Caregiving Guidelines for Meeting Attendees

In order to fully participate in events such as in person or virtual conferences and focus groups, participants may need support for caregiving responsibilities (e.g., childcare, elder care) of people in their lives that are dependent on their care (“dependents”). To support inclusive meetings, grant or contract budgets may include support for the following expenses:

• Support for caregiving responsibilities of up to $15 per hour, per dependent* for participants that need to arrange alternative care for dependents during a meeting;
• Actual cost of providing on-site care. In this case, the on-site care provider directly engaged by the grantee/contractor must be licensed and insured; and
• Support for additional meeting space for a nursing/lactation room.

At this time, when RWJF is directly arranging the event, RWJF will generally provide a stipend in lieu of providing on-site care. However, RWJF will continue to reevaluate our own practices and make appropriate changes over time.

While support for participant travel (i.e., airfare, ground transport, hotel, meals and incidentals) will typically be provided, travel costs of caregivers or dependents will generally not be supported. The meeting organizer should encourage participants to inform them if this poses a barrier to participation so that solutions can be considered.

To ascertain the needs of event participants, meeting organizers should tell participants what supports will be provided and ask whether additional supports are needed. For example, an event registration form should describe what support will be automatically provided (e.g., access to a nursing/lactation room) and could ask, “What additional support for caregiving responsibilities are needed to fully participate in the meeting?”.

Our goal in creating these guidelines is to provide equitable conditions for participation in all our meetings and events. We recognize that different individuals have different caregiving needs and situations and we will strive to reduce barriers for participation. As questions or clarifications arise in the application of these guidelines, we will prioritize the most equitable approach and application of these guidelines as possible. These guidelines will be updated as needed to reflect our learnings and as best practices evolve.

* While we recognize that costs of caregivers may vary, this per hour rate is intended to begin to recognize the value of caregiving and encourage this rate be used even in regions where minimum wage may be less.