A How-To on SGA Senate Grants

An overview on the grants provided by the Butler University Student Senate to benefit student organizations 

Maya Illanes | millanes@butler.edu 

Any registered, endorsed, and student-led organization looking to grow and thrive on campus can get assistance from SGA in the form of Senate grants. These grants exist in order to help organizations that cannot operate solely on other sources of revenue such as donations, dues and fundraising.

These grants go to student organizations unaffiliated with any specific college or department. Student Senate offers different types of grants for different student organization needs. The most popular form of grant that the Senate gives is for equipment clubs need. Another popular form of assistance that the Senate provides is helping support a club in hosting an event. 

Grants from the Senate enable organizations to host any events that they think would be beneficial to the Butler community and to their organization. Since hosting events can be expensive, the grants allow funding to help organizations reach the most students possible and plan events without the worry of not having enough funding to afford them. 

This semester, most of the grants awarded have assisted with funding for various campus events. This includes funding Model UN on their out of state trips, helping Chess Club obtain new equipment and supporting the Out of The Darkness Walk, which occurred this past Sunday on April 3rd. 

Alex Colbert, a Senior Class Senator and the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, spoke on the benefits of Senate grants for organizations. “Being able to partake in different cultures and interests means Butler students can have a better experience on campus.” he said.

The Appropriations Committee is in charge of meeting to review grants and ensuring that the proper steps are followed. Colbert runs all committee meetings and acts as a liaison between his committee and the Speaker of the Senate. 

The process to apply for a grant begins with a grant request through Engage. This requires information such as the student organization’s account number, the grant presentation PowerPoint file, and the Excel file containing their budget. 

After the Engage request, grants can then move on to be reviewed at Appropriation Committee meetings. At these meetings, the grants are reviewed by all members; a member of the committee will reach out to the organization if there are questions regarding the grant or changes to the grant. If the grant is deemed suitable, all members of the committee will vote, with a simple majority being necessary for the grant to pass the committee. 

The grants are awarded on a rolling schedule. Different steps are taken to ensure grants are properly awarded including making sure all items are accounted for, checking if the alternate prices make sense and checking if there was an effort made to help with the funding (e.g. external fundraising).

After the committee, the grant moves on to the Senate. Members of the requesting organization present their grant request and then the Senate votes on the grant at the same meeting. The Senate makes the final decision on the grant’s approval.

Student organizations are not able to apply for grants for the rest of the 2022 spring semester; however, grant applications will open at the beginning of the 2022 fall semester. Any updates regarding grants can be found at butlersga.org or on Butler SGA’s Instagram, @butlersga.