## Admin All societies have to sign a constitution each year. ## Benefits - Societies get access to funding (including monthly funding pot), space across campus, insurance and other elements. - There are many benefits for students, including employability skills and not being lonely (see [[Source - Loneliness Tops List of Student Worries, Mental Health Charities Warn Ahead of Freshers' Week|this article]] that says joining a society was the best intervention lonely students said they made) ## Membership Fees The membership fee is comprised of two elements of support for groups. - The first is a £2 (socs) or £15 (sport) compulsory fee which contributes offsetting the cost of insurance. The University contributes 2/3 of the total insurance fee with the groups covering the additional 1/3. - The second element of membership funds contributes to the groups pot to deliver activities as part of there group. The nature of the activities of course dictate the cost of membership, which is ultimately set by the groups committee. If a group doesn’t particularly need much of a budget to operate throughout the year, a fee for a society can be £2, with the options of acquiring funding from sponsors, county or national partners, arts grants etc to offset those costs.  ## Barriers to participation ### Micro societies - This is to include reducing number of committee members, membership fees and some other bureaucratic processes involved in establishing a society or sports club. - Setup of groups is difficult, removing some of that top level requirement such as all four committee members, will allow groups to take a first step without any real risk, creating a proofing space for new groups to find there feet and understand what it is they may want to achieve as a group. The second part here is to address the barriers to participation. Removing a requirement for membership, lower number of committee members, no financial requirements and focusing primarily on ensuring the activity. - With this approach, there are plenty of challenges we would potentially face, part of this trial Shian is looking at is to identify what some of these look like. ### Fees - Removing fees for groups is something that we have discussed previously, and I may also still have some of the research I acquired from this process. A significant amount of buy in from the University was at the time required, but also began the discussion of splitting where socs and sport sat, with the view of the then sports ICZ lead to take sport to the University and Socs remained with the SU. But lets certainly start the conversation. ## Links - [[Loneliness in Students]] - [[Salford SU Strategy Refresh Aims and Objectives]] - [[barriers to participation or engagement in the SU]] - [[Student Societies help stop loneliness]]