2025-2026 SAO Grant Policies

Minimum Event Criteria

In order to be eligible for funding, the Student Activities Office Grants Team and the Grants Committee must find the group and event to align with the following minimum criteria. 

1. The proposal must demonstrate how the event: promotes student development, enhances diversity, equity, and inclusion, and/or benefits the campus community.

1. Student development is defined as the growth, progression and/or increase in capabilities as a result of engaging in activities that develop and demonstrate achievement in several areas, as outlined by the Office for Student Affairs.
2. Diversity is about understanding and honoring the ways people are unique. It includes the incredible variety that exists from one person to another. This variety comes from a person’s lived experiences that inform who they are and how they think.
3. Equity is about fairness and providing everyone with the resources they need to be successful. This includes a guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all individuals while working to identify and eliminate barriers to full participation.
4. Inclusion is defined as providing a welcoming and respectful environment where the unique qualities and interests of all individuals and communities are embraced and celebrated. This ensures that everyone has equitable access to opportunities, benefits, and services by creating environments of mutual respect where everyone is valued and supported.
5. Benefits the campus community is defined as building community or sharing knowledge within and beyond your own student group.

2. The proposal must explain the event in clear and concise detail.
3. The proposal must contain a complete, balanced, and detailed event budget that aligns with the attached event proposal.

1. Groups with multiple sources of funding for their event must include additional details about the source and what it may cover for their event.

4. The proposal must demonstrate how the event aligns with the group's mission and/or goals?

General Policies

• All Student Activities Office (SAO) Grants are tentatively awarded and dependent upon student groups’ completion of Student Activities Office requirements.

• Groups must complete all pre-event requirements outlined in their award notification by their respective deadline.
• Operational events and operational expenses are not eligible for funding. Student Activities Office Grant funding is intended to support student group programs and special events.
• Operational events: events and programs that are an essential part of the group or are for the purpose of administrative duties including but not limited to group meetings. Operational events will not be funded by the Student Activities Office Grants Program.
• Operational expenses: expenses that are for the group’s general functions rather than specific to the event(s) applied for. Operational expenses also include materials that may be added to the inventory of a group to be used at a later date. Applications with operational expenses will still be considered for funding, but no funding will be awarded by the Student Activities Office Grants Program towards these expenses.
• All determinations of operational events and operational expenses are made at the discretion of the Grants Team and Grants Committee and cannot be appealed.

• To be eligible for funding, the student group must be registered with the Student Activities Office as a Registered Student Organization or a Campus Life Program.
• Any changes to student group status (probation or expired) may impact the group’s award.
• Student groups may be tentatively awarded no more than $10,000 per academic year through SAO grants.

• For partnership grants: Groups will have the award split evenly in their total for the year. The primary applicant’s group will be responsible for receiving and managing the grant funding.

• Groups that receive funding are required to be the sole responsible party for planning, financing, and executing the approved funded event. Groups found to be “fronting” for another student group or external organization will be required to return the full grant award to SAO and may be referred to the Student Group Conduct process.
• Misuse of grant funds may impact the status of the student groups involved.
• All decisions made by the SAO Grants Team and committee are final. No appeals are permitted.
• Any precedent set by the Student Activities Office Grants Committee that is not directly reflected in SAO Grant policy from a previous year does not carry over into subsequent years.
• The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, gender, age, marital status, familial status, disability, public assistance status, membership or activity in a local commission created for the purpose of dealing with discrimination, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Student Activities Office Grant funds will not be awarded to organizations or programs that do not adhere to this policy.
• Student groups and student group events must comply with all University policies and procedures, as well as local, state, and federal laws and regulations. Failure to do so will result in an immediate denial of funding.
• All Student Activities Office Grant deadlines must be met by 10:00 AM (Central Standard Time). This applies to all published deadlines found on the SAO Grant Website, pre-event and post-event deadlines, unless otherwise noted by the Student Group Services Team.

Minimum Requirements to Apply for an SAO Grant

Applicant Requirements

• All applying student groups must be a Registered Student Organization (RSO) or Campus Life Program (CLP) that is currently registered and in good standing with the Student Activities Office.

