Nonprofit travel
A real travel program, built for a nonprofit.
Staff visiting sites, a board flying in for the retreat, program participants traveling to training, speakers for your conference. silentVIP for Good brings it all into one managed program: a policy people can follow, approvals before money is spent, every trip charged to the right grant, and a travel team that answers when something goes wrong.
Riverside Community Health (example)
Travel this quarter
Who travels
Nonprofits travel differently.
A company mostly books its own employees. A nonprofit books for people it doesn't employ, pays from money it has promised to spend in particular ways, and answers to funders, auditors and a board for every dollar.
Staff
Program staff on site visits, fundraisers meeting donors, leadership at conferences.
Board members
Board and committee meetings, retreats and site visits, often paid for by the organization.
Program participants
The people you serve, traveling for training, treatment, opportunities or events, sometimes with a carer.
Partners and grantees
Partner staff and community members you bring together for a convening.
Speakers and guests
Invited speakers, panelists and award recipients you fly in and look after.
Volunteers
Teams and individuals traveling to give their time. See volunteer travel.
The problem
Where travel goes wrong
- Booking is scattered. Everyone books their own way, on personal cards, with receipts arriving weeks later.
- Restricted money gets mixed up. A trip paid from general funds should have been charged to a grant, or the other way round, and it's found at year end.
- Approvals happen after the fact. The budget holder finds out when the expense report arrives.
- The audit trail is thin. Funders and auditors ask why a trip happened and what it cost, and the answer is in someone's inbox.
- Nobody knows who is where. When a storm or an incident hits, there is no list of who is traveling and how to reach them.
The program
Six parts of a well-run travel program
Each one is something silentVIP already runs for companies. Here is how it fits a nonprofit, using the cost codes you choose: a project for each grant or fund, a department for each program.
Travel policy
Clear rules for classes of travel, booking ahead, hotels and meals, checked on every option.
Learn moreApprovals and budgets
Each traveler has a named approver, with rules for what needs approval, and budgets per program.
Learn moreGrants and restricted funds
Every charge carries the cost codes you choose, from the moment of booking.
Learn moreFinance and reporting
Itemized invoices, exports for your accounting system, and reports by program.
Learn moreDuty of care
Incident monitoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and a travel team that contacts your people.
Learn moreEvents and convenings
Board meetings, conferences and convenings, with rooming lists and arrivals handled.
Learn moreHow it works
Booked by people, not left to a website
Request
A traveler, or someone booking for them, sends a trip request with the dates and the project code (the grant or fund).
Options
silentVIP's travel team sends options, each checked against your policy, quoted within 4 business hours.
Approve
If your rules need it, the traveler's approver decides in the portal, seeing the price against the cheapest in-policy option.
Travel
Tickets are issued, hotels reconfirmed, and urgent help is there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Questions
Common questions
Is this only for large nonprofits?
No. The program works the same for a team that travels a few times a month and for one with hundreds of travelers. Tell us how you travel today and we will tell you plainly whether it fits.
Can we book for people who are not our employees?
Yes. Board members, program participants, partners and speakers can be booked as guest travelers, billed to the right department and project.
How do we keep the traveler list current?
A CSV import from your HR roster keeps travelers, departments, approvers and policy groups up to date.
What does it cost?
silentVIP publishes its fees on silentvip.com. Tell us about your organization when you get started and we will talk through what applies.
Do you take commissions from airlines or hotels?
No supplier commissions. We're paid only our published fees.
Can I see it working first?
Yes. The live demo is the real silentVIP portal on a fictional company, with no sign-up.
More in Nonprofit travel
Bring your travel program under one roof
Tell us about your organization and how you travel. A person reads every enquiry and replies.