Student Organizations and Activity (SOA) Grants Program (“Grants Program”) provides funding, through student fees, to support the events and activities of recognized student organizations (RSOs) at the OSU Corvallis and Newport campuses. The purpose of the Grants Program is to support diverse and inclusive participation in experiential activities outside of the classroom experiences.

How to Submit an SOA Grant Request

  • Login to Ideal-Logic
  • Make sure you are on the Dashboard. If you are not, On the left click on the "Dashboard" tab for your organization
  • On the right in the green box under your Peer Educator contact, click on "Activity Plan/Report" to begin your request.
  • For an Activity Plan/Report -
    • Under "Activity Costs" select "Yes" to indicate you will be spending money. This will activate the "Campus Funding" and "Budget" tabs of the form for you.
    • Under the "Campus Funding" tab, click "Yes" to the question asking if you would like to request funding. This will activate the "Campus Funding Sources" area on this tab for you.
    • Under "Campus Funding Sources" in the form, select the SOA fund type that most closely matches your need. For Special Events, select the "SOA Special Events" option. For Closed Events/Activities, select "SOA Organization Development Activities"
    • Next you will fill in the Budget tab. Do not forget your cost demonstration! Cost demonstration can be a copy of an email, invoice, quote, or screenshot of a website as long as it includes expense description and per-unit cost.
    • Once the form is completed, you can submit and our team will start our review! Don't forget that we need at least 2 weeks for requests under $1,000 and 4 weeks for requests over $1,000.

 

Ideal-Logic SOA Grant Policies

SOA Grant Request Information

SOA Grant Funding Sheets FY24 by OSU SEE

Two types of experiential activities supported by the Grants Program are: 

  • Special Events: RSO events that are open to all OSU students and occur during weeks 1-10 of the term (Fall, Winter, Spring only). 
  • Org Development Events/Activities: RSO activities, meetings or events that are "closed" to the public. 

Funding Criteria

  • RSO must be currently recognized with an active RSO Fund index. 
  • All club officers must have completed online officer training/orientation for the current academic year.
  • RSO may not have a negative fund balance.  
    • Requests are not considered submitted nor reviewed until the negative balance is resolved.
  • Activity must align with the RSO’s mission.
  • Activity must actively support community-building and belonging for OSU students.
  • Activity must uphold the OSU Community Non-Discrimination Policy.
  • Activities must occur within 10 miles of campus. 
  • RSO must track and submit attendance/participation of OSU students.
  • Revenue generating activities must have payment processes setup and managed through SOA to ensure no profit is made. 
    • Revenue will be disbursed to the club following the budget reconciliation process.
  • Payroll or payment to student organization members for leadership, service, etc.
  • Youth engagement or outreach.
  • Fundraising activities, including purchase of items for resale purposes.
  • Philanthropic or charitable purposes - i.e. donating money or physical items (including food) to someone/something.
  • Activities for the primary purpose of raising awareness of or recruiting volunteers for a non-profit agency.
  • Activities hosted at establishments whose primary focus is on the service of alcohol (wineries, distilleries, breweries, etc.).
  • Activities hosted on the OSU campus that include any access to alcohol. 
  • Activities in which academic credit is an option for participants.
  • Activities in which participation fees are billed through a student account.
  • Activities primarily geared towards Non-OSU Students (less than half of the anticipated participants are OSU Students).
  • Religious service activities.
  • Graduation activities.
  • Events that promote or oppose any political committee or any initiative, referendum, or recall petition, measure, or candidate. 
  • Membership dues, or other payments to national/parent organizations
  • Clothing or accessories that will become personal property of an individual.
  • Gifts or prizes.
  • Travel.
  • Lodging.
  • On-going rental, maintenance or upkeep of an off-campus facility.
  • Activity plans and funding requests must be submitted through the student organization database (Ideal-Logic) within the appropriate timeline/deadlines, including:
    • Detailed budget of all expected revenue and expenditures.  
    • A cost demonstration for all items to be funded.
      • Cost demonstration can be a copy of an email, invoice, quote, or screenshot of a website as long as it includes vendor name, expense description and per-unit cost.
      • If revenue generating, cost demonstration required for all expenses.
        • Because fundraising efforts are not fundable, revenue generated beyond actual event costs will be retained by SOA 
  • All requests are initially reviewed by an SOA Peer Educator. Peer Educators are students first and may not be available to review funding requests during Finals week.
  • It is recommended that clubs wait until funding requests are approved before making purchases for events. 
    • Since funding is not guaranteed, purchases made in advance of funding approval risk not being fundable or fully fundable.