• Groups in the new or expired registration processes are not eligible to apply for grants until they have completed registration and are listed on Gopherlink as such.
• Prior to September 30, 2025: Currently registered groups are eligible to apply for SAO Grants while completing the Annual Registration process; however, they will not receive funding until the Annual Registration process has been completed for the upcoming year.

• Any tentatively awarded grants will be forfeited for student groups that have not completed annual registration prior to the event date, or September 30, 2025, whichever comes first

• After September 30, 2025: Currently registered groups are required to be fully registered and in good standing with the Student Activities Office prior to applying in order to be eligible.

• Applications submitted by groups that have not completed the Annual Registration process post September 30, 2025 will be immediately denied.

• Only student group officers listed on their Gopherlink profile may represent the student group. This includes being listed as an applicant, signing all grants related documentation, and completing any additional Student Activities Office Grants program requirements. . Both the primary and the secondary applicant are responsible for the completion of all requirements and meeting all deadlines.

• All primary applicants must have completed the 2025-2026 SAO Grants Training Course prior to applying for Student Activities Office Grants.

• Completion of this course requires both quizzes to be completed and the total score to be at least 90%. Quizzes can be taken as many times as needed.
• The completion of this course follows the student that has completed the course, not the group.

Timeline Requirements

• Student groups may apply for grants with events that fall between the dates of  August 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026.

• Events funded in the current fiscal year of July 1, 2025 - May 31, 2026 may not be pushed back into the next fiscal year.
• Groups that are awarded grants in the June 2025 cycle will not receive their grant payment requested until the start of the upcoming fiscal year, July 2025.

• Events must align with the correct grant deadlines to be eligible for funding. Retroactive funding is not available.
• Changes in any approved event logistics should be immediately communicated via email to the Grants Team prior to the event date.
• Issues that arise with securing vendor documentation should be immediately communicated via email to the Grants Team prior to the post-event submission deadline communicated in each award notification.
• Any request to move the date of a Student Activities Office Grant funded event must be approved by the Student Activities Office Grants Team prior to the event’s date.

• Failure to communicate by this deadline may result in an automatic forfeiture of the Student Activities Office grant award.  

Fund & Budget Requirements

• Event expenses must align with all University policies and procedures, as well as local, state, and federal laws and regulations.
• Two budgets are required for the program:

• A proposed event budget: to be submitted in the group’s proposal. This includes all projected event expenses, including costs and income not requested through the SAO Grant.
• A post-event budget: must be submitted in the post-event evaluation form. This includes all actual expenses and income, including costs not requested for SAO Grant funding and all income brought in specifically for this event.

• Eligible and ineligible expenses for Student Activities Office grants are outlined in the Unallowable and Allowable Expense Document.
• Each grant request must total at least $100.

• For event series applications: The individual events in a series may be less than $100, as long as the total amount for the entire series included in the application is more than $100.

• SAO Grants may not fund more than the total cost of the event. If total event expenses are less than the amount awarded, the student group will be required to return the overage.

• Tickets may be sold for an event, as long as the revenue is used solely to fund the event and not to generate a profit for the group.

• Any profit and income made from an SAO Grant funded event will be subtracted from the group’s SAO Grant funding and a reimbursement of SAO Grant funds may be necessary.

• All external sources of income outside of SAO grants used to execute the event must be included in the post-event submission and budget.

Event Requirements:

• To be considered an “on-campus” event, the location must be an on-campus location as listed on the campus Clery Map.
• Groups may request a series of events in one application A series of events is a repeated event with the same purpose and goals.

• Event series examples include monthly lunch and learn events, speaker series, workshops, etc.
• Justifications must be explicitly clear how the series is different from a general meeting.

• Meetings are considered operational events and are ineligible for funding through Student Activities Office Grants.
• Groups may request multiple day events. This may be a themed week with different types of events contained within a timeframe.

• Examples of multiple day events include conferences, celebration weeks, etc.

• All on-campus events must only serve Coca-Cola products. Off-campus events funded by Coca-Cola grants must serve Coca-Cola products. A list of Coca-Cola products can be found on the Coca-Cola Brand website. Alcoholic products are not permitted.

• Exceptions may be made for beverages made on-site or made by a licensed caterer.

