Budgets & Spending

SALP Processing Timelines

Please click here for all processing times, including accounting timelines. 

Submitting an OBC Budget (student organizations)

Video walk through with step-by-step direction can be found here

You will need to consider all processing times. Please submit your budget two weeks before any requests need to be submitted to meet the SALP processing times requirements


Base Operating Budget Spending (student organizations)

Utilizing your Base Operating Budget (BOB) does not ​require submitting a Budget Request through the OBC. Instead, you just need to communicate with your Advisor about expenses you would like to have come out of your BOB. Your Advisor will help you keep track of your BOB spending. If you have questions about the balance of your BOB, please contact your Advisor. All other Accounting deadlines and SALP policies apply to the use of BOB funds. 

Steps for Using the BOB

Important OBC Guidelines for BOB Use

Submitting a Request to Spend Money (RTSM)

For a video walk through of how to submit a Request to Spend Money form, please click here.

Written steps for submitting a Request to Spend Money form:

*please note that you do not have to fill out an RTSM for CAVET, Room Charges, PSUEats, SALP Design Services or PSPS. When you fill out the request forms for those services, there is a process for your advisor to appove them built in. You will not have to submit any additional paperwork for those specific services.

Invoices

The accounting team will typically pay invoices after the items have been received by the student group. Once you have the invoice from a vendor please submit an RTSM. You will choose the invoice expense type if it applies. 

For the accounting team to pay an invoice it must include the following information:


If you have items being delivered to PSU you may use the address below. Once the item arrives asksalp@pdx.edu will email the student group with further instructions.


     Portland State University- SALP - [Student Group Name]

     630 SW Mill St. 

     Portland, OR 97201

     (503) 725-5596

Web Order (Ex. Amazon, Walmart, Fred Meyer, Dominos, Chipotle, Etc.)

Any purchases that can be made through the internet we consider these web orders. If you'd like the SALP accountants to purchase items via a web order please make a copy of this Template and attach it to the RTSM. If it makes more sense to take screenshots, you can attach those screenshots to the RTSM but please make sure the RTSM has the information we need to make the purchase. 

Helpful tips to remember:


Gift Cards and Prizes

Groups may purchase gift cards and prizes for events but the following rules must be followed:

Gift Cards:

PSU Branded Items:

If you have questions, please contact your SALP Advisor/Coordinator. 


Contracts

Domestic Contracts under $5000:

There are a number of considerations to be made if your group is planning on hosting a speaker or performer at an event:

International Contracts:

International contracts for individuals who are not a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident Alien takes extra processing time. Contracts take 40 business days to process after you have received funding approval from the Organization Budget Council (OBC). There are also a lot of variables that impact the contractors payment.  For example, the contractors payment will be taxed 30% by the U.S. Federal Government before the check gets sent to them.  In order to ensure that all international contractors have accurate information before signing our contract, use the letter linked here when you are negotiating with them so they are fully aware of all the policies in place at PSU.  


The website below may be helpful for student groups who would like to hire international contractors for an event (e.g., guest speakers, performers, etc). In the link below, the "Academic Guest" portion applies to all of the foreign contractors who wish to receive honorarium payment for their presentations.

https://sites.google.com/pdx.edu/international-scholar-services/academic-visitors?authuser=0 


Before student groups propose a budget for a foreign contractor they should inform their speakers about all of the required documents. When reaching out to potential international speakers/performers please use the attached Offer Letter Template as it provides prospective guests with a great deal of important information. 


Promotional Items 

If you use the Portland State logo or the words Portland State University on promotional items you must have your design approved by University Communications. Having the image designed by the SALP Graphic Design team (find the request form on the SALP admin club) is the easiest way to make sure it will be within the Portland State guidelines. See the this link for appropriate use and how to get your images approved if using trademarked logo or name.

If you use just the letters PSU and not the logo or words Portland State University, you can go with a non-licensed vendor of your choice and do not need to get your images approved by University Communications.

We highly recommend using the preferred vendors below who are in our payment system and have been licensed to print PSU trademarked images.

Preferred Vendors when using PSU trademarked images or words: 

Hydergraphics - Molly Luby - 503-644-8191 - molly@hydergraphics.com (Molly will send you a quote to use for budgeting and RTSM)  

Custom Ink

For a complete list of PSU Licensed Vendors for Promotional Items and Apparel please visit this University Communications website.

