Simpson College Student Government Association

The Simpson College Student Government Association (SGA) strives to represent students by advocating for their interests, communicating with the administration and allocating resources. The SGA also works to ensure that all students’ voices are heard.

Finance Code of the Simpson College Student Government Association

Approved September 2019

Section 1: Requirements of Fundable Organizations

  1. Requirements: To receive funding from the SGA Senate, student organizations must meet all of the following expectations:
  1. Be recognized by the SGA Adviser as a registered organization.
  2. Have an open membership policy.
    1. In the case that an organization does not have an open membership policy, the SGA Senate shall be able to allocate funding for specific events given that they are open to the entire student body.
  3. Make their presence known to campus.
  4. Have a constitution on file with the SGA Student Organization Committee.
  5. Student leadership doesn’t originate from work-study, but the leadership can be paid. UGA is not considered work-study.
  6. Events are planned by students.
  7. The student organization’s account must be deemed fiscally responsible.
  8. The students must communicate directly with SGA and be able to articulate the request with or without an adviser.
  9. Organizations must have a clear marketing strategy for their events.
  10. Must have filled out the most recent End-of-Semester Report Wufoo form, which will be sent out by the SGA Finance Committee in the last two weeks of every academic semester.

 

Section 2: Requirements of Organizational Records

  1. Requirements of Organizations Receiving Appropriations
  2. Organizations must track all purchases and compile detailed proof of all purchases at the Spring Budget Hearings.
  3. Organizations must submit their Business Office account balance to the SGA Finance Committee Chair for the last fiscal year during the Spring Budget Hearings, the first week of the last month of each semester and, if they spent money after the Spring Budget Hearings, the first week of September.
  4. All budget requests must be submitted in Excel.

Section 3: Regulations and Restrictions on SGA Senate Appropriations

  1. Regulations of Appropriation Requests
    1. Student organizations, excluding the SGA Senate, must submit budget requests at least two weeks before their activity, event, or the organization’s need with at least one SGA Senate meeting prior to the requested date of allocation. The SGA Senate must merely submit budget requests in time for the SGA Financial Advisory Committee to review the request at a committee meeting.
    2. The SGA Financial Advisory Committee must hear budget requests before the SGA Senate votes on the request.
    3. Should the SGA Senate wish to appropriate funding for its own use, the SGA Financial Advisory Committee must review the request before being voted on by the SGA Senate.
    4. The purchase of food, prizes, or awards for regular meetings, introductory/informational meetings, and events of organizations is subject to the discretion of the Financial Advisory Committee.
      1. Food for meetings no more than once per month.
  2. Restrictions of Appropriation Requests
    1. The SGA Senate shall in no form fund:
      1. The purchase of alcohol
      2. Non-charitable fundraisers
      3. Non-programmatic monetary donations
      4. Activities closed to a member of the student body for reasons other than the safety of those involved
      5. Activities where participation is required by a course, academic department, or major
      6. Activities involving non-Simpson students unless their participation benefits Simpson students
        1.  If an event involves both Simpson students and community members, include a breakdown of number of Simpson participants versus non-Simpson participants and costs associated with it in budget request
      7. Scholarships
      8. The purchase of weapons or ammunition
      9. Registration fees for post-graduate exams, licensures, etc.
      10. Retroactive reimbursements
    2. If the SGA Senate has allocated the entirety of its anticipated operating budget, then it shall be barred from processing budget requests for the remainder of the academic year.
  3. Conventions
    1. The SGA Senate shall fund the costs of attending a convention given all of the following requirements are met:
      1. The most cost effective mode of travel is being taken.
      2. It is reasonably expected that the students attending shall bring beneficial programming back to campus.
      3. Budget requests made to fund the trip are made at least four (4) weeks in advance of the convention.
      4. The SGA Senate is given the names of all students attending.
      5. The organization has submitted a line-by-line breakdown of the costs of the convention and travel.
      6. The programming of the convention has been submitted to the SGA Senate.
      7. No later than a month after returning from an SGA-funded Convention, Conference, or trip, representatives from the conference attendees are required to give a five to seven-minute presentation to the SGA concerning what they learned and brought back to campus with their attendance of said conference.
    2. The SGA Senate shall at most be able to fund the costs six (6) student attendees and one (1) advisor.
      1. A student attendee must not be in their final semester of their last year at Simpson.
  4. Student Salary and Payments
    1. Should a student organization request as part of a budget request a salary for students, the SGA Senate shall be able to fund the salary given that all of the following standards are met in the view of the SGA Senate:
      1. The students being compensated are essential to the function of the group.
      2. The student organization has demonstrated enough organizational longevity such that SGA can reasonably expect the group to remain active in the academic year following the appropriation.
      3. The pay being requested is not in the form of an hourly wage.
      4. Contributions to student and campus life must justify pay at the discretion of the Financial Advisory Committee and SGA senate.
      5. In order to receive money allocated for pay from SGA, the organization must not receive money allocated for pay from other avenues.
  5. Post Allocation Expectations and Guarantees
    1. The SGA Finance Committee Chair shall coordinate the transfer of funds between the Simpson College Business Office and the receiving organization.
    2. Organizations are expected to spend appropriations made by the SGA Senate only for the reasons listed in the related budget request. Organizations are responsible for all other expenses not included in the budget requests approved by the SGA Senate.
    3. Funds appropriated by the SGA Senate that are not spent shall remain in the organization’s account to be used on future approved events.

