Governance

NPPA Policies & Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures for Officers and Volunteers

Quick Links

Bylaws; Standing Rules

Policies

Elections; Planning Calendar; Copyright & Licensing; Purchase of Alcoholic Beverages; Expenses; Capital Expenditures; Insurance; Advances; Regional Publications; Grants; Investments; Amendments
  1. Elections
    1. Candidates shall not utilize the NPPA logo in any campaign literature.
    2. No NPPA postal permit shall be employed in the mailing of campaign literature.
    3. Candidates should be aware of the availability of specialized mailing labels. The labels consist of the names of eligible voters for a given constituency (i.e. the voting members of Region 1, or the voting Television membership, or the voting chapters membership, etc.) Requests for labels should be made to the national headquarters. Candidates are encouraged (but not required) to write a campaign letter to their constituency. It should also be noted that regional publications often (but not always) seek position papers and a history of each regional candidate running for office. It is suggested (but not required) that regional nominees contact their regional publication editors as soon as possible to aid in complete and accurate coverage. Regional directors shall bear the responsibility for insuring that nominating committees and candidates receive a copy of these procedures.
  2. Planning Calendar
    1. Conflicting dates can be catastrophic to an otherwise well-planned NPPA event. Vendors and registrants can't go to two events at the same time. It is therefore crucial that NPPA events not conflict with one another and with major events outside our organizational control that may have a major impact on our programs. To this end, NPPA has established a planning calendar that is maintained by the executive director and is available as a link from the NPPA home page on the Internet.
    2. The executive director assigns events on a first-come, first-served basis. Tentative dates (within reason) may be reserved. The executive director will contact key individuals (such as key vendor representatives, fellow journalism organizations, the Poynter Institute, journalism education organizations, etc.) outside our organization on a routine basis to ensure that the calendar contains timely information.
    3. Those planning NPPA events should consult with the Executive Director when selecting a date for the event in order to avoid scheduling conflicts. No contract should be signed on behalf of the NPPA without first consulting with the Executive Committee and the Executive Director.
  3. Copyright and Licensing
    1. Because much of the material published by various committees, regions and offices of NPPA, including the NPPA Code of Ethics, is seen by people outside the organization, an informal notice should be included in all substantial printed materials such as regional publications and informational booklets. Such notice should be similar to the following:

      1. The National Press Photographers Association is an educational organization dedicated to the advancement of photojournalism. Membership is open to still and video photojournalists or others whose occupation has a direct professional relationship with photojournalism.

        Material contained in this publication may be reprinted, recreated or electronically distributed with written permission from the NPPA and an appropriate credit. For more information, contact the NPPA at 3200 Croasdaile, Suite 306; Durham, NC 27705; director@nppa.org. ©2005 NPPA

