Funding Opportunities

Applying for Funding: A Step by Step Guide

Welcome to the AUS Funding Opportunities Page! Before completing a Funding Application, please ensure that you are familiar with the following steps:

  1. Decide which fund to apply to. Read the fund descriptions/mandates on this page to decide which fund to apply to. Make sure that the fund’s mandate you are applying to aligns with your initiative. Some funds have additional guidelines, be sure to read and understand those too. 
  2. Complete your budget. Note that it is mandatory to submit a budget using the required template. AUS departmental association (and other internal entities) must submit their approved budget with the appropriate highlighting. External applicants must submit their budget as the AUSB format attached below.  If you require assistance completing the budget, or have questions about the budget component of the application, please contact the AUS VP Finance (finance.aus@mail.mcgill.ca). 
  3. Submit your Funding Application (link to fund application site for AUS). The application is also down below. Once again, please ensure all estimates and costs are accurate.
  4. Before your application is reviewed by the respective committee, you will be emailed and invited to present at the upcoming meeting where your application is being approved. This is optional. Though appearing to answer questions may help increase the chances that your application is approved, applications are assessed without reference to applicants’ presence or absence at FMC. 
  5. FMC or FAC will respond to you with a decision in about 3 weeks from your application submission date. 
  6. In FMC’s response to you, there will be a detailed description of what funding you’ve been granted and how to collect that funding. Likewise, there will be categories There may be special conditions involved in collecting your funding. These will be clearly explained in the email FMC sent you. Payments may be issued directly to vendors or as reimbursements to organizations/individuals. All funding will be disbursed through direct deposits (EFTs). 
  7. If you are unhappy with the decision you received, you may reapply again with the same application (for the difference between what you initially applied for and what you ultimately received, or simply reapply if your application has been totally rejected). If you intend to re-apply, please contact the AUS VP Finance (finance.aus@mail.mcgill.ca) to better understand why your application was rejected or why funding was not granted in full. 
  8. Congratulations! You’ve completed the AUS Funding process. Your student organization may apply again for further initiatives and events!

If you have any questions about the process for applying, please contact the AUS VP Finance (finance.aus@mail.mcgill.ca) for support. For the purposes of the next section: FY2021 encompasses Fall 2020 (from September 01, 2020) and Winter 2021 (up to April 30, 2021).


Step 1: Fund Descriptions and Application Guidelines 

Journal Fund:

This is for student-run journals and magazines; preference is given to those within the Faculty of Arts. This fund contains $24 724.52 for FY2021. Please refer to the AUS Financial By-laws or contact the AUS VP Finance for more information about this fund. Please read full text related to Journal Fund below.

  • SPECIAL MEASURE: For those journals who received AUS FMC funding in Winter 2020, but could not publish as a result of COVID-19: a special $5000.00 allocation has been approved for FMC to distribute to Journal’s who could not be published last semester. To access this funding, please re-submit your first application through the Journal Fund link and indicate on your application that your request is from Winter 2020. You may submit a duplicate of the application you submitted in Winter 2020. Applications to access funding provided to support unpublished student journal’s from last semester will not have a negative impact on applications for this year. Applications can only be for paper or digital publications; funding cannot support launch parties. This measure will expire at the end of FY2021.

General Journal Fund Decision-Making Guidelines:

Throughout FY2021 (Fall 2020-Winter 2021), FMC will prioritize approving funding for digital publication. Applications will be approved in the following order of precedence:

  1.  Departmental Association/Internal AUS Applicants (current year)– Digital Publications
  2. Departmental Association/Internal AUS Applicants (current year) – Hard-copy Publications
  3. Departmental Association/Internal AUS Applicants (previous year)– Digital Publications
  4. Departmental Association/Internal AUS Applicants (previous year) – Hard-copy Publications  
  5. External Applicants (current year) – Digital Publications
  6. External Applicant (current year) – Hard-copy Publications
  7.  External Applicants (previous year) – Digital Publications
  8.  External Applicant (previous year) – Hard-copy Publications

At this time, no funding will be approved for publication launch parties.

All Journal’s printing hard-copies must specify how many copies they intend to print.

Guidelines for Applicants Requesting Funding to Print Hard-Copies of Publication:

Given FMC’s decision to prioritize digital publications, the following guidelines will apply to applicants printing hard-copies of their publications:  

  1.  Applicants printing less than 30 hard-copies will be considered digital for decision-making purposes.
  2. For applicants requesting funding to print more than 30 hard-copies of their publication, it is mandatory to explain in the “Additional Remarks” section of the Journal Fund application, how these copies will be distributed.
  3. To request funding for more than 150 copies of a publication, a specific set of distribution locations must be provided (in addition to a distribution plan) in the “Additional Remarks” section of the Journal Fund application.

Supplementary Fund:

This Fund is for departmental associations within the Arts Undergraduate Society seeking to fund events and initiatives which are beyond the scope of their annual budget. For more information, please consult the AUS Financial By-laws. This fund contains $23,951.20 for FY2021. Please refer to the AUS Financial By-laws or contact the AUS VP Finance for more information about this fund.

Special Projects Fund:

This is for student groups seeking to fund large events, initiatives and conferences, including collaborations with external groups; any on-campus group may apply. AUS internal entities are prioritized. This fund contains $12 680.05 for FY2021. Please refer to the AUS Financial By-laws or contact the AUS VP Finance for more information about this fund.

 NEW – Sustainability and Ethical Procurement Fund:

The purpose of this fund is to: (1) support the implementation of the Sustainability and Ethical Procurement By-laws and the AUS Sustainability Report by reducing implementations costs for internal entities; (2) support community and student organizations advancing the mandate of the Sustainability and Ethical Procurement By-laws through community engagement, and; (3) support AUS community engagement with these organizations. This fund contains $6,159.00 for FY2021. Please refer to the AUS Financial, Sustainability and Ethical Procurement By-laws or contact the AUS VP Finance for more information about this fund.

Fine Arts Council (FAC): 

The FAC exists: 1) to create a community of fine arts at McGill; 2) to harness the collective energies of Fine Arts programs; 3) create more opportunities for McGill students to express themselves through the Fine Arts, and; 3) support new Fine Arts endeavours and help to expand existing ones. The fund allocates 10% of its money to support new or one-time projects. This fund contains $16,000.00 for FY2021. Please refer to the AUS Fine Arts Council By-laws or contact the AUS VP Communications for more information about this fund. Also, visit their page on the AUS website


Step 2: Complete a Budget 

AUS departmental association (and other internal entities) must submit their approved budget with the appropriate highlighting as their application budget. 

If you are an external applicant, please use the following AUSB budget template for your FMC Applications:

Journal-Budget-Application-Template.xls

Sample-Event-Budget-for-Application.xlsx


Step 3: Complete the Application 


Step 4: FMC Meeting Schedule 

The Financial Management Committee reviews applications on a rolling basis. For the Winter 2021 semester, meetings are held every other Friday through the Zoom links below according to the following  schedule:

Date Time Meeting Link
January 22, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886
February 05, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886
February 19, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886
March 12, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886
March 19, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886
April 02, 20211-2:30 PMhttps://mcgill.zoom.us/j/82125086886

Meetings are open to all AUS Constituents, who are granted observer status.

Applications must be submitted by the Wednesday preceding meeting dates to be included on the upcoming meeting’s agenda.


To find out more about AUS fees, click here.