Guidelines for Spending/Allocating

The following principals are general overarching tenets from which decisions are made by the SAFAC and approved by the vice president for student affairs. Following these umbrella principals is a list (not inclusive) of specific approvals and denials. The reasoning behind any allocation decision can be traced back to these overarching principals.

To be eligible to receive SAFAC funding, the group must be:

• in good financial standing (no debt); and
• a recognized SNC student organization in good standing; or
• a department or program endeavor within the division of student affairs.

Funding requests must be itemized and supported as requested. Multiple programming/service requests by the same organization/department must be on one allocation request (multiple sheets, but one request).

Priority in SAFAC funding is given to:

• student organizations and departments that enhance student life and the out-of-class experience or improve the co-curricular climate at the college, and
• programs that relate to the mission of the college, and
• programs held on the SNC campus, and
• programs that are designed for and open to the SNC student community.

SAFAC funding is not unlimited; and whereas priority principals assist in determining the validity of the request, there are a few tenet basics that the committee will not consider:

• A student organization's entire budget will not be considered for funding unless that student organization’s sole purpose is to serve the general SNC student body. Student organizations are encouraged to seek outside sources of income (i.e. dues, sponsorship).
• Request for fundings should be made at least one month before the funding is needed.
• No "personal gain" request (exclusive of others, benefiting only one) will be considered.
• If two organizations/departments are requesting funds for the same event, only one of the requests will be considered.
• SAFAC will not fund events that have already taken place.

Once funding is received, the following must be maintained:

• Funds must be used in the manner in which they were allocated.
• SAFAC only allocates funds for one fiscal year.
• Unused funds will be rolled over to the next budget year, provided the organization properly files for reallocation of the rollover funds.
• Organizations receiving funding must maintain a ledger of their SAF budget activity. At any point in the fiscal year, SAFAC may ask to see this ledger (and supporting documents). Ledgers of past year expenses are required when requesting annual allocations.
• Student organizations and departments must repay SAFAC for any debt incurred.
• Funds allocated for an organizational program where damage is caused must be repaid to the College.
• Student organizations may not make a profit from any event funded in part by SAFAC. If a profit is made, SAF funding must be returned. Revenue generating programs approved for funding must provide a program report to the SAFAC within two weeks after the end of the program.

Use of Mobile Payment Services:

The following list of allowable and not allowable expenditure is a good point of beginning, but is not to be considered all-inclusive.

Awards

• Certificates/Plaques/Recognition for individual organization members or advisors is not allowed.
• Awards may be funded for winners of competitions open to the campus community.

Coaches

• Coaches - $200 per semester
• All coach’s fees must be stipulated with a contract.
• St. Norbert College students or employees may not be paid to coach.

Competitions/Recreational Outings

• Club Sports may be funded.
• Participants will be expected to finance a percent of the club expenses for the competition or group outing.
• Intercollegiate varsity and junior varsity competitions for teams officially recognized and funded through the athletic department will not be funded.

Conferences

• Registration - $100 per person or up to half off the registration cost per person, based on SAFAC committee discretion.
• Registration is limited to the number of students deemed necessary to the success of the requesting organization's mission.  Under most circumstances, this number will be limited to two students.
• National Conferences will not be funded if there is a regional conference alternative.
• Only one conference per organization will be considered for funding.
• Written documentation must be provided for registration materials. This includes documentation for hotels, registration fees, and travel costs.
• Only currently enrolled student attendance may be funded.
• Networking conferences will not be funded
• Only conferences that have the potential to benefit the college community will be funded.
• Conference attendees may be requested to provide a program for the SNC community on what they learned.
• Political conferences will not be funded.
• Faculty and Staff conference costs cannot be covered by SAFAC funding.

Debt & Loans

• SAFAC cannot provide loans.
• SAFAC funds cannot be used to purchase items that will later be sold for profit
• Funds will not be allocated to offset debt.
• Organizations in debt may not request funds from SAFAC until the debt has been cleared.

Decorations

• Decorations costs up to $50.00/event may be funded.

Donations

• Monetary donations of any sort, will not be funded.
• Donations of items, such as fabric for blankets or funding purchase of items to be donated, will not be funded.

Dues and Membership Fees

• A percentage of national dues may be funded if deemed necessary for the existence of the student organization on campus  This applies only to student organizations whose mission directly serves the SNC community.
• Dues on a person basis are not funded.

Equipment

• Any equipment requested in excess of $1000 must first be requested through the SGA Capital Endowment Funds request process.

Events and Programming

• Events must be open to or directly benefiting the SNC community, primarily students, for SAFAC approval.

Food

• SAFAC does not fund food for events. (effective August 26, 2019)
• SAFAC does not cover food for college employees or community attendees.
• SAFAC will consider funding meals for off campus student conferences only if it not included in the registration fee.
• SAFAC will not fund food that will eventually be sold for profit.

Publicity

• SAFAC reserves the right to limit the amount of advertisement funded per event
• SAFAC has set the cost per copy for 8.5 x 11 black and white  at $0.06 per copy.  
• SAFAC has set the cost per copy for color printing at $0.10 per copy.
• SAFAC has set the cost per copy for 11 x 17 poster paper in color to be $0.20 per copy.
• SAFAC has set the number of table tents for the cafeteria at 55.
• SAFAC has set the number of flyers needed to cover campus per event at 55.
• Rates are set according to the SNC Digital Print Center rates and are subject to change.
• SAFAC will not fund promotional merchandise for example, keychains, cups, pens, t-shirts 

Speaker and Performance Fees

• Organization must contact the Center for Student Engagment prior to contacting a potential speaker/performer. 
• All speaker/performance fees must be approved by SAFAC prior to a formal contract being extended to a speaker/performer.
• Speaker thank you gifts should not exceed $20/speaker.

Travel

• Mileage - $0.67 (as 1/1/24) per mile per vehicle (gas funded by approval of SAFAC committee)
• Airfare - $250 per person or 50% of requested allocation, based on SAFAC committee disgrestion
• Hotel accommodations - $130 per night or 50% of requested allocation, based on SAFAC committee disgrestion
• Hotel accommodations are generally funded for 2 nights. One room is funded for up to four people.
• Political/Activist travel will not be funded.
• Food will not be funded
• Gas for recreational club trips may be funded.
• International travel will not be funded.
• Uber/taxi/shuttle costs may be covered based on estimated documentation that needs to be included in the request.

T-shirts/Clothing

• T-shirts and all other clothing items are not funded.

Wages (Student)

• Positions receiving SAF funds must provide students with a workload in excess of that of a traditional executive board position.
• Positions must be itemized on the detail sheet.
• Wages will only be considered for organizations whose primary mission serves the general student body.

SAFAC reserves the right to limit the amount of stipends per person, per group, per year

Requests Not Funded

• Alcoholic beverages/or related items
• Advising fees
• Advisor gifts
• Awards/Plaques
• Banquets for organizations
• Clothing items that will be eventually kept by an individual
• Donations
• Expenses of a purely personal nature
• Graduation Stoles or other graduation regalia
• Individual membership on a per person basis
• Fines for parking or traffic infractions, or for any other illegal actions.
• Food
• Gifts to students, faculty and/or staff (this includes birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and other special occasions of a personal nature)
• Partisan political contributions
• Publications
• T-shirts for individual events
• Conference attendance for St. Norbert College faculty/staff