  4. Purchase of Alcoholic Beverages
    1. NPPA is a socially and legally responsible organization, and will not tolerate the serving of alcohol to minors at any regional or national event. The event chair is responsible for assuring that the aforementioned rules are vigorously enforced.
    2. Any cost of alcohol liability (where not covered by NPPA general liability insurance) shall be paid by the individual responsible for the event budget line, from said budget line prior to the signing of any event site contract. The executive director shall determine that said insurance is purchased (if necessary) as part of that contract.
    3. All alcohol events that involve a bar where NPPA is being directly billed shall be on a cash basis only.
  5. Expenses
    1. Reasonable travel, lodging and meal expenses are normal to conducting the business of NPPA. Individuals submitting travel expenses, however, should use the utmost care to get the lowest prices possible when arranging airfares, hotel accommodations and restaurants. NPPA encourages its officers, members, speakers and guests to make travel reservations as early as possible and to use the NPPA travel agent to avoid excessive travel expenses. Committee chairs should submit an official list of those traveling to an event, workshop or meeting at NPPA expense to the Executive Director well in advance of the workshop. The executive director will pass a copy of the list and committee chair travel guidelines along to the travel agent so each individual can make their own travel arrangements with the travel agent.
    2. General travel rules
      1. NPPA will not pay for expenses not directly related to the travel itself, such as onboard drinks, movies, in-room mini-bar services, in-room movies, etc.
      2. NPPA will not pay for duplicate travel tickets or upgrades.
      3. NPPA will not pay for last-minute changes without appropriate approval in advance. Intercity car rental cost is acceptable only if it is less than or equal to the cost of a discounted air or train fare to the same destination. In the case of a car rental that exceeds such a discounted fare, NPPA will pay no more than the cost of the discounted fare. Intra-city car rentals must be approved by the Executive Committee in advance.
      4. Taxicab fares are allowed, though lower cost travel (such as shuttle buses) is encouraged. Voucher submissions for group ground transportation must include the names of all members of the group.
      5. It is acceptable for regional officers to travel within their region to regional seminars or to other functions on strictly NPPA related business, such as combined regional seminars in which their region is a cosponsor. Travel outside their own region will not be paid except with advance approval of the Executive Committee.
      6. NPPA will reimburse for hotel rooms and tax only. Volunteers and staff traveling at NPPA expense should endeavor to keep hotel costs to a minimum. Additional room costs for a spouse, significant other or child on the trip (who is not officially there on NPPA business) are the personal responsibility of the NPPA member or guest.
      7. NPPA will not pay for hotel room telephone bills incurred by officers, members and guests unless they are specifically related to NPPA business.
      8. NPPA will not pay for in-room movies, laundry, room service unless approved in advance either through the budget process or by the Executive Committee in advance.
    3. The NPPA will reimburse meals eaten on official NPPA business trips according to the following per diem schedule. NPPA will reimburse individuals for meal costs up to the per diem rate from receipts attached to an expense voucher. NPPA encourages people traveling at NPPA's expense to keep meal costs down. Committee chairs may submit an individual per diem rate for their project/workshop as part of the annual budget process. Current per diem rates is $40.00.
    4. Reasonable office expenses directly related to the business of NPPA are always allowable.
    5. Acceptable office expenses
      1. Normal office supplies such as pens, pencils, paper, file folders, paper clips, computer paper, toner cartridges, etc. Unusual, specialty items must be approved by the Executive Committee in advance. Printed stationery and envelopes are not allowed, as these are provided by the national office.
      2. Normal, routine postage costs, such as stamps and metered postage. Postage for personal NPPA election campaign material will not be paid.
      3. Reasonable use of delivery services, whether the U.S. Postal Service or private delivery firms. Though it is up to the discretion of the officer or chair to determine the most efficient method of delivery, each should keep in mind that the lowest cost for the purpose as opposed to the highest convenience should always be chosen.
    6. Members are encouraged to use the most effective and cost effective means of communication available to them. Communications charges deemed excessive by either the executive director or the Finance Committee must be approved by the Executive Committee before they are reimbursed.
    7. Acceptable communication expenses
      1. Members are encouraged to use long-distance telephone calls conservatively. Landline equipment for long distance calls is encouraged. If cellular phones must be used in an emergency, NPPA will pay long distance charges and associated taxes only, not airtime charges. Cellular expenses must be supported with a copy of the bill and an itemization showing to whom the communication was made.
      2. Electronic mail and online charges, either through an online service or through a direct Internet provider. Itemization may not be possible in some cases (i.e., e-mail charges are not broken down), but submitted bills must be reasonable for the level of NPPA business conducted. For example, if only about 10 percent of a person's e-mail is for NPPA business, that person may submit a voucher each month for 10 percent of the cost or may submit a complete voucher once every 10 months.
    8. The sponsorship of a workshop or seminar to educate and professionally stimulate members is very important activity, both within a region and on the national level. Expenses for workshops can encompass a wide variety of areas and these guidelines are by no means all inclusive.
    9. NPPA committee chairs and event coordinators should designate one person as the sole individual empowered to authorize expenditures at their event. This will ensure all requests for complimentary registrations, hotel rooms, meals and other fees associated with NPPA activities are cleared according to the guidelines of the local event committee. Expenses made by staff members must be approved in advance by the local individual or individuals in charge of the workshop/seminar's financial operations. These advance approvals may not necessarily be for specific amounts, but the intended use of the funds must be approved. All staff and guests should be informed of these guidelines before making a commitment to attend.
