Grants

In order for a club to have their grant submission(s) reviewed, there is an eligibility process. It involves having each of your club’s Financial Signing Authorities (VP Operations, VP Finance and President) complete:

Clubs Basic Training Path
AND
Clubs Advanced Training Path

Both paths must be completed by the grant deadline you intend to apply for. Failure to complete both paths will result in immediate denial of your grant application.

Important notes:

• Each signing authority has to complete the paths once during the academic year. In other words, you do not have to repeat the paths for each intake.
• If one of the Financial Signing Authorities leaves the club, the new person taking on the role must catch up and complete both Club Training Paths.

For more information on Paths, refer to the Paths Section of the Handbook.

Remember, do NOT spend money or plan an event before you receive confirmation that your grant application has been approved. This will result in automatic disqualification for the specific grant intake you are applying for. Even more crucially, if you spend money before your grant is approved, you will not only be ineligible for that grant intake but also bear personal financial responsibility. In other words, if you spend money you haven’t yet received, you will be accountable for covering those expenses yourself.

We recommend that events should take place or merchandise should be purchased a minimum of three weeks AFTER the intake deadline you are applying for. This will allow for proper timing for the Grant Review Committee to reach a decision, notify your club, transfer funds and for the promotion/sales of your event.

Grant funding is available to assist with:

• Increasing club activity and encouraging clubs to conduct activities that benefit members and the student body.
• Enhancing the club experience and support club initiatives.
• Building resources for the club community (any reusable resources remain property of NAITSA).
• Subsidizing activities for fundraising efforts.
• “Events with Alcohol Type 2” grant funding limited to two events per academic year per club.
• Promotional/branded items may only be covered up to 50% of the total ordered cost.
• For on campus food costs, food service from the Nest is eligible up to 100% for grant funding. Other official food suppliers on campus are eligible up to 50% for grant funding.
• Subsidizing a small aspect of grad & year end celebrations. These requests are lower in priority because clubs are expected to fundraise for these initiatives.

Grant funds do not cover:

• Direct donations to charities.
• The purchase of alcohol.
• The purchase of cannabis.
• Repayment of loans.
• Purchase of bid items for silent auctions.
• NAIT hosted activities – activities must be hosted and run by the student club.
• Items purchased prior to grant funding approval.
• Deposits (food machine cleaning deposits, locker deposits).
• Gifts for club members
• Gifts for graduation and Year End Celebrations
• Subsidies for merchandise or attendance fees for NAIT Staff. Alumni and non-NAIT guests. In this case those listed above pay full price.

NAITSA will not fund activities that:

• Are offensive, discriminatory, or otherwise deemed inappropriate for the campus community (e.g., misogynistic, homophobic).
• Advocate for genocide, incite hatred, or promote hatred against an identifiable group.
• Seek to promote partisan political agendas or specific religious beliefs. This includes events or activities that are deemed to significantly alienate or polarize members of the campus community.
• Feature candidates in municipal, provincial, or federal elections during the campaign period in a way that could provide an unfair advantage to one candidate.
• Have the potential to damage or negatively affect the reputation of NAITSA or NAIT.
• Funding decisions are ultimately at the discretion of the Grant Review Committee and may be subject to additional review to ensure alignment with campus community standards

The clubs will fulfill the Club Basic Path and the Advance Training Path required for grant eligibility before the grant deadline.

Expenses incurred that are not listed in the grant funding request will not be covered by the grant. These expenses are the clubs responsibility.
All receipts relating to the grant must be submitted via Purchase Requests to Campus Clubs by the closing date indicated in the application or the club will be held financially responsible.

Clubs must adhere to attendance tracking (using Check-in App) for grant funded events. If clubs do not track attendance as required, it will be noted and affect future grant funding for the club.

Lost receipts will not be honoured, only approved expense receipts that have been submitted to Campus Clubs will be covered by the grant.
Accept the funding status and the Grant Reviews Committees decision as final.

• Is my club eligible for grant funding? In other words, did all three club executives complete their basic path and advance path?
• Is my grant application for one event? Remember, each activity/project requires its own separate grant application.
• Am I giving myself enough time to complete the application? Remember, grants must be submitted by 5:00pm for each intake deadline. Late applications are not accepted, no exceptions.
• Is my event/project covered by grant funding? Please read Step 3, know what grant funds cover and Step 4, know what grant funds do not cover, listed above.
• Have you spent time researching your event/initiative and all the expenses involved? Remember, approved grants will only cover what is listed in your application. Many sections require uploads (pricing screenshots or quotes) to back up your budget research. A submission with attention to detail that reflects cost research increases the chances of funding.
• Does my event take place a minimum of three weeks after the grant intake deadline? The Grant Review Committee convenes one week after the submission deadline to approve or deny applications. If approved, it may take an additional business week to notify the club. Furthermore, grant funds will not be transferred to the club’s grant sub-account until the event is created on Ookslife.ca. Clubs should also ensure they allocate sufficient time for event promotion and sales, if applicable.
• How much money am I requesting? How many students will benefit from my event? Funds come from NAITSA student membership fees, so ask yourself, would fellow students approve the request?

You can download the checklist by navigating to Ookslife.ca > Select the NAITSA Campus Clubs Organization > Documents or by following the link – Before you apply Grant: Checklist. 

1. Pay attention to the conditions (if any) are listed in the comments section to receive funds. The most common condition is submitting an event on Ooks Life.
2. Once key conditions have been met and an official approval is reported in the system, the approved amount will be deposited to your clubs account. Grant funds will appear as a sub-account found in your Organization tools, under Finance and then Accounts.
3. Clubs can then spend the money for their initiative and submit purchase requests to pay invoices directly to the company, or reimburse club members. When a payment involves two sub-accounts you will be required to complete two purchase requests in order to withdraw the funds from the correct accounts. This occurs when you need a combination of club funds and grant funds to pay a vendor or reimburse a member. When prompted to complete the subject field of the purchase request, you must indicate the grant project name and whether the request is Part 1 or Part 2 (a combination use of sub-accounts).
4. Ensure all members of your club are aware of grant procedures and inform them of what funds were awarded and what receipts need to be submitted by the close out date.
5. Expenses not listed in the grant budget section of the application = no grant funding for the expense.
6. If the date of a club event involving grant funds changes, it is the responsibility of the club to request a change of their grant close out date.

As part of the grant submission, the club selects an end-of-month closure deadline date for finalizing all financial obligations for the project/activity involving the handling of purchase requests and submission of related receipts. Pay attention to the close out date!. This is an important date that must not be missed. If the deadline passes and receipts and payments are not completed by the selected deadline, funds are automatically reclaimed. No exceptions. No receipts = reclaim of funds.

1. You can change your selected close out date by emailing askclubs@nait.ca before the deadline passes. Provide a new end-of-month closure date. If your project or activity date changes and impacts timelines, ensure you request a new close out date extensions.
2. Lost receipts will not be honoured, only approved expense receipts that have been submitted to Campus Clubs will be covered by the grant.
3. Campus Clubs is not responsible to remind you of your deadlines.

Declined funding occurs if:

1. Insufficient information and/or missing information in the application. You must be specific in what you are asking for and how you are calculating the numbers in your request.
2. The club did not fulfill the Path(s) requirements by the grant deadline.
3. The project/activity is not one that NAITSA would approve.
4. The project/activity is considered less beneficial than other applications in an oversubscribed intake.
5. The club is in bad standing.

If your grant has been denied, clubs may re-apply in a future grant intake. Please note that the activity/event must still occur after the grant intake in which you were approved.