University of Missouri - St. Louis Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC)

Student Activity Budget Committee Funding Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines Mission

The Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) is intended to provide support for Recognized Student Groups at the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) for opportunities to which they might not otherwise have access. Our purpose is to provide partial financial support for student groups to host events, participate in professional and team development activities, and assist with common operating expenses associated with running a student group. While we provide this assistance to student groups, we also encourage them to seek other sources of support in order to be financially self-sufficient. Student groups should never rely solely on SABC funding to cover 100% of their expenses. Rather, the purpose of SABC funding is to support and encourage student groups as they contribute to the student experience at UMSL.

Overview

The Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) comprises a minimum of five (5), but no more than seven (7) current University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) students. In addition to general committee members, the SABC will be chaired by an UMSL student voted on by the SABC committee. The current Student Government Association (SGA) Treasurer will serve as

Vice-Chair of the SABC. The Director of the Office of Student Involvement, or their designee, shall serve as the advisor of the Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC).

SABC funding is available only to student groups at UMSL, verified by the Office of Student Involvement as a Recognized Student Organization or University Sponsored Student Organization. Additionally, the student group must be in good standing with the University (i.e. not on disciplinary probation, suspended, etc.). Inactive and pending student groups, University Student Led Programs, and student groups at UMSL that are not recognized by the Office of Student Involvement, are ineligible for SABC funding.

Student groups may request funding for expenses that fall into one of three categories -- General Operations, Team Development, and Programming.

  • General Operations are expenses related to the logistics of operating a student group day-to-day. General operations funding may be requested multiple times per semester, but funding for an identical line-item will not be approved again until the prior allocation was used (e.g. if the student group is allocated $200 for giveaways, the student

group must spend that entire allocation before requesting additional funding for giveaways). Student groups will only be allocated funding for t-shirts once per semester.

Student groups shall not receive more than $1,000 in general operations funding per academic year.

  • Examples of General Operations expenses that are eligible for funding include:
    • Member regalia, e. graduation stoles, t-shirts, polos, cords, pins, etc.
    • Reservation fees for reserving rooms on campus for regularly occurring meetings
    • Promotional items used to advertise and recruit for the student group
    • Office Supplies used for student group operations (binders, notebooks, )
  • Team Development funding which student groups may receive for up to three (3) Team Development Activities per semester, with a maximum of five (5) per year. In order to be considered as Team Development, the activity must include an obvious team-building activity or development component. SABC will only allocate funding for transportation, lodging, and registration or admission expenses for a conference. SABC will not allocate funding for tickets or admission to activities that are considered “just for fun”. There must be an obvious team development component in the activity. SABC will not allocate funding for food of any kind under Team Development requests.

Student groups shall not receive more than $2,000 in team development funding per academic year. Up to 3 Team Development requests in one semester, and only 5 per year.

  • Examples of Team Development activities include:
    • A planning retreat or meeting for the student group
    • A leadership workshop or course for members of the student group
    • A conference attended by members of the student group
    • A place where team development activity(s) are taking place
  • Additionally, it is strongly recommended that you answer the following questions:
    • How does participating in this experience benefit the student organization?

  • What information and new ideas will you bring back that will aid the organization in being successful in the upcoming academic year?
  • What are two things your organization hopes to achieve through this experience?
  • Who are the UMSL students that will be attending/participating?
  • Programming funding can be used for programs or events hosted by student groups at UMSL. In order to be eligible for SABC programming funds, the program or event must be free, open to, and accessible for all UMSL students. SABC-funded programs should take place on UMSL’s campus unless there is an extenuating circumstance in which an off-campus venue is necessary (justification must be provided).

Student groups can request up to $2,000 of programming funds per semester, but the cost of one single event may not exceed $1,000.

  • Examples of Programming include:
    • Facility Reservation fees
    • Catering
    • Supplies specific to the event
    • Door prizes (must follow OSI Awarding of Prizes policy and procedure)
    • Guest Speaker or Performer expenses (limited to transportation, lodging, and honorarium). (Appearance agreement required prior to event).

Timeline

Requests for funding must be submitted to the Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC), using the appropriate request form, a minimum of four weeks prior to the event or need-by date. Requests submitted less than four weeks in advance will be denied. The SABC will meet bi-weekly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters to review requests for funding. For events

or expenses that will occur during the first six weeks of the semester, the SABC will designate an “early request deadline”. Student groups who wish to utilize SABC funding during the first six weeks of the semester must submit their request by the specified deadline Early Request Deadline.

