SGA Funding

Each year, Student Activity Fees are collected from all full-time undergraduate students.  A percentage of those fees are allocated to the Student Government Association (SGA) for supporting student activities and student organization needs.  Funding requests are submitted through PhoenixCONNECT and reviewed by the SGA Finance Board (under the advisement of the Finance Board Advisor). Funding is limited and not all requests are able to be supported, but the board takes the following into consideration:

  • Events should be inclusive and open to all students.
  • Collaboration between student organizations is encouraged with the goal of promoting campus unity.
  • Events that may be of interest to large groups of students are balanced with those which cater to a smaller number.
  • Requests should align with the mission of the University and/or student organization.
  • Funding should be spread out among a variety of organizations to ensure a wide array of well-planned activities in all facets of campus life.

Request Deadlines

  • Any requests that exceed $300 should be submitted at least 2 weeks in advance of the event date.
  • Any requests that exceed $5000 should be submitted 30 days in advance of the event date.
Hard Deadlines for Winter/Spring 2024:

January: The Finance Board is not required to meet during the January term. The Senate does not meet during the January term

Starting on February 5th:
February 5th: The first day that budget requests exceeding $300 can be reviewed

April 5th: The last day for events exceeding $5000 need to be submitted

April 8th: Last date for the Finance Board to review events exceeding $5000 for Spring 2024, June, July, August/September

April 15th: Last day for Finance Board presentations exceeding $5000 to be reviewed

April 25th: Last Senate Business Meeting to present budget requests exceeding $5000

April 26th: Last day for August/September requests between $300-$5000 for Finance Board Review (will be reviewed the following Monday)

May 13th: Last day for requests to be submitted <$300

The Finance Board

The SGA Finance Board is comprised of elected Senators and non-Senator representatives.  Members must meet the GPA requirement of 2.7 or higher and be in good student conduct standing. The SGA Vice President of Finance serves as the Finance Board Comptroller and is a non-voting member responsible for facilitating the weekly Finance Board meetings and notifying organizations of the Finance Board decisions. The remaining membership of the Finance Board includes:

●       Assistant Comptroller of the Finance Board (selected by the SGA VP of Finance)
●       SGA First-Year Class Treasurer
●       SGA Sophomore Class Treasurer
●       SGA Junior Class Treasurer
●       SGA Senior Class Treasurer
●       Four (non-Senator) elected representatives

(Note:  After the spring elections, any vacant non-Senator seats are filled through recommendation by the VP of Finance to the SGA President and confirmation by the Senate.)

Acorn Fund

While there are multiple opportunities for students to find funding for undergraduate research or to host campus activities, in 2014 the Student Government Association identified a need for funding to support individual students pursuing other entrepreneurial or innovative ideas.

To that end, SGA established The Acorn Fund – an endowment that allows the interest to financially support Elon students with an original, innovative, and feasible invention/idea; some of the startup costs related to a for-profit or non-profit company/organization; or other initiatives with the potential for positive impact beyond the classroom.

Students can submit an application (available toward the end of Fall semester and due in early Spring) for review and consideration by the selection committee.  Winning projects/ideas will be awarded based on the viability and feasibility of their concepts.

The Acorn Fund and Micro-Grants Applications are available on PhoenixCONNECT on the SGA page under “Forms.”

Fun Fund

All undergraduate students are welcome to request funding through the Fun Fund!

On October 23, 2008 the Student Government Association funded a $150,000 endowment to create a “Fun Fund” separate from their annual budget.

All Fun Fund events must be “fun” on-campus activities that are open to the entire student body, enrich campus unity, and promote inclusivity. There is no separate application to access these funds.  Instead, students can submit the regular funding request.  The Finance Board will determine if a proposed budget request should fall under the Fun Fund and allocate that funding source for those events.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Clare Rudolph, VP of Finance, crudolph2@elon.edu or another member of the Finance Board.