Student Involvement

New student clubs / organizations are approved by the WSA Community Committee (CoCo) and the Office of Student Involvement.  Please take the following steps before reaching out to CoCo.

1. Browse WesNest beforehand to make sure that the mission/activities of your group do not overlap with any existing groups.

2. Have at least seven committed group members that you can report on your roster, 3 of which are officers (Primary Contact, Financial Manager, and Events Coordinator).

3. Prepare a brief description and mission statement for your group.

4. Familiarize yourself with campus resources for funding and event organizing, as you will be asked about what you will utilize during registration. CoCo office hours are a good place to do this.

All student groups will be required to register as either formally recognized or informal. See this powerpoint to learn the differences and start thinking about how you wish to re-register your existing group.

See Constitution Template to use if you wish to become formally recognized.

WesNest is the main platform of information for and about student groups and on campus events (formerly known as OrgSync).  Here is where you can re-register your student group, check your student group’s finances, send out messages to people in your group, request funding from the Student Budget Committee (SBC), and submit contract requests.

To log on to your student group page:

1. Log into your Wesportal
2. Search "WesNest" in the search bar.
3. Select "WesNest".
4. Log in with your Wesleyan username and password if you are not already logged in.
5. Search your student group's name in the search bar.
6. Primary contacts and designated student group officers / leadership can select "Manage Organization" on the top right corner to update your student group page, message your organization, register events, request funding, post news articles, and more.

All student groups have a treasurer or financial manager that will oversee all financial transactions for the group. These students should be listed as the Financial Manager on your groups WesNest page. There can only be one Financial Manager (FM) for your group. They are responsible for managing the group's finances, authorizing all group activities, and signing all financial documents. They should know what events are being sponsored by the organization, what items are needed for each event, and which member of the group is responsible for various events and/or activities. Also, they should be in constant communication with the Primary Contact and Event Coordinator(s) of the organization to ensure that the logistics of any event runs smoothly.

FINANCIAL MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES:

All Financial Managers are required to go to the training sessions lead by Student Involvement and the Student Budget Committee (SBC).  They are held at the beginning of each semester and there is a smaller one held mid-semester to train newly formed groups.  These trainings are vitally important for the financial success of your student group. Financial Managers must be re-trained every year because university policies can and will change. 

The following is a list of the primary responsibilities of the financial manager:

• Only one financial manager should be assigned to manage the treasury for a student group on WesNest.
  • Financial paperwork will not be accepted if more than one financial manager is listed. 
• You must review the financial manager training powerpoint and pass the quiz on Moodle before you request funding.
• You keep track of the external and interdepartmental expenses. 
• You complete and sign all financial request forms and timesheets for the group.
• You review the student group financial data through the Accounts section in WesNest.
• Any person with administrative privilege for a student group can access the WesNest Financial report.
• You must adhere to all notices regarding deadlines, policy and procedures, and other important information. Relay all pertinent material to members in their group.
   

PRIMARY CONTACT RESPONSIBILITIES:

All Primary Contacts manage the student group and work in conjunction with the Financial Manager. They are responsible for group registration, event planning, membership logs, promoting group events and activities, communicating university policies and procedures to members, and networking with alumni and prospective students.

The following is a list of the primary responsibilities of the administrator:

• You handle all logistics for group membership management and group activities.
• You plan meetings, set the agendas and reserve meeting rooms.
• You must maintain the student organization records and store them on WesNest.
• You must cross train the new Primary Contact who succeed you in your position if you step down. 
• You are the main contact person for the group.

The following steps need to happen before you request funding for your student group:

1. Re-register your group on WesNest if you are a pre-existing group every academic year. Your group is also required to attend the Pass the Torch event hosted in the Spring in order to successfully re-register.
2. Review the Financial Manager Training PowerPoint and pass the quiz.
   1. Attend the financial manager training.
3. Familiarize yourself with the Student Group Waivers and submit them if they are applicable to your group. These should be resubmitted every year.
   1. Student Group Liability waiver - if your group travels off-campus.
   2. Athletic Form - if your group is a Club Sport. 
4. Register your event in WesNest and reserve space if applicable.
5. Apply for funding, if needed. (Instructions below)
6. If you are paying someone like a performer or a outside service, submit a W-9 (US citizen) or W-8 (non-US citizen) as soon as possible. 

