Proposals for College/CRC funds that match the concentration’s or department’s award and are added to a DUG’s overall budget are reviewed according to the following criteria:

• Alignment of the DUG’s proposed activities with the concentration’s goals for the year.
• Alignment of the DUG’s proposed activities with the overall goals of the DUG program, as outlined in the UFunds proposal form.
• A clear, persuasive explanation of how the proposed activities will foster relationships among pre-concentrators and pre-certificate students, concentrators and certificate students, and faculty.
• A detailed budget, including the cost per person and expected number of participants for each activity.
• The potential for the planned activities to have a lasting impact in future semesters.

After the CRC approves a DUG’s funding requests, the Office of Academic Finance and Administration handles the transfer of funds to the academic unit’s account. This should take no more than 3 to 5 business days, but advisors and department/center/program managers have reported delays. If you have been waiting for more than a week after the funding application was approved for the funds to transfer, please let us know, and we will inquire about the status of the transaction.

Due to restrictions under the University Gifts and Donations Policy and the Gift Cards Policy, the only allowable merchandise items that DUGs can give to specific students or student demographics are T-shirts, stickers, and mugs.

Other items, such as gift cards, books, and art supplies, are allowable only as door prizes, raffle prizes, or event prizes. Only College/CRC funds may be used to purchase such merchandise. Per rules from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, the academic unit cannot use matching funds to purchase merchandise. DUG funds are NOT to be used for haphazard purchases. 

Event expenditures (e.g., food, honoraria for guest speakers, other event supplies, and charges through Facilities Management/University Event and Conference Services) for both in-person and virtual events are approved DUG expenses.

When ordering items for your DUG through your academic unit, Brown University is exempt from paying or being charged sales tax in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Tell the vendor that the sale is exempt from state tax; if requested, provide the appropriate tax-exempt certificate. When ordering from suppliers outside Rhode Island, remind them of our tax exemption. Normally, orders sent to us from out of state should not include sales tax. Check with your supplier to be sure. Brown is not exempt from sales tax in all states. Therefore, if you are making your purchase in person in another state, you may legitimately be charged sales tax. Contact the Accounts Payable Office for specific information regarding sales tax exemption certificates in other states. You should also consult with the administrator who handles financial transactions in your academic unit (usually the academic department manager, financial coordinator, administrative coordinator, administrative assistant, etc.).

The College/CRC does not set limits on honoraria for guest speakers, although it would be unusual to provide an honorarium to guest speakers who currently have an active Brown University affiliation as a faculty member, staff member, or student.

Your DUG funds carry over from the fall semester to the spring semester, but DUG funds do NOT carry over between fiscal years (e.g., after the end of the spring semester). Funding applications are approved with the expectation that DUGs will meet the goals they set for the relevant period. The College/CRC does not request that unspent funds be returned.

No, DUGs are ordinarily ineligible for funding from the Undergraduate Finance Board because funding is usually restricted to UCS-recognized student groups, which DUGs are not.

Not to worry! Whether it is an incorrect requested funding amount, an incorrect DUG advisor listed, or something else, please email dugs@brown.edu to explain the issue. Most likely, the CRC will reject your application so you can fix the errors.

Other funds may be available on campus; speak with your faculty sponsor or a member of the DUG advising team to learn more.

Once funds have been transferred from the College/CRC to your academic unit, you must work with your DUG advisor and departmental administrators (usually an academic department manager, financial coordinator, or administrative coordinator) and follow their best practices for using funds. Be sure to do this well in advance of when you need to use your funds. For example, your academic unit may prefer that DUG expenditures be paid out-of-pocket by DUG leaders and reimbursed later, or it may prefer to pay for expenditures directly by ordering services or items on your behalf. In any case, if you pay out-of-pocket for any allowable DUG expenses, submit your receipts promptly because Brown AFA imposes a penalty for receipts and reimbursements not submitted in a timely manner (a reduction in the amount of entitled reimbursement); this is usually 30-60 days, but it is subject to change.

The College/CRC does not process reimbursements directly to DUG leaders.

You must provide a Cost Center account (whose worktag begins with “CC”) that is set up to receive incoming funds transferred from the College/CRC. Endowment (EN) and Gift (GFT) accounts cannot be used, even if exceptions have been made in the past.

You must provide a Cost Center account (whose worktag begins with “CC”) that is set up to receive incoming funds transferred from the College/CRC. Endowment (EN) and Gift (GFT) accounts cannot be used, even if exceptions have been made in the past.