Any activity that meets the following criteria may be funded as a Special Event. 

  • Must be open to all OSU students 
  • Must occur during weeks 1-10 of the term (Fall, Winter, Spring only) 
  • A series of connected activities all occurring within a 2 week period shall be considered one event for funding purposes (i.e. conference, awareness weeks, competitions, etc.).

Allocation Limits 

  • RSO working alone
    • Up to $1000 per event for up to 50 participants.
    • Up to $2,000 per event with more than 50 participants.
    • An RSO may be funded for up to 2 events per year when working alone.
  • RSO working in collaboration with other RSOs. 
    • Up to $3,000 for 2-3 RSO collaborators.
    • Up to $4,000 with 4+ RSOs collaborators.
    • When working in collaboration with another RSO, up to 2 additional  events may be funded per year.
    • Collaboration Criteria
      • All collaborators must meet, brainstorm and agree on the event idea together and build it into a finished event.  
      • Each RSO must have equitable and well-defined roles in the planning, execution and promotion of the event. 
      • For collaborative activities, one club should submit the complete budget but each club must submit separate activity plans detailing their club’s role in the collaboration.
  • Whether alone or in collaboration, no more than 2 total special events will be funded in a given term.

Additional Requirements 

  • Promotion and Advertising - RSO must publish the event on the OSU Events Calendar with the Clubs & Organizations tags and post the event on SOA managed Facebook and Instagram pages.
  • For ticketed events:
    • Tickets sales/distribution must be conducted through SOA.
    • At least 80% of available tickets must be made available to the public.

Expenses With Limitations (Regardless of Collaboration)

  • Apparel - Costumes or other event-specific apparel critical to the event. Apparel requests for one event cannot exceed $500.
  • Food - Up to $10 per anticipated participant.
  • Gas - Gas expense when utilizing a personal vehicle up to $0.25 per mile.  Only funded to support an on-campus activity.
    • A map of the trip route will need to be submitted for cost demonstration and a processed Payment Request to reimburse the driver with a gas receipt will be needed for reconciliation. 
  • Marketing/Promotion - This can include purchasing ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, paying for graphic design work, printing costs, etc. 
    • Events with less than 499 anticipated participants can request up to $500
    • Events with 500 or more anticipated participants can request up to $800
  • Shipping - Expedited shipping rates will only be covered up to $100. 

Expenses Without Limitations

Accessibility Accommodations - Any costs associated with providing accessible access to special events/activities. Does not count towards the allocation limits. 

 

Special Event Submission Deadlines



Activity Timing

Submission Deadline no later than:

Fall term activities during weeks 1-4  

Sep 1, 2023

Fall term activities during weeks 5-10

Oct 13, 2023

Winter term activities during weeks 1-10

Dec 1, 2023

Spring term activities during weeks 1-10

Mar 8, 2024

In addition to the deadlines noted above:

  • Requests up to $1000 must be submitted at least 2 weeks (14 days) in advance.
  • Requests over $1000 (51+ expected participants) must be submitted at least 4 weeks (28 days) in advance.
    • Budget revisions must be completed and approvable no less than 
      • 7 business days in advance of the activity requesting less than $1000.
      • 14 business days in advance of the activity requesting more than $1000.

 

 

 

SOA Signature Events are Special Events with a dedicated SOA Grant budget. Events are considered SOA Signature Events when:

  • RSO has applied for an SOA Signature event budget and held the event for at least 2 consecutive academic years.
  • RSO event furthers Oregon State University’s Core Value of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

To apply to have an SOA Signature Event budget, please email us at [email protected]. 

The following RSOs will plan and execute SOA Signature Events during 2023-2024:

  • African Student Association (African Night)
  • Asian Pacific American Student Union (APASU Presents, APASU Culture Shock, APASU Cultural Bites)
  • Cambodian Student Association (Khmer Night)
  • Hui O Hawai’i (Ho’ike)
  • Hmong (Hmong Night)
  • Indian Student Association (Dandiya Night, Diwali, India Night)
  • Isang Bansang Pilipino (Pilipino Cultural Night)
  • Japanese Student Association (Japan Night)
  • Korean Student Association (K-Night)
  • PERMIAS (Indonesian Night)
  • Rainbow Continuum (Fall and Spring Drag Shows)
  • Thai Student Association (Thai Night)
  • Taiwanese Student Association (Taiwanese Night)
  • Vietnamese Student Association (Vietnamese Night)
  • Tabling and recruitment activities, meetings or any event "closed" to the public.
  • Any activity not funded as a special event.
  • Summer term and finals week activities are not eligible for funding.
  • Recurring events/activities may be funded up to one term at a time and new requests must be submitted for each term (i.e. faculty rental for weekly meetings/practices).

