Polygon and College of Engineering Funding Application
Application for Funds Generated by Career Connection
Last Updated August 2009

This application is for the distribution of funds generated by Career Connection. Funding may be proposed for any event to benefit registered groups or organizations in the College of Engineering. Funding requests may be for any amount. Requests for $500 or less may also be submitted to the Polygon Engineering Council at general meetings. In order to submit an in-meeting funding request ($500 or less, voted on by organizations at general meetings) to the Polygon Engineering Council, email polygon@cae.wisc.edu. In order to request funding from the Polygon/COE funding committee (any amount, decided by funding committee in closed meeting), please follow the guidelines listed below.

Funding Application Guidelines

In an effort to consolidate and improve the application process, the Funding Committee created a standardized application. This is one step in a continuing effort to streamline the process and provide an increasingly unbiased and fair basis to help the funding committee determine allocations of funds to organizations. We hope the application will not only reduce the amount of work required to apply, but provide an easy way to present the vital information. In the future we hope to continue this effort by offering easy submission and attachment features. For now however, we still believe that this application will provide great improvements to the process. Our first step was to reduce the number of forms required; we’ve eliminated the online html submissions entirely.

Funding Application:

This new process requires only two documents to be submitted. The Funding Application and a Budget. The new application can be downloaded from this page and is form-fill and self-explanatory. In an effort to expedite the process, we require you to use ONLY THE SPACE PROVIDED. Do not increase the size or length of text boxes. The application has been sized specifically and intentionally. Any alteration to the size of text boxes (including lengthening due to long answers) could void your entire submission as per the Terms of Submissions on the application. Certain sections have limited characters. Certain sections allow more text to be written than maybe visible. These sections are labeled and it is the responsibility of the author to modify their response to fit the space provided. A longer answer will not void the application, but it cannot - and will not - be read.

When filling out Section 2, consider the following while completing the Description section: What is the purpose of the event? What does your organization hope to gain from participating in it? What does it bring to the College of Engineering? How does the community benefit? Be specific with the Cost section, including such things as travel fees, registration, and lodging; include specific grants and rewards to be applied toward the final cost of that particular event. For a more complete break down and list of how funding is awarded, please look under the Funding Policy link. Events should be filled out in priority order, as the committee will consider funding in that order.

Section 3 should include specifics on alternate sources of income. Be specific with such things as individual sponsors (ie. Boeing, GM, etc.) along with expected amounts. Also touch on individual department grants. You may also list member dues, fundraisers, and other sources of income; be specific but brief.

If your organization is applying for funding for more than 6 Events, download the 12-Event application. If more than 12-Events are required, please e-mail a funding representative so your situation can be dealt with; we are not responsible for late applications so make sure to contact a representative before the application is due.

Try to convey all of your information in the application in a brief but specific manner. A short answer is more beneficial to your cause than a drawn out answer that contains the same information.

You must agree to the Terms of Submission (Section 4) for the application to be considered.

Budget:

The other document that must be submitted is your organization’s budget. The budget should include a complete cash flow along with a breakdown of each event. We understand that organizations keep budgets in different formats, but we do require it submitted in the .xlsx format. After the funding application is standardized we will begin work on a standardizing a budget sheet for future applications.

Submission:

Both the Budget and Funding Application must be submitted TOGETHER by e-mail to “polygonfunding@gmail.com” by 12:00 PM on the 3rd Friday of classes for fall semester, and 12:00 PM on the 2nd Friday of classes for Spring Semester. THESE ARE NOT OPTIONAL OR FLEXIBLE. Failure to submit by designated times will void your application for that semester.

The Funding Application must be saved with the name in the following manner: Org_ApplicationType_SemesterYear.docx (eg ANS_Funding_F09.docx, SWE_Funding_S10.docx, etc.)

The Budget must also follow in the same manner. (eg ANS_Budget_F09.xlsx)

Both documents must be submitted as attachments together in one e-mail. Do not send multiple e-mails; you cannot send them individually.

If you wish to submit a revised Funding Application or Budget before the due date*, you may; however you must re-submit both the Funding Application and Budget documents (regardless if you only changed one of the two) along with a description in the text of the e-mail as to what has changed and the reason(s) why.

*Please Note: The only exception to a revision submitted past the due date is in a cancellation of an event listed in the funding application. You must notify the Funding Committee of any cancellation of an event that has been listed on the application, regardless if the time for re-submission has expired.

Please visit the Funding Policy link to view how funding amounts are determined and what types of events are given priority over others. If you experience any problems, or need more information, please feel free to e-mail any of the three student representatives on the Funding Committee. Their e-mail addresses may be found on the Polygon webpage in the About section.