General Student Services Fund Eligibility Criteria

Last updated: April 20, 2020

The full GSSF Eligibility Criteria can be found within Section 2 of the ASM Constitution and Bylaws.


Below will be important notes pulled from the Eligibility Criteria to help inform your understanding of policy, however any decisions made by the SSFC will be informed by official bylaws within the ASM Constitution and Bylaws.

Organizations must meet the following general criteria to be eligible for the GSSF:
  • Must be a Registered Student Organization with the Center for Leadership and Involvement
  • Must submit an eligibility application on time (unless granted an extension by the SSFC ahead of the due date)
  • Must have written governing documents that describe the mission of the organization
  • Must not require dues to be a member when receiving GSSF fudning
  • Must not receive funding from other areas funded by the Student Segregated Fee (unless proper co-sponsorship plans are in place)
In order to keep GSSF organizations accountable, they must also meet the following Accountability Requirements:
  • A student from the organization must attend the group's eligibility hearing
  • The organization must complete the eligibility application and explain the Core and Supportive Programming
    • Core Programming:
      • Meets all of the following:
        • Open to all UW-Madison students
        • Has an Educational Benefit:
          • Teamwork and problem solving
          • Civic knowledge and engagement
          • Intercultural as well as cross-cultural knowledge and competence
          • Peer mentoring and personal development
        • UW-Madison students must be 75% of the beneficiaries of the program.
          • Beneficiaries are those who receive programming or resources from the organization
      • Meets one of the following:
        • Provides a service to UW-Madison students that is available upon request (workshops, meeting groups, peer mentoring, etc.)
        • Facilitates experiential learning
        • Is a Campaign, or an organized set of activities that relate to the organization's mission and promote public awareness and student engagement with the intention of generation institutional or social change
        • Provides leadership development opportunities to UW-Madison students
    • Supportive Programming:
      • Meets any of the following criteria:
        • Not accessible to all UW-Madison students
        • Does not provide an educational benefit found in Core Programming
        • UW-Madison students are less than 75% of the beneficiaries of the program
        • The program does not meet any of the engagement criteria found in Core Programming
        • The program is a lecture, presentation, or entertainment provided by people outside of UW-Madison.
        • The program is for select individuals in the organization (such as leadership development, general member meetings, retreats or trainings, etc.)
        • The program is a publication or a library
  • The organization must complete a researched and documented budget application, which includes a budget excel and budget narrative.
  • If the group has received funding previously from the GSSF (frequently referred to as "returning GSSF organizaitons"), they must have achieved the following:
    • Submitted their End-of-Year and Mid-Year reports on time (unless they were granted an extension by the SSFC ahead of the due date).
    • Spent funds efficiently to provide programs in line with their approved budget for that year
    • Provided the programs to the best of their abilities given the circumstances of that year
    • Demonstrated the ability to provide their Core Programs and requestable programs they were granted eligiblity for
  • Any organization applying cannot be determined to have intentionally violated ASM or UW System financial policies, state or federal law, or the group's written governing documents since September 1 of the previous year from any entity outside of the SSFC.
GSSF organizations must adhere to the following programming requirements
  • The "focus" or time spent (including salaries, supplies, resources, etc.) should be on Core Programming, not Supportive Programming.
  • Core Programming can be tailored or altered to meet the needs of UW-Madison students but must stay within the mission of the organization.
  • Organizations must have at least one Core Program that is available upon request.
  • An organization's Core Programming must be continually available throughout the academic year, not all in one semester or time of academic year.
  • The organization must show that their Core Programming is substantially different (meaning that it offers improved student accessibility, provides a unique perspective or level of expertise, or uses a distinct method of implementation that isn't be offered at UW-Madison already) from other areas on campus. As the campus changes, organizations will need to keep in mind that they must continue to be substantially different

Any changes to the Eligibility Criteria are first brought to the Eligibility Criteria Review Committee. This committee is comprised of SSFC members, GSSF leaders, and Student Judiciary members. The committee will review criteria and come up with amendments as needed. Once amendments are made, the SSFC Chair will then bring the final outcome to Student Council for a final approval.

Eligibility criteria were last reviewed by the Eligibility Criteria Review Committee in Spring of 2020.




Keywords:gssf, gsff, ggsf, gssf resources, resources, ssfc, sffc, finance, student organization, general student services fund, eligibility, criteria, eligibility criteria   Doc ID:104529
Owner:Kelly K.Group:Associated Students of Madison
Created:2020-07-30 16:50 CDTUpdated:2020-07-30 17:34 CDT
Sites:Associated Students of Madison
Feedback:  1   1