Social Action & Sustainability Grants

Due Dates

Social Action & Sustainability Grants are accepted Oct 15 - Apr 15

Eligibility For Social Action & Sustainability Grant Applicants

Applicants must meet the following requirements at the time of their application as well as during the grant award contracting and payment process:

1. Grant applicants must be full-time USU undergraduate or graduate students during the semester that funds are awarded.
2. Final Reports must be submitted to the SSO office within one year of funds being awarded. An alternative to the final report is to create and display a poster on your Social Action & Sustainability Grant project at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit and/or the USU Community Engagement Celebration & Poster Session. The SSO
   can provide funding for poster printing.
3. The project must benefit USU students and provide opportunity for student
   involvement.
4. The project must have clearly defined measurable outcomes.
5. The project must have a clearly articulated publicity, education, and outreach plan.
6. Facilities must provide written approval for all projects that require new space or
   modifications to existing space.

7. Social Action & Sustainability Grants must address one, two or three of the pillars of sustainability. Sustainability is not limited to environmental sustainability. Rather, it requires an understanding of the connections between the environment, society and the economy. 

   The triple bottom line is a transformation framework to help organizations move toward
   a more sustainable future. While there are three categories that make up triple bottom
   line theory, it is important to remember each category is not siloed. People, planet, and
   prosperity are all interconnected.

   1. Environmental Sustainability
   • Our most basic requirements: unpolluted air, clean water and fresh food, all come from our environment, as does the energy and raw materials we need for construction and transportation. Environmental sustainability is essential if we wish to have and continue to have the resources to meet our needs. In the broadest sense of the definition, environmental sustainability involves the entire global ecosystem (oceans, freshwater systems, land and atmosphere). However, environmental sustainability principles can equally be applied to ecosystems of any size, even down to the scale of a small home garden.
   2. Social Sustainability
   • A socially sustainable society is one in which all members have equal rights, all share equitably in societal benefits, and all participate equally in the decision-making process. Additionally, a society is unsustainable if it consumes resources faster than they can be renewed naturally, discharges more waste than natural systems can assimilate without degrading, or depends upon distant sources for its most basic requirements. As with environmental sustainability, social sustainability principles can be applied to societies of any size. For example, one of sustainability’s grand challenges is to simultaneously reduce consumption in the developed world while raising the standard of living of the developing world – we need to be responsible global citizens by making informed choices every day within our homes and communities.
   3. Economic Sustainability
   • Economic sustainability is about much more than the sustained growth of resources and profit margins. Economic sustainability takes into account the social and ecological consequences of economic activity. We need to carefully consider the full life-cycle of our goods, from extraction of raw materials, through processing, manufacture, distribution, use, maintenance, repair, and eventual recycling or disposal (the cradle-to-grave paradigm)
8. The project must benefit USU students and provide opportunity for student involvement.
9. The project must have clearly defined measurable outcomes.
10. The project must have a clearly articulated publicity, education, and outreach plan.
11. Facilities must provide written approval for all projects that require new space or modifications to existing space. 
12. When formatting budget consider the following guidelines:
    Fundable Expenses
    The following expenses are fundable depending on the proposed project scope:
    • Supplies (items purchased to carry out the project or initiative)
    • Advertising (funds spent to promote the project or initiative)
    • Venue (cost of location to carry out the project or initiative)
    • Marketing & Printing (printed materials or advertising for the project or initiative)
    • Food (funds for snacks and meals for project participants)
    • Contractual Services (programmatic efforts carried out by a third party)
    • Personnel Expenses, including AmeriCorps match (up to 25% of budget): compensation paid to individuals who charged time to the project or initiative
    • Project-Related Travel (include destination, dates, and number of travelers)

    ---

    Non-fundable Expenses

    • Cash prizes or fundraising
    • While funding may be used to educate on the political process, direct political event(s), lobbying, or religious proselytizing activities are not allowed
    • Scholarships
    • Personal Trips

Meet with our Student Engagement Lead!

Do you have a great idea to make campus a more sustainable and equitable place? Do you need help coming up with an idea for a Social Action & Sustainability Grant? Stop by the COSAS in TSC 316A to talk with the Student Engagement Lead.