Resources for Student Service Organizations

The Haas Center offers resources to all student groups, including Cardinal Commitment organizations.

If you are a student leader of a service organization, Cardinal Service offers you:

Recruiting opportunities for your organization through the Cardinal Service Fair and other events
Advising through Cardinal Commitment staff and peer advisors
Resources such as meeting spaces, transportation options, and small grants (as described below)

Student organizations need to register in order to access these resources.

Meeting space

The Haas Center has meeting spaces available for student organizations during regular business hours (M–F, 8:00am–6:00pm, excluding university holidays) or after hours.

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. Student organizations who do not abide by policy can be denied use of spaces.
Weekly/recurring meetings are requested and scheduled on a quarterly basis. Approval of requests is based on availability and whether the student organization agrees to and honors the policies and expectations for using space at the Haas Center.
Requests for spring quarter 2025 will be accepted beginning April 4, 2025. Requests submitted by April 13 will be responded to by April 18.
Requests submitted after April 13 will be addressed within 3 days in the order received.
To increase your chances of getting a space for your meetings or events, provide two or three time (e.g., 6:00, 6:30, 7:00) AND space (e.g., Haas 212, Haas 312, etc.) options on the form.

Request space

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. Here are some of the key guidelines for storage:

Ensure all stored materials are
1. necessary for your organization's specific needs (cf. "general-use supplies" in condition 4, below)
2. kept in boxes or other lidded containers (i.e., not loose on a self and/or likely to fall when a cabinet door is opened)
3. organized such that cabinet doors or drawer close
4. non-hazardous/non-toxic (i.e., no lithium-ion batteries, no volatile organic compounds, no flammable objects (e.g., lighters), etc.) – please reach out to Haas SEL Team member if you have questions
5. non-perishable and unopened food items (i.e., commercially-wrapped; nothing that will attract rodents, ants, etc.)
Actively use the storage space for ongoing SSO activities (i.e., no item(s) should be stored that aren’t regularly used) – storage will be periodically checked.
Use Haas Center-provided general-use crafts and office supplies located in the Center's 1st floor hallway (built-in cabinets and shelves), rather than keeping redundant crafts or office supplies in your allocated storage. You may donate your SSO's unused materials for general use.
Use storage space only for the allocated duration of your approved storage space request (i.e., failure to remove stored items within 5 business days from the end of your approved request will result in items being reallocated to other Stanford University uses)
Summer storage requires reapplication by May 31 from incoming SSO leader; if no leader has been selected by May 31, then the current leader is required to email Kelly Beck-Sordi <kbeck@stanford.edu>. Items will be removed from storage if no explicit request is received

Request storage space

Advising

Individual students and student organizations who have registered their Cardinal Commitment can receive comprehensive advising.

Working with our campus partner the Office of Student Engagement and other offices—such as the Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership—the Cardinal Commitment team can help with many advising needs:

Transactional: how to organize an event, recruit new members, or secure funding
Transformational: how to do better public service, make a greater impact, network with experts in the field, etc.

Make an advising appointment

Funding

Grants for materials, supplies and incidentals will not be offered in the 2024-25 academic year as we revise our grant program. Transportation grants are available in 2024-25. See below.

Event co-sponsorship

Cardinal Commitment co-sponsorship

The Cardinal Commitment team will consider requests for event co-sponsorship. Approved co-sponsorships may receive up to $500, help with publicity, and event organizing. Contact Kelly Beck to request support or get 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 major events with significant funding needs, requests should be made at least 6 months in advance of the event. 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

The Haas Center provides transportation grants to subsidize the cost of transportation for public service activities to and from a service location. Grants are up to $250 per student per quarter. Students who have a transportation grant must re-apply at the beginning of each quarter.

Public transportation: Expenses such as bus or train fare may be paid directly by the Commitment program or by reimbursement.
Personal car fuel: Students can be reimbursed at the rate of $0.7 per mile. If your grant request is approved, you will receive detailed information on how to process your reimbursement request. Reimbursements must be requested within 60 days of the travel.
Uber
- A Commitment team member will help you connect to the Haas Center account.
- 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 you are linked and ready to book a ride, toggle to the "Haas Center for Public Service" payment method before confirming your ride. You will pay for any tip you give the driver.
Zipcar
- A Commitment team member will help you connect to the Haas Center account.
- You will receive an email with a link to join the Haas Center account. If you don't have an existing Zipcar account, you will need to sign up for your own Zipcar account before you can connect to the Haas 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 Kelly Beck for more information.

Request transportation funding

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.

We welcome students to request trainings on any topic. Here are some examples of trainings that we host:

Engaging in Ethical and Effective Service
Working with Minors
How to Start a Nonprofit
Scaling Social Impact
Tutoring Techniques
Cultural Humility
Positionality: Examining Power and Privilege Dynamics

For up-to-date news on workshops, see our Workshops page and sign up for the weekly Cardinal Service Digest.

Enroll in Principles of Ethical and Effective Service Workshop

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 Kelly Beck.

Working with Minors Training

All students and student groups working with 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 identifying which aspects of the University's policies for working with minors 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 Working with Minors page

Additional Center Resources

Copiers

The Haas Center has two copiers in the workrooms on the first and second floors that students may use. They are accessed through CardinalPrint.

Promotional email list

The Haas Center maintains service4all, an email listserv that allows anyone in the Stanford community to promote a service opportunity.

Join the listserv

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 advising staff if you would like to borrow one.

Office and craft supplies

Office and craft supplies are available for groups and can be found in the cabinets underneath the student organization mailboxes (across from the BIRC on the first floor). Some (but not all) of the available items are sets of colored markers, flip chart and butcher paper, poster board, stickers, felt, glue sticks, glitter, colored paper, and scissors.

If your group needs a large volume of supplies, please check with us before ordering to see if we can provide them for you for free. Contact Haas Center advising if you can't find what you're looking for or need to order more.

Button maker

Visit the BIRC on the first floor to learn about how you can make 2.25” buttons with our industrial grade button maker 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 Kelly Beck.