LSE Annual Fund Grant Applications for Students

LSE Annual Fund Grant Applications for students Criteria 2016-2017 What types of projects will be considered for funding? Projects or events which are submitted should: 1. Assist in advancing LSE’s development plans and reputation to stakeholders and the broader community 2. Offer the widest possible benefit to LSE and its students, academics, departments or the broader community 3. Meet a clearly expressed academic, student or overall School need, particularly needs outlined or identified in the LSE Strategic Plan: http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/LSEServices/planningAndStatistics/strategicPlan.aspx 4. Reflect the positioning of the LSE Annual Fund, which allows the School to respond flexibly to immediate and ‘extra’ needs over and above core priorities 5. Be innovative and unique, demonstrating why LSE is a world leading and progressive institution 6. Enable an innovative pilot project or new initiative within a department or specific area of the School to occur that would meet the above criteria, with a clear explanation of how the project would be funded in future years 7. Applications must reflect the Equality and Diversity policies of LSESU. All projects and events must be accessible to all groups of students What types of student led projects or activities will be considered for funding? Projects or events submitted for student led projects or activities, including Students’ Union societies and initiatives, should meet the requirements listed above. Examples below are types of student led projects the LSE Annual Fund supports in principle: 1. Equipment which is an investment in an activity (sporting equipment, electronics, software, etc) 2. Programmes and activities that meet the School’s agenda for widening participation 3. Events with a clear educational or developmental purpose (i.e. – not parties, social events with no constructive purpose and which do not align with the agenda of the School and the LSE SU) 4. New societies 5. Publications for relevant society business The LSE Annual Fund will not consider student led projects that: 1. Are principally social events without a clear purpose and which do not align with the agenda of the School, Students’ Union and an individual society 2. Consist of unnecessary or excessive travel – holidays are not funded 3. Include any type of recurring staff costs 4. Restricts membership of the activity or society for the purposes of excluding or discriminating against a specific group of students 5. Could damage the reputation of LSE 6. Do not meet the LSE branding criteria in terms of LSE SU student society events and general student led initiatives and projects Additional information on application guidelines 1. The LSE Annual Fund will not consider incomplete applications. Applicants must complete all details, including the budget spreadsheet to accompany the application. 2. Food and drink will not normally be funded unless it is integral to the project. Even in those circumstances where funding is awarded for refreshments, it must not exceed 10% of the total request for funds. 3. Applications for funding for one day conferences (to either host or attend a one day conference) will have a tariff set not to exceed £3,000. If a one day conference will exceed this amount, the additional funding must be sought from other sources. 4. Speaker fees will not normally be funded unless speaker participation is integral to the project. However, in certain circumstances when speaker fees cannot be avoided, fees must be kept to a reasonable amount. 5. LSE Annual Fund grant monies must not be spent on speaker gifts. 6. When applying for travel costs for speakers or any member of the LSE community, please note the LSE Annual Fund will not fund business or first class train fares or flight costs. 7. The LSE Annual Fund look to support the publication of online journals wherever possible. Should hard copy publication be requested for funding, it will be necessary to state in the application why hard copies will be more beneficial than an online version, and how future production costs will be covered going forward (for both online and hard copy). 8. Excessive marketing budgets will not be covered by the LSE Annual Fund, especially for printed, hard copy materials, such as posters, leaflets and brochures. 9. The LSE Annual Fund will not consider applications with unclear budgets that do not clearly state what costs the Annual Fund grant will cover. Branding All Students’ Union societies and student led events should be branded accordingly under the School’s branding guidelines. The LSE SU student societies are part of the LSE Students' Union, not the London School of Economics (“LSE”). No Society is permitted to refer to itself as a representative of the School in any other way than as a society of the Students’ Union. Societies are expressly forbidden from referring to themselves as LSE departments, organisations or services and from using any LSE branding. Please see below the examples of how LSE SU societies and student led projects can be branded: - The LSE Students' Union XXX Conference/Forum - The LSE SU XXX Conference/Forum - The LSE Student XXX Conference/Forum What should I include in my application? All LSE Annual Fund grant applications should include the following: • Detailed budget of the total project costs (with VAT) – including materials, labour and other costs. If you are applying to the Annual Fund for partial funding, you need to clearly indicate which costs you expect the Annual Fund grant to cover. • Information on other sources of funding for the project, including amounts. • Duration of the project, including start and finish dates. • Detailed project summary. • Explanation of what your project is and how it meets the criteria for financial support from the Annual Fund. • How you would recognise the LSE Annual Fund as a sponsor of your project. For example, through marketing materials, newsletters, websites, conference slides and banners, in external reports about the project and high resolution photos showing the project, with the students involved and the Annual Fund logo in shot. • Details of the project reporter who is responsible for submitting the final written report and expenditure report on completion of your project. • If you are applying for a project not associated with the LSE SU you must have approval from your Head of Department before submitting your application. You must provide an existing LSE budget code on your application form. This must be approved by your Head of Department, budget controller and budget holder. • If you are applying on behalf of an LSE SU society you must speak to the staff at the Students’ Union to ensure they have reviewed your application with you first.

What other types of projects will not be considered for funding? 1. Research projects, whether by groups or individuals, which are eligible for grants from standard research grant sources. 2. Retrospective funding. 3. Recurrent or repeat funding for projects. The LSE Annual Fund does not give priority to projects that will need recurrent funding in order to proceed. If recurrent funding is needed, applicants should clearly state how they plan to fund the project in the future and how the project is sustainable without repeat funding from the Annual Fund. Annual Fund grants must start to be spent in Lent Term 2016 and will be spent in full by the end of 2016/2017. 4. Applications from individuals or academic departments seeking financial support, tuition, maintenance or other course related fees, including scholarship and hardship funding. 5. Applications from individuals or departments for replacement staff costs for sabbatical leave or other leave. 6. Applications for recurrent salaries for permanent members of staff. 7. Project bids which have already been submitted to the Academic Planning and Resources Committee (APRC) and refused funding, unless APRC have suggested that the project should be put forward for consideration of Annual Fund funding. 8. Applications from departments to fund regular departmental expenditure. 9. Applications for monies that would directly or indirectly support other registered charities or organisations with charitable status. Also, applications for monies that would directly support the fundraising activities for other registered charities or organisations with charitable status. Who can I contact to further discuss my grant application? If you have specific questions about your LSE Annual Fund grant application that are not covered in the guidelines and FAQ’s, please email [email protected], or call into the ARC on the 1st floor of Saw Swee Hock Student Centre between 10am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.