2014 Student Organization
Leadership Training Presentation
2014 Student Organization
Leadership Training Presentation
Ben Pryde, Finance Chair & Caroline Bourque, Finance Vice-Chair
August 24, 2014
Ben Pryde, Finance Chair & Caroline Bourque, Finance Vice-Chair
August 24, 2014
Who is involved in finances?
• SA Finance Committee: Allocates the money to the student organizations on campus based on the budgets in submitted.
• SA VP of Financial Affairs: Authorizes reimbursements for student organizations after money is spent.
• President: Signs or Vetoes the Allocations Bill.
• GWU Center for Student Engagement: Reviews allocations, reimbursement requests, approve requests for revenue account dollars, and work with student orgs on contractual matters.
How the SA Budget Works
SA FY15 Budget Breakdown
Total Budget FY15: $1,103,371(+12% from FY14)
Spring Allocation Budget: 1,103,371*0.82 = $904,764
Spring Allocation Appeal Budget: 1,103,371*0.03= $33,101
Co-Sponsorship Fund: 1,103,371*0.15 +FY14 rollover= $225,761
Comparison to Previous Years
Fee Increase
• Affects current freshman and sophomores
• Takes 9 years to go into full effect and will increase revenue over 12 years
• Would still make our fee lowest in the District
• Fee Increase Referendum passed with 66.6% voting in favor during 2012-2013 Academic year.
FY 2014$1.50/credit hour to $1.75
credit hour
FY 2015$1.75/credit hour to
$2.00/credit hour
FY 2016$2.00/credit hour to
$2.25/credit hour
FY 2017$2.25/credit hour to
$2.50/credit hour
FY 2018$2.50/credit hour to
$2.75/credit hour
FY 2019$2.75/credit hour to
$3.00/credit hour
Fee Increase Schedule
Graph of Fee Increase
Largest Allocations
FY 12-13 FY 13-14 FY14-15
Student Bar Association
Student Bar Association
Student Bar Association
Program Board Program Board Program Board
Med Center Student Council
Med Center Student Council
Club Sports Council
MBA Association MBA AssociationMed Center
Student Council
Club Sports Council
Club Sports Council
MBA Association
College Dems/Republican
s
College Democrats
Alternative Breaks
Top 15 Organizations
68%
32%
Top 15 Rest
63%
37%
Top 15 Rest
FY13 FY14
60%
40%
Top 15 Rest
FY15
Key Statistics
Average Allocation in FY15: $3,809
Average Allocation in FY14: $3,173
Average Allocation in FY13: $2,979
83 Orgs at $1000+ in FY14, remained at 83 in FY15
93 Orgs at $750+ in FY14, up to 108 in FY15
12 Orgs at $1-$100 in FY14, down to 3 in FY15
Budget Breakdown
Administrative: Office supplies, memberships, athletic officials, non-GW printing, graphics, uniforms. (8% of total budget)
Programming: Any spending that advances execution of an individual program. (72% of budget)
Sub-organization: Money that must be allocated by an umbrella group to their sub-organizations. (20% of budget)
Umbrella Organizations
The following organizations have been designated as umbrella organizations:
Student Bar Association (G)*
Medical Center Student Council (G)*
GSHED Student Association (G)
MBAA (G)
Club Sports Council (U)
Inter-Fraternity Council/ / The Panhellenic Organization (U)
Multicultural Greek Council (U)
The Engineer’s Council (U)
Jewish Student Association (U)
* Bold denotes the umbrella “opted-in” under Bylaw 303, Section 3 (D)
Internal FY15 SA Budget
Total Internal SA Budget ~2.5% of Overall SA Budget
SA Executive Budget: $27,882
Executive budget mainly covers: Office Assistants, Xerox contract, VPFA and Assistants
SA Legislative Budget: $0
SA Judicial Branch: $0
The finance committee shall not consider:
•Parity between similar organizations
•Student body funds that were unspent by the organization in previous years
Other factors:
•The Student Association has a non-discrimination clause in its bylaws. As such the Finance Committee can and will penalize an organization found to be discriminating against members by the University run “Student Grievances Panel.”
Criteria
Line-Item Budgeting
• First year of true Line-Item budgeting
• Brings Student Association into line with University Standards and Student Governments at other Universities
• Necessary as SA budget increases over next decade from $1 million to approximately $2 million
Line-Item Transfer Requests
Line-Item Transfer Requests
Fall and Spring Audits
• The Finance Committee is obligated to perform two yearly audits in the months of October and February per Section 6(a) of Student Association Bylaws.
• The objective of both audits is to ensure Student Organizations are spending their SA funds.
• All Student Organizations that have not spent any of their SA funds will have the opportunity to give an explanation.
• If an explanation is found unsatisfactory as to why a Student Organization has not been spending their funds, the Finance Committee may, by a simple majority of those present and voting, reclaim up to 50% of the funds from the Student Organization’s Student Association Account.