Preferred Vendors if not using PSU trademarked images or words:

Hydergraphics - Molly Luby - 503-644-8191 - molly@hydergraphics.com (Molly will send you a quote to use for budgeting and RTSM)  

Custom Ink

Bull Frog (Portland location only)- Contact Dakotah Bolais at dakotah.boulais@bigfrog.com( 971) 271-7191 to place an order 

Fundraising and Donations


Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to clarify fundraising and solicitation activities in which student organizations are permitted to participate. For purposes of this policy, fundraising is defined as the collection of money through donations, sales, and/or event programming for the purposes of charitable donation or organizational budget enhancement.  In addition, general guidelines are given to these organizations to engage in best practices for fundraising.  All fundraising and solicitation efforts by student entities must be consistent with the University’s mission and comply with all other University policies.

 

Additional Restrictions and Requirements

PSU acknowledges that a policy of this nature may not anticipate every possible issue that may arise with respect to fundraising activities. As a result, the University reserves the right to impose reasonable restrictions and/or requirements with respect to the time, place, and manner of fundraising activities. These restrictions may be in addition to, or in lieu of, those set forth in the policy. Go to  http://www.pdx.edu/ogc/university-policy-library for additional policies.

 

Enforcement

Failure to obtain permission to engage in or sponsor sales or fundraising, or failure to

adhere to University policy regarding activities for which permission has been granted, will result in the curtailment and/or cancellation of the event by SALP or other appropriate University official.

 

Reservation of Rights

PSU reserves the right to amend this policy at any time.

 

Definitions

Several of these definitions you will only see in this document. We have done this to add clarity to a confusing topic. By defining these terms, we can better understand the various situations and the best approach.

Advertising: Promotion of a service or product. Please check with Contracts and/or Foundation departments before proceeding with this as they may be a type of donation or sponsorship.

Auction: An event where attendees bid on items. This includes both silent (where attendees write down their bids) and when an auctioneer is used.

Awards: For this document, awards will describe items provided to staff or students for recognition of achieving some level of success.

Contest:  In contrast, a contest is a promotion where the result depends on the individual participant's unique skills, rather than pure chance.  In most but not all states, contests are not subject to anti-lottery statues and pay to play may be acceptable.  For example, the increasingly popular marketing trend of user-generated content promotions fall into this category.  Student organizations who put on a contest that is funded by the OBC cannot charge people to play.

Door Prize: An incentive to gain event participants in which tickets are not purchased but rather freely given to each attendee with an equal opportunity at a possible prize by chance. 

Donation: A gift given without an expected return. The donation may be money or an asset. For this document we will use donations to refer to PSU receiving a gift from an external entity.

Fair Market Value: The amount someone would pay for an item in the open market (e.g. movie tickets have a fair market value of $8.50).

Fundraising: Activities that raise funds from the selling of goods or services and unsolicited individual contributions that result from fundraising activities.

Gifts: For this document, we will use gifts for when PSU gives to a person or organization (such as in the case of visiting dignitaries). Gifts are any money or item given to a specific person or group of persons. Gifts are different than prizes. More details on Foundation’s policies on gifts can be found here: https://www.psuf.org/

Gifts in kind: A donation that is an asset.

Juried competition: A competition where a group of judges determines the winner. 

Offerings: An offering is a contribution made with the cultural significance or religious intent to a non-profit cultural affiliation or organization.

Pledge drive: Promise to give, in oral or written agreement form, to contribute cash or other assets to another entity conditionally or unconditionally. A pledge agreement form must be filled out. Before a pledge drive is considered, a group must work with their advisor and the PSU Foundation to follow all policies and relevant laws.

Raffle: A game of chance. Entry into the raffle is purchased (usually via tickets) by participants and the winner is selected at random. The prize doesn’t necessarily have to be cash, and participants don’t necessarily have to pay cash to participate. For example, several jurisdictions have held that the purchase of a product satisfies the requirement. Raffles are the equivalent of lotteries and are subject to state gambling laws.

Resources: For the purpose of this document, resources will be defined as either money or assets.

Sale: An exchange of goods by a seller and purchaser.

