Waterloo Environment Students Endowment Foundation - Faculty of ...

Waterloo Environment Students Endowment Foundation
Bylaws
February 24, 1998
First revision November 20, 2005
Second revision March 10, 2010
1.0) Definition of Terms
Foundation Members – Students who have paid their Voluntary Student Contribution (VSC) in the
current term, or who are on co-op but who paid their VSC in the last academic term in which they were
enrolled. They are able to be a Member of the Board, submit applications to the Board, and vote at the
Annual General Meetings.
Board Members – The students, faculty and staff who make up the decision-making body of the
Foundation, as has been set out in the constitution.
2.0) Officers of the Board
i) The Officers of the Board will be as follows:
Chair
Vice-Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
ii) The Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary will be elected at the first meeting of WESEF each term.
All Foundation Members are eligible to run for one of the Officer positions.
iii) In the event that an association representative is elected to an Officer position, they will retain
their association representative position but count as having only a single vote on any decisions.
iv) The WESEF Chair will be elected during the Environment Students Society (ESS) winter elections,
and will comply with all ESS elections rules. ESS will conduct by-elections as necessary should
the WESEF chair become vacant.
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2.1) Duties of Officers
a) The Chair is responsible for:
i) Being the Chairperson at meetings
ii) Acting as an ex officio member of all of the committees
iii) Calling meetings of the Board Members each term (Fall, Winter)
iv) Ensuring that the foundation is functioning in accordance with the provisions of the constitution
v) Attending ESS meetings in the place of the Vice-Chair should the Vice-Chair be unable to attend
vi) Providing an orientation to any new Board members about the work of the Foundation and their
responsibilities within it
b) The Vice-Chair is responsible for:
i) Acting as Chairperson at meetings when the Chair is absent
ii) Ensuring that the foundation is functioning in accordance with the provisions of the constitution
iii) Fundraising within or externally to Environmental Studies
iv) Attending at least one ESS meeting a month
v) Helping to advance the organization’s long term and short term goals
c) The Secretary is responsible for:
i) Recording minutes of meeting and distributing them to all who are required to receive a copy
under the constitution.
ii) The preparation of the Annual report
iii) Ensuring that the WESEF records are kept up to date so as to ensure a smooth transition
between Boards
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d) The Treasurer is responsible for:
i) Determining the available budget each term
ii) Receiving and filing of financial records related to the Foundations activities, and
iii) Providing financial information to Board Members within forty-eight hours upon receiving a
written request
2.2) Webmaster
i) The webmaster is responsible for maintaining and updating the WESEF website.
ii) The webmaster will be elected in the first meeting of the term, from the assembled
representatives and members.
iii) If no Board members are able to handle the webmaster responsibilities, the Board may choose
to contract an individual for that work.
iv) If an outside individual is retained to complete the work ordinarily completed by the
Webmaster, this individual will not be a member of the Board and is not authorized to act as an
agent of WESEF or the University of Waterloo.
v) If the Board must contract an individual to complete the work, the Board will do so through the
University of Waterloo’s Procurement and Contract Services.
vi) The webmaster position is a non-voting position. (However, if a voting member of the Board
becomes webmaster, they still maintain their ability to vote as a part of their other position)
2.3) Duties of All Board Members
i) Administering the affairs of the Foundation,
ii) Examining and deciding how much of the requested funding shall be allocated to that proposal
on all proposals made to the Foundation,
iii) Appointing such agents and engaging such employees as it shall deem necessary from time to
time and such persons shall have such authority and shall perform such duties as shall be
prescribed by the Officers at the time of such appointment.
iv) Acting as ambassadors for WESEF and raising awareness about the Foundation among ENV
students, staff and faculty
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3.0) Terms of Office
i) Six Undergraduate Board Members will be nominated to the Board by each of their Associations
(Planning Students Associaton (PSA), Waterloo Environment and Business Students (WEBS),
Environment and Resource Studies Student Association (ERSSA), Waterloo Association for
Geography Students (WAGS), Knowledge Integration Student Society (KISS) and the Student
Association for International Development (SAID). Undergraduate Board Members will serve a
four month term. Undergraduate Board Members may be Board Members for no more than six
consecutive terms.
