Societies

No. We do not give out cash to spend for societies. You can either:

1. Spend your own money first and then claim back expenses.
   1. Read our helpful how-to guides on how to claim expenses.
2. Request the SU to pay an invoice from your society account directly to the supplier.
   1. Make sure you allow enough time for paying suppliers. If you have received an invoice from a supplier, please send it to our Union Coordinator at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk straight away!

With any purchases you would like to make for the society, make sure you have checked with the Society Treasurer before spending any money.

REMEMBER: The Finance Team makes payments on Thursdays so any requests must be given in by Wednesday.

For your safety! Students are not insured to take cash from other students! If anything happened to you and or the money whilst in your possession, there would be nothing the SU could do.

If you want to hold a ticketed event or supply merchandise for members to buy then please contact our Union Coordinator at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk and we will go through your options. We can set up payments to be made online via the website or at the SU Shop.

You will need to complete a New society form and wait for our Union Coordinator to get in touch with you. To start a society, you need at least 5 other students to support the society and you will need to decide on your society committee. Your application will be reviewed by the deciding panel. It must fit these points:

1. The aims and objects of a society do not contravene Union policy.
2. The aims and objects of a society are not duplicating an existing society.

If approved, we will then ask to meet with yourself and as many of the students also listed on the form to discuss the next steps for your society, including committee training and setting you up with a webpage. Once your society has been put up on the website you can sign up as members and pay your membership fee (if applicable).

If your society is denied, we will get in touch to meet with you to discuss how your application can be improved.

Check the society webpage for contact details of the committee. Try contacting the committee to find out when the next meeting or activity is. Make sure you have joined their Facebook group and follow their social media pages. This will have information of their activities for you to go along to.

If you are not getting a response from the committee then please get in touch with our Union Coordinator at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk and we will help you.

Firstly, if you’re planning an event or party please contact our Union Coordinator at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk . You will need to make sure you have a risk assessment for the event. Once you have an approved risk assessment we will discuss how to pay the venue. There are a few ways you can do this:

1. Pay yourself and then claim back the money from the society
2. Ask the SU to pay an invoice to the venue for you
3. Ask the SU to make a payment over the phone.

Don’t forget to check with your Treasurer that you have enough funds in your account. If members need to purchase tickets, you will need to include this information when you discuss the event with our Union Coordinator. We can then set up a ticket sale online or at the shop.

REMEMBER: The Finance Team make payments on Thursday so you must give plenty of notice for the payment to be made.

Adoption societies are societies that have existed in the last 3 years but sadly had to disband, most likely because a committee was not elected. Adopting a society is like starting a new one but it can come with some great advantages:

1. If some money was left in the society’s account before disbanding, then that will be taken over when the society starts up again.
2. The society may already have social media accounts and have existing relationships with external venues and sponsors.
3. Also, because the society existed before, there must have been interest, which means you’re more likely to have members sign up.

If you would like to adopt a society, please fill in this form Society Adoption form and wait for our Union Coordinator to get in touch with you.

Firstly, we are sorry that you feel this way and the staff at the SU are here to help! Please contact the Head of Student Engagement in the first instance.

This will be in an informal setting where they will listen to your story and explain the next steps to take. We try to resolve issues informally first, however, depending on the seriousness of the incident or situation we may need to take more serious action sooner.

There are 2 ways to do this, and we have provided a guide for each process:

• Print this form – Student Group Payment Request form
• Online form – SGF – Student Group Finance

REMEMBER: Before you spend any of your own money, check with the Society’s Treasurer. They will check the Society has enough in the account to reimburse you.

If you would like a refund of your society membership please contact our Union Coordinator at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk .

1. Within the first 14 days of purchase – Full refund, no questions asked
2. Within 15-21 days of purchase – 75% of refund
3. After 21 days – no refund. This is because you would have benefitted in some way from being part of the society in those first 21 days.

However, if you are part of a society that has not had any activity for members to benefit from, your case will be considered for a full or partial refund. For full details please read the refund policy.

REMEMBER: You must have your receipt as proof of purchase to claim your refund.

Yes, here are the steps you will need to follow:

1. Get an alumni card from the Solent University alumni team
2. Sign up as a Guest on the website and email us at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk once you have done this with a list of the societies you’d like to join.
3. Come to the SU shop and pay for the memberships you would like. You will need your alumni card as ID and we will ask to see it when signing you up as a society member.

You will still be asked to show your alumni card even if you are signing up to free societies.

1. Create a guest account on the website and email us at student.involvement@solent.ac.uk to let us know you have signed in and what societies you’d like to join.
2. You will need to visit the SU shop at East Park Terrace to purchase a membership.
   1. Students from the University of Southampton will need to bring their student ID card
   2. Members of SU/University staff will need to bring their staff card with them.