Solicitation: Activities that solicit funds from off-campus businesses, individuals, and organizations.

Sponsorship: When an external entity provides resources for PSU to use for a specified purpose, such as an event.

Sweepstakes: A sweepstakes is a random drawing governed by official rules. The success of a participant in a sweepstakes depends on chance, rather than skill. If a sweepstakes requires entrants to give up something of value to participate, it will most likely be considered a lottery and subject to state anti-lottery statutes, such as the Georgia statute that provided the basis for The Apprentice show lawsuit. These state statutes are discussed at greater length below.


Guidelines

The following guidelines are applicable to all fundraising activities by recognized student organizations on PSU owned, operated, or controlled property: 

1.   The event organizers are to provide the sponsoring entity with an invoice referencing the event for the purpose of sponsorship.

2.   The fundraising activity is required to offer a benefit to the University community that is consistent with the University's educational mission.

3.   The purpose for which the funds will be raised must be consistent with the purpose of the recognized student organization and the Code of Student Conduct (found here http://www.pdx.edu/dos/psu-student-code-conduct) and other applicable policies of Portland State University. Further, the fundraising activity must not violate legal, tax, or corporate restraints upon the University.

4.   An accounting of any funds raised must be provided to the SALP within 24 hours after the event or receipt of funds.

5.   A currently enrolled student member(s) of the sponsoring recognized student organization must be present during the entire time of the event.

6.   Event sponsors are responsible for ensuring that proposed activities comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations.

7.   Spaces in which the fundraising activity is occurring must be identified by a sign indicating the conducting entity's name, goods, and/or services being sold, and prices.

8.   Neither individuals (regardless of affiliations with PSU) nor private, commercial organizations may sell or promote the sale of products or services on PSU owned, operated, or controlled property except:

8a.   Individuals or organizations with whom/which PSU has entered into a written contract.

8b. Individuals or organizations authorized in writing by PSU to engage in the sales of goods or services for the benefit of a recognized student organization.

9. Baked goods for sale must follow  Multnomah Health Department guidelines, including that the items for sale must be fully baked goods. Items must not be served by the organizers on site (any food handling requires a food handler’s card, permits, and hot running water on site). A sign must be visibly placed stating “prepared in an unlicensed kitchen.”

10. Commercial or corporate sponsorship of programs or events is permissible provided that no products and/or services are sold at the event.

11. PSU reserves the right to require third parties participating in or conducting fundraising activities to meet additional requirements, including without limitation requirements that such parties furnish evidence of insurance coverage acceptable to the University and/or agree to indemnify the University and University personnel against liabilities arising from their acts or omissions. 

11a. During an event when offerings are made, a non-profit representative must be present to collect those offerings. If a representative cannot attend the event to collect the offerings at the event close, two people affiliated with the event must verify the total amount collected and store in a secure location (such as the SALP safe for student organizations). Once the non-profit external organization has collected the offerings, be sure to obtain a receipt.

12. PSU reserves the right to approve the identity of any proposed sponsor and the content of sponsorship materials associated with a fundraising activity.

13. Alcohol is not permitted for gifts, donations or sponsorship due to liability risks. PSU Policies on alcohol can be found here https://www.pdx.edu/dean-student-life/psu-student-code-conduct


Fundraising Examples

PSU provides the following as general examples of items that may be used to raise funds. Please note that the University reserves the right to review and approve all items.

 

Items for Sale

Produced by different departments or student organization (e.g. baskets, bouquets of

flowers, baked goods, and miscellaneous merchandise)

 

Sponsorship and Advertising

Sponsorship occurs when an entity provides resources to PSU for a specific purpose.

Example: Kaplan will sponsor an event for $1000 to the organization, provided they can have a table at the event.

Another example is as follows: A department holding an event where outside organizations contribute funds to pay for a speaker at the event. 

1.   The outside organization has specified exactly how the funds are to be used (e.g. a speaker).

2.   Student organization or department should provide a pre-filled out “Sponsorship/Donation Invoice” form (see page 8) to the outside entity for guidance of payment to the University as specified, when applicable.

3.   When the department receives the check from the sponsor it should be deposited using a Miscellaneous Deposit form as a credit against the expense of the speaker. The deposit should reference the Banner document number (e.g.REIMB I999999) of the speaker’s invoice.

