SAFAC

1. SAFAC 2012-2013

2. What is SAFAC? • Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee • Derives authority from the Board of Trustees and the Vice President for Student Affairs • 13 voting members, representing different aspects of student life, and 1 non-voting Chair • Meet every Wednesday to discuss student organizational budgets

3. What SAFAC does… • SAFAC allocates money to student organizations to help subsidize organizational expenses • We help provide student organizations money to create events and fulfill their organizations guiding principles • We allocate funds for one fiscal year. A referendum is required for multi-year expenditures • We are here to SUBSIDIZE an organization’s expenditures, not to fully fund

4. Types of Funding • Fall Request • Typically submitted during the spring semester of the previous year • Supplemental Funding (can ask for up to 2 per year) • Funding in excess after October 16th, 2012 • Must make an appointment to present before the committee • Capital Funding (can ask for 1 per year) • Requests for equipment or items that will last more than one year • Must make an appointment to present before the committee

5. Fall Budgets • Fall Budget Request • Typically submitted during the spring semester of the previous year • To help fund activities, events, and fees up until October 16th, 2012 • Follow separate Precedents and Guidelines that are set by previous year’s committee • 5 year averages have been removed • Deadline: March 9th, 2012 • Unspent funds will be recouped after October 16, 2012 and will be reallocated

6. Guidelines and Precedents • Guidelines: • Set of principles that SAFAC follows when deciding on approving items for organization’s request • Decided by previous year’s committee during spring when looking through regular budgets • ex: banners, conferences, food • Precedents: • Decisions made by SAFAC during meetings through voting • Used to guide SAFAC in making unbiased decisions when deciding on funding for organizations • ex: funding a certain amount of banners per semester

7. Important to Note on Budget Form • Guiding Principles: • Found in your organization’s Constitution, that is located on the COSO Database. Contact COSO if you do not know where or how to find it • Guiding Principles shown on the budget must be identical to Guiding Principle in your Constitution • Used by SAFAC to determine funding and make decisions regarding the necessity of a student organization’s request • Gift Account: • Your own organization’s money • Account number usually starts with a 9 (vs SAFAC account that starts with 4) • Talk to your ADVISOR to find most updated account amount • Must be included on your Fall budget • Itemize Your Budget: • Must list specific items on your budget requests • ex: Binders vs Supplies or Sponges vs Fundraising Material

8. How to Make a SAFAC Request Complete in the Following Order: • Meet with your Executive Board to determine funding far in advance (start at least a month before you would need the money!) • Fill out the 2012-2013 budget request form found on the SAFAC website and attach documentation for EVERYTHING that is not explicitly stated in our guidelines • Ex: price quotes of your binders that you would like to purchase • Consult your SAFAC liaison (found on SAFAC website and COSO database page www.miami.edu/myumgroups) if you have questions • Meet with your liaison to review and sign the form • Obtain signatures from advisor, president and treasurer AFTERmeeting with your liaison!

9. SAFAC Request cont… • Email a copy of the form to safac@miami.edu with the following subject line: Organization Name_Budget Request Type_ 2012-2013 ex. (COSO_Supplemental Budget Request_2012-2013) • Submit signed form and written documentationto the STIC • If Supplemental or Capital, make sure to sign up for a presentation time • SAFAC meets Wednesdays from 2:30-4:45

10. What SAFAC takes into account when reviewing a budget… • How it relates to the Guiding Principles • Necessity of expenditures for successful completion of program • On campus and open to entire university community • Guidelines and precedents

11. Dealing with the money… • Business Expense Reimbursement Form (BERF) • Interdepartmental Requisition (IDR) • Check requisition (e-Check) and Purchase Orders (Pos) • Stipulated Funds • For more information on these methods • http://www.miami.edu/sa/index.php/student_life/student_organizations/student_activities_and_student_organizations/resources • Under the tab “Student Organization Resources”, click on “Student Organization Handbook” and the information is located on pages 15-18

12. Stipulated Funds • Generally Contracts • SAFAC italicizes and greys the box of stipulated items on the budget • Process: • Bring the contract or invoice to Laura Stott as that money is not automatically put into your account

13. Pre-Authorizations • What SAFAC considers as a Reimbursement: • Spending money for an item not approved by SAFAC and seeking return on purchase from SAFAC • Eg: Buying an airline ticket before budget has been seen and item has been approved • SAFAC does NOT fund reimbursements • If you purchase anything before the Friday after you are eligible to present to SAFAC, it is considered a reimbursement and will not be funded • In order to be eligible to present for a specific Wednesday, your form MUST be turned in no later than 5pm the Friday before • PLAN AHEAD! • If an emergency arises—contact safac@miami.edu immediately • ex: purchase/event occurs before presentation time occurs (Pre-Authorization)

14. SAFAC Appeals Process • Student Government process • Visit www.miami.edu/sg for more information

15. Questions???? Contact us at 305-284-6399 Or on the web www.miami.edu/safac Email the SAFAC Chair with questions at safac@miami.edu