Membership

A. The Finance Committee shall consist of the following voting members:

1. the Executive Vice President, who is responsible for chairing this committee.
2. an appointed Co-chair, Marketing representative, and at least two student representatives; All of which must be appointed by the first finance meeting.

B. The Finance Committee shall also consist of the following non-voting members:

1. the acting advisor of the Student Senate.

C. Filling of vacancies

1. If a vacancy occurs, a new committee member shall be appointed by the Finance Committee at the next Finance Committee meeting.

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Duties

1. The Finance Committee is responsible for overseeing the distribution of the funding the University of Detroit Mercy Student Senate receives from the University. The Student Senate receives this funding through the student activity fee.
2. In order to ensure that the funds are distributed fairly, it is recommended that the Finance Committee review budget requests in a closed meeting, calling a representative from the respective club or organization to answer questions when the Finance Committee feels that the questions are necessary. The Finance Committee also retains the right to open their meeting up when they deem it necessary.
3. The Finance Committee, through the Student Senate Advisor, is responsible for the monitoring of all expenses.
4. The Finance Committee reserves the right to make adjustments to requested funds of student organizations.
5. The re-allocation of funds, between organizations, must be approved by three-fourths majority of all student senate seats.

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Funding Process

1. The Finance Committee is responsible for processing all budget requests petitions
2. Clubs and Organizations must have good past funding history to request a budget allocation from the University of Detroit Mercy Student Senate Finance Committee.
3. The Finance Committee shall not fund university departments.
4. Clubs which are funded in full by another University Department shall not receive funding from the University of Detroit Mercy Finance Committee.
5. All applications for funding must be turned in no later than two days prior to the S.E.N.S.O.G. Meeting.
a. All S.E.N.S.O.G. meetings will be held in accordance to the University calendar (ex. Holidays).
6. The Finance Committee is responsible for ensuring that Clubs and Organizations are made aware of budgeting and petitioning deadlines. These dates should also be included in campus newsletters, papers and websites.
7. Requests for money shall:
a. be completed for each individual event scheduled
b. Reflect the estimated cost of the event through and itemize breakdown of cost.
8. The Finance Committee shall review funding requests for all annual and new events. The Finance Committee will then come to a conclusion concerning the amount of funds being allocated to each given organization.
9. These requests shall be approved or denied by the Finance Committee, with two-thirds majority of members present, prior to any distribution of money.
10. The executive Vice President is responsible for distributing copies of the funding requests to members of the Finance Committee. These budgets will then be evaluated by the Finance Committee both individually and as a committee.
11. The Finance Committee should develop criteria that will be used to consistently evaluate each funding request. These criteria should be distributed to all the clubs and organizations.
12. The Finance Committee must either approve, deny, or amend the total amount of each request presented to the committee within one week of the request.
13. If an Organization disagrees with the decision of the Finance Committee, the organization has the opportunity to appeal the decision, granted that there is valid reasoning for appeal. Note: This may only be done once a semester.
14. The representative of each club or organization shall be personally responsible for all money allocated to their club or organization. The money shall be spent in the same manner in which the Finance Committee approved it.
15. Officers must submit all receipts for reimbursement to the Finance Committee in the week following the event. If no receipts are turned in within this week, any monies initially allocated to the club or organization for this event shall be returned to the Finance Committee for redistribution.
16. All money left in the possession of clubs or organizations after the event has taken place, and is not directed to a specific purpose, shall be turned back over to the Finance Committee.