Event Grant Applications and Scoring

This page pertains to the Event Grant offered by the UASU Student Group Granting Program. For more information on the program and how to apply, please see the overview page.

Event Grant Applications and Scoring

The purpose of the Event Grant is to provide funding to events either hosted or attended by members student groups, which provide positive, practical experiences which will enhance the student involvement experience, and contribute to student group goals. The Student Group Granting Program will prioritize those grant applications which best meet the standards and expectations of the rubricscoring sheet below. 

Application Questions

• Grant request amount, must be between $100.00 and $2,000.00 but no more than half of the cost of the event.
• Constitution upload.
• What is your student group's primary role in this event?
  • Attending
  • Hosting
• Please describe the event. Include: What is the purpose of the event? What will be happening at the event?
• How does the purpose of this event relate to the mission or goals of your student group? How will this event contribute to the ongoing visibility and success of your student group?
• What will participants in this event learn from engaging in this activity or event? How will it impact the University of Alberta community?
• Please answer this question if your student group is HOSTING the event on this application:
  • Please describe the marketing and communication strategies that your group will employ to attract students to your event. 
  • Include: a description of your group’s target audience, examples of platforms and/or tactics for reaching and engaging with them. 
• Please answer this question if your student group is ATTENDING the event on this application:
  • What skills, learning, or experience will you bring back for the student group? Why is attendance at this specific event important? 
• Optional: Upload a supporting document with information about the event, such as an itinerary, poster, etc.
• Please describe the assessment plans for your event. What are the metrics you will use to measure the success of the event? How will you collect assessments and/or feedback from participants?
  • How does this assessment plan provide additional benefit to your group?
• Optional: Upload a supporting document with an outline for the specifics on how your group will evaluate the success of your event.
  • This can include formal survey outlines, questions asked during the event by organizers, or how will specific metrics be tracked and reported.
• Event and operating budgets upload.
• For groups showing a surplus or deficit in their overall operating budget:
  • What factors contributed to the group having a surplus or deficit in their budget?
    • (Surplus) Why are you applying for a grant, instead of using your group’s surplus to cover the costs of the event?
    • (Deficit) How would receiving a grant help set this event up for success in the future? 
• If your application is successful, for which costs or items, specifically, will the Student Group Granting Program funding be used?
  • List items; they should correspond with items that appear in your Event Budget.

Rubric

Grant Request Amount

Event grants must be between $100.00 and $2,000.00 with the maximum awarded amount being affected by a variety of factors. This includes:

1. How much funding in grants was received in the current granting year, up to $2,000.00 can be awarded to a single group in grants per year.
2. The total cost of your event, event grants can cover half the cost of an event up to $2,000.00. This means to be eligible for $2,000.00, the event must cost at least $4,000.00

Constitution Upload

For this section, please upload a copy of your group's most recently approved constitution as a PDF. If you are unaware of your group's most recently approved constitution, please reach out to Student Group Services at clubs@uasu.ca. To change your group's constitution, please submit an Information Update Request form on Rubric.

Please note that you will only be able to upload PDF documents to the application form on Rubric!

What is your student group's primary role in this event?

The Student Group Granting Program will not issue two grants for the same event. If multiple student groups are hosting a collaborative activity together, the groups may apply jointly for that event, by expressing this intention on the application form. The granting limit for the event will be the greatest of the annual limits of the groups, not the sum.

1. Hosting an event: Your group is responsible for the planning and oversight of the event, it was submitted for event approval by your group, your group is liable for the event.
2. Attending an event: Your group does not submit the event for approval, have any involvement in planning, has no liability in the event. Activities such as sending group members to a conference, competition, etc..

Please describe the event. Include: What is the purpose of the event? What will be happening at the event?

This question is especially important, it shows the Adjudicators why your event matters and why it is relevant to your student group. Your response to this question affects your score in multiple sections of the scoring sheet making it super important to have a clear and strong description of your event. Some key points include:

1. How does this event relate to your group's mission, goals, mandate, etc.? Why is it specifically important for your group to have this event?
   
