Athlete Eligibility Policy

  1. In order for an athlete to use SAC to raise money for their athletic endeavours, they must meet the following criteria:
  2. Be a member in good standing of the National Sport Organization (NSO) governing the sport and discipline in which they compete;
  3. Be a Canadian Citizen and represent Canada in international competitions (this is to prevent Dual Citizens who complete for another Country from using SAC to raise money to represent that other Country); 
  4. Have a training and competition plan approved by their NSO, PSO/TSO coach;
  5. All athletes who are current members of a Canadian National Team or National Development Team as evidenced by their name appearing on the NSO website shall automatically qualify as SAC eligible athletes;
  6. All athletes who are current members of a Provincial Team or Provincial Development Team as evidenced by their name appearing on the Provincial or Territorial Sport Organization (PSO/ TSO) website shall automatically qualify as SAC eligible athletes;
  7. Athletes who are removed from their NSO, PSO/ TSO or Club Team for disciplinary reasons, shall cease to be eligible as a SAC athlete unless the Board of Directors of SAC determines  otherwise on a simple majority vote of the SAC Directors. Any money raised by that athlete shall be held by SAC and disbursed or allocated at the direction of a majority of the SAC Board of Directors.

  8. Outlier Athletes: SAC acknowledges that there may be circumstances in which an athlete is not on a National or Provincial Team but has demonstrated sufficient commitment, skill and ability that they should be eligible as a SAC athlete. In such cases the following factors shall be considered by the SAC President in consultation with the Board of Directors if the President deems this necessary:

    -The applicant athlete must be at least 16 years old;

    -FIS points in the relevant discipline;

    -PSO/TSO or NSO has confirmed that athlete has met minimum requirements for participation in the event the athlete is raising funds to attend; 

    -Ranking in the most recent World Cup Standings, or in the case injury, the World Cup Standings prior to the injury;

    -Past performances that may not be captured in the current FIS Points or World Rankings including U16 events, and other non-FIS ranked events; 

    -An official from the relevant NSO or PSO/TSO requests the athlete be allowed to work with SAC to raise money;

    -Previous membership on a National or Provincial Team;

    -Injuries that prevented the athlete from qualifying for the National or Provincial Team;

    -Demonstrated inability to pay the National or Provincial Team Fees;

    -Results from National or Provincial Team selection process (for example a person may not be named to a team despite their ranking);

    -An athlete who is not on an National or Provincial Team but who has been selected to compete at an international event that requires in excess of $2000 to attend including travel and accommodation costs, equipment costs, entry fees, etc.;

    -A letter from a qualified coach that speaks to the athlete’s skill and level of commitment to their sport;

    -Other unanticipated similar types of factors the President may deem relevant.

    -Other eligibility requirements as determined by the Board of Directors from time to time.

PSO/ TSO Eligibility

  1. This eligibility criteria apply to Provincial and Territorial Sport Organizations recognized by their respective Provincial or Territorial Governments;
  2. The PSO/ TSO must be a Not-for-profit corporation in good standing with the Provincial/ Territorial authorities;
  3. The PSO/ TSO must have a ranking and selection policy applied annually for the selection of athletes to their PSO/ TSO teams that is duly approved by their organizations Board of Directors;
  4. NSO provides a Letter of Endorsement confirming the PSO/ TSO’ alignment in programming, governance, training and certification standards.
  5. Submit a proposal to the SAC President outlining the project(s) for which they intend to solicit donations through SAC. The SAC President will consider whether or not the proposal aligns with the Objects of SAC as set out in the SAC Articles of Incorporation. Only projects that align will be approved.

