank you gifts at the annual dinner like flowers are fine, but we’re not buying someone a computer)

• If you have a conflict of interest (e.g. if one of your committee members family members or friends owns a venue that you were considering paying to use) then you must disclose and discuss that conflict of interest and how to handle it with the GPN executive before proceeding

If you are ever unsure if your purchase may be against our rules, please feel free to reach out to the GPN Executive!

Step 1. Get approval

Before you pay for something for GPN, make sure that you have approval for it to be reimbursed and you understand what budget it will be coming out of. 

If you are using the Node Budget to pay for your expense, you will need approval from your Node Lead. If you are a Node Lead then you just need to make sure that the expense is in line with the rules above, that it fits within one of the expense categories above and that you have enough budget remaining to cover the expense.

If you are using the National Budget to pay for your expenses, you will need approval from the GPN Executive.

Check this page to see if your expense is in the "node" budget or "national" budget.

You can get approval via any written communication (e.g. Teams or email). If you speak to someone in a meeting about this, make sure that you write down somewhere a recap which includes approval of the expense - just in case you get asked for it later!

Step 2. Buy the thing

Typically volunteers will make the purchase themselves and then get paid back. If this doesn’t work for you for any reason, you can reach out to the GPN executive and they may be able to organise purchasing the item with a corporate card for you (note: this will take longer, so if you’re in a rush it’s usually faster to buy it yourself rather than wait for someone with access to the card to do it for you. If you do think you’ll need this help, try and get in contact as early as you can).

You must have a receipt in order to be reimbursed! Make sure you get a receipt because we cannot pay you back for any purchases that do not have a receipt. If you make a mistake here and forget to get one, or lose your receipt, most stores will keep a backlog of receipts and may be able to print you a new one if you go back within a few days. 

Step 3. Submit your reimbursement request

Use this portal to submit your reimbursement request: https://techinclusion.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/group/1/create/12

You will need to make an account to use the portal. If you already have an Atlassian account you can use that, or you can make one with your GPN email address, or with your personal email address.

You can combine multiple receipts into one request if they all come from the same category. However if you have requests across different categories they will need to be submitted separately.

This form will ask you for the following information, so make sure you have it!

• Summary (e.g. “Accessories for volunteer engagement event”)

• Details (e.g. “Feather boa, glasses and other props for a photo wall at the volunteer engagement event”)

• Date of purchase - should match the receipt (if combining expenses, use the earliest date)

• Amount - if combining expenses, this should be the total. This should match the receipts. If there is a reason it doesn’t match the receipt (e.g. you bought a personal item in the same shopping trip and don’t need that item reimbursed) please make note of that in the description

• Reimbursement category - see this page for descriptions of each category

• Bank details - where you would like us to transfer the reimbursement amount to (can be a BSB and account number or PayID)

• Attach expense receipt - if combining multiple, you must attach all the receipts

Step 4. We’ll take it from here

The portal will create a request for the GPN Executive to process. These are typically processed every Monday, but if you need your request expedited for any reason, you can reach out to the GPN Executive.

The details will be double checked, and if there’s a mistake or missing info you’ll get an email asking for clarification.

You will get a confirmation message from the GPN executive, either via Teams or email, once your request has been processed. Depending on the amount of money being transferred and whether you have been paid by GPN before, it can take a few days for the reimbursement to arrive in your bank account.

If you are using some of your node budget, if your Node Lead hasn’t already added the expense to the spreadsheet, then the expense will be added as part of the reimbursement process.