Main content

Grant Process

Emory Law Student Activity Fund Grant Process Guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of the Student Activity Fund Grant Process is twofold:

  1. It will streamline the supplemental funding process for student oriented events and prevent the usual problem of multiple student groups being directed back and forth between potential funding sources with no logical process. It will establish one pool of money so that group leaders will know where to seek funding.
  2. It will allow the SBA and the law school to stretch their dollars further by encouraging groups to plan their events ahead of time, thus ensuring well-planned and executed events that maximize student engagement and attendance.

Overview

Each applicant must submit a grant application before the applicable deadline to be reviewed by the Committee. Grant requests may be granted in part, granted in full, rejected, or deferred.

Eligibility For Grant

In order to apply, an applicant must do the following:

  1. Be a chartered law school organization (at least a temporary charter) or practice society, or have obtained prior approval from the SBA to submit a grant request;
  2. Turn in all required materials by the deadline (each event requires a separate application);
  3. Seek at minimum $500 for the proposed event; and
  4. Comply with any and all other rules or requests of the committee and Emory Law.

Grant Process

The grant process is as follows:

  • The committee shall convene twice annually, once in the fall and once in the spring (before the budget allocation meeting).
  • The dates and times of the two meetings and the grant hearing shall be chosen by the SBA treasurer at times convenient to all voting members of the committee.
  • In addition, the committee may call for an additional special meeting by agreement of at least 3 of the voting members.
  • Grant applications must be submitted by the deadline (normally at least three days before the convening of the committee session).
  • Grant applicants may present their proposal in person to the committee at a grant hearing, but are not required to do so.
  • Presentations may take no more than 5 minutes, although the committee may ask follow-up questions outside of presentations.
  • The committee will consider all grant proposals together for each session before voting on any of the proposals individually.
  • Decisions will be announced to the grant applicants within 5 business days of the grant hearing.

Decision Making Process

Grant decisions shall be made based on the following considerations (in no particular order):

  • How many students will attend the proposed event
  • How the proposed event fits with the overall mission and objectives of the law school
  • How the organization’s funds are currently distributed towards events
  • What other alternative sources of funding your organization has received or applied for, and the status
  • What distinguishes this event from others occurring during the same school year
  • Whether your organization is collaborating or attempting to collaborate with other organizations
  • How your organization is planning on maximizing the use of the requested funds
  • How prestigious your event is
  • The quality of the proposal/presentation

*Travel related requests will ordinarily be limited to registration fees

Committee Guidelines

Grant decisions shall be made by a group of student leaders. The committee shall be composed of 5 voting members and one ex-officio member:

  • The treasurer of the SBA
  • The president of the SBA or another SBA officer appointed by the president
  • Three presidents of chartered student organizations
  • The Assistant Dean of Student Affairs shall serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member

Committee Voting

  • Each member of the committee will get one vote.
  • Approval of a grant, in full or in part, requires a supermajority of the votes of the committee (4 out of 5 committee members must be in favor). A grant proposal that does not receive approval, in full or in part, is denied, unless the committee specifically moves, via a supermajority vote, to defer the proposal. 

Elections For Committee

  • The 3 voting positions shall be filled by election whose voting members must be current presidents or treasurers of chartered student organizations, or practice societies.
  • Candidates will nominate themselves at the Student Leadership Retreat.
  • Voting will take place at the SLR; each organization or society gets one vote.
  • The elections will be run by rank-choice voting, and each president will vote for their top three candidates in ranked order.
    • Rank-choice voting allows for an "instant runoff" in the event no candidate gets a majority vote.
    • Instead of asking voters to vote a second time for their favorite candidate remaining, we look at the choices that the voters left on their ballot.
    • If the voter's first choice remains, then his vote counts for his first choice. If the voter's first choice is not in the runoff, then his vote counts for his second choice and so on.