  • The SABC will review early Fall requests and provide allocation notifications no later than the first week of
  • The SABC will review early Spring requests and provide allocation notifications no later than the week before classes start in

●      All requests for funding must be submitted no less than four weeks prior to the event or need-by date. However, requests will not be accepted prior to the budget period that the reason for the request is occurring.

  • To ensure that funding is available for student groups throughout the entire academic year, the SABC budget will be split between the fall semester and the spring semester

Once a request has been properly submitted, the SABC will review the request and determine how much funding to allocate to the request, if any. If funding is approved, the SABC will allocate funds via the student group’s budget portal on Triton Connect which will notify the student group of the allocation via email. If no funding is allocated, the student group will still be notified via Triton Connect. Upon notice of an allocation decision, the student group may appeal that decision within the appropriate appeal guideline.

Appealing a Funding Decision

  1. Once a funding decision has been made and your organization has received an award letter, you may appeal the funding decision under specific circumstances. You may only appeal your funding decision under one or more of the following circumstances:
    1. The Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) specifically requested additional information for the request (i.e. your initial request was denied based on incomplete information).
    2. You perceive that bias or another conflict of interest impacted the funding decision of your student organization.
  2. Appeals to SABC funding decisions will be heard by the SABC Appeals Committee, which is composed of the Vice-Chair of SABC, the Director of Student Involvement (or other designated coordinator), and the Coordinator for Student Organizations, and the SABC Advisor. RSOs will have until 5pm on the Wednesday following their initial Award Letter to appeal SABCs decision. The RSO must submit a Request to Appeal SABC Allocation form on Triton Connect and attend a SABC Appeals Committee meeting.
  • The SABC Appeals Committee will review the Request for SABC Appeal, allow the RSO in question to present their reason for appeal, discuss the merits of the appeal, and will produce a final Award Letter noting the additional funding approved if any. This final Award Letter will be sent out immediately following the SABC Appeals Committee meeting via email. When the SABC Appeals Committee has made a decision, that decision will be final -- no further appeals may be submitted to the

*Appeal form is in the Student Activities Budget Committee Triton Connect Portal*


Once funding has been allocated, the student group may access the funds using the Request Payment function in the student group’s Triton Connect budget portal. Funding will be available for use from the date it is approved through the end of the current budget period. Once that period has passed, any unused funds will be swept back to SABC and made available to other organizations.

Example of a Typical Request Timeline:

  1. The student group would like to host an event on March 9th, Requests for SABC funding must be submitted no less than four weeks prior to the event -- in this scenario, the request would be submitted no later than February 9th, 2026.
  2. The SABC meets weekly or bi-weekly, starting the first week of classes, based on
  3. Following the SABC meeting, the SABC advisor will notify the student groups of the funding decision via allocation on Triton
  4. The student group has access to use approved funding starting as soon as it is allocated. Funding remains available until all funding is spent OR two weeks after the provided need-by In this scenario, funds would be available until March 23rd, 2026.

5.              Any funds that are not used within the deadline of the budget period will be returned to SABC.

Policies and Procedures for Submitting a Request

  1. Requests must be submitted no later than four weeks prior to the event or need-by
    1. If you are hosting a Program or Team Development activity that will occur on a specific day, your request must be submitted at least four weeks prior to that
    2. If you are requesting funds for a multi-day event (e.g. a large event that will last more than one day), please submit a single request for the entire event.
      1. For example, if you are hosting a career conference that will take place over two full days, you will submit only one request for the entire event with the need-by-date being the start of the
      2. If you are requesting funds for an event “series” (e.g. a speaker series, hosting a different speaker once a month), you may submit a single request for all events in the
        1. However, in order to submit a single request for the series, you must be able to provide all required details for each occurrence of the series (location, date/time, guest speaker details, )

  1. If you do not have all the necessary details for the entire series, you should request each event
  1. If you are requesting funds for general operations expenses that are not date sensitive, you must still designate a need-by-date for those items. Your request must be submitted at least four weeks prior to that
  1. The SABC will review all requests that have been submitted as of 5pm on the business day prior to a budget review
  • Following the budget review meeting, the SABC will notify each student group of the decisions for their request:
    1. If funding has been approved, funds will be allocated via the student group’s Triton Connect budget portal which will send notification, to the requestor, of the
    2. If funding has been denied, a zero balance will be allocated via the student group’s Triton Connect budget portal which will send notification, to the requestor, of the
  1. Any funding approved may only be used for the designated event or Student groups may not transfer funding to another event or expense.
  2. Funding must be utilized no later than the last day of the budget period. Any funds that have not been used by that time will be returned to
  3. For any funding request that is less than $2,000, the SABC will review the request as submitted. If a single request for funding totals $2,000 or more, the SABC may ask the requesting student group to attend the budget review meeting to present their budget request in person and provide additional clarification. If a request is unusual or unclear, the SABC may request additional information either in writing or by inviting the requesting student group to attend the review