 

Snow Athletes Canada Program Expense Claim Policy

This Policy outlines the principles underlying the Expense Claim Policy and the process for making an expenseclaim under all of Snow Athletes Canada’s approved programs

Principles

All expenses claimed by an athlete, team or organization must be valid Program expenses. All expenses that may be claimed are properly understood as expenses of the Snow Athletes Canada approved Program for which the athletes, team or organization submitting the expense claim is a participant. Valid Program expenses are things such as air travel, road tolls, travel visas, car fuel, accommodation, meals, coaching, facility access fees, event registration fees, training clinic fees, Provincial Team or National TeamFees, Sport Science Services (eg. Physiotherapy, sports Psychology, Gym Membership, medical expenses), gym memberships, supplies like equipment (eg. skis, snowboard, wax, technical clothing, etc.)

Program expenses do not include capital expenses like purchasing a vehicles. We also consider equipment like skis, Boards, Boots, etc. to be consumable expenses because they usually do not last much more thana season given their frequent use and the expected wear and tear.

Prior to incurring any Program expenses, you must confirm the availability of Program funds with Snow AthletesCanada. It is impractical to obtain authorization of each expense before it is incurred but so long as you have confirmed that sufficient funds are available before claiming aProgram expense and the Program expenses fit within the following categories of valid Program expenses, your claim will be reimbursed:

-Travel

-Accommodation

-Meals

-Coaching

-Event Registration Fees

-Facility Access Fees

-Team Fees

-Sport Science Services

-Supplies/ Equipment

If you expect to incur an expense and you are not sure if it fits into one of these categories, please contact us toverify whether or not it does. For example, medical expenses for an injury impacting your sport would beeligible under Sport Science Services, but elective surgery to remove a mole would probably not be unlessthere was a sport performance related reason for the surgery.

The Expense Claim Form available on our FAQ page is set up to help you place expenses in one of these 8 Categories. Please note that as these Program expenses are the expenses of Snow Athletes Canada, you musttherefore break out the HST component of all expenses incurred in Canada so that we may reclaim the inputtax credit. This is an important element of our reimbursement process, and allows us to stretch our Program funds further and ultimately wehope this helps push our athletes and Canada that much closer to the Podium.

 

Expense Claim Process

The following are the steps you must complete to make an Expense Claim under a Snow Athletes Canada Program.

  1. Confirm with Snow Athletes Canada the amount of Program funds available. The best way to do thisis to contact Lana Butler by email Lana@snowathletes.ca
  2. Download the Expense Claim Form available on our FAQ page https://www.snowathletes.ca/faq. Enter all the Program expenses you are claiming under one of the 8expense categories. If you are not sure what category in which the expense fits or you are unsure if theexpense fits any of the allowable categories, please contact John Curtis by emailjohn@snowathletes.ca The Expense Claim Form is in excel file format. Please do not convert it to aNumbers file format and please to do not convert it to and Adobe PDF file format. We cannot open a Numbers file. The PDF format eliminates the excel summing function and adjusts the orientation of the contents making it difficult to follow.
  3. You must also prepare your receipts to send with the expense claim. You must send us all receipts inelectronic format. PDF files, Scans and photos in pdf or jpeg are acceptable. Please do not send us alink to web based drive. Accessing such drives and downloading the files adds a significant amount oftime to the expense claim process as we must first obtain permission to access the drive then downloadeach file for storage in our system. We must store all records for seven years and they are no good to usunless they are on a drive we maintain and control.
  4. Please break out the HST or GST portion of all expenses incurred in Canada and enter the amount ofHST or GST under the HST/ GST column with the balance of the expense under the Column E which iscalled “Amount in Canadian $”.
  5. If you have incurred expenses in another currency, please convert the currency to Canadian dollarsusing this website https://www.xe.com/en-ca/currencyconverter/
  6. You must include a screenshot of each currency conversion in the supporting documents for you claim.
  7. Send the Expense Claim form and the receipts to lana@snowathletes.ca and john@snowathletes.ca for processing.
  8. To make the reimbursement of your claims fast, efficient and to minimize your cash flow issues, we useScotia Connects to send money directly to your bank account. In order to do this we need your bankaccount details. The easiest way to do this is to send us a VOID cheque. You can obtain such a checkfrom your bank account online. If you cannot send a void cheque please provide the followinginformation:
    • Your address that is on file with your bank
    • Name of Your Bank
    • Your Bank Branch address
    • Your Bank Transit #
    • Your Bank Account #

