THE CONCEPT - Student Sustainability Fund

History > Mission and Coordination > Student Sustainability Fund > Other Financing

Why?

Funding is often an issue for sustainable student projects on campus. A sustainability fund gives access to a constant source of funding which can be used for tangible student initiatives.

Moreover, it demonstrates a real student concern about sustainability on their campus. This initiative can, in turn, become a spur for university administrations to pursue sustainable changes on campus.

What is it?

It is a voluntary or mandatory student contribution to a fund, for the implementation of sustainable student projects.

This contribution may be:

Direct (a student fee levy added to tuition fees), or
Indirect (a student fee levy coming from the actual budget of the Student Union or another kind of university fund that is already dedicated to student sustainability projects.)

How to achieve it?

Even if there is no definite procedure or magical formula to create a Student Sustainability Fund, here are a few basic steps to think about:

Obtaining the authorization of the students to collect a fee levy towards implementing a sustainability fund within the institution.
Determining the eligibility criteria for the funding of student projects
Introducing all members to the criteria for the sustainability fund, and launching a call-out for projects.
Bringing support and guidance, to the best of one’s knowledge, to students who present a sustainability project.
Closely following up on each project funded to make sure the money is spent appropriately and to evaluate project results.

The Generations Pact coordinating body offers advice and support to students throughout the process, but strongly encourages experience sharing between those campuses that already have such funds and campuses wishing to instate them.

Management committee

It is strongly suggested to have an independent management committee to ensure impartiality and continuity of the Student Sustainability Fund.

As a suggestion, the management committee can be responsible of:

Evaluating and selecting student projects applying for funding;
Appropriate fund management (accounting);
Submitting accounts to Student Union for audit;
Submitting accounts to the Generations Pact Coordinator for project audit, regarding FAQDD funding only.

This management committee may composed of:

The Student Union Vice-President Environment/Sustainability;
A representative of Faculty Union;
A representative of the sustainability group on campus (such as Sustainable Campuses);
A student elected by the Student Union to have a seat on the committee;
A representative of the University, particularly if the university contributes to the Student Fund.

Project criteria

It is the responsibility of each fund management committee to establish project criteria determining eligibility for funding from the student sustainable fund.

Here are some examples of basic criteria that may be applied: