SBA Finances: Accessing Club Funds

Making a Purchase Request

Authorized student organization officers can submit payment requests through their organization's Accounting Book in RevConnect. Whenever possible, please submit purchase requests at least 1–2 weeks before the event or date the items are needed. This allows sufficient time for request review and approval, purchase processing, shipping, vendor coordination, and any unexpected delays.

When submitting your request, be prepared to answer:

• Which funds? SBA allocation
• What is it? Clear business purpose and event/activity context
• Who is paid? Vendor, person, department, or account
• How much? Total amount, including taxes, shipping, and applicable fees
• What proof? Quote, invoice, itemized receipt, attendee list, event flyer, or other supporting documentation, as applicable
• When is it needed? Payment/purchase deadline, service date, event date, etc.

Tax Exemption & Vendor Documentation

The George Washington University is generally exempt from sales tax on qualifying University purchases. Student organizations should keep this in mind when preparing for their purchase.

Some vendors may request documentation before removing sales tax or processing a University purchase. This may include:

• GW’s Sales Tax Exemption Certificate – provided to vendors when applicable to have sales tax removed from the purchase.
• GW’s W-9 Form – some vendors may request a University W-9 for their vendor or payment records.

Whenever possible, any required tax exemption should be applied before the purchase is finalized to avoid unnecessary sales tax charges.

After a Purchase

Once a purchase has been completed, the expense will be reflected in the organization’s financial records and tracked against its annual budget allocation. Organizations are responsible for monitoring their spending throughout the academic year and ensuring that purchases remain within their available allocation.

Additional Finance Resources

Contract Process

• If your student organization is hosting an event on campus that includes a performer, speaker, or any individual providing a service, then a contract must be completed. The contract process must be completed before your organizations event will be approved and advertising for the event cannot occur until this approval is achieved.
• DO NOT SIGN ANY CONTRACTS. Student organization representatives and faculty advisors are not permitted to sign contracts as they are not legal representatives of the University. Any contract that is not signed by a member of the GW Procurement team does not legally bind the University to submit payment from organizations accounts.
• If a vendor does not provide their own agreement, a university contract template will be completed by the Org Help office. Once created, this agreement will be sent to their vendor for their review and signature.
• Standard contract processing time for third party vendor agreements is 4-6 weeks. University template agreements standard processing time is 2-4 weeks and depends largely on the vendors response times. There is no guarantee that any contract submitted within two weeks of an event will be completed in time for the event.

Information to Share With Vendors:

• Any vendor receiving payment for services rendered on a George Washington University Campus must provide a Certificate of Insurance (COI) before the contract can be finalized. If the vendor does not carry insurance, our office can work with them to obtain single event insurance for your contract. George Washington University does not directly pay or reimburse vendors for their event insurance policy.
• Any agreement that involves a food truck requires that the vendor provide their licensing for operating the truck and propane if applicable. Any vendor preparing food outdoors on campus must also provide similar licensing.
• Any contract that requires a COI or proof of licensing cannot move forward to the collection of signatures until these documents are received by our office.

Payment Information:

• It is standard policy at GW that no pre-payment can be made on contracts (i.e. no deposits or cash payments). Payment to the vendor will occur after the contracted services have been rendered. If a vendor is requiring a deposit to be made prior to the event date, they will have to negotiate these terms directly with a GW Procurement team member during the contract review phase.
• Contracts paid by credit card can be paid to the vendor the business day following the completion of the contracted services. Any payment to a vendor by electronic transfer or check will be governed by a purchase order. GWU purchase orders will be paid out to the vendor 30 days after the completion of the event.

Ad Hoc Funding

Ad Hoc Request form can be found HERE