Student Groups Financial Resources & Guidelines

Student Group Spending 

Due to significant spending for food and gifts, the following guidelines regarding spending from student accounts are strongly suggested:

• Student groups will spend no more than one quarter of their budgets on food and gifts. Student money should not be used to buy gifts, recognition items or gift cards with value greater than $25 for anyone. 
• Due to the trend towards the purchase of costly plaques, alternative and less expensive items are recommended for recognition. 
• When making spending decision, students are encouraged to consider how many students the spending will impact, and whether the students they represent would feel well represented by the spending decisions. 

Student funds should not be used to make donations to charities or to student groups collecting for charities.

General Requirements

• The treasurer or student leader responsible for finances will maintain a spreadsheet for each account (Housing and RSO), which will be turned in monthly to their advisor. 
• Each hall or area will have a student-run funding group. That group is responsible, with guidance from their advisor, for spending their student funds. The advisor may not spend those funds without clear direction to do so, from the funding group. 

Funds Transfer

Any monies promised must be transferred by the 25th of the month following the commitment of the funds.

Contracts

• If a performer requires payment on the day of the event, the Director of Residential Life must sign the contract at least three weeks in advance of the performance. 
• If a performer does not require advance payment or payment on the day of the event, the contract must be signed by the Director of Residential Life at least one week in advance. 
• The contract must stipulate that the performer understands the check may require as much as one month processing time. The university’s standard contract must be completed. 

Gift Cards

Gift cards may not be purchased from merchants who sell drinking alcohol.

Vouchers

Vouchers will be returned to support staff member in 300 Clark Hall in charge of accounting within 48 hours of use. Vouchers need to be signed by hand, no rubber stamps.

Fundraising Policy

Any student group or professional staff member that generates funds through a fundraiser in the residence halls, regardless of whether there will be profits (such as selling T-shirts, candy-grams, etc.) needs work with their advisor to complete a Housing Fundraiser Registration Form.

Once the fundraiser is approved, all money collected must be deposited into that group’s account. If the organization is also a Registered Student Organization (RSO), the option is either depositing the money into the RSO account or the housing student group account. 

If the fundraiser is raising money to donate to a charitable organization, the actual cash raised must be donated. Once cash or personal checks have been deposited into a student or administrative account, they cannot be donated to a charitable organization. 

If the fundraiser is occurring outside of the residence halls but still on University property, permission must also be obtained through the RSO Office, using their specific guidelines. 

Once the money is deposited into the appropriate account, the organization may spend that money as they had intended, following appropriate university guidelines.

Examples of what constitutes a fundraiser:

• A floor that decides to sell T-shirts to its residents needs to complete the appropriate fundraiser form, raise the funds, and then deposit the funds into their account. Again, the floor benefits in that the purchase of the T-shirts from the vendor will be tax-exempt because the purchase is being made through the university.
• A hall has Penny Wars and decides to donate the funds raised to the Wheel Awareness program at Beckwith Hall.
• A BSU that wants to sell Valentine’s Day candy-grams would also need to complete the fundraising form.

Residents on a floor that come together on a Thursday night and decide to throw their money together to order pizza, however, does not constitute a fundraiser, and does not need to be reported. 

Similarly, residents who decide to collect money to buy an outgoing RA a gift is also not a fundraiser. 

If a student group is in doubt as to whether an activity constitutes a fundraiser, they should consult their advisor. 

If the fundraiser involves an administrative account, the form should be returned to the Account Tech Secretary in 300 Clark Hall. If it involves a student account, the form is returned to the Resident Director.