Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) budgeted $85,000 last year to give to on-campus organizations for their events.
ASI plans to budget the same amount for this next year as well, Lauren Johnson, ASI̢۪s vice president of finance, said.
According to the Student Organization Funding Guidelines, each recognized organization shall get no more than $2,000 each semester. Campus organizations get these funds for their events as long as the event doesn̢۪t cost anything to students and all Fresno State students can attend.
“Ideally, my next term I’m going to talk more with clubs so they can use their money that’s set aside specifically for them. It really impacts the campus when there are always events. It gives a nice taste of a collegiate culture,â€Â she said.
Roxanne Villaluz, CineCulture club president, said, “The activity grants are very helpful because it allows us to procure movies we might not otherwise be able to afford. Also, we are able to bring guest speakers for our movie screenings to make the after movie discussions lively and informative.â€Â
These funds can be used for just about anything a club needs for the event, except for food. Money for the food must be taken out of the organization̢۪s funds.
The funds can be used to pay for the speaker or entertainment, room accommodations, flights, facilities, publicity, and supplies.
“If we find out that they had alcohol at their event we would rescind the funding and we make them pay it all back because that would be against what they told us they were doing. They falsified the application. Luckily, we’ve never dealt with that,â€Â Johnson said.
The application process for the activity grants starts when an organization turns in an application requesting money and gets approved one of two ways; by the senate or by the Finance Committee. The senate approves applications requesting over $1,000 and the Finance Committee approves applications that request under $1,000.
“It was fairly simple and ASI is very helpful. Essentially, once one person has gone through the process then they can instruct others on how to fill out the applications,â€Â Villaluz said.
Once the applications become approved, Johnson sends an awards letter to the organization and they can start spending money as soon as they need.
“Getting reimbursed doesn’t have to be a long process. It’s only a long process if the clubs take forever to turn in their receipts or their invoices. Sometimes the club will come in really mad because we haven’t paid something and turns out they think that we just magically pay things,â€Â Johnson said. “They need to turn in a bill so we know what ended up happening and what the concrete plan is and we can pay it from there.â€Â
None of the money received through the grants needs to be paid back to ASI.
“We don’t discriminate on clubs either. We funded The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. That was a controversial one, but we still funded it,â€Â said Johnson.
On April 15, Associated Students Inc. motioned to approve the submitted ASI Activity Grants and the motion was passed. Any organization that wants to use their organization̢۪s funds through ASI for events that benefit Fresno State students can.