2. What is the benefit of this event to attendees, your group's members or the general campus community?
3. What activities at this event contribute to the success of your event?

In your response, it is very important to be specific and detailed while still being concise! Adjudicators need to know the who, what, where, why and how AND also see the value of this event.

How does the purpose of this event relate to the mission or goals of your student group? How will this event contribute to the ongoing visibility and success of your student group?

This question is referring to the mission statement of your group's most recently approved constitution. Review this and then think about how receiving a grant will have a positive impact on your group and allow you to achieve your mission, goals, mandate, etc.. 

If part of your group's mandate and mission is to serve your members, how does hosting this event contribute to this? How does the event contribute to the success of your group or benefit your members? 

If this event will draw attention to your group, discuss how this is of benefit in the short- and long-term. What specifically does visibility do for your group? Does it help with recruitment, event attendance, funding, passion, etc.?

What will participants in this event learn from engaging in this activity or event? How will it impact the University of Alberta community?

Student groups exist to improve the campus community and student experience as well as provide networking and professional engagement opportunities. How does this event relate to the overall goal of your student group being of benefit to this campus and its students? More specifically, what do attendees or participants have to gain? Why is it important that they go? Broadly, how does this benefit to individuals contribute to the entirety of the campus community?

Please answer this question if your student group is HOSTING the event on this application:

Please describe the marketing and communication strategies that your group will employ to attract students to your event. 

1. How is your group getting the word out about your event?
2. What are you saying or doing that makes students interested in attending your event?
3. Why do you think that this is an effective campaign?

Include: a description of your group’s target audience, examples of platforms and/or tactics for reaching and engaging with them. 

Please answer this question if your student group is ATTENDING the event on this application:

What skills, learning, or experience will you bring back for the student group? Why is attendance at this specific event important? 

1. Using a grant for a select few members of your group has a lower overall campus community benefit. Does attendance at this event help your group benefit students and the campus community?
2. Is attendance open to all members of your group or just executive?
3. How does this event relate to your group's mandate?

Optional: Upload a supporting document with information about the event, such as an itinerary, poster, etc.

Please describe the assessment plans for your event. What are the metrics you will use to measure the success of the event? How will you collect assessments and/or feedback from participants?

An assessment plan determines how successful your event was, this can be qualitative or quantitative. Some key questions you should ask yourself are:

1. How will your group determine the success of their event through an assessment plan?
2. How will this assessment plan help your group to plan future events or operations? 

Scoring Sheet Categories

Group Growth and Participant Learning

• When describing the purpose of the event, whether the group is planning/hosting the event or attending a conference or competition, the grant application must identify specific skills or experiences that the participating students will gain, and how they will relate to the ongoing visibility and success of the student group

Details of Application

• Event details and relevant and specific. The application does not leave out major details (such as an event’s purpose, date, or venue) and the specific items or services that will be covered by the grant funds, if the application is successful, are identified in the application.

Fiscal Responsibility

• Documentation is provided on the fiscal management of the group, and they demonstrate that the group has plans beyond the current year. The application also demonstrates the considerations the executive has taken to ensure the financial health of the student group, and provides details on how this event contributes to the overall financial stability of the student group. Responsible financial practices must also be present, with adequate explanations for prior year ending in deficit.

Impact

• The event is impactful to both the success of the student group and to the campus community. Descriptions of assessment plans to measure the success of the event are paramount.

Relevance to Student Group

• The event is intentionally planned and actively contributes to the student group’s stated mission, as identified in the group’s constitution*.
  *Constitution must be reviewed by Student Group Services as per Student Group Recognition policies and procedure.
  