Section 4: Spring Budget Hearings

  1. A) Purpose
  2. The Spring Budget Hearings shall be held in the spring semester by the SGA Financial Advisory Committee to evaluate how organizations have managed their finances and benefited campus.
  3. During the Spring Budget Hearings, groups who are approved for immediate funding shall create budget requests for the next academic year to be considered in the following fall semester. The budget request must be in the form of Excel.
  4. These groups who request funds for conventions occurring in the next academic year shall be required to provide the names of all attendees except in the case of spots reserved for first year students.
  5. B) Procedure
  6. The SGA Finance Committee Chair shall send immediate funding applications no later than the Wednesday immediately following Spring Break to all groups.
  7. In order to receive funding for the next academic year, organizations must:
    1. Submit a complete and detailed budget request in Excel.
    2. Provide the names and contact information of their advisor and organizational officers for the next academic year.
  8. Tier 1 organizations shall be informed by the SGA Finance Committee Chair of the SGA Financial Advisory Committee’s recommendations no later than two weeks following their hearing.
  9. The SGA Finance Committee Chair shall submit the SGA Financial Advisory Committee’s recommendation of immediate group funding before the end of the academic year to the SGA President and Vice President.

Section 5: Fall Budget Hearing

  1. The SGA Senate budget is generated from the annual Student Activity Fee.
  2. The Simpson College Board of Trustees and the SGA Senate must approve all the changes to the Student Activity Fee.
  3. Should any student organization that receives funding from the SGA Senate violate, disregard, or fail to fulfill the requirements laid out in this finance code or demonstrate fiscal irresponsibility, the SGA Senate should consider the behavior in any future appropriations to the organization.
  4. The SGA Senate shall refer to the following definitions when deciding whether a student organization meets the requirements of the SGA Finance Code. These definitions shall serve as a guideline to be interpreted by the SGA Senate.
    1. Open membership policy: ensuring any student of Simpson College may join and participate fully in the organization unless the student poses a risk to the safety of those participating.
    2. Fiscal irresponsibility: the mismanagement of an organization’s finances in such a way that expenditures exceed revenue, expenses are not transparent or justifiable, or financial records are miss-maintained so that the SGA Senate cannot review the organization’s financial activity.
    3. Beneficial programming: events, activities, or meetings that students would enjoy or gain value from.
    4. Non-programmatic monetary donations: donations not connected to an event on or off Simpson’s campus.
  5. The SGA Financial Advisory Committee shall serve to hear all budget requests and financial concerns of the SGA Senate and shall refer to this financial code to make recommendations of appropriations to the SGA Senate.

 

Section 6: Requirements for New Organizations

  1. The Student Organization Committee will review the organization’s constitution, goals, and their timeline of events for the first semester.
  2. The Student Organization Committee will help them create their first budget request
  3. The following two budget requests should come to the Student Organization Committee first before going to the Financial Advisory Committee

Section 7: Financial Advisory Committee Discretion

  1. All rules are subject to the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) who, at any time, can circumvent the rules by majority vote of the SGA
  2. The Financial Advisory Committee may approve amounts of $500 and below to campus organizations without bringing the allocation to a vote to the entire SGA senate.
    1. The Financial Advisory Committee may only approve amounts to organizations who have submitted a budget request and met with the FAC.

*The SGA Budget is generated from the annual Student Activity Fee.

** The Simpson College Board of Trustees and the SGA Senate must approve all changes to the Student Activity Fee.

*** The SGA Adviser may deny any allocated funding.

****Any changes to the Student Activity Fee must be voted on by the SGA Senate.

*****Any money spent from the Carry Over/Reserve Budget on the Student Org Suite must be reported to SGA.