The Associated Students of Stanford Univeristy (ASSU) is the official student government at Stanford. All Stanford students are members of the ASSU. The ASSU Office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Chioke Borgelt-Mose, President
725-ASSU
president@assu.stanford.edu
Kory Vargas, Vice President
725-ASSU
vp@assu.stanford.edu
The President and Vice President serve as the chief executives of all ASSU functions. They oversee and coordinate ASSU operations and activities and act as the liaisons between the ASSU and all other bodies, both inside and outside the University.
Chris Lin, Chair
chair@assu.stanford.edu
Anita Mukherjee, Deputy Chair
depchair@assu.stanford.edu
The ASSU Undergraduate Senate is the official representative body of undergraduate student interests and concerns. The Undergraduate Senate is comprised of 15 undergraduate Senators. Undergraduate Senate activities are monitored and coordinated by the Senate Chair and Deputy Chair. With the assistance of the Program Board and Publications Board Directors, the Undergraduate Senate Appropriations Committee allocates funds to undergraduate student organizations on both an annual and discretionary basis.
Moriah Thomason, Chair
gsc-chair@assu.stanford.edu
Jonathan Haynes, Financial Officer
gsc-fo@assu.stanford.edu
The ASSU Graduate Student Council (GSC) represents the interests of all graduate students at Stanford. The GSC helps to organize social and informational events for graduate students, and has emerged as a strong advocate on issues that affect the entire graduate community. The GSC also funds graduate student organizations in an effort to provide a broad educational, cultural and social experience for graduate students.
Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE) is the business unit of the ASSU. SSE manages the ASSU endowment as well as business projects such as the Stanford Ad Agency, the Technology Group and the Stanford Store.
Justin Fishner-Wolfson, ASSU Financial Manager
CEO, Stanford Student Enterprises
725-1461
fm@assu.stanford.edu, ceo@sse.stanford.edu
As controller of the Students’ Organizations Fund and as Chief Executive Officer of SSE, the Financial Manager is knowledge-able of the day-to-day operations of the ASSU Business Office. The Financial Manager prepares the Special and General Fee collection and distribution schedules and controls the ASSU investment portfolio.
Linda Whitcomb
Office Supervisor Velda Williams
Accounting Associate
Hongyi Marston
Accounting Assistant 723-4331 (Front Desk)
staff@assu.stanford.edu
The ASSU Business Office staff is extremely knowledgeable regarding all aspects of the ASSU and will answer your questions about ASSU matters or direct you to the appropriate people.
Zach Tucker, Banking Director
725-1460
capgroup-director@see.stanford.edu
http://assu.stanford.edu/groups/banking/
By University policy, all student organizations must bank with the ASSU. Direct your questions about your ASSU Account to the Capital Group Director. The Capital Group processes check requests, deposits and purchase orders on a daily basis, while monitoring accounts for overdrawn balances or overdue financial advances. Capital Group is located in the ASSU/SSE offices on the second floor of Tressider. Visit the banking website for policies, information and instructions regarding all banking forms.
Student organizations mailing 200 or more identical pieces can use the ASSU Bulk-Rate Mailing Service. Any mailings processed by outside mailing services are not available for the bulk-rate stamp use. Bulk mailings are third class and may take two to three weeks to be delivered. Visit the ASSU office for more information.
A self-serve photocopier is available in the ASSU lobby for student organizations. In addition, SSE offers an affordable, convenient copy service to groups that bank with the ASSU. By using these services, copy costs are billed directly to your ASSU account. See the ASSU receptionist to get a self-serve copy account or contact the Stanford Ad Agency to find out more about the SSE Copy Service.
Your student organization can obtain its own Personal Access Code (PAC) through the ASSU, if you can provide the phone’s jack number, building and room location. The PAC code permits long-distance business calls from any campus phone to be billed
The ASSU has a postage meter available for use by student organizations for mailings under 50 pieces. The cost of postage will be billed automatically to your account. See the receptionist about obtaining access privileges.
Anish Hariharan, Ad Agency Project Manager
2nd Floor TMU, in the ASSU, 725-1468
ad-agency@sse.stanford.edu
http://adagency.stanford.edu
The Stanford Ad Agency is Stanford University’s only on-campus, full-service advertising organization. If your organization is interested in publicizing its events across campus, the Ad Agency can meet your advertising needs. The Ad Agency’s services include flyer and poster distribution, photocopying and media placement.
Ceron Rhee, Tech Group Director
2nd Floor TMU, in the ASSU, 725-1937
tech@sse.stanford.edu
http://tech-group.stanford.edu
The Technology Group can assist your organization with any sort of technology help that you may need. This includes anything from graphic design services to setting up full-featured websites complete with online ordering and credit card processing. We strive to keep our prices as low as possible to help you get the most out of your limited funds.