4.   The department may acknowledge the sponsorship at the event by some form of thank you. This could occur by placing the name of the sponsor on table tents or thanking them during the program, or some other manner (see gifts guidelines #15 and definitions).

5.   AVOID: The department should neither make claims of the product of service that the sponsor provides, nor provide anything that promotes the products or services of the sponsor as better than a competitor’s. These actions could change the sponsorship to payment for advertising. This applies to not-for-profit sponsors too. This instance may be regulated through contracts to ensure minimal risk.

  

Raffles, Other Games of Chance and Juried Competitions

Raffle ticket sales need to be tracked; the PSU Foundation has guidelines for tracking raffle tickets. Event Ticket Sales tracking can be found here https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/foundation/web-application-development?pli=1 

Event POS policy can be found here  https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/foundation/event- credit-card-management

Raffle items should be purchased from the same fund source in which the ticket sales revenue is deposited. 

Occasionally, outside organizations are solicited to provide prizes for raffles or juried competitions. By definition, these prizes will be given away after the raffle or competition so they will not be retained by PSU. They should be recorded as donations with the PSU Foundation per the Gift Acceptance Policy (can be found here http://www.pdx.edu/sites/www.pdx.edu.giving/files/Gift%20Acceptance%20Policy%20-

%20Explanation%20of%20Fees.pdf) with intent of donation noted to separate option of sponsorship.

Other games of chance with ticket fees involved (e.g. roulette wheel, bingo) will also require the use of the PSU Foundation’s raffle license similarly. If these other types of events have entry tickets, the same procedures as a raffle should be followed. All prize guidance that pertains to raffles pertains to these other games.

If student fees are paying for the event, then the "door prizes" should also be coming from student fees as well. However, this means that there should not be any "ticket cost" for the event. Otherwise, it would require a lottery license, which is only held by the Foundation. Therefore, if the event is "Free" and all items paid for are with Student fees, then the "door prize" game of chance giveaways would be allowable.

Unlike games of chance, “juried competitions” do not require a license. If entry fees are charged for the competition, prizes should be purchased from the fund where the entry fees are deposited. Entry fees for a competition are not considered a donation and should not be deposited in the PSU Foundation.

 

Donations and Sales

A donation occurs when the donor provides resources without expectation of a return for those resources. All cash donations must be deposited in the PSU Foundation.  In kind donations will need to be reviewed case by case. 

A sale occurs when the purchaser exchanges money for goods or services provided by the seller. 

If a department is selling goods or services at fair market value, the proceeds may not be deposited in the PSU Foundation. In this case the purchaser received a fair value in exchange for his/her money and no donation was made. 

If a department prices their goods or services well above fair market value, the difference between fair market value and the sales price may be deposited in the PSU Foundation since this portion has donative value. No amount may be deposited in the PSU Foundation if the entire sale did not produce funds over the cost of the items.

 

Donation Jars

Donation jars have similar rules to donations and sales. Before we get in to the rules of a donation jar, we first must address the concern these present around cash control. We strongly advise against donation jars.

If it is imperative that a group have a donation “jar” at an event or desk, it should not be an actual jar. It should actually be a locked cash box with a slot on top. After donations have been received, access to the box should be done with two people present (at least one must be staff) and normal, good cash handling procedures should be followed.  If these cash boxes are set up to receive donations, the funds are to be deposited into the PSU Foundation. It is best to post a sign on or near the donation cash boxes indicating that this is for donations.  It is not appropriate to have items of value available next to a donation jar, or with some form of “suggested” donation. This essentially is a sale of goods. “Bake Sales” are not to be accompanied by a “Donation Jar.” Please see the “Items for Sale” section for Bake Sales.

 Gifts from PSU

It is rarely appropriate to give gifts to people. 

It is never appropriate to use general or fee funds for the purchase of gifts. Only funds from a PSU Foundation account may be used to purchase gifts for people. . 

Items purchased for promotional expense (e.g. t-shirts purchased to give out at Party in the Park) or for resale should not be re purposed as gifts. 

Taxes

When people receive items of value from PSU or PSU Foundation there may be tax implications. This applies to items won in raffles or other games of chance including gift cards and awards. Please refer to OUS Policy Manual for proper account code application.

