Stanford Medical Student Association

SMSA ANNUAL FUNDING GUIDELINES

CONTENTS

1) Introduction to Annual Funding

2) Annual Funding Application Instructions
3) Summary of Application Process

Take note that this year’s Annual Funding guidelines have changed from previous years. Please take
the time to read through these guidelines carefully. If you have any questions, please contact the
SMSA Treasurer, Lawrence Cai, at lcai1214@stanford.edu.

I. INTRODUCTION TO ANNUAL FUNDING

MISSION

One of the primary missions of the Stanford Medical Student Association (SMSA) is to promote the
well-being of Stanford medical students by funding medical student initiatives. To this end, SMSA
provides financial support for activities that contribute positively to medical student life, to the
medical center, and to the community at large. This document explains the procedures and guidelines
for requesting funding through the SMSA annual funding process. While SMSA funds are limited, we
will do our best to ensure that all high-quality proposals receive the necessary support.

RETURNING STUDENT GROUPS

All returning student organizations must renew their organization with Student Activities and
Leadership (SAL) on an annual basis. Re-registration deadline is in June, but the late deadline is
Monday, October 13th, 2014. If you have not already renewed your group, please do so now.
Instructions can be found at: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/sal/manage/orgsync-registration.

NEW STUDENT GROUPS

Before submitting a funding application with SMSA, a new student group must first register with
Student Activities and Leadership (SAL), which organizes the student organizations for all of
Stanford’s campus (both undergraduate and graduate). For more information, see:
http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/sal/involved/new-group.

Once the group has been approved by SAL and obtained an organization account under the
Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU), the group can receive funds from SMSA.
Regardless of application status with SAL, please file a budget application with SMSA by Sunday,
September 28th, 2014.
 Stanford Medical Student Association

TRANSFER OF FUNDS

Your student group’s funds will be transferred into your ASSU account by late-October. If you are a
student group and do not have an ASSU account, you are required to file for an ASSU account
before submitting this application.

SPECIAL NOTE

For course-associated student groups that are receiving departmental funding

New student-initiated groups that are affiliated with a medical school course (e.g. PALS) are not
eligible for departmental funding for their first year of existence. They ARE eligible for SMSA funding
in their first year and should follow the same guidelines as non-course affiliated groups. However,
after one year of existence these groups are no longer eligible for SMSA funding for course-affiliated
activities.

II. ANNUAL FUNDING APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW

Annual funding applications are due at 11:59 PM on Sunday, September 28th, 2014, on the online
submission form: https://orgsync.com/44828/forms/85437.

Your financial officer (or budget liaison) will receive a summary statement and request for
clarifications by Thursday, October 2nd, 2014. Responses to these questions are due at 11:59 PM on
Sunday, October 6th, 2014.

BUDGET LIAISON

You will be asked to provide a budget liaison for SMSA to communicate with in a timely manner.
This person can be (but does not have to be) the financial officer for the group. Please keep in mind
that a financial officer is still required to fill out many parts of the application.

APPLICATION DETAILS

You will be asked to provide the following:

1) Name of your group

2) Current officers and emails
3) Previous officers and emails
4) Group financial officer and contact information (name, email, phone, address)
5) SMSA budget liaison and contact information (name, email, phone, address)
6) ASSU account number
7) Current ASSU balance
8) Previous years’ SMSA funding
9) Previous years’ outside funding
10) Projected budget
11) Cover letter
 Stanford Medical Student Association

PROJECTED BUDGET

You will be asked to fill out a projected budget via an Excel spreadsheet. This will include your
projected income and expenses for the year. Please find the template here:
https://orgsync.com/44828/files/438637/show

Guidelines for the projections are as follows:

• Food budgeting: $4 snacks/drinks; $7 lunch; $10 dinner

• Group meetings with funded food must be open and advertised
• Paper copying is not funded, please use the printer in LKSC
• Speaker costs are not funded, although food can be provided for the event
• Funding is only provided to Stanford medical students. Funding for outside attendees is not
provided.

COVER LETTER

The group statement should be no more than a page in length and should describe your group’s goals
and plans, its history, its place in the Stanford medicine community, and anything else that might
impact funding decisions for your group.

In particular, if your group underspent or overspent the year before, it would most likely be useful to
explain how this happened and how it will be avoided in the upcoming year. Other topics that you
might want to cover in your group statement: school/community impact of your group (including
numbers of people impacted and extent of impact), number of active members, specific upcoming and
past activities along with evidence of school-wide advertising/participation, description of any non-
SMSA funding you have and why you need additional SMSA funds, explanation of large ASSU
account balance and why you need additional SMSA funds.

CRITERIA

SMSA will consider applications for annual funding based on the following criteria:

Reasonable Cost: This is the minimum cost needed to host your proposed activities. Low priority
expenditures will be reduced.

Value: Groups providing the medical student body and the community at large with more “value”
will receive an allocation closer to their minimum cost. This is clearly difficult to estimate, but SMSA
will use the following indicators, in order, to arrive at a decision:

• Group history: Has your group been fiscally responsible, e.g. did you successfully host the
events proposed last year? Annual events with established success will be approved in a more
“automatic” manner, while new events will be judged according to the group’s history.
• School-wide invitation/advertising
• Event participation/attendance
• Number of active group members
• Number of people impacted outside of Stanford Medical School
 Stanford Medical Student Association

III. SUMMARY OF APPLICATION PROCESS

DUE 11:59 PM ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2014:

Submit your budget application via: https://orgsync.com/44828/forms/85437

You will be asked to provide details about your group. You will also be asked to upload the following:

1) ASSU account statement

2) Excel spreadsheet of your projected budget
(Template: https://orgsync.com/44828/files/438637/show)
3) Cover letter with group updates

DUE 11:59 PM ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 6TH, 2014:

Submit responses and clarifications to SMSA officers.

BY MID OCTOBER:

Confirm SMSA deposit into your group’s ASSU account.