Finances

Most clubs and student associations charge dues as the primary source for funding their organization. Club dues payments are handled via the BYU Marriott clubs page. 

When temporarily collecting fees for an activity or event, you must work with the university’s Treasury Department to set up a website for collecting those payments. This minimizes the risk associated with holding cash and checks and also provides students with the option to pay with a credit or debit card. The form to request setup of a website to collect fees is found on the treasury services website. 

If desired, clubs may also check out a hand-held credit card machine from Treasury for taking credit card payments at an event.

Treasury Department Contact Information
Office: A-153 ASB
Email: treasuryservices@byu.edu
Phone: 801-422-4701

If you must collect funds via cash or check, you are required to issue a receipt to each individual from whom monies are received. Therefore it is necessary to keep a receipt book on hand for this purpose.

Cash and check deposits should be made daily if $200 or more has accumulated. Any and all amounts should be deposited on Friday so that no cash is held over the weekend. Pending deposit, all cash should be held in a secure place. Cash and checks must be brought to either the related academic department secretary or the dean’s office in 720 TNRB where a cashier (college controller or associate controller) can process them for you. If no cashier is available in the academic department or dean’s office, you may take deposits to the department cashier window in D-155 ASB. You will need to provide your club account number and information regarding what the funds are for to ensure they are credited to the correct account code.

Funds from outside entities generally come in one of two forms:

• Donations: These are tax-deductible contributions made to a club account. Donations must not be restricted to a particular event or activity, nor may the individual or company making the donation receive any direct benefit from their contribution. Donations are funds to be used by the club at their discretion. Individuals and companies can make donations to student clubs on the LDS Philanthropies website or by working with the BYU Marriott controller. Communication between the donor, the club, and the department financial secretary is critical to ensure the funds are credited to the correct club account. Please contact the Marriott School controller if you are expecting a large volume of unrestricted gifts. All entities who donate on the LDSP website will receive a receipt indicating a tax-deductible donation.

• Sponsorships: When an individual or company wishes to sponsor a specific activity or event, or will receive some direct benefit for their contribution, those payments are neither donations nor are they tax deductible. Those payments also do not go through the LDSP website. If invoices are needed, club leaders may work with the university general receivables office to create and send those invoices. 

Note: One way to distinguish between a donation and a sponsorship is to ask the following question: If the event or activity were cancelled, would you reimburse the payment?  If no, that is a donation and should be paid through LDSP.  If yes, it is likely a sponsorship.

Club dues are the primary source of funding for club expenses. Outside funds may be raised, in limited situations, to meet reasonable operating expenses during the year, but not to build up financial reserves. Before approaching any outside company or individual to solicit donations, your advisor must seek approval from the BYU Marriott LDSP liaison, Dan Scoresby. Clubs and student associations must adhere strictly to the University Fundraising Policy (see Appendix B). The university does not allow fundraising for charitable or humanitarian causes, outside of the university’s annual Care Week.

The following grid provides a summary of different types of events and where the primary source of funding should be obtained: Student Association Event Funding

Catering

When a caterer is used to set up and/or serve food at an event, you must use BYU Catering or another BYU-approved caterer (an exception is food trucks, as they are not considered caterers for purpose of this policy). The following exceptions exempt using an approved BYU caterer:

• Meals and other food served at an off-campus location,
• Non-perishable, pre-packaged foods served by university staff,
• When only pizza is served (not including salads, etc.),
• Events with less than 20 participants,
• University-affiliated ecclesiastical units with campus scheduling privileges.

For more information, see the Guide to Using BYU-Approved Caterers.

Stores, including grocery stores and Costco, often prepare food in their own bakery, deli, or similar area of the store. Any food that is prepared in a store and requires chilling or warming (e.g. vegetable trays, potato salad, etc.) is not permitted to be purchased for events unless that store is an approved BYU caterer. Stores ARE acceptable merchants for items such as muffins and cookies (items that don’t require chilling or warming) and for commercially prepackaged food such as candy, granola bars, crackers, etc.

