Types of GPN Expenses

Below is a description of different types of expenses that we have for GPN. They are broadly categorized as “National expenses” and “Node expenses” - it’s important to know which type you are using because the approval process (described here) is different for each one.

Event Resources - node expense

To cover miscellaneous expenses for GPN events that our partner organisations can’t or won’t cover. This might be things like last minute extra snacks or prizes, things to stock up your first aid kit, resources for a student with extra needs, extra advertising or promotion.

Volunteer Events - node expense

In order to keep our volunteers engaged between GPN workshops and to give back to them for all the hard work they do, we want to run social or upskilling events throughout the year (see the current budget spreadsheet for the exact budget)

These events should be organised by the node committee and should follow our inclusivity guidelines 

Some ideas:

• A movie night in a lecture theatre at your university partner (using the budget to pay for snacks, popcorn and soft drinks)

• Bowling

• Karaoke

• Picnic lunch or afternoon tea

• Cupcakes and Careers mentoring session with senior volunteers (e.g. resume review, interview prep, mentor hangz) with paid (maybe branded) cupcakes

Committee Bonding - node expense

Similar to Volunteer events, we want to make sure that everyone in the node committee is recognised for their hard work and that we take the time to celebrate the awesome stuff everyone is doing together!

The node committee should organise these events and again follow the inclusivity guidelines. Since this is organised by the committee for the committee, you may want to vote on what you would like to do together.

Committee Training - node expense

It’s important to have some trained skills in each GPN node, and this budget is here to re-invest in our leaders at each location. 

This can be used for training like First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, Fire Warden, CPR, Auslan etc. 

If you have a training that you would like GPN to cover but are not on this list, reach out to the GPN Executive and we can let you know

Annual Dinner - node expense

This is the big annual GPN celebration at each location. It’s an important time either at the start or end of each year to celebrate all the amazing achievements of the last year and get everyone connected and excited for the year ahead. 

It’s a great time to recognise particular volunteers who went above and beyond and to showcase the different ways that people can get involved in GPN, hopefully inspiring the next GPN leaders!

This event is a much bigger scale than Volunteer events and committee bonding, and so it’s important that the node committee works together to plan and prepare for the event.

Donations - node expense

This is a bit of a wildcard category. If your node is using Humanitix, we usually enable the setting to allow people signing up to our events to donate to us. 

The GPN leadership keeps track of which nodes are getting which donations, and it’s up to the Node Leads how they would like to spend and allocate the funds donated to their node.

You may decide to use the donated funds to increase funding in one of the other categories (e.g. to have a bigger volunteer engagement event), or you may decide to spend it on something completely different (e.g. invite the tutors after a GPN workshop for frozen yogurt paid for by GPN).

This budget still needs to comply with the above rules, and still needs to be approved using the below process, but it is more flexible than the other categories.

Social Media Advertising - national expense

The Social Media Coordinator is responsible for the allocation and monitoring of the budget for advertising. There is an amount set aside for each node, but depending on the needs of each node (e.g. if one node has sold out while another is struggling to get students) they may allocate the budget however benefits the national network the most.

Other Marketing - national expense

There is a budget set aside to try other types of marketing such as printing posters. The Social Media Coordinator is also responsible for analyzing the potential and then actual return on investment for all our marketing, so that we can make the best decisions and get the most value for the money we are spending here. If you have an idea on how to spend this money, please reach out to them!

Travel - national expense

For our node liaisons, new node leads, or other GPN leaders who may be travelling to other nodes to help out, learn or train new people, this budget covers their expenses.

The flights (if necessary) and accommodation (if necessary) for travel is typically booked by the GPN leadership team. If you are travelling for GPN, please reach out to them, if they haven’t already contacted you, and let them know any preferences or requirements you may have when travelling (e.g. if you can’t fly at a certain time, or if you’ll be staying with a friend at your destination and don’t need accommodation).

While traveling, there is also usually a budget for ground transport (e.g. uber or shuttle to/from the airport) and food. The length and location of your trip will impact these budgets, but typically we allocate $100 for ground transport, and $40 for each dinner we expect you to have on the trip and $20 for each breakfast and lunch (typically if you are going for one night for a GPN workshop, that’s $100 for food, 2 dinners and 1 breakfast and lunch free at the GPN event)