Allocation Limits 

Up to $1,500 annually (Sept 2023- June 2024)

  • Up to $500 per activity for up to 50 participants
  • Up to $1,500 per activity with more than 50 participants 

Expenses With Limitations

  • Food - Packaged foods or catering $10 per anticipated attendee.
  • Gas - Gas expense when utilizing a personal vehicle up to $.25 per mile. Only funded to support an on-campus activity.
    • NOTE: a map of the trip route will need to be submitted for cost demonstration and a processed Payment Request to reimburse the driver with a gas receipt will be needed for reconciliation. 
  • Supplies - Equipment, decorations, costumes, shipping and insurance related to on-campus activities. Cannot exceed $1000 annually. 

Expenses Without Limitations

Accessibility Accommodations - Any costs associated with providing accessible access to special events/activities. Does not count towards the allocation limits. 

 

Organizational Development Activities Deadlines



Up to $1000

Submit at least 2 weeks (14 days) in advance

Budget revisions must be completed and approvable no less than 7 business days in advance of the activity.

More than $1000

Submit at least 4 weeks (28 days) in advance.

Budget revisions must be completed and approvable no less than 14 business days in advance of the activity.

Requests accepted on a rolling basis between July 1, 2023 - May 10, 2024

SOA will consider providing additional funding for any request you have previously received funding for when there are unforeseen expenses discovered post allocation. Requests need to be submitted within 30 days of the activity & no later than May 31st, 2024. To submit a Budget Shortfall request, please write to us at [email protected]. 

 

SOA Grant Suspension

  • RSO is ineligible for more SOA Grant funding.
  • Instances where an RSO would be placed on SOA Grant Suspension:
    • Failure to complete the Post Activity Report, including budget reconciliation within 20 days of the event until Post Activity Report has been completed
    • Failure to return unspent funds within 10 days of confirmation of completed reconciliation until the funds have been returned
    • RSO with a deficit balance in their RSO Fund Index until their negative balance is reconciled

 

SOA Grant Review

  • RSO may not request additional funding until the previous request has been reconciled.
  • Instances where an RSO would be placed on SOA Grant Review through at least the duration of the fiscal year
    • Failure to complete the Post Activity Report, including budget reconciliation, within 20 days of the event will result in the club being placed on SOA Grant Review
    • Failure to return unspent funds within 10 days of confirmation of completed reconciliation 

Frequently Asked Questions

A cost demonstration is an image, link, or document that specifies the product, price, and vendor that you intend to purchase for your event. The purpose of cost demonstrations is to verify that we are allocating the appropriate amount of SOA Grant funds to your organization.

  • The total expenses that you have planned for should accurately reflect the amounts shown in the cost demonstration materials. 
  • The difference between the expenses and incomes of the budget should also amount to zero–any amount otherwise reflects that you are either over or under the requested budget.
  • Go to the tab “SOA funding” and/or the “budget” tab in your activity plan to adjust the cost demonstrations and/or the funding amount requested, so that the budget difference is zero.

Yes, this can be done by selecting more than additional funding sources on the “campus funding” tab in your activity plan (please note that if this is pertaining to a certain event, all funding requests should be submitted on the same activity plan).

  • If over: your organization will be liable for any charges that are not accounted for in the previously submitted budget
  • If under: you may be subject to returning the funds to our department
    • Here are the required steps for returning the funds:
      • Log into Ideal-Logic
      • Select Finance and Accounting
      • Select Payment Request in the green box on the right
      • What info to fill out in the PA form:
        • Select Internal payment then OSU Department
        • OSU Department: SOA Grants
        • Department Contact Name: Dante Holloway
        • Department Contact Email Address:
        • Department Index: MSESAD
        • Select Journal Voucher
        • Fill in the appropriate account code, for this it would be selecting Other at the bottom and then entering in 08003 – Student Organization Support
        • Fill out the Expense Information
          • For the Who/What, it is helpful to state what the original award event title was
        • State you have your receipts or invoices and use the attached original approval of the SOA Grant
        • Last is to have an authorized signer sign off on the form