RubricScoring Sheet

Weight	Criteria	4 - Excellent	3 - Good	2 - Fair	1 - Poor
25%	Group Growth and Participant Learning	Participant Learning:  See 3. Three or more robust learning outcomes are described.  Group Growth: See 3. The application also provides specifics on how the event contributes to the growth and visibility of the student group in both short and long terms.	Participant Learning:  Specific skills or understanding that participants will gain are identified; activities at the event will directly contribute to specific learning outcomes. Purpose of event has particular, positive impact(s) on the student group (internally), and the University of Alberta Community (externally). Group Growth: The application describes how the event outcomes contribute to the growth of the student group.	Participant Learning:  Specific skills or understanding that participants will gain are identified; activities at the event will directly contribute to specific learning outcomes. Purpose of event has unspecified impact(s) on the student group (internally), and/or the University of Alberta Community (externally). Group Growth:  The application implies or is unspecific in the description of how the event outcomes contribute to the growth of the student group.	Participant Learning:  The purpose of the event is undefined, and no learning outcomes have been specified.  Group Growth: It is unclear in the application how this event will positively represent the student group to encourage growth.
20%	Details of Application	Clarity:  See criteria for score 3.  Specificity:  Items and services to be covered by the grant funding are specified; their relevance to the goals of the event have been described clearly.	Clarity:  Application details are clear, informative, and include all major details (eg. dates, locations, sources of funding), and additional context provided.  Specificity:  Items and services to be covered by the grant funding are specified.	Clarity:  The application is readable, though disjointed. Some questions may have been answered in sentence fragments, and is difficult to understand.   Specificity: Items and services to be covered by the grant are described generally.	Clarity:  Application details are lacking, vague and general. Little planning has been done, and no steps have been taken. Information is missing or incomplete. Specificity: No specific items or services are mentioned.
35%	Fiscal Responsibility	Budgets: See criteria for score 3. All budgets are highly detailed, and demonstrate evidence that the group has taken all measures to reduce costs. Financial Planning:  See criteria for score 3. Based on the books, the event contributes to the financial sustainability of the group.  Groups show history of proper financial management, or provide adequate  explanations for deficit with plan to improve financial health.	Budgets: Required budgets are included on the application, and include details that are clear and agree with the purposes of the student group and the event.  Financial Planning:  The budget suggests that the group is financially sound; that is, the event costs are reasonable, and/or justified, with evidence that it will ensure the future financial health of the group.	Budgets: Required budgets are included on the application. Budgets are unclear in places and/or describe some “miscellaneous” costs that are undefined.  Financial Planning:  The budget suggests that the event will not run a deficit, but may be leaving the group somewhat financially unstable for the future	Budgets: Requested budgets are not present, or if they are present, leave out significant details.  Financial Planning:  The budget suggests that the event will run a large deficit, or will otherwise leave the group in poor financial health.
10%	Impact	Student Group Impact:  See criteria for score 3. Campus Impact: The group clearly demonstrates how the event will impact and improve the broader campus community. Assessment Plans: Assessment method(s) are described in detail, including why the specific method(s) were chosen and how the data collected will be used to plan for future events.	Student Group Impact:  The group clearly demonstrates how the event will impact the members of the student group. Campus Impact: The group discusses how the event will impact and improve the broader campus community. Assessment Plans: Assessment method(s) are explained in the application, with justification for the selected method(s).	Student Group Impact: The group mildly explains the impact which the event will have on its members. Campus Impact: See criteria for score 1. Assessment Plans: Some planning for assessing the impact and success of the event are indicated in the application, but justification for the selected method(s) are unclear.	Student Group Impact:  The group does not illustrate how the event will impact the members of the student group. Campus Impact: The group does not illustrate how the event will impact the broader campus community. Assessment Plans: Little or no planning for assessing the impact and success of the event are indicated in the application.
10%	Relevance to Student Group	See description for 3 scale. The application also demonstrates the applicant’s understanding of the long-term context and impact of the event on the group’s goals.	Application clearly defines the relationship between outcomes of the event and the goals of the student group, as identified in their Constitution*.	Unclear what tie the event has to the outcomes or goals of the student group, but the event could potentially bring positive attention to the group.	No indication has been made by the applicant of how the event relates to the overarching goals of the student group’s Constitution.