There are three major sources of funding for students groups on campus.  The Student Budget Committee (SBC), Income Funding, and Department Funding. Any active student group can request or use money from any of these funding sources, but depending on the type of student group, some funding sources might be more applicable than others. 

 

SBC Budget Requests

All students and group leaders request funding to support their events and activities through the WSA. There is one committee who oversee finances for groups: Student Budget Committee (SBC).

 

SBC Budget Requests are sumbitted through your student group's WesNest page. Once it's approved, the amount is transferred as electronic dollars into your student group's SBC smartkey, 110-1113-XXX. 

Income

You can have income from the previous year, commonly known as a "carry forward," transferred into the new fiscal year through the Income Smartkey. *Normally the University allows the balance of a student group's 111-1113-XXX INCOME Smartkey from the previous year to be used by the group the following year.

Your student organization can generate income during the current academic year. This income is reflected in the student group's 111-1113-XXX INCOME Smartkey under account code 70360 after the group's treasurer submits a Deposit Form to Student Involvement. Account codes in Income Smartkeys all begin with the number seven. For example, if you are making a deposit, the account code would be 70360.

Campus Department Funding

You can ask a chair or department head of an administrative or academic department to co-sponsor your event during the current academic year. The department is responsible for transferring these funds to your student group's 100-1113-XXX account. Departments must use Account code 85911 EVENT SUPPORT when transferring funds.

There are three major funding sources for student groups on campus: Student Budget Committee, Income, and Department funding.

Since Wesleyan works using electronic money, there are three major ways students can purchase items for their group after money has been allocated to their account. 

Reimbursements

This is the most common way that students buy items for their student groups.  A student can spend their own money on an item and then turn in the itemized receipt with proof of purchases attached to a financial request form (FRF) to Student Involvement.  The student will then receive a reimbursement through direct deposit into their personal accounts. 

Things to be aware of:

• Students and faculty cannot be reimbursed for paying people directly for a service. This is considered a third party payment and is prohibited by the university. These services need to be paid for using an invoice (see explanation below). 

• Students and faculty cannot be reimbursed for rentals or services if the company is an LLC.  These should be paid for using an invoice (see explanation below).

• All receipts should be itemized and have a proof of payment. This will be the last four digits of your credit card or the word "cash" if they paid for the items with cash. 

• If the person is a grad student, please specify this on the FRF.

• Non-student or faculty may be reimbursed for purchasing items, however they will need to submit a W-9 to our office prior to submitting an FRF.

• The university does not reimburse for gas if you are using a personal vehicle.  You may submit for mileage.  Multiply the total mileage of your trip by 58.5 cents and submit a google map's trip doc with your FRF.

Invoice

Invoices can be submitted for things like conference fees, equipment rentals, and other orders. Instead of paying the company out of pocket, the invoice should be submitted via WesNest along with the completed financial request form. 

Things to be aware of:

• If it is the first time that you are paying this vendor, make sure that you have them fill out a W-9 and submit this via WesNest with the completed Financial Request Form. 

Credit Card Appointment

If you are planning to make a large purchase or you want to order items from a company which is an LLC, students can make an appointment to use the Student Involvement Credit Card. Appointments must be made in conjunction with a Purchase Request on WesNest and should be done at least 24 hours before. Appointment schedules vary by semester so check the page to see what hours are open.  Financial Managers or a representative from the group may make credit card appointment for their group. Before the meeting, the student should create a purchase request and upload a list of links or contact information through WesNest

Things to be aware of:

• Both a Purchase Request must be submitted via WesNest and Credit Card Appointment must be scheduled for your group.  

• If the order amount is over $2,000 you must email involvement@wesleyan.edu four business days in advance and you may be asked to split the order into multiple appointments. 

