Community Engagement Fund

1. PURPOSE OF CEF

1. The Community Engagement Fund (CEF) is created to support NUS students in initiating and implementing:

Community engagement projects that address social or community needs locally or overseas;
Events and programmes that will strengthen the culture of volunteerism and community engagement in NUS. Besides nurturing the i-NUS qualities (Inquisitiveness; Initiative; Inner Resilience; Imagination; Inclusiveness and Integrity) in our students through the process, CEF also hopes to develop our students into individuals with a strong sense of social responsibility and integration to the communities in Singapore and globally.

2. Students are strongly encourage to utilise CEF to launch a new project. For an existing project to be funded, applicants must be able to demonstrate improvement(s) in the form of methodology/implementation plan, or lessons learned and/or evidence of sustained impact.

3. 'Community engagement' is defined as the process of working collaboratively with identified group(s) of people to address issues that impact their well-being.

2. FUNDING DETAILS & CONSIDERATIONS

CEF will not provide full funding for projects, events, or programmes. CEF provides funding of up to 70% of qualifying project expenditure (total project expenditure) capped at $6,000 (excluding additional funding for fulfilling the integration criteria). Students can claim for completed projects as long as it is within the financial year of approval. The funding quantum may differ depending on whether the project is a) new or on-going, or b) conducted locally or overseas.

A) Who can apply?

Full-time NUS students
Applicant/Project leader should complete the project before graduating from the University

B) How are proposals evaluated?

The proposals are evaluated based on the following criteria:

1.	Research effort to understand the needs, aspirations and strengths of the target community (community partners and/or community receiving the service)
2.	Number of NUS students (to volunteer or be involved in the organising committee) engaged to serve the community
3.	Indirect (eg. Awareness, social media campaign) or direct engagement (eg. collaborative, interactive workshop)
4.	Meaningful learnings (for members of the project) including applications of existing skills, knowledge and strengths and/or acquiring of new skills and knowledge
5.	Innovativeness in ideas and solutions to achieve intended outcomes
6.	Demonstrates application of plans/actions to achieve sustainability beyond project duration
7.	Recognises diversity and resolve to work within individual differences and strengths in target community and/or members of the project;
8.	Cost-effectiveness

C) What kinds of initiatives will not be considered for funding?

1.	Initiatives that aimed at, or will result in, financial or material gain for the organising committee
2.	Initiatives that lack a clear community angle, or where the community angle is tangential to the project
3.	Conferences and fund-raising events
4.	Repeated projects (previously funded by CEF) which are unable to demonstrate evidences of project improvement (methodology/implementation plan, or lessons learned) or sustained impact

D) What kinds of expenditure will not be supported?

The following kinds of expenditure will not be supported, even if the project as a whole is approved:

General operating expenses or start-up costs of student clubs, societies, and interest groups	Purchase and maintenance of equipment and other fixed assets
Cash prizes or outright donations to beneficiaries	Goodie bags and door gifts
Overseas travel expenses (e.g. flight tickets)	T-shirts
Vendor Fees

E) Bonus funding for mixing of local and international students within project organising committee:

To encourage integration and a more inclusive community mind-set between our local and international students, project teams who are able to achieve a mixing ratio of international/local students or local/international students (project organising committee only) will receive additional funding as below:

Mixing Ratio(based on Nationality)	Additional % Funding based on Final Approved CEF Amount
10% - 90%	10%
20% - 80%	20%
>20% - 80%	30%

Example:
Project ABC has a total of 10 members in its project organising committee. 9 members are local students while a tenth member is an international student. Their project was approved for a total of $5,000 of CEF funding. On top of that, they achieve the 10%-90% integration ratio for their project organising committee so they will be awarded another $500 (10% of $5,000) hence they will receive a total funding of $5,500 from CEF for their project.

F) Co-Funding

Projects that are applying/applied/received OSA funding from either the Diversity & Inclusion Grant (D&I Grant), Maybank eMpowering Youths Funding or the University Support for Pursuit of Arts, Culture & Sports (U-SPARKS) will NOT qualify for CEF funding.

3. APPLICATION DETAILS

1) Book a Pitch Session

Refer to Section (I) Pitching Details below for detailed instructions

2) Attend Pitch Session You will be notified on the application outcome right after your presentation

3) (If approved) Submission of Project Proposal After submission, you will receive instructions on how to claim the first disbursement of funds

6) Submission of Project Completion Form

After submission, you will receive instructions on how to claim the final disbursement of funds**

5) Project Execution Period Keep your project mentor updated on the status and progress of your project

4) Confirmation of Approved Funding Amount Successful applications will receive confirmation email by the end of every month

* Timeline above may be subjected to change
** Note that projects applying in Feb/March may obtain disbursement only in May.

(I) Pitching Details

1. Book a Pitch Session

Refer to Project Pitch Schedule for upcoming Pitch Session Dates.
To register for a Pitch Session, look out for instructions on News Post on NUSync which will be published one month before each pitch session.
Successful registrations will receive a confirmation email 1 week before the actual date of pitch.

2. Preparing for Pitch

Prepare your pitch with the following slides template: CE Slide Template.
Prepare your team profile with the following excel template: Team Profile Template.
Submit your project pitch slides + team profile on NUSync at least 3 days before pitch session: Link to Pitch Slide + Team Profile Form.

3. Attend Pitch Session

Zoom link will be sent 3 days before pitch session.
Projects will be required to give a 10-15 minutes presentation to the CEF panel, comprising of OSA staff and invited social sector partners. Please prepare your set of slides based on the CEF Slide Template. Following that, there will be another 10-15 minutes of Q&A with the CEF Panel.
You will know if your project is approved on the spot. If approved, you will receive an email after the session with instructions to submit your final project proposal.

Opt-in for Mentorship

If your team would like to seek mentorship for your project, check out our list of experienced CEF Mentors whom you can approach for further professional guidance: CEF Mentors Booklet.

In the event you are unable to access the documents, refer to the documents list here.
(Log into NUSync > Open “CEF Template Attachments” Folder > Download relevant material)

(II) Funding Terms and Conditions

A. Acceptance of Funding

CEF recipients, i.e. project leaders, are required to sign the Grant Agreement Form before
proceeding with the project.

The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) should be acknowledged on all publicity materials
and platforms from date of award of the grant.

The project should be completed as planned. Should there be any changes, OSA should
be informed at the earliest possible date.

B. First Disbursement

Project teams are allowed to claim up to 50% of the approved amount upfront. This can
be done via submission of original receipts with proper documentation and/or Request
For Payment (RFP) forms with supporting original receipt(s).

C. Project Completion Report

Within four weeks after the stated project end date in the proposals, project leaders are required to complete and submit the project completion report via NUSync. The report includes an article, which may be used for publicity and reporting purposes by the University.

D. Final Disbursement

The remaining 50% of the approved amount will be disbursed on a reimbursement
basis, if necessary. The final disbursement will be based on verification that the
submitted documents are in good order, and may be lower than or equal to the
approved in-principle amount. Any surpluses are to be returned to the University.

Project teams will receive the remaining funds within 6 weeks of upon confirmation that
submitted receipts (for each particular reimbursement) are in order.

E. Withdrawal of Funding

OSA reserves the right to adjust, withdraw, or recover the grant, in full or part thereof,
awarded if:

The project is not completed as planed or is abandoned
The project completion report, including the necessary supporting documents, is not completed and submitted within four weeks after project end date
The grant is not required in its entirety
The terms and conditions of the grant agreement are not met, or contravened
There are other extenuating circumstances that warrant a review of the approval