Beverage Contract

The university has contracted with a specific bottling company of Coca-Cola for exclusive beverage representation on campus. The contract states that “only Coca-Cola beverages will be sold, distributed, sampled, or otherwise be made available on campus.” All university units and departments are required to abide by this contract. All BYU approved caterers adhere to this contract when serving on campus or selling to BYU entities. As such, all beverages to be consumed during an on-campus event must be purchased through BYU Dining Services or a BYU-approved caterer.  Beverages for individual consumption are not covered by this contractual agreement.

For options on locations and prices for purchasing water, please review the Dining Services department water pricing.

When purchasing goods (supplies, food, beverages, etc.) a BYU payment method is required. A personal credit card or other personal funds should not be used. For most purchases, use one of the following:

On-Campus: Request checkout of a Campus Card in your program/department office. Campus Cards will work anywhere on campus that takes a credit card.

Off-Campus: Request checkout of a Department Card from your program/department office.

T-Shirt Orders should to go through Purchasing using Y-MarketPlace for good quality and best price. Ask at your department office.

Generally, Campus Cards and Department Cards must be returned to the issuing department within 24 hours. Your department may require a form filled out by you and/or signed by your advisor in order to check out a Campus Card or Department Card, and they may also require you to leave your BYU ID as a placeholder until the card and itemized receipt are returned. In addition, please note the following policies:

• The club member that checks out the card is the only one allowed to use the card.  They cannot check it out and lend it to another club member to make the purchase.
• No one is permitted to take a picture of the credit card.

Promptly turn in receipts at the time of returning the card. If the receipt is not clear, please write a full description on the back before turning it in. Always write the club name, account number, and the specific purpose of the purchase on the back of the receipt. Note that when paying for a meal for less than 13 people, you must include the names of everyone in attendance.

Paying an individual or company for services (as opposed to goods/products) cannot be done with a BYU Campus or Department card, and a certain amount of additional paperwork is required (W-9, contractor questionnaire, contract, etc.)  No commitment should be made to potential service providers until the university has completed the necessary reviews and approvals.  

Examples of services providers include musicians, performers, web designers, speakers, photographers, media producers, DJs, etc. If you desire to engage a service provider, please contact the BYU Marriott Associate Controller to help navigate this process.

Clubs and student associations may purchase gift cards but must acquire them through BYU Treasury Services by completing the gift card form. Do not purchase gift cards anywhere except Treasury Services. Besides campus  gift cards, Treasury Services has generic VISA gift cards. Because all gift card applications must be signed by the dean, please plan ahead. Upon receipt of the gift cards from Treasury Services, a separate form will be provided which will require you to account for the distribution of the gift cards: Gift Card Distribution Documentation Form

Pay sales tax when making purchases, even if a vendor ask whether you are sales tax exempt. Your account will be reimbursed when the expense is processed.

Making purchases with personal funds and then getting reimbursed is not permitted. All club purchases must be made via an approved BYU purchasing tool (campus card, purchasing card, etc.)

No prizes or awards more than $100 may be purchased by a club and given to students. Outside sponsors may bring awards of any value and distribute them as long as they are given to the recipient directly and not to the club. Gifts/prizes/awards less than $100 may be purchased and given without having to report to the tax office. Department financial secretaries can assist in reporting the gift if it is greater than $100.

Click here for Examples-of-Expenditures.

Clubs are not permitted to travel off campus and no club dues or fundraising proceeds may be used for student travel. Departments and centers cannot sponsor and pay for “club travel” but they may choose to pay for a group of students with a common interest and a BYU purpose, to travel, who may or may not to belong to any club. Travel related costs such as airfare, hotels, car rentals, fuel, mileage, travel meals, etc., may not be charged to a club account.

Your advisor and department secretary get a monthly report and can let you know the balance in your club account. If desired, the department secretary can also delegate financial report access to a club student leader (if they are a BYU employee).

Typical items that are to be maintained in a file include:

• Duplicate copies of deposit receipts given to individuals or companies upon receipt of funds.
• Deposit receipts from a college or BYU cashier that identify sources of funds and other supporting documentation.
• Copies of backup documents for any unusual transactions.

Records should be retained for the current calendar year plus four prior years. Audits may be requested at any time. University internal auditors will periodically review accounts to assure that procedures are being followed.