• The amount you plan to use must be in your WesNest account prior to the credit card appointment or else orders cannot be made.

• Each appointment is 20 minutes long, so if you anticipate that your order will take over 20 minutes, you may want to book multiple appointments.

• The money spent using the Credit Card will not be removed from your smartkey until around a month after the purchase is made so make sure that you do not over withdraw your budgets. 

When a student group spends money, its expenses will always be charged to the specific Smartkey code that best reflects the nature of the expense. 

If the expense is funded by an SBC Budget Request, then the expense should be charged to the student group's 110-1113-XXX SBC Smartkey under the account code for which an Allocation Request Form was approved. 

If the expense is funded by current year or prior year income, then the expense should be charged to the student organization's 111-1113-XXX INCOME Smartkey under the account code which best reflects the nature of the expense. 

If the expense is funded by another department within Wesleyan, then the department will transfer funds into the group's 110-1113-XXX DEPARTMENT Smartkey and the expense should be charged directly to the group's department Smartkey.  

*Note: It is possible that one particular invoice or expense may need to be split across any or all three Smartkeys listed above.

Once you have registered as a FORMAL student organization, three Smartkey Numbers are automatically assigned to your group.

Your funds are maintained through these Smartkeys Numbers, which can be used to charge bills, reserve most Wesleyan facilities, rent University audiovisual equipment, make a payment to vendors and honoraria, in addition to a gamut of other services here at Wesleyan. While you should guard your Smartkey number carefully, the Student Involvement team will be able to provide your group's Smartkey numbers, if they have been misplaced.

WesNest is an electronic group management system that keeps track of your members, events, and student group finances online. In order to access the Checkbook, your group must be officially registered by the Community Committee (CoCo). 

Your group should also assign one currently enrolled undergraduate as the Financial Manager; this person will be able to access your student group's Smartkey(s) through the e-portfolio system by following the instructions below.

1. Log into your Wesportal.
2. Search "WesNest" in the search bar.
3. Select "WesNest".
4. Log in with your Wesleyan username and password if you are not already logged in.
5. Search your student group's name in the search bar.
6. Click on your student group and select "Manage Organization" on the top right corner and you will arrive on your student group page.
7. On left-hand side, click on the menu and select the "Finance" tab.
8. Click on the "Accounts" tab. Here you will see the remaining balance in each of your accounts (SBC, Department, Income etc.).

A Smartkey Number is a ten-digit account number used by the University to keep track of financial transactions. Your student organization is identified by the Smartkey number and is utilized to record all expenses and revenue, so your group can keep track of your expenditures. Student groups can request an SBC allocation for SAF funds; they can generate revenue, which is automatically put into an Income Smartkey; or obtain funds from an administrative or academic department, which are put into the Department Smartkey. 

Once your student group is registered and active, it will automatically be assigned three Smartkey numbers: the SBC, Income, and Department Smartkey Numbers.

Types of Smartkeys

Each Smartkey starts with a different 3-digit prefix, 4-digit department number, and a three digit group number which identifies the organization. For example, if the student group, Wesleyan Flower is assigned the group number "123", the Smartkey Numbers will be as follows:

Department Smartkey: 100-1113-123
SBC Smartkey: 110-1113-123
Income Smartkey: 111-1113-123
 
The Department Smartkey prefix is 100, the SBC Smartkey prefix is 110, and the Income Smartkey prefix is 111. Note: the last seven digits are always the same.

Outside of the major three Smartkeys, student groups may also need to use Green Fund funding.  These Smartkeys would look as follows for the Wesleyan Flower club:

Green Fund: 112-1352-123

An account code is five digits. It is used to categorize income and expenses by type. Account codes are used for generic expense classifications such as supplies, membership dues, travel, etc. Although there are hundreds of account codes available, Student Involvement uses approximately 30 account codes. These can be found in WesNest when completing the Financial Request Form (FRF).

