2025 Yearly Strategic Spending Guidelines for Clubs

ANUSA Clubs Officer

Funding Pool and Spending Caps

The funding pool for 2025 is $200,000. The funding limit per club is $10,000. This is calculated using a percentage limit of 4.153% with 118 affiliated clubs as at Week 3.

Funding from SEEF and Clubs Pitch Grants do not contribute to a club’s funding limit, as they are not club grants under the Regulations.

Grant-Specific Strategic Guidance

Event Grants

Ordinary Events Grant

Strategic Focus: Community building and member engagement

• Prioritize quality over quantity of events.
• Focus on events that actively engage members rather than passive participation.
• Consider how food and refreshments contribute to the event’s objectives rather than serving as the primary draw.

Special Annual Event Grant

Strategic Focus: Signature programming and tradition building

• Develop a distinctive event that becomes associated with your club’s identity.
• Create programming that serves as a capstone to the year’s activities.
• Design experiences that generate anticipation and build community memory.

Travel Events Grant

Strategic Focus: Educational experiences and external engagement

• While funding is limited to transport costs, clubs should prioritize travel that:
  • Provides unique educational or cultural experiences.
  • Represents the club at competitions or conferences.
  • Builds relationships with similar organizations at other institutions.
  • Provides exposure to industry or field-specific contexts.
• ANUSA bus hire is free for all affiliated clubs – petrol may be covered by the grant.
• Clubs should prioritize the use of public transport (e.g bus, train) over personal transport where possible.
• Remember to submit this before the event occurs – the earlier the better.

Joint Event Grant

Strategic Focus: Resource maximization and community integration

• Seek partnerships that are substantive rather than nominal.
• Look for complementary strengths between clubs.
• Design events that would be impossible for a single club to execute.

Inclusive Events Grant

Strategic Focus: Barrier removal and broad participation

• Identify and address specific barriers to participation.
• Consider both visible and invisible accessibility needs.
• Can be used for equity ticketing for ordinary and special events.
• Use as a supplement to make standard events more inclusive – Clubs team is able to provide advice on how it can be put to use. See also the Accessible Events resource on the Clubs Info page.
• Ask about this ahead of time so the Clubs team can ensure that intended expenditure can be covered from this grant.

Operational Grants

Ordinary Operational Grant

Strategic Focus: Administrative efficiency and organizational health

• Invest in systems that reduce administrative burden.
• Prioritize expenses that improve communication with members.
• Consider costs associated with executive transition and knowledge management.
• Domain and web-hosting costs will not be approved under the grant.
  • Free options for hosting exist – see https://github.com/anusaclubs/knowledgebase/wiki/How-to:-Websites! for a guide on migrating an existing website. Github Pages domain names (.github.io) exist and are useful for clubs who don’t wish to purchase a .com domain from the club’s existing funds.
• Club Regulations restrict grants covering subscription fees unless they deliver a ‘vital and competitive service, such as a Costco membership’ (s22.5). Subscriptions to Canva, Capcut, Netflix, Google Workspace and similar software will not be approved, as free equivalents are usually sufficient for day-to-day operations.
  • Canva does have free Pro memberships for registered NFPs: https://www.canva.com/canva-for-nonprofits/. Please apply for this if so desired.
  • Google Workspace has free memberships for registered NFPs as well: https://www.google.com/nonprofits/

Capital Expenditure Grant

Strategic Focus: Long-term organizational assets

• Prioritize purchases that have multi-year utility.
• Consider ongoing maintenance costs in purchase decisions. While maintenance may be able to be covered by ordinary operational grants, they will nonetheless contribute to the club’s funding cap.
• Evaluate potential for asset sharing across clubs. ANUSA is open to purchasing common resources for the clubs program – if you have an idea reach out!
• Maintain a detailed inventory of capital items. This should include asset description, date purchased, and where it is stored.
• Indicative capital expenditure grant approvals (up to limit of $1000 per year):
  • Square tap-and-go card reader – 100% (limit of 1 per club)
  • Pull-up banner – 100% (limit of 1 per club)
• Capital expenditure grant approvals, like all other operational grant approvals, are discretionary and prospective. The quote amount received after submitting a grant application will be the definitive amount allocated for a given grant.

Merchandise Grant

Strategic Focus: Low-cost brand awareness and community building

• Funding Priority: ANUSA will prioritize funding small, low-cost merchandise items such as stickers, pins, and badges.
• Funding Proportions: ANUSA will generally provide up to 50% of purchase price for small and low-cost merchandise items like stickers or pens. Medium items, like tote bags, will be covered up to 25% of purchase price. ANUSA will provide up to 15% of purchase price for high-cost items such as hoodies. Exceptions may be made for equity provisions – talk to the Clubs team if that is the case.
• Bulk Purchasing Initiative: ANUSA encourages clubs to participate in coordinated bulk sticker/small merchandise orders to reduce per-unit and shipping costs.
• Environmental Considerations: Preference given to merchandise with minimal environmental impact. ANUSA may provide a small increase in funding amount for sustainable merch.

Club Startup Grant

Strategic Focus: Foundation building for new clubs

• Establish basic operational infrastructure.
• Create initial marketing materials.
• Fund inaugural events to attract membership.
• Develop essential organizational processes.

Club Handover Grant

Strategic Focus: Leadership continuity and knowledge transfer

• Grant is not earmarked for any particular purpose, so clubs can spend it as they wish if it is in accordance with SSAF.
• ANUSA recommends spending the grant on the following:
  • Providing training / team-building for incoming committee members.
  • Facilitating knowledge transfer between outgoing and incoming leadership.
• Please use this grant, it’s free money for ensuring the club’s long-term future.

Financial Stewardship Expectations

ANUSA expects clubs to demonstrate:

• Clear alignment between expenditures and stated club objectives.
• Evidence-based decision making in financial planning.
• Transparency in financial reporting to members.
• Efforts to diversify revenue beyond ANUSA funding where appropriate.
• Consideration of equity and inclusion in all financial decisions.

Conclusion

This strategic spending guideline aims to help clubs maximize the impact of their ANUSA funding while advancing broader community priorities. By thoughtfully applying these principles to their grant applications and financial decisions, clubs can contribute to a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable campus culture in 2025.