ACCESSING AND USING YOUR MONEY
Money appropriated to your organization is placed in your organization’s account. Students do not have direct access to organization accounts, to access club funds you will need to work with Student Activities (Karla Nerdahl – knerdahl@bowdoin.edu) to use the following methods. Failure to follow your SAFC budget and intentionally overspending may result in the loss of future access to SAFC funds. Failure to properly log your purchases and submit your receipts may result in the loss of future access to SAFC funds.
Project Codes
All officially chartered Student Organizations will receive a project code. Project codes can be found at the Student Activities Office. You will be asked for this code when reserving space, submitting SAFC budgets, requesting board transfers, printing posters and managing your club’s finances. If you are a newly chartered club, you will receive the project code after completing the mandatory club leader training.
Smith Union Operations – Bookstore, C-Store, Mail Center
The easiest way to purchase supplies from the businesses located within the Smith Union is to pay with your Project Code. Any of the operations within the Smith Union will accept your Project Code as a means of payment. The funds will be seamlessly transferred out of your approved funding.
Walmart Credit Card (for purchases at Walmart only)
Student Activities has a Walmart credit card that is available for check out. To do so, you will need to come to the Student Activities Office, provide proof of funding, sign it out, and return it (accompanied with the itemized receipt) by 5:00PM on the same day. Please note, the Walmart card is accompanied by a tax-exempt card which must be given to the checker before they begin ringing up your items for purchase. The Walmart credit card is available on a first come, first served basis and may not always be available for checkout.
Student Activities Corporate Credit Card (for online purchases only)
If you are placing an order online, you can use the Student Activities Corporate Credit Card in our office. To use the card, you must provide proof of funding, place your order in our office, log your purchase/s, print out your receipt/s, code the receipt with your Project Code and Account Code and place your receipt in the log binder. If you are ordering food, you must provide an itemized list of what you are ordering before placing your order.
Items ordered must be shipped to our office (not your SU box). Please note, the credit card is not available for checkout and credit card information cannot be sent via text or email.
Amazon Prime, Pay Pal, and Walmart Online
The Student Activities Corporate Credit Card is linked to an Amazon Prime account (free two-day shipping) as well as a Pay Pal account and a Walmart Online account. You can use these accounts when you are in the Student Activities Office to purchase supplies/products for your club or to pay for dues and fees. These purchases are treated as credit card transactions and so the same protocol applies; the credit card log sheet must be completed, and receipts must be printed, coded, and filed in the credit card binder immediately.
Reimbursements
If you are certain that your club has the funds in your organization’s account, you can also spend your personal money to pay for club expenses and be reimbursed. This is true for everything except Contract payments. Students are not authorized to pay for college-contracted services with their personal funds.
To be reimbursed, you will fill out an Accounts Payable Voucher and include the appropriate receipts (all receipts must be itemized, non-itemized receipts will not be reimbursed). This form can be completed online through a CampusGroups form or in person at the Student Activities Office. The completed voucher will need to be approved by a member of the Student Activities staff. Link to form
If the total amount of the reimbursement is less than $200, you can be reimbursed in cash by taking the approved voucher and accompanying receipt/s to the Bursar’s Office on the 1st floor of 216 Maine Street (located across Maine St. from the Chamberlain statue). Reimbursements greater than $200 will be paid via check in the next pay cycle (normally within two weeks). If you have an active direct deposit arrangement for paychecks, the reimbursement will be deposited directly.
Please note: Polar Points cannot be reimbursed. Do not use your Polar Points to purchase club food.
Cash Advances
If the funds in your account allow, you can obtain up to $200 in cash from the College to purchase items related to your event. If your group needs to obtain more than $200, you will need to receive prior authorization from the Bursar’s Office. Student Activities will help you receive this authorization. To obtain a cash advance, you must fill out an Advance Voucher in the Student Activities Office located behind the Smith Union information desk.
After you have completed the voucher and it has been signed by a member of the Student Activities Office, you need to take the voucher to the Bursar’s Office on the 1st floor of 216 Maine Street (located across Maine St. from the Chamberlain statue) to receive the cash. Please note that once you receive the cash, you take responsibility for it.
Within 10 days from receiving your cash advance, you must reconcile it in the Student Activities Office with receipts (all receipts must be itemized, non-itemized receipts will not be reimbursed), unused cash, or a combination of the two.
Venmo Transactions
Venmo prohibits Colleges and Universities from having accounts. Groups are not allowed to use Venmo for club related activities.
Financial Assistance
If a specific cost not allocated by the SAFC for a student activity poses a significant financial strain to any students in your club with financial need, extra money may be available. If a member of your club is interested in finding out if they qualify for financial assistance, please have the student contact their Dean or Nate Hintze, Director of Student Activities, and the David Saul Smith Union.