ii) Two Graduate Students will be nominated by the Graduate Associations (Association of
Graduate Planners and the Environmental Graduate Student Association). Graduate Board
Members will serve a four month term. A Graduate Board Member may be a Board Member for
no more than six consecutive terms.
iii) The non-student Board Members will serve a one year term (May 1 st to April 30th).
iv) The Dean of Environment is an ex-officio Board Member as stated in the constitution.
v) At the discretion of the WESEF Board, in the event that a new student association is formed that
represents WESEF members not already represented on the Board (for instance, as a result of a
new program being created within the Faculty), a representative from that association may sit
on the WESEF Board until such time as an official amendment to the WESEF constitution can be
put to referendum. If, however, such an amendment is proposed, but fails to pass, the
representative position for that association will be removed.
4.0) WESEF Board Meetings
Meeting of the Board Member shall operate under the following provisions:
a) The Board members will meet a minimum of once a term in the Fall and Winter terms
b) The Chair is required to provide Board Members with 10 working days notice of an upcoming
meeting,
c) Draft minutes of the previous meeting will be made available before the next meeting,
d) Ratified minutes of every meeting will be made available to all Foundation Members,
e) Quorum shall consist of 50% or more of the properly constituted members of the Board,
f) WESEF Board Meetings are open to the members of the Foundation
g) Each Board Member entitled to vote at a meeting of the Board may by means of a proxy appoint
a proxy holder as his or her nominee to attend and act at the meeting in manner, to the extend
and with the authority conferred by the proxy. The instrument appointing a proxy shall be
executed by the Board Member in writing and shall be deposited with the Secretary of the
meeting before any vote is cast under its authority.
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5.0) Annual General Meeting
a) An Annual General Meeting of the Foundation Members will be held annually in the Fall or
Winter term,
b) An Annual Report will be provided to all Foundation Members who request copies,
c) Quorum shall consist of twenty-five voting Foundation members as defined in the Bylaws under
Section 1.0.
6.0) Committees of the Board
The Board may choose to create committees to deal with business relating to WESEF. These committees
are subject to the rules and regulations laid out in the constitution and these bylaws. The committees of
the Board must have all motions ratified at the next Board meeting with quorum before they take effect.
7.0) Funding Sources
7.1) Voluntary Student Contribution (VSC)
i) The VSC is a student donation to the Endowment Fund of $30.00 and is included on the undergraduate
and graduate Faculty of Environment Fee Statement.
ii) The collection of the VSC is subject to the following conditions:
a) The VSC is fully refundable according to the University of Waterloo’s policies on incidental fees;
b) All proceeds generated by the VSC become part of the Endowment Fund.
7.2) Outside Donations
i) A donation of any amount may be collected for a certain WESEF project or projects, and will not
necessarily be divided with a portion placed in the capital account.
8.0) Refund Policy
8.1) Refund Period
i) The refund period will be for the first three (3) weeks after the first day of classes.
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8.2) Refund Procedure
i) To obtain a VSC refund students must fill out and submit the online form accessible through the
Student Accounts and/or WESEF sections of the University of Waterloo website. The Financial
Services Office shall then mail out the refunds.
9.0) Expenditures
9.1) Handling of Income
i) Income generated to be used as Funding Grants, will normally be spent in the term in which it
was generated. If income remains unspent, it will be treated as income for the subsequent term.
9.2) Administrative
i) The Endowment Fund may put aside up to five percent of the total income generated each term
for administrative expenditures.
ii) Receipts for any administrative expenditures must be given to the Treasurer in order to receive
reimbursement.
9.3) Signing Authority
i) The Chair, Treasurer, and the Faculty of Environment Financial Officer will be the three signing
authorities on the WESEF accounts.
ii) All purchases must have signatures by two of the three WESEF signing authorities in order to be
charged to the WESEF accounts.
iii) Signing authorities can only sign off on purchases which have been approved by majority vote
by the WESEF Board.
iv) An individual’s signing authority will be taken off the accounts at the end of the term in which
they served or (if applicable) at the time of their resignation, whichever comes first.