• Any exceptions must be expressly justified in the Student Activities Office event proposal and is at the discretion of the SAO Grants team and SAO Grants committee.

• Groups that have not received an exception prior to their event may be required to reimburse SAO Grant funding for that budget line item.

• In order for events to be considered "for all students", the event must take place on campus or digitally and the grant application must identify the following:

• Publicity efforts reaching beyond parts of campus dominated by a specific major or group of students.
• Educational and event goals identifying specific ways all students would benefit from attending.
• Realistic expectation that students outside the targeted major or group will attend.

Any changes to the original pre-event proposal or application must be emailed to the Grants Assistant at saogrant@umn.edu for approval prior to the event date.

Partnership Grant Requirements

• Grants that indicate that there are multiple student groups partnering on an event must demonstrate how each group is contributing to the event’s success and co-creating the event together.
• Solely providing funding or minimal support to the event planning process will not be considered a partnership.
• Partnership grant proposals must list a representative from each partnering group.
• Partnership events only refer to multiple student groups collaborating.

Grant Initiative Criteria

If minimum criteria are met, the Grants Team reviews Grant Initiative Criteria to determine eligibility for funding. Criteria for each grant initiative is outlined below.

Coke Activity Grant Criteria

• Groups applying to attend a conference are not eligible for this initiative.
• Only on-campus events are eligible for this initiative.

• This is determined by the Clery Map

• Events funded by this initiative must be “for all University of Minnesota Twin Cities students”
• The maximum amount that groups may be awarded from this initiative for each grant is $2000.

Coke Development Grant Criteria

• The student group must be registered with the Student Activities Office as a Registered Student Organization or a Campus Life Program.
• The student group must be seeking to host or participate in a developmental opportunity that benefits the University community, provides a service to the broader community, or enhances the student group's performance.
• If attending a conference, the application must include a plan to share information with the broader campus community.
• The maximum amount student groups may be awarded from this initiative is $500 for off-campus events, and $1000 for on-campus events.

Administrative Grant Qualification

• The student group must be registered with the Student Activities Office as a Registered Student Organization.

• Partnership grants must have the primary group be a registered student organization (RSO) to qualify for this initiative.

• Registered Student Organizations receiving funds from a department for their event are not eligible for this initiative.
• The student group must be seeking funding to host or participate in a developmental opportunity that benefits the University community, provides a service to the broader community, or enhances the student group’s performance.
• If attending a conference, the application must include a plan to share information with the larger campus community.
• The maximum amount student groups may be awarded from this initiative is $1000.

Maroon Grant

• Student groups that have received Student Service Fee funding prior to their SAO Grant being awarded are not eligible for this initiative.

• For partnership events, at least one student group must be a non-Student Service Fees receiving group.
• Groups that move the date of their SAO Grant funded event back will be subject to a reevaluation of their SSF-funded status. If it is found at this point that the group has received Student Service Fee funding, they will no longer be eligible for this initiative and their award will be adjusted. This may also require groups to submit an updated Statement of Agreement.

• The event must be held on campus to qualify for this initiative.
• The event must be for all University of Minnesota Twin Cities students.
• The maximum amount that groups may be awarded from this initiative is $2000

Student Events and Entertainment Grant

In addition to funding, this grant allows groups to submit a request to be featured on the SAO Events Calendar. One application may be selected each grant cycle to receive funding from this initiative.

• The event must be held on campus
• The event must be social in nature to qualify for this initiative. In order to be considered “social in nature”, the event must be:

• Non academic
• For all students
• Capable of hosting 200+ attendees

• The event must have a predominantly University of Minnesota - Twin Cities student audience
• The event must be free for all University of Minnesota - Twin Cities students
• Events being planned in collaboration with Student Events and Entertainment are not eligible for this initiative.
• Events with dates in conflict with stated blackout dates are not eligible for this initiative.
• The event proposal must showcase a high level of cultural context or subject matter knowledge in order to respectfully execute.
• Student Groups who would like to be considered for this initiative are required to respond to an additional question in their proposal. They will also be required to report in their application that they would like to be considered for this initiative.
• The maximum amount that a group can receive from this initiative is $1000.