GBM, Dates
Student Activities Council
Spring 2024 GBM Dates
Activities Fair
Student Activities Council
Spring 2024 Activities Fair

New SAC Representative 101

First, you should know what SAC is. The Student Activities Council (SAC) is one of the University of Pennsylvania’s six branches of undergraduate student government. SAC funds and supports 220 student organizations and represents their interests to the Undergraduate Assembly (UA) and the Penn administration. SAC’s main mission is to improve the state of student organizations at Penn. The Executive Board, which is comprised of eight elected members and the Treasurer of the UA, proposes budget recommendations that are voted on by the General Body.

The SAC Executive Board should be seen as a resource for your student group. Though our main function is to allocate funding, we can also help walk you through that process, direct your to other funding sources, and work with your group to help expand your presence on campus and achieve your mission. However, it is important to keep in mind that in term of funding, the Executive Board only deals with allocating money. We are not in charge of the reimbursement process or actually using the money that you have been allocated. For that, you should talk to your OSA Financial Liaison using the steps outlined here.

As a SAC representative, you have two main responsibilities:

  1. Attend SAC GBMs on behalf of your student group. There are 6 GBMs a year, 3 a semester. Missing 2 GBMs in a year will result in de-recognition of your student group, so it is really important that someone signs in to each GBM for your group. If you cannot make it, you can send someone else from your group to attend on your behalf and sign in for your group. The GBM schedule can be found here.
  2. Apply for SAC funding on behalf of your student group. There are multiple ways to obtain funding from SAC: through budgets and allocations, contingency funding, and emergency contingency funding. You can find information about each type of funding here. Click here for information on how to apply for a budget and click here for information on how to apply for contingency funding.

You can find a fully detailed guide on what you need to know as a SAC representative here.

2018 Spring Activities Fair Registration Now Open!

Registration Now Open!

Register now for the 2018 Spring Activities Fair here! Registration will be open until January 5, 2018 at 5pm. This deadline is final, and priority will be given to SAC Groups due to space restrictions. Please see below for the details about the fair -

Date/Time: January 14, 2018 from 11am until 2pm Location: Houston Hall Registration Link: tinyurl.com/SACSpringFair2018

Please note that new for this year, SAC will be requiring groups to submit a one-page description of their organization and club recruitment procedures. Clubs must indicate compliance with the SAC Club Recruitment Guidelines (as of December 2017). Instructions, template, and a sample one-page description can be found below. Please direct any questions to 2018 Spring Activities Fair Directors, Kevin Myers and Emily Su (sacfair@sacfunded.net)!

SAC Club Recruitment Guidelines

As a part of our initiative in partnership with the Undergraduate Assembly and the Office of Student Affairs, SAC has adopted guidelines for club recruitment that we will require all clubs abide by. Many clubs' recruitment procedures will be unaffected by these guidelines, and we aim to have them serve as a guide to ensure that new students are made as comfortable as possible by the club recruitment process. They are still in progress and deliberation by the SAC Executive Board, and as of now compliance will be a requirement for registration for the Activities Fairs.

The guidelines can be found here.

2017 New Group Recognition

SAC is now accepting applications for SAC recognition.

Eligible student organizations must have existed and been registered on G.O. Penn for at least one calendar year, have a primary mission that is unique from existing SAC-recognized student organizations, prove sustainability through multiple board transitions, and demonstrate a need for SAC funding within existing guidelines. (For more details, see our recognition policies.)

To apply, send a completed application (below) to newgroup@sacfunded.net along with the required documents. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until November 15th at 11:59 p.m. Late applications will not be considered. Eligible organizations will meet with SAC's Executive Board for interviews before the December GBM. We ask that applying groups keep November 16th and 30th between 5-9PM  available for said interviews.

The New Group Recognition form can be found here.

How to Prepare for the New School Year

If you are a SAC-recognized group or are looking to become SAC-recognized, there are several steps you should take in order to best prepare yourself.

  1. Register your student group on Groups Online at Penn (G.O. Penn). You can find instructions on how to do so on our General FAQs page.
  2. Sign up for the Fall Activities Fair. You do not have to be a SAC-recognized group in order to participate, you just need to be registered on G.O. Penn. If you are on the Listserv, you will receive an email from SAC Exec in August with information on how sign up for a table. If you aren't yet on the Listserv, you can sign up here. Otherwise, you can check on our website and we will have a "Updates" post on the homepage with information about sign ups.

2017 Fall Activities Fair

Registration for the 2017 SAC Fall Activities Fair is now open! You can register here.

Registration will close on Monday, August 14th at 11:59 p.m., so please register as soon as possible! Any group that registers after the deadline will be waitlisted and assigned a table if available. All registered participant groups will be contacted by August 21st with details about the fair.

This year’s fair will be held on Thursday, August 31st from 5–8 p.m.

Please email sacfair@sacfunded.net if you have any questions.

Please note: PAC groups should not use this form to sign up. PAC Exec will coordinate activity fair sign-ups for all constituent groups.

Thanks, Kevine & Yimeng 2017 SAC Fall Activities Fair Coordinators

Budgets & Allocations 2017-18

If you submitted an annual budget for the 2017-18 academic year, you should have met with your SAC Exec group for a budget interview. Student organizations that fail to show up for a budget interview surrender their right to appeal SAC Exec's recommendation during the April GBM.

Timeline for Budget & Allocations (B&A) Process:

  • 4/3 - Budgets briefs released
  • 4/12 - Budget appeals due at 11:59 p.m.
  • 4/17 - Budget appeal decisions released
  • 4/20 - April GBM