Council Guidelines
How Are Funds Allocated?
The Club Council has two processes for requesting funding:
- The Semester Budget Requests
- Special Allocation Requests
Budget Requests
The semester budget requests are the primary and best way to receive funding from the Club Council. In November and April, representatives from each club and organization will come before the committee to make their budget requests. These budget hearings are very important because this is when the committee decides to allocate the vast bulk of its budget. As a leader of your club or organization, it is crucial for you to remember the following items if your group is to receive Club Council funding:
- You must fill out a Budget Request Form Online. Consult with your club members, officers, and adviser, and apply by the indicated date.
- A member of your group must attend the mandatory Club Council events during the semester to obtain the website information and dates. The president and/or treasurer of the group is preferred to be that group’s representative(s).
- On the website your group can schedule an appointment time for the budget hearing. At the budget hearing, your group’s representative must be able to fully explain the request and answer any questions. Failure to attend the hearing results in your group not receiving Club Council funding.
- Late budgets will automatically be reduced by 10% of the requested total amount.
Special Allocation Funding
At the budget hearings, the Club Council sets aside a contingency fund of a few thousand dollars for use during the academic year. These funds are generally used for newly formed clubs and organizations as well as special events or lectures.
The procedure for receiving special event funding is as follows:
- Obtain a Show Me The Money Form in the Office of College Programs.
- Complete it and return it to the Office of College Programs. It must be returned to the Office of College Programs before you schedule an appointment to meet with the Club Council. It is also advised that you hand in a separate attachment detailing specifically each item of your event.
- When you return the form, you must schedule an appointment to meet with the committee. The Club Council meets weekly in the Steinman College Center.
- A qualified member of your organization who can explain and defend the request to the Club Council should attend the meeting. Since contingency funds are limited, the Club Council requests very specific information and strongly encourages fundraising and co-sponsorship with other clubs and departments.
Reallocation Requests
You must reallocate funds when you do not, or cannot use the funds for the specific event or purpose for which they were originally allocated. For example, your group was funded $50 for a picnic, but you did not have that picnic; however, your group was bringing in a speaker, and you want to apply the $50 from your picnic toward the honorarium for the speaker.
You must fill out a Show Me the Money Form and meet with the Club Council to reallocate these funds. Using funds without reallocating them is a violation of Club Council policy, which could possibly result in your group having its Club Council account frozen for a period of time or losing your funding completely.
All requests for both special funding and reallocation must be made in advance of the event. The Club Council will not fund special events or reallocate funds after the event has taken place. The Club Council prefers at least 2-3 weeks notice before the event happens.
Receipts
Because the Club Council monitors the use of your club's funds, it is necessary for your club to hand in every receipt first to the Office of College Programs and then to the Business Office after an event. Your club should also retain copies of all receipts in the event your group is audited in the future.
Fundraising Boosts
As an incentive to fundraise, Club Council may boost the profits of your club’s OCP approved fundraiser up to $300. For example, if you spend $50 on supplies for a bake sale and make $100, we could boost your club $50.
You must also fill out the “Show Me the Money” sheet and meet with Club Council to get boosted. Your club must have completed the OCP fundraiser approval form signed by the Assistant Director of Student Activities prior to the fundraiser. The money you fundraise goes into your club’s agency account. Money boosted is transferred into your Club Council account and still may only be spent in accordance with our guidelines detailed below.
It is important to meet with Club Council as soon as possible after the completion of your fundraiser, especially as the school year nears conclusion because funds may not be available to boost.
Club Council Guidelines
The Club Council provides funding for activities sponsored by recognized student clubs and organizations. Club Council funds should provide support and create opportunities for students to participate in a variety of activities. The Club Council treats all clubs and organizations in an equal manner when granting funding. Below are the guidelines that the Club Council follows:
Basic Operating Expense (BOE)
Your organization is guaranteed $25.00 BOE for just showing up to your spring budget hearing. BOE is meant to be used for photocopying, meeting notices, supplies, postage, etc.
Contracts
The Club Council never enters into a contract. No student or employee of the College may sign a contract, which legally obligates the College with a vendor, entertainment agency, government agency, or any other public or private organization without the approval of an adviser, department chair, or supervisor, and the signature of the Associate Vice-President for Finance, or the Assistant Treasurer/Controller on the contract.=
Food/Meals
Due to the enormous requests for food, the Club Council has decided to limit the amount of food or food-related events in your budget requests. Funds will be provided for food that has a cultural significance to your club. Club Council will fund $50 per year for non-cultural food-related events such as pizza parties or food for meetings. Alcohol is never funded by Club Council.
Gifts
The Club Council does not fund gifts of any kind for students, seniors, guests, panelists (i.e., prizes, t-shirts, etc.).
Honoraria
The Club Council tries to provide at least partially for the honorarium of speakers. The Club Council does not generally fund honorarium for paid employees of the College.
Lectures
The Club Council requires that any lecturer who receives Club Council funds for any part of their honorarium (this includes partial funding for a speaker), must be an open lecture to any member of the College community.
Political Events
The Club Council will not pay for campaign appearances by candidates or representatives of their campaigns.