Specific Limitations & Restrictions

The Student Activity Budget Committee will adhere to the following limits and restrictions when considering funding for certain items/requests:

  1. T-Shirts or other personal items for student group members will be limited to $10.00 per item for up to 100 units of that Limited to one order per semester.
  2. Promotional items that will be given away for recruitment or marketing purposes will be limited to $250 per student group, per
  • Prizes given as part of an event, whether a “door prize” (i.e. randomly drawn) or a prize to the winner of a competition, are limited to $200 per

  1. In addition to this limit, any prize awarded by a student group must follow the “Awarding of Prizes” policy and procedure enforced by the Office of Student Involvement. This requires that any prize with a value of $50 or more must be held in the OSI and the winner of that prize must complete an additional form before collecting the Contact OSI for more information.
  1. Student groups cannot receive additional funding for a specific general operations expense until previously approved funding for that expense has been utilized.
    1. For example, if your student group is approved for $100 to purchase business cards for advertising purposes, you cannot request additional funding for business cards until previously approved $100 has been utilized.

V.          SABC will not consider funding for and will deny any requests which include the following:

  1. Alcohol or events that involve alcohol
  2. Transportation to/from an off-campus event (e.g. shuttle transportation, taxi, rental, car, mileage, )
    1. This does not include or apply to transportation for a guest speaker/performer, or transportation to attend a conference or other team development activity that is outside the Louis Metro area.
  3. Gift Cards or Vouchers
  4. Private parties or exclusive programs
  5. Payroll/salary stipends paid to student group members/officers in compensation for their service to the student group in their role
    1. This does not apply to services provided by an individual outside of the scope of their role with the For example, if your student group Advisor serves as the keynote speaker for a conference your student group is hosting, you may request to pay the advisor a small honorarium for that speech
  6. Events that are not intended for Students (e.g. department gatherings, alumni receptions, )
    1. SABC funding can be used for an event that is co-sponsored by both an student group and another entity (e.g UMSL office/department, local alumni organization, etc.) -- but the student group requesting the funds must show that they are actively involved in the planning and facilitation of the event

  1. The student group must be able to show that they are an equal partner in the Requests considered to be “fronting” (e.g. requesting funding under the guise of the student group that will ultimately be used for a different entity) will be denied.

Additional Considerations

Student organizations that are recently inactive or no longer recognized by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) are not eligible to receive funding from the Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC). If a group has recently regained recognized status, they will be ineligible for SABC funding for one academic semester. After this waiting period, these reactivated student organizations will be eligible for SABC funding, subject only to the standard restrictions outlined in this document.

  1. Documentation
    1. Double-check all documentation before attaching it to the budget. Sometimes pieces of information can get cut off during the collation and printing process, and if that information is vital to the funding of the requested item and is missing, SABC will not be able to accept this as a valid form of documentation.
    2. Be proactive -- if the information you need is not yet available online or in print (i.e. for a future event or conference) ask the event coordinator for a communication on letterhead or an email that shows they are speaking on behalf of a valid organization. Request the necessary information such as prices, dates, and If they do not have those details, ask for an estimate. If the conference/event is annual, the SABC may consider last year’s information if nothing else is available.
      1. SABC wants as much information as possible, such as where items are from, the exact cost, and how many of each item is needed. Requests with insufficient information will be

Requests for “Equipment”

Supplies considered by the Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) to be “substantial equipment” (significant items that are used for more than one event) may be requested under General Operations but will undergo additional scrutiny due to related campus policies. All equipment purchases must be stored on-campus and be available to all students at UMSL. Storing an item in a member’s personal residence hall room is not allowed. Common storage locations include department offices or an advisor’s office.


Fundraising

Student Activity Budget Committee (SABC) funds can not be used to pay for an event where revenue will be generated for the student group or any philanthropic organization/means.

 

These rules and guidelines are not all-inclusive and may not address all possible uses of funding. The Student Activity Budget Committee reserves the right to approve or deny funding based on their best judgment in cases where no specific rule or guideline applies or to their discretion.