By University policy, all student organizations must bank with the ASSU. Capital Group provides checking, savings and payroll services. The ASSU Bank serves as financial custodian of all recognized student organizations. The ASSU Bank allows student groups to do business with the University, helps protect the non-profit status of your organization, limits the personal liability of student financial officers and maintains complete and accurate records of all your transactions. The ASSU does not charge for any of these services. Visit the website at http://capitalgroup.stanford.edu/groups/banking/ regarding any general quesions or help with forms.
The ASSU Banking staff work under the office of the ASSU Financial Manager, Justin Fishner-Wolfson. Capital Group Director, Zach Tucker, and his staff process all account paperwork and are the appropriate contact for any account-related questions. The staff opens student organization accounts, accepts all deposits and prints account balance information.
Payment to vendors for services should never be made by cash or personal check as these payments may not be reimbursed. Plan ahead so that you can pay for services with the Capital Group
All student organization financial records are retained for seven years by the ASSU. Financial records of student organizations may be accessed only by the financial officer of that group. Student groups are highly encouraged to maintain and pass down their own copies of their financial records to maintain consistency between their financial officers. The banking staff will be happy to print out an account statement or you can print it out on our website.
A $25 fee will be levied for stop payments on checks, and a fee of $5 will be levied for returned checks. Fees may be charged for other special services at the discretion of the financial staff.
Once your group has registered as a student organization with the OSA, you may apply for or reactivate your accounts with the ASSU. To do so, have the financial officer and president of your group present valid identification. Your organization may not reopen an account until all outstanding issues are resolved from previous years.
Yes. Stanford University requires that all student organizations maintain all of their funds with the Students’ Organizations Fund (SOF), administered by the Capital Group .
Only one individual, designated as financial officer of the organization, may authorize account transactions. A secondary signature, generally that of the organization president, must also be added to the account. The secondary signature is used only when the organization wishes to reimburse its financial officer. Signatures are recorded on a card in the ASSU Office as part of registering the organization.
No. Student organizations are affiliated with Stanford, and, as such, must meet all expectations of a nonprofit organization. All funds must be channeled back into the operations of your organization. Stanford funds cannot be put into a personal bank account or given as dividends to investors. If a student organization is making a profit, it could jeopardize the nonprofit status of the ASSU and the University.
Yes. Neither Stanford’s nor the ASSU’s nonprofit status exempts student organizations from reporting and paying sales tax on goods or services sold. Nearly all types of sales are taxable; there are very few exceptions. When purchasing items with the sole intention of reselling them, student organizations may request to use the ASSU’s resale number to avoid “double-paying” sales tax. Sales tax can be complicated, so it is very important to consult with the ASSU well in advance of making any purchases or sales.
Follow all University policies, ASSU procedures and standard accounting practices. Monitor your account and work with ASSU staff to resolve discrepancies. Submit requests in a correct and timely manner.
The Capital Group reserves the right to pay any delinquent bill incurred by a student organization with funds from that organization’s account, and to pursue recovery of money owed to the ASSU by any organization account through ASSU, University and/or legal channels. It reserves all other rights given to it by applicable state and federal laws.
All organizations applying for any ASSU account will receive a checking account. A checking account functions similarly to a personal checking account at a commercial bank. From this account, you may request checks and deposit money (although external donations to your organization must go through the OSA and the Office of Development first).
Through Special Fees or General Fees, organizations can receive funding for approved group activities. To receive these funds, your organization must apply to the appropriate ASSU legislative body(ies) and submit a detailed budget for funded activities. All expenditures from a funded account are reconciled against the organization’s approved budget.
Funds allocated from Special Fees for a Funded Account that are unused revert to your organization’s reserve account. (Excess funds from General Fees revert back to General Fees at the end of the year.) To access reserve funds, your organization must receive the approval of the appropriate ASSU legislative body(ies). Frequent use of these funds may be viewed as an insufficient use of allocated funds within the given funding cycle and could affect future funding decisions. Note: Although the ASSU fiscal year ends on June 30, the Undergraduate Senate adjourns in late Spring Quarter and does not meet again until the Fall.
By working with The Stanford Fund, your organization can earn funds for approved activities. Any group applying to The Stanford Fund Partnership (SFP) program must present a budget detailing how the funds will be used. Funds earned through the SGP will be transferred into your Stanford Fund Partnership Account twice per quarter. Funds spent through this account must be in accordance with the approved budget. Complete details regarding the SGP, including applications, are available at the OSA.
The ASSU offers a savings account with competitive annual interest rates for student groups. Interest on all savings accounts is compounded daily and paid quarterly. The minimum balance for a savings account is $5,000. Funds may be transferred from a checking account to add money to your savings account. Please note that savings accounts are limited to three transactions per month without charge. Should you have additional transactions, your account will not receive the monthly interest payment.
To make maintaining your account easier for your student organization and for the Capital Group , please remember to always do the following:
Unacceptable documentation includes the following:
