How to increase Society Funds

Here are some suggestions for Club executives looking to increase their society's access to club funds.

1) Take steps to ensure that your expenses using USU grant money will be approved: 

• Read the C&S Handbook and Finance Handbook.
• Ensure you understand the 'Rules for grant use' defined in the 2026 Finance Handbook, as well as the 'ethical use of funds' 
• Retain all tax invoice receipts for every expense. 
  • The USU requires a tax invoice that includes the seller's ABN/tax registration ID in order to claim expenses as part of the acquittal process.
  • Your entire executive team should be briefed on how to proceed with making purchases on behalf of your club, including asking for a tax invoice.
  • More advice on completing payments and reimbursements can be found in the 2026 Finance Handbook.
• Register every club event with the USU by submitting them through MyUSU. 
  • Be sure to submit pre-event forms 14+ days in advance to ensure event approval by our office. 
• Complete your acquittal by the specified deadline, which will be provided to you via ecmail and across C&S newsletters and notices.
• Check your society's email addresses regularly. 
  • You may want to consider forwarding club-related emails you receive to an inbox owned and shared between your executives

 2) Review your means of retaining and, where possible, increasing society funds: 

• Consider increasing your membership fee. 
  • To change your membership fee, you need to make constitutional amendments in a GM or AGM. You will need to give your membership and the USU minimum 14 days' notice for a meeting where you intend to make constitutional amendments, by completing a pre-event for your meeting and submitting an agenda and constitutional amendments coversheet. 
  • You might like to host a society fundraiser in a registered USU event.
    • Make sure you register your event with the USU via a pre-event form. 
  • Some clubs make profit from club merchandise that they sell to their members. 
    • This requires an initial loss on the cost of the merchandise order, which you may seek funding for. 
    • You can refer to this article on Merchandise and the relevant section of the Finance Handbook for all requirements. 
  • Look for opportunities to receive funding from the USU or the University.
    • Make sure you're subscribed to newsletters.
    • Communicate with your faculty's representatives regularly, if your society is affiliated to one.
    • Apply for USU grant funding through MyUSU. 

This article was last updated on March 2 2026