    10. Acceptable event expenses
      1. Rental of a facility in which to hold the workshop. All contracts for facility rentals must be drawn up with the cooperation and approval of the executive director.
      2. Travel and lodging expenses of appropriate staff members and guests of the workshop. This includes the core workshop staff, appropriate speakers and others deemed necessary by the workshop chair. General travel expenses must conform to the guidelines described above.
      3. Meals directly involved with the operation of the workshop/seminar. The cost of meals up to the established per diem rate will be reimbursed when submitted with original receipts attached to an expense voucher form. Reasonable costs of alcoholic beverages with a meal will be paid if itemized on the NPPA expense form. Officers or staff paying for a group meal must include a list of those attending the meal and the total must be within the total of all guests' allowable amounts. Meals charged to a workshop/seminar's budget must be approved by the workshop/seminar chair or the appointed designee for the conference. Other alcohol service will follow the NPPA alcohol policy. Normal office expenses directly related to the workshop or seminar. These expenses must conform to the guidelines listed above.
      4. Rentals of office equipment (such as computers, printers and copiers), insurance, security and onsite photocopying.
      5. Advertising expenses for the workshop/seminar, including but not limited to: printing costs for fliers, insertion expenses in appropriate publications and reasonable postage costs.
      6. Hospitality suites maintained by the workshop staff, either for staff/guest use or for workshop participant use, provided the hospitality suite conforms to NPPA requirements listed elsewhere, particularly with reference to the NPPA policy on alcohol.
      7. Reasonable miscellaneous expenses not mentioned here and directly related to the workshop/seminar will be approved at the discretion of the Executive Committee in coordination with the workshop/seminar chair.
      8. The NPPA shall not pay for nor reimburse the costs of alcoholic beverages except where such cost is reimbursed to the NPPA through sponsorship as provided in the NPPA Policies and Procedures Section IV.
    11. Registration fees for those volunteers who provide substantial service to the event or who serve as invited program speakers may be waived or reimbursed by NPPA. The local event chair or designee determines who qualifies for a complimentary registration through substantial service. NPPA event coordinators may not exempt volunteers from registration fees for service in previous years. Registration fees for national NPPA officers will be waived or paid by a local program when the officers are attending an event on official NPPA business. For the NPPA annual meeting, the Executive Committee shall determine which of the national committee chairmen may attend the annual meetings with expenses paid from national funds.
    12. For reimbursement of acceptable expenses as explained above, expense vouchers must be submitted within 30 days after the expense is incurred. Any expense submitted after 30 days may be approved by the treasurer if the expense is less than $500 and falls within the budget, otherwise the expense must be approved by the executive committee. A rejected expense report may be appealed to the EC. Any expense submitted after 90 days shall not be paid without a 2/3-majority vote by the board of directors.
    13. All event Chairs shall provide a complete accounting of the event within 60 days of the event. All expenses and income, including that to be billed shall be included in the reports. Any expenses not yet billed by a vendor shall be noted in the report along with an estimate of that expense.
  6. Capital Expenditures
    1. Capital expenditures are for property such as computer hardware and software, fax machines and copiers, and generally are not an acceptable expense. However, capital expenditure requests may be submitted to the Board of Directors as part of an annual report. Such requests are due to the Finance Committee chair 90 days prior to the close of the NPPA fiscal year and must include a detailed breakdown of costs and a full justification for the purchase. All capital expenses must be made in NPPA's name and billed to the national office. In emergency cases, appeals may be made to the Executive Committee for consideration.
    2. To keep track of NPPA-owned equipment in the field, the executive director maintains a property book containing the original invoice of all NPPA-owned, leased and/or rented property. Any NPPA member wishing to use NPPA equipment (either purchased originally or transferred from another member) must sign a property transfer form available from the executive director. This form shall be filled out and sent to the national headquarters for insertion in the NPPA property book. As part of their annual report, members of the Board of Directors and committee chairs shall review property book listings as provided by the executive director and shall update all property transfer forms under their control.
  7. Insurance
    1. Committee chairs are charged with the responsibility of making sure any equipment in use at a workshop is properly insured. Individuals using personal equipment, even when on official business, are solely responsible for their equipment. NPPA does not insure personal equipment nor does it pay for the repair of personal equipment. If the use of personal equipment is deemed absolutely necessary for a workshop, the committee chair will be charged with making sure that equipment is insured at NPPA expense and will include the cost of that insurance as part of the budget expense for the committee.
  8. Advances
    1. Advances are designed to prevent an officer or committee chair from having to pay sizable monies out of pocket for authorized expenses. For advances, a signed voucher (marked "advance") must be submitted before the purchase, and another voucher, with the original receipts and the advance noted, must be submitted after the purchase. Members are allowed only one advance at a time. Additional advances will be issued only after there is a full accounting for the first advance.