Fall and Spring Audits (Continued)
• If a Student Organization fails to respond to either audit in the specified time period, the Student Organization will be penalized 50% of their Student Association account balance.
• If a Student Organization fails to respond to the February Audit, and have not spent any student body funds, all student body funds in the student organization’s Student Association account will be reclaimed automatically.
• All remaining funds from Line-Items that indicate the event was intended to occur during the Fall Semester will be reclaimed automatically by March 6th. Notifications of these reclamations will be sent out to the affected Student Organizations.
Fall Audit Schedule
• Monday, October 13th: Announcement email with Google Form Link
• Monday, October 20th: First reminder email with Google Form Link
• Wednesday, October 22nd: Final reminder email with Google Form Link
• Friday, October 24th by 5:00pm: Fall Audit responses due from Student Organizations via Google Form
• Wednesday, October 29st 5:00pm: Notifications of Allocation Reclamations sent to Student Organizations who fail to respond to Audit or fail to give satisfactory explanations
Spring Allocations Schedule
• Monday, March 9th: First 2016 Fiscal Year Fall Allocations reminder email sent to Student Organizations
• Monday, March 16th: Second 2016 Fiscal Year Fall Allocations reminder email sent to Student Organizations
• Friday, March 20th: Final 2016 Fiscal Year Fall Allocations reminder email sent to Student Organizations
• Monday, March 23rd by 5:00pm: Budgets Due for 2016 Fiscal Year via Student Organizations’ SOMA account
• Friday April 10th by 5:00pm: Co-Sponsorship Form Deadline for the 2015 Fiscal Year
Spring Allocations (Continued)
• Friday April 10th by 5:00pm: Allocations decisions for the 2016 Fiscal Year released with explanations to Student Organizations
• Friday, April 17th by 5:00pm: Deadline for Student Organizations to request an Appeal Hearing
• Saturday, April 18th and Sunday, April 19th: Spring Allocation Appeal Hearings held by Leadership Committee
• Thursday, April 23rd by 5:00pm: Formal Budget Bill with Final Fiscal Year 2016 Allocation Amounts released to Senators for review and appealing Student Organizations
• Wednesday, July 1st: Fiscal Year 2016 Starts and Student Organizations can begin spending their Fiscal Year 2016 Spring Allocations
Important Dates
• Fall Allocations for the 2015 Fiscal Year: September 2nd to October 6th
• Fall Audit: October 13th to October 31st
• Spring Audit: February 16th to March 6th
• Spring Allocations for the 2016 Fiscal Year: March 9th to April 27th
How to Present to the Finance Committee
• It is not a bad sign if the Finance Committee asks you to come to a meeting to present a Co-Sponsorship or Micro-Loan request that is currently being reviewed.
• You are most likely being asked to present due to the size of your request and/or to seek clarity on some aspect of your request. View it as another opportunity to make your case to the Finance Committee.
• What to Expect?
• How to Present?
• What to Present
Micro-Loans
• A micro-loan is designed so students do not have to front funds for an Organization to be reimbursed later, and is specifically intended for fronting the costs of fundraisers
• All issued loans are interest free
• Student Organizations must pay the loan back by depositing the amount into the SA Finance Committee Account within seven (7) calendar days of the event
• You may apply for a joint Co-Sponsorship and Loan Request
Reimbursements
• EAFs must be submitted within 30 calendar days of purchase.
• All SA EAFs must be signed by Financial Officer or Executive Officer of Student Org.
• All SA EAFs must be turned into the Student Association Office and approved by the SA Vice President for Financial Affairs.
• All SA EAFs will take approximately 6-8 weeks to process, this is due to processing time in SA, CSE, and Accounts Payable.
• All SA EAFs must be approved by the SA VPFA in order to be processed.
Prohibited Items• Gifts for students
• Gifts for speakers (this is classified as any compensation for a speaker that is not explicitly laid out as a part of that speaker’s honorarium/contract).
• Scholarships and prize money.
• In-kind prizes for contests or competition (e.g., trophies, plaques, etc.)
• Transition dinners or other off-campus events reserved for an exclusive segment of a particular student organization.
• Alcohol, drugs, firearms or university-prohibited items.
• Direct donations to charities/other causes
• Investments (stocks, mutual funds, etc.) and gambling
• Any items not explicitly approved by the Finance Committee via general allocations, co-sponsorships or other approval
Individual Student Organization Financial
Planning Meeting• Attending this meeting will reflect positively
during Co-Sponsorships and allocations. The Finance Committee Chair and Vice-Chair will meet with individual Student Organizations to answer any questions they may have on the SA's financial polices, along how the Finance Committee can support that particular Student Organization.
• Sign up for a 20 minute meeting at http://doodle.com/eifxtmzrhhh7deci