Here is a List of commonly used account codes.  If you do not see one on here that describes the item or service you are purchasing, email involvement@wesleyan.edu or come into the office and ask an Office Assistant for help. 

The table below is showing the most commonly used accoutn codes and a description of what are used for:

ATHLETICS/ATHLETIC SUPPLIES:

82122 - Athletic Equipment

82911 - Athletic Training Supplies

82915 - Athletic Officials

82916 - Athletic Entry Fees

82918 - Club Sports Support

82919 - Athletic Uniforms

82920 - Entry Fees: Nonathletic Activities

AVERTISEMENT/PROMOTIONAL SUPPLIES:

82127 - Advertisement - Novelty Items

82129 - Advertisement - T-shirts

83404 - Outside Printing

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT/ITEMS:

85035 - Equipment Repair

85040 - Capital Equipment: $1,000 to $5,000

85045 - Capital Equipment: greater than $5,000

85050 - Minor Equipment: $500 or less

CATERING/FOOD/GROCERIES:

82640 - Food/Business Meals

82641 - Internal Catering (i.e., Bon Appetit)

85124 - External Catering

DATA SERVICES:

84410 - Data Base Service (i.e., WesNest)

86201 - Social Media Applications

86202 - Web Domains

ENTERTAINMENT/ARTS:

83535 - Costume Laundry Services/Dry Cleaning

85101 - Box Office Ticketing

85402 - Royalties/Rights

85403 - Scripts

85404 - Music Scores

85408 - Costume Purchases

85410 - Light Supplies

85412 - Sound Supplies

85414 - Props

85417 - Set Supplies

85421 - Film

85911 - Event Support

FACILITIES/EQUIPMENT:

87211 - Ground Supplies/Seeds

87215 - Appliance

87217 - Furniture

87218 - Tool/Apparatus

OFFICE SUPPLIES:

82101 - Office Supplies

82115 - Technical Supplies

82120 - Art Supplies: Consumable

82121 - Art Supplies: Non-consumable

82355 - Reference Books

82400 - Computer Supplies

OFFICE OPERATIONS:

82201 - Subscriptions

82221 - Online Annual Subscriptions

82225 - Permit Fees

82250 - Membership or League Dues

82352 - Licenses

82450 - Other

82580 - Mailing/Postage

82600 - Telephone

82662 - Software Purchases

83300 - Legal Fees

OUTSIDE SERVICES:

83570 - Honorarium (lecturer, poet, comic, etc.)

85010 - Equipment Rental

85020 - Facility Rental

85035 - Equipment/Computer Maintenances

SPECIALTY SUPPLIES:

82123 - Café Supplies

82124 - Event Supplies

82125 - Bon Appetit Cutlery

82126 - Event Decorations

83427 - Photo Supplies

TRAVEL:

84501 - Mileage

84502 - Fuel/Gas

84503 - Tolls

84504 - Parking

84505 - Airfare

84509 - Travel (for Uber, taxi, etc.)

84512 - Train

84513 - Rental Car

84515 - Van Transportation

84516 - Bus Transportation

84520 - Lodging

84560 - Conference Fee

 

A BR number, or a budget request number, is a five digit number that corresponds to budget request that was made to the Student Budget Committee. This is synonmous to a Budget ID which is listed on WesNest. This number can be found on the approved budget on the finance page of your groups WesNest. BR numbers are only used for money allocated from the SBC.

You can request funds through alternative sources (other than the SBC) by contacting and requesting support from other departments on campus. Contact the department that will most likely support your request and ask them complete an open docs journal transfer to your Department-funded Smartkey 100-1113-XXX.

It is important that you provide the department with the following information when you make your request, so that they can properly complete the online journal.

Required information that student should provide departments:
- Name of Student Group:

- Student Group Smartkey Number:

- Account Code to be used: 85911 EVENT SUPPORT

- Name of Event: 

- Purpose of Event:

- Event Start Date: 

- Event End Date: 

- Student Name: 

- Student Email Address: 

- Student Cellphone: 

All Financial Forms are located in WesNest under the Forms Tab.