Money

Societies are encouraged to charge a realistic membership fee per year to each society member.

The more members you have the more the money adds up and you can spend this on your core activities and socials.

Please note: there is a VAT charge on membership fees you sell, so you may not get the full amount in return. There may also be other fees, for all fee information, please visit: https://hellorubric.com/clubs-landing/pricing-uk/

Every society has an account which sits within the union. All monies associated with your society comes through this account and this includes:

• Membership Fees
• Ticket sales (for your events)
• Fundraising
• Sponsorship

To claim your society funds (or to be reimbursed for any grants you’ve been accepted for) – you will need to fill in an expense claim via your society’s dashboard. A VAT receipt detailing items purchased must be attached to the form or expenses will not be paid. The claim must be submitted within 30 days of purchase. The payment will be paid into the claimant’s bank account. This can take 10 days to process.

Chester Students’ Union is proud to support societies to grow and develop. Our support includes limited dedicated funds that our societies can bid for to support their activities.

As CSU has a limited pot of money to support student activities and a large number of groups we support, our Societies Development Grant has strict criteria. Please be aware that not all applications will be granted, and you may not receive all the funding you apply for. Please do not make any purchases prior to confirmation that your application has been approved.

There is £6,500.00 available for CSU to grant societies from 1^st August 2025 – 31^st July 2026. You can apply for this grant via the application form, found on your committee dashboard.

CSU is a legally constituted Charity, which means grants can only be made in line with the SU’s charitable objectives – this limits the uses to which grant money can be authorised.

Grant funding should not be relied upon to support your societies regular activities. You should always plan to be financially sustainable through other sources such as membership fees, ticketed events and fundraising. Grants will be subject to availability and reviewed on a case by case basis.

Your society must:

• Have at least 10 members who are registered through the SU website.
• Ensure that the President and Treasurer have attended Committee training

Applications must:

• Be submitted by a committee member.
• Submitted at least 10 working days before funds are required.
• Focus on how the additional funds will help the society members thrive and develop.
• Fit with the aims of your society which you provided on your affiliation application.
• Clearly articulate the difference the grant will make.
• Fit with CSU’s charitable objectives.
• Be an application for something specific, with researched costs and relevant quotes.
• Include a breakdown of what the money will be spent on.
• Not include food and drink as a key part of the bid.

Strong applications will be for activities that:

• Will have a significant benefit to society members.
• Fit within the wider plan for the group.
• Cannot be financed by the group themselves.
• Cannot be financed by the group charging a realistic membership fee (consider if the activity could be financed in the future by charging a membership fee which will not have a knock-on effect on membership numbers)
• Have other fundraising/support from other sources or is being match funded by the group.

Where physical items are to be purchased, these will belong to the Society as a whole and therefore CSU, rather than individual members. Committee members have a plan in place in terms of care and storage of items, fair use for all members and transfer back to CSU upon committee closure so that they can be held for adoption with the society in the future.

Claiming the grant

You can claim the grant via the same expense claim process for any society purchases. See above.

All money allocated to a society must be claimed within 3 months of the grant being approved. We will only extend this deadline in exceptional circumstances. If you have not claimed the money by the set deadline, it will be reclaimed by CSU and redistributed.

Societies are open to receive sponsorships from businesses to receive extra support in the form of funds and/or resources for their society. In return, the society may need to promote the business to their members, use their facilities or any other requirements they seek as part of a sponsorship agreement. You may also be offered alternative reward schemes – if you’re unsure, please contact us before entering your details on any third party websites.

All sponsorship agreements must follow the ‘Third Party & Sponsorship for Societies Policy’. All the information around this process can be found on your dashboard.

If you are looking to sign an agreement, please email studentopps@chester.ac.uk if you are unsure or have any questions about sponsorship/third party affiliations.

Fundraising is at the core of many of our societies and we are committed to supporting you to achieve your fundraising goals.

There are two main ways in which a society might choose to raise money:

1. Raise money for your society – this could be to help fund an event or raise money for new supplies.
2. Raise money for a charity – some groups might decide they want to nominate a core charity which they will raise money.

As Chester Students’ Union is a charity this means that any fundraising money you raise cannot come straight from your Society Social Account. However, you can raise money for charity through an event using a Just Giving Page. NUS provide a fundraising guide for students that may be helpful to read.

Important steps:

Notify CSU – Chester Students’ Union must be notified about any online funding page. To notify CSU, please ensure that you send an email to studentopps@chester.ac.uk with the link to the fundraising page.

• Be transparent and clear – Ensure any online fundraising is as clear as possible about who you are, who you are fundraising for, and where the money is going.
• If you are holding a fundraising event you will need to submit an Event Proposal Form which information can be found in the Events and Trips section, within the appropriate deadlines.
• Be creative and make fundraising fun! We can’t wait to hear your fundraising ideas!