Sustainability Grants

Service & Sustainability Grants

Annual Due Dates

Round 1 applications due on June 30 for projects starting in July, August, September, October.
Round 2 applications due on October 31 for projects starting in November, December, January, February.
Round 3 applications due on February 28 for projects starting in March, April, May, June.

Eligibility

1. Grant applicants must be USU undergraduate or graduate students during the semester that funds are awarded.
2. The project must benefit USU students and provide opportunities for widespread student involvement.
3. The project must have clearly defined measurable outcomes.
4. The project must have a clearly articulated publicity, education, and outreach plan.
5. If the project requires the creation of new space or modifications to an existing space, a USU Facilities representative must provide written approval.
6. Service & Sustainability Grants must address at least one of the following three pillars of sustainability:
   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.
   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.

Budget 

What this grant funds, 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)
• Printing (printed materials for the project or initiative)
• Food (food for project participants)
• Contractual services (programmatic efforts carried out by a third party)
• Personnel expenses (compensation paid to individuals who charged time to the project or initiative)
• Project-related travel (include destination, dates, and number of travelers)

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What this grant does not fund:

• Cash prizes or fundraising
• Political events, lobbying, or religious proselytizing activities
• Scholarships
• Personal trips that do not support the project or widely benefit USU students

Next steps

• Fill out the online grant application.
• Remember to download and complete the budget template (Excel) and email it to cosas@usu.edu as soon as you submit the online grant application.
• **Applicants who apply by June 30 will be notified of grant decisions by mid-July.
• Successful applicants will be invited to sign a Letter of Agreement before accessing awarded funds.
• Successful applicants must submit a Final Report within one month after project completion. An alternative to the Final Report is to create and display a poster about their grant-funded project at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit (March) at Weber State University and/or the USU Community Engagment Poster Session (April). COSAS can provide funding for poster printing.

 

Meet with Us!

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 Service & Sustainability Grant? Stop by the COSAS in TSC 316A with your ideas and questions. You can also email us cosas@usu.edu.