All of us at CEP realize that many schools and communities are going through a very difficult time right now dealing with the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. Please know the entire CEP staff is keeping all those affected in our thoughts and prayers.
When people began to inform us that they had to cancel registration because of the storm, we were in lock-down mode ourselves, with Washington, our transportation system, and our offices all shut down for safety reasons.
Nothing like this ever happened to us before. We didn’t know the total number of cancellations we’d have when it was all said and done. Also, we didn’t know if it was going to be possible to get relief from our various contractual obligations. Consequently, we couldn’t make a decision at the time regarding making a refund.
Now that the event is behind us and we better understand what we’re dealing with, we are ready to address the refund issue. For over a dozen years, we’ve followed the industry standard of “no refunds after a cut-off date” (because of sunk costs and must-pay bills). However, we will not follow that strict policy this year because it’s simply not the right thing to do. Instead, we are following our internal Code of Ethics which begins with these words: “We model what our organization represents.”
CEP is offering three options: (1) we will apply your payment to registration for next year’s conference, (2) we will provide a refund, or (3) we will consider your payment a tax deductible donation to help our small nonprofit further our work and core mission. If you choose to donate the payment to CEP, we will provide you with a letter for your tax records. I am attaching a form that you will need to fill out to make your request.
For those in non-affected areas, we understand that you may have been concerned about travel to the DC area or had to cancel for other reasons. We posted travel updates on our website and tried to let everyone know that the conference would continue as planned. Those outside of New Jersey and New York who attempted to travel to the Forum were able to do so – and, in fact, many from the impacted areas came to the Forum as well. Please consider these facts and the financial impact on CEP when deciding whether or not to request a refund. We will honor all storm-related refund requests but we would prefer that these be limited to those who have endured hardship since the storm hit. If you can apply the money to next year’s conference or donate it to CEP, we would be most appreciative.
To request one of the three options, please fill out this form and return it to CEP.
