BUA Club & Budgeting FAQ

In the fall you can sign up for all clubs and activities during the activity fair. Look out in your email inbox for details. Any other time during the year you can drop into meetings or reach out to club leaders directly about participating.

You first must evaluate if your new club meets a significant need at BUA. The difference between a club and a casual hang out with your friends is that you give back to the community in line with your outlined mission or purpose. If you meet that threshold, you may submit a club proposal. All potential club leaders must attend the mandatory club orientation and pass the “club leadership quiz”.

At the start of each school year club leaders (new and existing) will complete the club proposal form for approval consideration. To start a club mid-school year, you can email Ms. Perrone with your request and she will determine if you can submit a proposal mid-year. Starting a club mid-year means you likely will not be able to request a budget. 

Most of the time, no. But some exceptions can be made. You can email Ms. Perrone with your request and she will determine if you can submit a proposal mid-year. Starting a club mid-year means you likely will not be able to request a budget. 

In order to to be recognized as a club at BUA, you must submit a proposal through Club Hub and complete the Club Policy Quiz by the fall deadline. Your club proposal (including purpose and plan, and budget if applicable) must be approved by Ms. Perrone via Club Hub to be officially registered. All clubs must register at the start of the school year regardless of if the club existed in the previous year. 

It depends on the following. You need an advisor if (1) the club plans to request a budget, (2) the club produces a publication, (3) the club plans to participate in discussions that may require adult moderation or, (4) plan to participate in competitions or conferences on BU campus or outside of BUA that require a chaperone. Examples include Model UN, Robotics Team, Women’s Empowerment Group, and the Scarlett Letter newspaper. Otherwise, you don’t! Clubs without an advisor must meet in the BUA building or online. Your advisor must be able to chaperone any events or outings you plan, so make that clear to them when you make the ask. 

You ask! Ask politely and come prepared to share your club purpose and the responsibilities of the advisor including, for example, if they need to attend conferences or competitions, if they need to supervise activities, etc. Don’t assume an advisor will continue with you in the next year; you must ask every year as their responsibilities and your club expectatons may change. 

You should select a meeting time that works for club leader schedules and the advisor, if they need to be in attendance. This way, students interested in attending can determine upfront if they are available to make the commitment to your club. If you plan to meet in a teacher’s classroom, you should get permission from that teacher first. Let them know how often, what time, and what you plan to be doing in the space. Only rooms that are available will be selectable on Club Hub. 

New clubs, meaning clubs that did not exist in the previous school year, will require follow up from Ms. Perrone both to ensure student involvement and to provide support to the club to achieve their goals. New clubs are required to take attendance using Club Hub at each meeting (in your club you can select “meetings” and then “take attendance” to do so. New clubs are also required to have a follow up meeting with Ms. Perrone  midway through the fall semester with progress on their club goals. Any new clubs that fail to meet, take attendance, and provide an update about their goal progress will be removed as an official club at BUA. 

You have an opportunity to debut your club at the activities fair in the fall; you must be officially approved to reserve a spot! To send out announcements, you can either send an advisor-approved annoucement out on ClubHub or request a post on student council’s Instagram, @bua_stuco (or both!). You can do that by DMing the account or emailing the head of PR with your request (see the student council reps page for the current chair’s contact information). If you would like to create your own post and share that with the Instagram account, you can do that using canva.com. Clubs may also create their own social media accounts but must be approved. You can request approval through this form. 

All BUA affiliated clubs and activities that would like to create a social media account, like instagram, must get approval from Ms. Perrone. Please view the specifics and apply through this link. All user names and passwords must be shared with the school to ensure we can pass them down to future club leaders or deactivate them if the club no longer exists. All posts must fit within the guidelines of the expectations outlined in the student handbook as well as follow the BUA club instagram user policy.  

The first person you should talk to is your advisor! Tell them what you are thinking about and ask for their feedback. Advisors can coordinate plans to host guest speakers. Advisors must approve the event or speaker before any action is taken. 

• For events – Once your advisor has approved the idea, come up with a rough plan for your event and share it with Ms. Meyer and Ms. Perrone. They can approve the event officially, check the academic calendar,  and book spaces/catering if needed. If you don’t need space or catering, just reach out to Ms. Perrone.
• For outings – Once your advisor has approved the outing and can chaperoning, complete the permission slip request from here at least two weeks in advance. You need two chaperones for any outings that take place outside of school hours or that are outside the city of Boston/Cambridge.

If your club proposal is approved, a form will be shared with you to request a budget. Clubs must have a finalized meeting time and location, and an advisor in order to request a budget. All purchases should be approved by the advisor. In submitting a budget request, your club agrees to the budget policies outlined here and in the next questions. View samples here. 

Clubs can request up to $500 (with some exceptions) and may be approved for all, none, or a portion of the request. Line items must be related to the club or meetings. The more specific your budget request is (with exact items, prices, websites, conference details), the more likely it is that your budget will be approved. See a sample budget request here.

First, you must talk to your advisor for approval. In most cases, your advisor (or Ms. Perrone) should make the purchase using a school credit card and update you on the remaining balance in your club budget. This process runs smoothly if you send specific links to what you would like purchased along with the request. If you would like to make the purchase yourself and get reimbursed, you MUST get prior permission and MUST submit a receipt  or you may not be able to be reimbursed for the purchase. Once you submit the receipt, a reimbursement will be processed. You should receive a check within 2-3 weeks after the processing.

Clubs may request funding to purchase physical prizes for specific events (like a trivia night, for example). The purchase of gift cards by BUA is not allowed per BU policies.

If you need more funding (or missed the original window to apply for funding) you are allowed to raise money for your club with the following guidelines. If you want to hold a bake sale (or similar), you must follow these steps:

(1) Check in with Ms. Perrone for approval of use of the lobby space and purpose.

(2) If your request is approved, reach out to Mr. Dettorre (and cc Ms. Perrone) to request use of the cash box on the approved date.

(3) On the date of your sale, grab the a cash box and cash count worksheet from Mr. Dettorre. On the cash count worksheet, you will track how much money is exchanged.

(4) At the end of your sale each day, you must return the cash box and cash count worksheet to Mr. Dettorre.

(5) Following the sale, you will receive an email from Mr. Dettorre (with Ms. Perrone cc’d) letting you know how much money has been added to your budget. Any purchases with the new funds must be approved and purchased by Ms. Perrone.

No. All funds must be used in the year in which the funding was allotted and are not rolled over. You can keep track of your budget on Club Hub.