Publications
Organizations that produce publications may request funds for the costs of printing and supplies. Groups are encouraged to use the services of the Publications Office in Old Main, which can solicit bids from various printing companies. Due to the large expense of printing, the Club Council asks that clubs be conservative in the length of their publications as well as their distribution amount.
Publicity
Your organization's events should be well-publicized - all members of the F&M community should know about your event. Banner paper and markers are available in the Publicity Room in Office of College Programs in the Steinman College Center. The key can be signed in and out by exchanging your student ID at the Information Desk, Steinman College Center. College Reporter ads are not funded by the Club Council.
Transportation/Travel Expenses
The Club Council generally will fund for mileage when using school vans and personal cars (The Club Council will fund 0.505¢ per mile). Train and airplane tickets are not reimbursed. Toll and parking fees are also not reimburesed.
Community Outreach/Charitable Events
The Club Council will fund events that benefit the community outside of F&M and/or improve F&M's reputation and name off-campus. However, Club Council funds cannot be used as a direct donation to a charitable organization.
Membership to other Organizations
The Club Council may provide funding for clubs to be members of national or regional organizations. However, it will not fund individual/personal memberships of national or regional organizations.
Unused Funds
Any money allocated for an activity must be spent on that activity. The Club Council reserves the right to reallocate unused funds at any time. Club Council funds cannot be transferred to an agency account and cannot be used from one academic year to the next.
Equipment
Clubs must secure storage space for items such as sports equipment, movies, games, or other equipment before we can grant funding. This is in response to funding that led to students taking the equipment home after graduation.
Criteria for Receiving Club Council Funding
The myth of Club Council funding is that you will get 1/3 of what you ask for, so ask for three times what you need. DO NOT DO THIS! When you are filling out your Budget Form, keep in mind that the most important factors considered by the Club Council for events to receive funding are:
-
Your club's track record.
- Have you spent Club Council funds according to the guidelines?
- Have you successfully held this event before?
- Do you publicize well?
- Do you involve your membership in decision making?
-
Benefit to the College community.
- Is this event or activity open to everyone?
- Does the event bring something new and exciting to campus?
- How many people will be affected by your program or event?
-
Your representative's performance at the budget hearings or special allocation request meetings.
- Did you explain everything well?
- Were you prepared?
- Were you enthusiastic?
- Did you do the leg work and prior planning to submit a fairly well-detailed request?
These three criteria are neither set in stone nor one more important than the other. Rather, these are guidelines to help you be more successful in requesting funds for an event.
Tips for Preparing a Budget
- Provide the Club Council with a detailed budget of your event. For example, many budgets the Club Council looks at will request $100 in supplies for a specific event. A better way to do that would be to put down $100 for supplies and break it down to what you are specifically planning to spend this money on: $50 for tablecloths, $25 for streamers, $15 for balloons, and $10 for paper plates and cups.
- Include all sources of funding other than Club Council and all the departments that you plan to ask for funding.
- Get exact costs when you can and get estimates when you cannot. If you are going to have catering by Wood at your event, then call Wood and get costs. If you want to have buses transporting people to and from your event, then call several bus companies to get a range of estimates. Getting estimates is important because it shows that you have put a lot of thought and effort into your event.
How Should I Handle Myself Before the Club Council?
If you follow the suggestions below, you will encounter greater success in the funding process:
- First, don't be nervous or intimidated. The Club Council is here to help your club manage its funding.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions. The Club Council loves questions. Questions show that you are interested and engaged.
- Always be courteous. The Club Council makes every effort to run its meetings efficiently and on time, but some of our appointments run late (especially during the budget hearings). So, please be patient.
- Come prepared and be enthusiastic.
- BE ON TIME for your appointment.
Takebacks
Because we do spring budget hearings months prior to the actual events, several times per year, Club Council reviews our allocations with a club representative to see if the allocations will still be used. If a program is cancelled, you may apply to reallocate if you have another event in mind, or we will take back the funds (which will then become available to all clubs) and you can come in for Special Allocations when you plan an event.
Takebacks are not a penalty to clubs, but rather a way of ensuring that our money will be spent on as many events as possible and each club is equally able to get funds, especially at the end of the school year when our available contingency funds are low.
Club Council Overexpenditure Penalties
If a club/organization is over their allocated Club Council budget:
- Funds will be taken out of the group’s agency account and a warning is given.
- If there are not enough funds in the agency account, the Club Council account is frozen and the club is on probation.
To unfreeze your Club Council account, clubs must meet with the Club Council:
- The group must pay back at least 75% of the debt before that semester’s budget hearing (November or April) to be able to apply for funding. If the money is paid back earlier in the semester, special allocations can be submitted even though the club is on probation.
- If 50% - 75% of the debt is paid back, the group will remain on probation and can submit a budget at the next hearing, but the account will only be unfrozen once the full 75% of debt has been covered.
- If less than 50% of the debt has been paid back, all accounts will remain frozen, no budget can be submitted, no participation in CAF, and the club is deactivated for at least one semester. After the suspension, the club will be on probation for at least a semester and must meet with Club Council and provide a plan on how the club plans to be sustainability and accountable for their funds.
