Resources for Student Service Organizations
The Cardinal Commitment team provides resources to individual students making a Cardinal Commitment, and student organizations who are directly supporting students making a Cardinal Commitment.
Student organizations need to register in order to access these resources.
Meeting Space | Advising | Funding | Training | Center Resources | Contact Us
Meeting space
Under normal conditions the Haas Center has meeting/progamming and storgage spaces available for student organizations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Haas Center building is currently closed. When normal operations resume, the Haas Center meeting spaces will once again be available to students.
If the Haas Center cannot accommodate you, try these alternative campus meeting spaces.
- Before requesting space, please review the Haas Center's space use policies and the Haas Room Schedules and Information. Student organizations who do not abide by policy can be denied use of spaces.
- Weekly meetings need to be requested on a quarterly basis. Granting access to spaces will depend on whether the requested space is available and whether the student organization agrees to and honors the policies and expectations for using space at the Haas Center.
Advising
Individual students and registered Cardinal Commitment student organizations can receive comprehensive advising.
Working with our campus partner, OSE (formely SAL) and other offices, such as the Community Centers, Cardinal Commitment can help with all kinds of advising needs:
- Transactional: how to organize an event, recruit new members, or secure funding
- Transformational: how to do better public service, to make a greater impact, networking with experts in the field, etc.
Contact the Cardinal Commitment team
Funding
Cardinal Commitment provides three types of grants to support your work: General, event co-sponsorship, and transportation. Any grants must adhere to the Cardinal Commitment Funding Guidelines.
Cardinal Commitment grants
Grants up to $500 are available for:
- Individual students actively making a Cardinal Commitment
- Registered Cardinal Commitment student organizations, in order to support students making a Cardinal Commitment
- OSE- or ASSU-recognized student organizations, in order to support activities not covered by ASSU or The Stanford Fund
Contact Pete Cerneka for more information.
Event co-sponsorship
Cardinal Commitment co-sponsorship
Cardinal Commitment will co-sponsor one student organization event a week throughout fall, winter, and spring quarters. Co-sponsored events can get funding up to $500, help with publicity, and event organizing. Contact Pete Cerneka to request support or for more information.
Haas Center co-sponsorship
For a more significant level of support, student organizations can request Haas Center co-sponsorship for an event that aligns with our mission: to realize a just and sustainable world through service, scholarship, and community partnerships. Co-sponsored events can get funding, help with publicity, and event organizing.
Requests must be made a minimum of 30 days in advance of the event. For events with significant funding needs, requests should be made a year in advance. Contact the Haas Center outreach team for more information.
If you are experiencing a temporary personal financial challenge from a hardship or are seeking funds for an opportunity related to your academic, professional, and/or social development, see the Opportunity Fund. To find more campus funding resources, check out this compiled list of campus grants.
Transportation
Under normal conditions the Haas Center can provide small grants for transportation to students engaged in Cardinal Commitment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students are currently not able to participate in in-person service activities in the Bay Area. The Haas Center will resume transportation grants when the University deems it safe to allow in-person service activities.
Transportation to and from your service location may be eligible for reimbursement or funding through the Haas Center.
Request transportation funding
- Public transportation and fuel costs are funded through personal reimbursements.
- Uber: If your request is accepted, you will receive an email from uber@uber.com. Click "Get Started" and enter information associated with your personal Uber account (if you don't have an Uber account, click "Create New Account"). Once linked and you're ready to book a ride, toggle to "Haas Center for Public Service" payment method before confirming your ride (you will pay for any tip you give the driver).
- Zipcar: If your request is accepted, you will receive an email with a link to sign up for an account. If you are new to Zipcar, there is typically a 3-7 day wait until Zipcar approves you as a driver (if you've already driven with Zipcar before, you can start driving immediately). Once you are approved, you can reserve cars for the times you requested in the grant.
Contact Pete Cerneka for more information.
Training
Workshops
Explore new forms of service, reflect on your experiences, discuss critical issues in public service, and build skills to serve more ethically and effectively. Examples of workshop topics:
- Engaging in Ethical and Effective Service
- Working with Minors
- How to Start a Nonprofit
- Scaling Social Impact
- Choosing a Medical Relief Trip
- Write a Thesis, Change the World
Request a Principles of Ethical and Effective Service Workshop
For up-to-date news on workshops, see our Workshops page and sign up for the weekly Cardinal Service Digest.
Custom Training
The Haas Center can work with registered student organizations to develop trainings (minimum 10 people) that can help them better engage in their work. Topics include (but are not limited to):
- Service projects and community partnerships
- Delegation and meeting facilitation
- Building diverse and inclusive organizations
- Mentoring, tutoring, and teaching youth
- Leadership transitions
- Reflecting on a service experience
- Group decisions, conflict resolution, and difficult conversations
- Uncovering your strengths
- Developing a strategic plan
- Measuring your impact
- Effective lesson planning and facilitation
- Training volunteers
For questions about workshops and trainings, contact Alex Bervik.
Working with Minors Training
All students and student groups working with children/minors (any person under the age of 18) must meet several requirements designed to protect the youth and Stanford students alike. The Office of Student Engagement is the primary office supporting students in indentifying the aspects of the University's policies for working with minors that pertain to their service project, including background check and training. Basic information about those requirements and links to resources are provided on this page.
Visit the Haas Center Working with Minors page
Center Resources
Storage space
Registered student organizations may request storage space to store group-related materials. Storage space is extremely limited and the spaces are not secure. Anything of significant value should be stored somewhere else.
Copiers
Copiers are available for registered student organizations to use in the workrooms on the first and second floors. Click here to request a copy code for your student organization.
Promotional email list
The Haas Center maintains service4all, an email listserv that allows anyone in the Stanford community to promote a service opportunity.
Activity toolkits
Activity toolkits are available to assist you and your group in facilitating activities that help promote a sense of community, build leadership skills, and achieve goals for your organization. Contact the Haas Center advising staff if you would like to borrow one.
Office and craft supplies
A wide variety of office and craft supplies are available to groups in the cabinets underneath student organization mailboxes (across from the BIRC on the first floor). Sets of colored markers, flip chart and butcher paper, poster board, stickers, felt, glue sticks, glitter, colored paper, scissors and more are also available.
If your group needs a large volume of supplies, please check with us to see if we can provide them for you. Wait to order office supplies for your group until after you check to see if we can provide them to you for free. Please contact Haas Center advising if you can't find what you're looking for or need to order more.
Button maker
Our industrial grade button maker continues to be overwhelmingly popular. Visit the BIRC on the first floor to learn about how you can make 2.25” buttons to promote your next student group event. We have supplies for student organizations to make up to 50 buttons – if you need to make more, we’ll tell you how to get your own supplies. Contact Haas Center advising to reserve the button maker.
Receiving mail
The Haas Center has a limited number of small mailboxes available for student organization use. We can’t accommodate large volumes of mail; if your organization needs to receive a large volume of mail on a regular basis, P.O. boxes are available through the post office on campus and can be purchased through your ASSU account. All uses of the Haas Center address for receiving and sending mail must comply with the Haas Center Name Use policy.
For questions related to any of the Center Resources listed above, contact Pete Cerneka.