Discretionary Funds

About

The GSA Discretionary Fund supports one-time educational and cultural events held primarily for graduate students that take place on the UCLA campus. The Discretionary Fund can cover: food; equipment rental and set-up; facilities use charges; honoraria; travel expenses and parking for performers and speakers; and flyers and other advertising for the event.

If you have any questions (such as specific questions about funding possibilities, funding eligibility for a potential line item, or the application process) or would like to make an appointment to meet, please contact:

Director of Discretionary Funding
316 Kerckhoff Hall, Mailbox #25
funding@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu

Application

2021-2022 Discretionary Funding instructions

The GSA Discretionary Funding Application has recently moved to a new system and is available using the following portal link:

https://sa.ucla.edu/funding/fund/client#/

You may also submit your application to the Director of Discretionary Funding at funding@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu. Please read carefully the Discretionary Fund eligibility guidelines and application instructions.

Failure to adhere to these may result in a delay in processing your application or a denial of your funding request.

Deadlines

Applications are due at least three weeks prior to the event date – earlier submission is encouraged. Late submissions may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

*Maximum funding request: The maximum funding allocation varies from year to year. Student interest groups are eligible to receive more funding than regular groups. For the 2019-2020 academic year, the funding maximums are $1,000 per graduate student group per academic year and $3,000 for qualified student interest groups per academic year. If you are unsure whether your group is a “student interest group” or not, please see the “Eligibility Guidelines” below for instructions on how to check this or visit the GSA Student Interest Board webpage.

*For groups that have submitted the Requisition Form, please periodically check the Student Government Accounting (SGA) page of this website for the status of your requisition form. Should there be an issue with your requisition, you will see that under the “SGA Problem REQ Register” on that webpage. If your requisition has no issues and has been processed, you can check the “SGA Check Register” to see if your check is ready for pick-up or as been mailed out.

Eligibility Requirements

Your group MUST be an “officially registered student organization” with the Student Organizations, Leadership & Engagement (SOLE) office and classified as either a “Graduate” organization or an organization that serves “Both” undergraduates and graduates (groups that only serve the undergraduate population are not eligible for GSA funding).
- To check on your group’s organization status, please use UCLA’s Registered Campus Organization portal and search for your group name. Here, you can also find the name of your SOLE advisor and the names of the student members who are currently on record as signatories with the SOLE office. Your SOLE advisor and at least one signatory will need to provide their electronic approval of the Discretionary Fund application.
- If necessary, you may visit or contact the SOLE office regarding registering your organization or changing signatories: 105 Kerckhoff Hall, (310) 825-7041, uclasole@ucla.edu.
Graduate students should be principally involved in planning the event and also be the primary target audience.
Events must be free and open to ALL UCLA graduate students. No admission for entry can be charged to graduate students.
All events that receive GSA Discretionary Funds MUST be on campus to ensure accessibility to all graduate students.
This fund is only for “one-time” events, such as speakers, productions, and educational and cultural events. This fund is NOT for ongoing events (such as weekly/bi-weekly graduate student meetings).
GSA Discretionary Funds may NOT be used to purchase alcohol.
GSA Academic Councils that are registered with SOLE may be eligible to receive funds if the event is co-sponsored by another student group.
Co-sponsorship of events is highly encouraged. Each co-sponsoring group must fill out a separate discretionary funding application. However, the applications must be turned in together at approximately the same time.

Application Instructions

First, please ensure that your program/event is eligible for GSA Discretionary Funds by reading the eligibility guidelines to the left. Should your group require other sources of funds, you may browse the 2015-2016 Funding handbook here.
To allow time for review, please submit all materials at least 3 weeks prior to the event. Late applications may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Open the online portal or download the 2019-2020 GSA Discretionary Funding Application AND the 2019-2020 GSA Discretionary Budget Worksheet from the Application Documents section above.
Please fill out the application carefully and completely, providing all the details and following all the guidelines. The budget portion of your application must be as detailed and accurate as possible. You must include documents to justify your program/event budget. For instance, you may attach invoices, screenshots of item purchases you are planning to make online, or other documents showing the costs of the items for which you are requesting funding. If you are looking to allocate funds towards an honoraria, please make sure to include the speaker's W9 and a signed agreement between the club and speaker using this SGA template. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
Submit all documents to the Director of Discretionary Funding through the portal or by email (funding@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu).
When you submit your completed funding application, you are responsible for reminding and ensuring that both of your required approvals (from your SOLE advisor and from the second group member) have gone through. The Discretionary Funding Director will not review your application until these two individuals have approved your application.
You may receive an email about your allocation decision approximately 1-2 weeks after your completed application has been submitted with the proper approvals. This email will also contain important post-award instructions and information.

Post-Award Evaluation

This section is only for organizations that received discretionary funding.

You are required to deliver two flyers to the GSA office prior to the event. The “UCLA Graduate Students Association” must be named as a sponsor of the event and the GSA logo must be placed on all promotional material.
TWO WEEKS after your event date, these two materials should be submitted to the Discretionary Funding Director:
1. Requisition form
  - In order to use your funds, please pick up a Requisition Form from either the GSA office (Kerckhoff 316) or the Student Government Accounting office, or SGA (Kerckhoff 332). The form is also available online here (http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/req.html).
  - Instructions on how to fill out the Requisition Form are located in a PDF document here.
  - Please include original receipts, proof of payment, copies of printed materials (if printing was funded by the GSA), invoices, and other supportive documents.
  - Once you have filled out the Requisition Form, please keep the pink copy for your records. Don’t forget to sign the bottom under “Project Director.” Submit the top two copies (white and yellow) and supporting documents (stapled to the form) to the Discretionary Funding Director’s mailbox (#25, located outside the GSA office).
  - Funds may be withdrawn if not used or if adequate documentation for the expenses is not submitted TWO WEEKS after the event date. The purpose of this policy is to free up unused funds quickly for other student groups.
2. Program evaluation form – A template for the form is available here. You are required to write a brief paragraph describing the nature of the event, how well the event went, and the approximate attendance. The form will be due four weeks after the event date by email to funding@gsa.asucla.ucla.edu.
Please note that all programs/events are subject to audits by the Director of Discretionary Funding and by the Student Government Accounting office. Should your organization’s event be determined as not appropriate for GSA Discretionary Funds or not appropriately following the guidelines, this may result in a reduction or loss of your Discretionary Funding award.
After you submit your completed requisition form, please periodically check the Student Government Accounting (SGA) page of this website for the status of your requisition form. Should there be an issue with your requisition, you will see that under the “SGA Problem REQ Register” on that webpage. If your requisition has no issues and has been processed, you can check the “SGA Check Register” to see if your check is ready for pick-up or as been mailed out. The website is available here (http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/student-government-accounting.html).