Budgets & Purchasing

Event Budget

• Your event, your budget. Each internal event planner must determine a budget for their event prior to confirming a date and time with Conference Services. Some things to consider when calculating your budget: food & beverages, entertainment, handouts/giveaways, etc.
• First Time Events
  • First time internal events may qualify for supplemental assistance of up to $1500 per department from the Conference Services budget. This money can be used towards food and beverage provided by an approved vendor or in-house printing. Supplemental assistance requests are reviewed and approved or denied by the Conference Services Manager and Director of Auxiliary Services. Supplemental assistance requests can be made via email to lcc-events@star.lcc.edu or by contacting Conference Services.

Meals & Refreshments Guidelines

Providing food and beverages at employee and student events is a nice incentive to boost attendance in addition to elevating the level of the event. To be responsible stewards of public funds, the College has guidelines that internal event planners must follow and our Accounting and Purchasing departments are here to assist you through this process.

• First, it's important to understand the difference between Accounting & Purchasing. Click the button below for a quick guide to who does what.

Accounting vs. Purchasing

Here are some quick guidelines to remember as you begin planning for meals and refreshments at your event:

1. When approved in advance by the relevant ELT member, college funds can be used to:
   1. Purchase food and/or refreshments for one-time or non-recurring in-person meetings and events. This includes division or department-wide meetings as well as meetings or events with students, community members or outside vendors. This does not include regularly scheduled employee meetings or trainings.
   2. Purchase up to $75 of food and/or refreshments and decorations (combined) for in-person, on-campus employee retirement or farewell celebrations.
   3. Purchase an appreciation gift up to $25 per person per fiscal year.
   4. Pay a speaker for a special event or training, as long as the department works with the Purchasing Department prior to extending an invitation.
   5. Purchase apparel, t-shirts and giveaways. Work with marketing on your graphics and design.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

If a group spends more than is allowed by the College in any of the above situations, the LCC employee(s) will be responsible for the additional charges above the approved amount.

Conference Services will monitor expenses being spent on food and/or refreshments for retirement and farewell celebrations as well as food and beverage for staff meetings and events. Any concerns will be addressed with the internal event planner and the required LCC departments as needed.

Learn more about accounting and purchasing by visiting these helpful links

Accounting & Purchasing Resources

• Accounting Services Department
• Meals & Refreshment Guidelines
• LCC Gifts & Flowers Guidelines

Using Your Purchasing Card (P-card) for Events

• P-cards are College issued credit cards
  They are issued to certain employees and those employees are required to follow the purchasing guidelines

Non-Event Catering

There are times when catering is necessary but not for an actual event, (meetings that are not events and/or are not held inside conference spaces). In these cases, Conference Services is happy to work with you through the process of finding the right vendor.

Here's how it works and what you should do:

• ONE MONTH OUT: Reach out to Conference Services to determine if a current catering partner or outside vendor is the best match for your event.
• ONE WEEK OUT: If it's determined that an outside vendor can be used, the internal event planner must work with purchasing to gather the appropriate vendor paperwork no less than one week prior to the catering date.
• ONE WEEK OUT: Complete work requests for food and beverage tables through a 5Star moving services request
• ONE WEEK OUT: Submit a facilities request for cleanup and trash removal through a 5Star custodial request no less than one week prior to the catering.
• MORNING OF EVENT: Contact the LCC Police Department to have the room unlocked and locked if you do not have a key. LCC Police can be reached at 517-483-1800.
• AFTER THE EVENT: Pick up and remove all items brought into the meeting including handouts, leftover catering, trash on the tables, etc. Part of the Star Standard is that our campuses and spaces are always professional and presentable, it is the internal group's responsibility to ensure that areas are left this way. LCC's contracted cleaning company is not responsible for cleaning up food or items leftover on tables.

Foundation Event Sponsorships

Short on funds? The LCC Foundation does have a limited budget for event sponsorship. Internal event planners can contact the Foundation to see what funds, if any, are available for their event.

Seeking Outside Sponsorships

You may know local businesses and organizations that want to support your event. If your event will have outside sponsors, you must complete the Approval to Seek Sponsorships form prior to soliciting sponsorships. This allows the College and Foundation to maintain clear lines of communication about who is being solicited for gifts, sponsorships, and in-kind giving. All event sponsorships must be paid to the Lansing Community College Foundation.