10.0) Proposals
10.1) Proposal Timeline
i) The Board will provide a minimum of two weeks for advertisement of and submission of
proposals from students each term
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ii) Each proposal will first be submitted in writing or through the online application form to the
Board with a full cost analysis and permission(s) from the appropriate bodies to fulfill the
proposal
iii) A meeting of the Board Members to discuss the proposals shall occur
iv) A meeting will be held where students present their proposals to the Board Members
v) Each proposal applicant will be allowed to speak to their proposal, provided their proposal
meets WESEF eligibility criteria
vi) Unsuccessful proposal applicants will be promptly notified as to the reason(s) why their
proposal was rejected
vii) The chosen proposal(s) shall be made public within one week.
10.2) Guidelines for Proposals
WESEF prefers projects where:
i) The benefits are exclusive to Environment students – (Proposals that benefit UW students may
be directed to the Federation of Students endowment fund);
ii) They are beneficial to a large number of Environment students;
iii) They are applicable to multiple departments/schools within the Faculty of Environment;
iv) The proposal contributes to the enhancement of educational or student life in the Faculty of
Environment;
v) The cost of the proposal is comparable to the benefits received to the Faculty of Environment
and that it is reasonable in relation to the total funds available and other proposals received;
vi) Funding is needed urgently, and there is a lack of capacity to acquire funds through other
sources; and
vii) Proposals must contain an estimated costing and have approval from the appropriate
authorities (ex. MAD, Plant Operations)
viii) Field trips and other personal affairs will not be selected.
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A project need not necessarily meet all of these criteria in order to receive funding. It is up to the WESEF
Board to weigh the relative merits of any given proposal (in terms of its potential benefit to Environment
students) and to allocate funding accordingly. The Board may also choose to provide partial funding for
a project if it sees fit.
10.3) Special Types of Proposals
10.3.1) Maintenance & Operating Expenses
i) WESEF may fund proposals for the repair or maintenance of previous WESEF purchases.
ii) WESEF will not cover the operating cost for previously funded projects.
10.3.2) Conferences
i) In recognition that presentations by Faculty of Environment students at conferences helps to
improve the reputation of our Faculty among a significant number of employers and prospective
students, up to 5% of the term’s expendable budget may go towards funding proposals for
students to present at conferences.
ii) Any student receiving conference presentation funding will be required to give a similar
presentation in the Faculty of Environment which must be free for students to attend, so as to
ensure the benefits from this type of funding are not exclusive to the proponent. (This may take
the form of a “brown bag lunch”, special guest lecture in a course, etc.) Funding will not be
released until both presentations have been given.
iii) The maximum funding an individual can receive towards conference costs is half the total costs
to the student of participating in said conference (e.g., transportation, room and board,
registration fee, etc.)
iv) The value of any conference funding proposal will be assessed by the same criteria used for all
other WESEF proposals, and any given conference funding proposal will still compete against all
other proposals received that term. (I.e., if there are proposals deemed to have a greater
benefit to the overall Faculty, those proposals would be considered to have a higher priority for
funding; the 5% is not set aside for conference funding).
v) WESEF will not provide conference funding retroactively.
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10.3.3) Bailouts
i) If WESEF receives a request to provide a bailout for any Faculty of Environment based
organization, the proponent will be required to provide (in addition to a regular proposal
application):
a) A copy of their annual budget and account statements for the past two fiscal years
b) An anticipated budget for the coming year
c) A detailed business plan to demonstrate how such situations will be avoided in the
future
ii) The WESEF Board is under no obligation to fund such requests.
10.3.4) Events that Occur on an Annual Basis
i) The WESEF Board may choose to fund an event which occurs on an annual basis, however, the
proponents will be required to submit a proposal for funding each year.
ii) The decision to fund an annual event in a previous year will in no way prevent a new Board from
choosing not to fund the event in a subsequent year should they feel there are more
appropriate uses of WESEF funds.