    2. Whenever possible with established vendors, officers or chairs should have the vendor submit a statement made out to NPPA. That statement should be forwarded with a signed voucher to the Executive Director, who will pay the invoice directly. Printing of regional publications and similar activities should be handled in this manner, and not through an advance.
    3. To facilitate closing the fiscal books in any year, advances against a budget line that are not cleared by the end of the fiscal year will be charged against that national budget line for the following fiscal year.
  9. Regional Publications
    1. When considering expenditures for regional publications, editors and regional officers should bear in mind that the purpose of the regional publication is to inform the membership of news that they would not have already received from other sources. All expenses must be approved by the regional director.
    2. Acceptable expenses
      1. All costs directly related to printing, including appropriate prepress services, such as service bureau charges and proofing, paper, printing and delivery costs. Editors should attempt to keep such costs as low as possible (i.e., using a lighter stock paper, using less (or no) color, arranging for inexpensive service bureaus, picking up publications instead of using delivery services, etc.).
      2. All costs relating to distribution, such as permit costs and postage. Such distribution should be via the most effective yet least expensive method for that region.
      3. Ancillary expenses, such as the editor's telephone charges, general postage and office expenses directly related to the publication.
  10. Grants
    1. Occasionally, those responsible for an NPPA budget line find it desirable to award grants, endowments, etc., to non-NPPA seminars, state and college press associations and other groups in the spirit of promoting positive public relations, support of worthy journalistic endeavors and furthering our goal of advancing news photography. Such awards, employing national NPPA funds, must be approved by the Board of Directors at the annual meeting, or by the Executive Committee during the rest of the year. Members are also encouraged to seek the support of the National Press Photographers Foundation (NPPF). This does not restrict the use of national regional funds for co sponsorship of NPPA programs or NPPA chapter programs. The use of local regional funds for the purpose of grants is at the discretion of the regional director.
  11. Investments
    1. The Board of Directors of the National Press Photographers Association has established this investment policy and accompanying guidelines to aid in the overall administration of the association's investment funds. Funds available for investment shall be defined as all cash not required for immediate distribution or working capital to fund daily operations of the association. The guidelines do not preclude the use of a single depository bank or major financial institution for on-going cash activities, although at times funds in the depository bank may temporarily exceed federally insured limits.
    2. The board seeks preservation of capital with a consistent positive return for the fund.
    3. Investments will be diversified with a minimum of 60% of portfolio assets invested in marketable fixed-income securities and a maximum of 40% in equity securities. Except for Treasury Agency and U.S. Government insured securities, no more than 15% of a portfolio shall consist of securities of a given issuer as measured by market value.
    4. Ratings for all fixed-income and equity securities are based on ratings given by Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Value Line. Where an equity security is not rated by either Moody's or Standard & Poor's, Value Line may be used. This service rates securities as to investment quality and financial strength.
    5. Allowed securities
      1. Marketable fixed-income securities that fall into one of the following categories.
        1. Those issued by the U.S. Government or agencies of the U.S. Government
        2. AAA-rated obligations fully collateralized by U.S. Government guaranteed of insured mortgages (known as collateralized mortgage obligations)
        3. Those issued by domestic banks and other U.S. financial institutions with U.S. Government insurance
        4. Obligations or instruments of U.S. corporations, financial institutions, utilities and foreign governments with ratings no less than B. The amount of the funds invested in these securities shall be no more than 50% of the marketable fixed-income securities portfolio.
      2. Equity securities that represent shares or interest in domestic corporations, including industrial, utility and financial sectors. Up to 50% of the total fund portfolio may be invested in equity securities of converted securities.
      3. Money Market Funds: short-term obligations composed of interest-bearing securities managed by NPPA's financial adviser. Assets acceptable to be held within the money market fund include bankers' acceptances, commercial paper, certificates of deposit, U.S. Treasury bonds or notes.
  12. Amendments
    1. These Policies and Procedures may be adopted, amended, altered, repealed or superseded, either in whole or part, by a majority vote of the Executive Committee or the Board of Directors during the annual business meeting.
    2. Procedural requirements
      1. Written notice containing any proposed amendment, in whole or part, to the Policies and Procedures, shall be mailed to each member of the Executive Committee or the Board of Directors at least 25 days prior to the meeting. The notice must contain the exact wording of the affected section of the Policies and Procedures that are to be changed as well as the wording of the proposed change.
    3. All amendments shall become effective upon the adoption by a majority vote of the Executive Committee or the Board of Directors.

(Note: Document as amended by NPPA Board of Directors 2005.)

Advertisements

Manfrotto 3021BN Tripod Photo Rescue News Photographer Look who's a Member! Find a Photographer

NPPA Marketplace

Insure Your Equipment
You go where the action is….so should your insurance! Hays delivers comprehensive insurance for your gear - covering cameras, computers, editing equipment and rental.
Free CF Card Holder
NPPA members: receive a free NPPA-branded memory card holder with your orders from Think Tank Photo, creators of award-winning gear for photojournalists. Go to: www.thinktankphoto.com/NPPA
NPPA Photo Club
Your digital workflow demands the best gear. And your NPPA membership entitles you to the best prices on all the great stuff in our web store.
Join the NPPA
NPPA members receive a wide range of benefits, from educational opportunities to mentoring, discounts on equipment, insurance, business tips, and much more.