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Student Organizations - Fundraising Policy 2011-2012

The Student Organization Fundraising policy promotes consistency among student organizations, and between organizations and the formal fundraising efforts of the Dean’s Office. Please direct all fundraising inquiries to the Director of Student Life. The Director of Student Life will work with each student organization to determine goals and an appropriate fundraising strategy.

All funds raised to support student organizations must be solicited, processed, and expended in accordance with UC gift and accounting policy.

For special events or projects that require funding beyond what is available through student organization fundraisers and UCI funding sources, the Director of Student Life will seek assistance through the Development Office. The Assistant Dean of Development and External Relations must approve requests.

Once approved, the Development office will work in conjunction with the Director of Student Life and the student organization to develop a fundraising plan. Please note that approval of requests does NOT guarantee funding.

The Director of Student Life will follow up with student organizations regarding the status of fundraising requests within three business days.

All fundraising efforts for the Public Interest Law Fund are excluded from these policies. Questions regarding funding for PILF should be directed to Mary Germain, Assistant Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations, at 949-824-5335 or mgermain@law.uci.edu.

I. Fundraising from internal sources for UCI Law Student Organizations

  1. Fundraising from internal sources by student organizations will be approved by the Director of Student Life or Dean of Students. The Director of Student Life must approve all of the logistics for the fundraiser, including the location, duration and purpose of the fundraiser. Students must submit a Law Event Approval Form (LEAF) at least one week prior to the proposed date of the fundraiser.
  2. Fundraisers will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis. The number of fundraisers an organization is allowed to do or the amount of fundraising efforts in a given month by any student organization may be limited at the discretion of the Director of Student Life or Dean of Students.
  3. There is no limit on the amount of funds a student organization may raise through an internal fundraiser.

II. Fundraising From Internal Sources to Benefit External Organizations

  1. Fundraising by student organizations or individual students to benefit an outside organization will be approved by the Director of Student Life and/or the Dean of Students on a case-by-case basis. Students must submit a Law Event Approval Form (LEAF) to the Director of Student Life at least one week prior to the proposed date of the fundraiser. Fundraising is limited to internal UCI Law community members including students, faculty and staff.
  2. The funds raised for an external organization must be for the purpose of providing direct services to or on behalf of underprivileged or disenfranchised individuals or organizations. Fundraising to promote particular causes or missions is not permitted.
  3. Fundraisers benefitting external groups will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis. Student organizations will be permitted to host one fundraiser to benefit an external organization per semester. No more than eight fundraisers benefitting external organizations will be allowed in a semester except in extraordinary circumstances, such as the occurrence of a natural disaster. In such circumstances, students may petition the Director of Student Life or Dean of Students for a waiver of this policy. Fundraisers for external organizations may be a collection of funds or goods.
  4. Student organizations may not use UCI Law facilities or resources to raise funds to benefit an individual except in exceptional circumstances. Please see the Director of Student Life if something should arise that you believe warrants a fundraiser.

III. Fundraising from external sources for UCI Law Student Organizations

This section facilitates student organizations in hosting special events that require funding beyond what is available through UCI funding sources and internal fundraising efforts. It is important for the success of all fundraising efforts that multiple and competing requests for donations be minimized.

  1. As a general rule, student organizations and individual students may not directly solicit funding from outside sources including law firms and corporations and individual members of law firms and corporations. However, the Assistant Dean of Development and the Director of Student Life will consider student organization requests for external funding for special events and programs (workshops, symposia, speakers, etc.). If approved, the Development Office will determine the process for soliciting firms, corporations, or other funding sources.
  2. Requests for travel will generally not be considered unless there are exceptional circumstances. Travel requests should be submitted to the Student Bar Association.
  3. As a general matter, requests to fund social activities for students and student organizations will not be considered. See information regarding other possible funding sources on the UCI Law Student Organization web site.
  4. Each student organization may request from $500 to $5,000 per event. Requests under $500 will not be considered. In the case of an event jointly sponsored by more than one student organization, only one request up to $5,000 will be considered. Requests to raise more than $5,000 will be considered only under exceptional circumstances.

IV. How to Request External Funding

  1. General criteria that will be considered:
    • The requested funding is not already available from the organization’s budget or other internal UCI funding sources
    • Project and fundraising goals are consistent with the mission and policies of UCI Law
    • Envisioned project is fundable through charitable gifts
    • Implementation of the project will require minimal UCI Law resources
    • Solicitation of individual organization(s) is consistent with other solicitation of those organizations by UCI Law
  2. Procedure for submitting requests:
    • Student organizations are required to complete a Law Event Approval Form (LEAF) at least four weeks prior to their event. In addition to the LEAF, the student organization must also provide amount requested, anticipated use of funds, names of firm(s) to be approached and proposed contact names if known, list of proposed benefits provided to the firms and name of student(s) who will be responsible for coordinating fundraising effort and any additional relevant information.

V. Gift Handling

  1. All organizations are required to handle gifts in accordance with UC policy.
  2. Gifts in any form, including cash, must be processed through The UCI Foundation to insure the issuance of official tax receipts, gift acknowledgments, and to become part of the university’s obligatory permanent record of donations.
  3. All gifts are to be submitted to the UCI Law Development office for processing by the UCI Foundation.
  4. Gifts may ONLY be expended in accordance with UC accounting policy, regardless of their source.

VI. Unsolicited sponsorship offers from Law Firms and other outside Entities

Student organizations may not automatically accept unsolicited donations from external sources. Student organizations that are approached by law firm recruiting officers with proposals to provide funding for events or programs are not barred from discussing such offers, provided that the student organization indicates to the recruiting officers that any proposal is subject to approval by the Development Office.

VII. Student Organization Fundraising Policy Violations

If a student organization violates the fundraising policy, UCI Law reserves the right to take appropriate administrative action up to and including loss of student organization privileges at UCI Law.