*Once we have you set up in our system, you do not need to send us this information again unless youwant to change bank accounts*


Snow Athletes Canada Accounting Policy

  1. A fee of 4% or is charged on all donations received. These funds will be used to fund the operations ofSnow Athletes Canada.
  2. Additional fees charged by credit card processing (eg. Paypal) or interac transfers also apply. This is3% for credit cards. Donations by cheque or direct deposit including interac and iTrade, attract onlythe 4% fee as set out in paragraph 1.
  3. Funds allocated by Snow Athletes Canada to an athlete or organization will be redistributed after 1year of inactivity in the Program. If an athlete retires from active participation in their discipline unlessthey are injured or notify Snow Athletes Canada of some other sensible reason their funds should notbe redistributed, the decision to redistribute funds may or may not be implemented, at the discretion of the President of Snow Athletes. In any case, the redistribution of funds shall be made with anabundance of caution and possibly with the oversight of the Board of Directors if the amount in question is significant.
  4. Athletes may only access funds raised by way of submitting an expense claim in the approved excel fileformat (available on request) and must attach electronic versions of all receipts associated with theexpense claim. The only exception to this rule is that athletes may claim $65 CDN/ day for unreceiptedfood expenses while on the road for training and competition, but proof of travel is required (eg. results, airline tickets, etc.)
  5. Organizations may only access funds raised by way of submitting an expense claim in the approvedformat (available on request) and must attach electronic versions of all receipts associated with the expense claim.
  6. Athletes and Organizations should attempt to submit expense claims that are as close as possibleto the amount they have been allocated.
  7. Snow Athletes Canada does not allow athletes or organizations to make more than one claim using thesame receipt. For example, an athlete who has $700 available but makes a claim for that money usinga receipt for $1000. The balance of $300 cannot be claimed in a subsequent claim as it is simply fartoo complex to manage such an accounting system. This may be modified in the case of large claimsmade by organizations funding certain capital expenses, but express permission must be obtained fromSnow Athletes Canada in advance by the organization.
  8. Reimbursements for expense claims will be issued by way of EFT’s to a bank account of theathlete’s/organization’s choosing as they provide the most secure and audit friendly paymentmethod. We do not typically make payments using interac.
  9. In certain special cases, expense payments may be made directly to the vendor if pre-approval issought on a case by case basis. (eg. an athlete could request a team fee to be paid directly or a largeexpense for an extended stay at a hotel, a capital equipment expense for a Provincial training centre,etc.) We prefer not to do this as it requires more administrative time on our part, which increases thecost of operating the organization.
  10. All expense claims must break out HST/ GST if incurred and any HST/GST rebate received by SnowAthletes Canada will be used to fund the operations of Snow Athletes Canada.
  11. All expense claims are subject to the approval of the Snow Athletes Canada President, who shalldetermine in his / her absolute discretion whether or not the expense is legitimately related to aparticular athlete’s sport and fits with in the 8 categories of expenses set out in the Expense ClaimPolicy. Generally, expense claims should not be made for capital items unless they will likelydepreciate to a nominal value within 1-2 years (eg. skis).
  12. Things like vehicles and other capital expenses for National Sport Organizations (NSO’s), Provincialand Territorial Sport Organizations and Clubs may be approved in special circumstances but pre-approval should be sought in advance of the claim. Usually this will mean that Snow AthletesCanada will retain ownership of the capital item which it could then lease to the organization that willuse it. This generally involves a written agreement specifying the nature and purpose of the organization’s planned use of capital item (eg. lease for a nominal sum/ year, renewable every 5 years)
  13. In order to minimize time and cost, all financial transactions shall be done electronically to thegreatest extent that is practical.