10.3.5) Events at Which Fundraising May Occur
i) In recognition that the work of the not-for-profit and charitable sectors are of importance to our
students and the environmental field in general, WESEF does not explicitly prohibit funding
of events at which fundraising may take place. However:
a. The event will be evaluated using the same criteria as other proposals, and will only
receive funding if the Board would choose to support the event even if fundraising were
not taking place (e.g., it has been judged as being a worthwhile event that benefits the
Faculty directly). Consequently, WESEF will not fund events that function solely as
fundraisers.
b. WESEF does not provide funding that would function as a profit (e.g., the absolute
maximum that WESEF will provide is the amount required to cover the expenses for the
event). No WESEF funds will ever go directly to the organization for which fundraising is
taking place. Equally, if other sources of funding have been found to help cover the cost
of the event, the most WESEF will contribute will be the amount that would allow the
event to break even.
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c. The proponents must provide detailed information about the organization for which
fundraising will be done. If the Board feels that the fundraising to occur is potentially
contentious for the WESEF membership (for instance, on the grounds of ethics, fiscal
accountability, etc.), the event will not receive funding.
10.3.6) Special Competitions
i) In the event of a significant surplus, the Board may propose to dedicate all or a portion of its
surplus to a special competition.
ii)
iii)
iv)
In order for a special competition to occur, the proposal must receive the support of twothirds
of the Board and a simple majority of votes of members at an Annual General
Meeting.
The proposal may include eligibility criteria and/or funding guidelines in addition to those
usually considered by the Board.
Submitted proposals will be first reviewed by the Board, which will vote on finalists for the
competition. The finalists will then be voted upon by the Foundation members, with the
proposal receiving the most votes being declared the winner.
v) The call for proposals for a special competition may exceed a single term.
10.4) Expiration of Funding
i) Unless otherwise agreed to at the time of funding approval, funding for successful proposals will
expire at the end of one year (three terms) after the end of the term in which the funding is
approved.
ii) If a proponent has been unable to implement their project by the time their funding expires,
they will have to re-submit their proposal in order to be considered for any funds still required.
iii) The WESEF Board is under no obligation to agree to fund a proposal once its original funding has
expired.
10.5) Conflicts of Interest
i) Members of the WESEF Board are ineligible to submit proposals in the term in which they serve.
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ii) Should a WESEF Board Member have a conflict of interest with regards to any proposal (for
instance, if it is being put forth by an employer or if they helped to write the proposal) it is
required that the Board Member declare the conflict and abstain from any votes related to
that proposal.
11.0) Sale of WESEF Purchased Items
i) No proponent may sell an item purchased using WESEF funds without the approval of the
WESEF Board. Approval can be sought at time of initial proposal (if the proponent foresees the
eventual need to dispose of the item; for instance, computer equipment that has gone out of
date) or from the current WESEF board (in the case of a previous purchase).
ii) No WESEF-purchased items may be sold for personal gain.
iii) Where possible, the Foundation supports the donation of any funds raised through the
permitted sale of these items back to the Endowment Foundation.
iv) Should a proponent be found selling WESEF-purchased items without permission, they and any
organization they represented in the original proposal will be, at the discretion of the Board,
ineligible for future funding.
12.0) Scholarship
i) WESEF will establish a $1,000 scholarship to recognize the contribution of our members (i.e., all
Environment students contributing to the Endowment Fund) to our Faculty.
ii) The scholarship will be awarded at the Annual General Meeting each year.
iii) Only members of the Foundation who have not requested a refund over the past year (3 terms,
including the present one) are eligible for the scholarship.
iv) Current WESEF Board Members are ineligible for the scholarship.
v) The nomination process for the scholarship will be as follows:
A nomination form will be made available on the WESEF website
Candidates must submit a completed nomination form by the term deadline, which will
include signatures of support from at least 5 student, staff or faculty members
The nomination form will include a section in which the nominee will describe their
contribution to the Faculty
Nomination forms will be accepted in both Fall and Winter terms
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vi) The scholarship will be awarded to the nominated student who has made the most tangible
difference in the quality of education and student life within the Faculty of Environment, as
judged by the WESEF Board, with special consideration being given to those nominees who have
done so through a particularly successful WESEF proposal.
vii) If the Board feels that no suitable candidates have been nominated, it may choose not to award
a scholarship that year.
viii) If no scholarship is awarded in a given year, the funds will be reallocated to WESEF’s overall
term spending budget.
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