Campus accounting services policies regarding gift cards can be found here http://www.pdx.edu/financial-services/sites/www.pdx.edu.financial- services/files/PSU_research_incentive_procedures.pdf

PSU Foundation policies regarding gift cards and awards can be found here https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/foundation/accounts-payable/cash-awards-and-gift- cards?pli=1

 

Guidance

Do 

•      Complete Fundraising Request Form

•      Gather appropriate approval for fundraising event or donation

•      Explain that the proceeds benefit/support your department

•      Provide receipts for donations to the donor

•      Thank donors

•      Get clarity when you receive resources as to why the person is providing these resources. Unless, of course, it is obvious like in the case of a sale

•      Use proper tracking and cash handling practices

•      Deposit proceeds within 24 hours after the event or receipt of funds

Do Not 

•      Sell or distribute items that violate the University trademarks or existing contracts

•      Give tax advice or tell someone how much they can/should deduct

•      Describe any exchange as a donation that is not a donation


Cash Handling

When PSU-funded programs and groups collect funds from fundraising or donations (Please see the "Fundraising and Donations section of this page for more information) it is important to follow cash handling polices as the funds are considered “State Dollars.”  Funds collected on behalf of a student organization must be deposited at SALP within 24 hours.  Groups that are classified as department-sponsored and affiliate do not need to follow these procedures for cash handing.  When in doubt, ask your adviser!  

Steps to Deposit Funds:

Get a deposit slip and envelope from the SALP Front Desk. 

Fill out the deposit slip to the best of your ability. Be sure to include your group’s index code as well as the type of revenue.  SALP Accounting or your adviser will contact you if we have any questions about the deposit.    

Bring the deposit to the front desk, they will bring it directly to the accountants.

Types of Revenue Defined:

Sale of Merchandise – Revenue from items sold at events and from other incidental revenue-generating activities (ie. T-shirt sales)

Sponsorship – Money or items given to support an event in exchange for advertising or some other benefit (ie. Vendor table fees for an event)

Donation (Foundation Account) – Gifts with no strings attached, and no expectation of benefits noted above under sponsorship.

Other – Revenue generated from sources other than those listed above.  (ie. Travel costs) 

Social Media Ads

There are five steps of setting up ads for Instagram and/or Facebook:

Because Instagram is owned by Facebook, at this time all billing is done through Facebook. If a student organization does not have a Facebook account tied to their Instagram account, there will be no way to pay for ads.

Step 1 - Set-up Admin Access for SALP Accounting
* This step only needs to be done once for orgs doing social media ads for the first time.

From the student organization Facebook account, the student leader needs to:

Step 2 - Create Post or Event to Be Promoted

The student organization needs to create the Post or Event to be promoted. There are special ad categories that may have restrictions, and it is the responsibility of the student org leaders to be familiar with them, especially to prevent the ad from being denied or stalled. There are also some not-so-obvious reasons why ads can be stalled or denied approval

Step 3 - Determine Your Audience

The default audience that will be used has the following characteristics:

If student orgs would like to promote to a different audience, it will need Advisor approval. It also requires a one-time set-up process with SALP Accounting because the audience has to be on their Facebook account, not on the student org account. See Step 5 below for setting up new audiences.

Step 4 - Create RTSM & Submit Social Media Ad Log

The RTSM has to be for Facebook, whether paying for Instagram or FB ads. Submit the RTSM as a Web Order with this Social Media Ads Purchase Request Form completed and attached.

Step 5 - Setting Up New Audiences

New audiences need to be pre-approved by the Advisor and set up on the Psu Salp account directly. It is probably easiest to email SALP Accounting to set up a meeting for creating a new audience. In order to do so, please determine the criteria of the audience prior to meeting with SALP Accounting by looking at the options on your own Facebook ads page. It is recommended that the criteria include the default criteria but can also include additional and/or narrower criteria for a specific audience of PSU students. 

Each audience needs to have a name. If more than one audience will be used by the same student organization, it would be helpful to have a consistent naming format, such as org name and audience focus. For example: PSPB Events and PSPB Recruitment.

Swank Film Requests

NOTE: 15 business day processing timeline + shipping if requesting a copy of the film be shipped to you.