Our mission: DAPA Grants help provide a fun and safe social environment at Harvard. Our committee funds both registered events containing alcohol and alternative alcohol-free events. To that end, the grants fund: (1) Substantial food items at registered parties with alcohol during high risk nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights), and (2) snacks and foods for alcohol-free events on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The grants do NOT fund alcohol, mixers, decorations, very small gatherings, or off-campus events.
The Process:
Step 1: Complete the application by the Tuesdays at 5 pm before your party. You can find the application here. (Please note: This form is the ONLY way to apply for a DAPA Grant. We do not accept any applications submitted to [email protected]. We hope that our application makes the process quicker and more enjoyable for you.)
Step 2: We will notify applicants of awards by Tuesday evenings the week of which they apply. Plan ahead to pick up your party kit on Thursday from 12:00pm - 4:45pm or Friday from 9:00am - 4:45pm.
Step 3: Fill out reimbursement forms and submit receipts to AODS (7 Linden St, 2nd Floor) within one week of your event. Reimbursements can take 4-6 weeks to process, but they sometimes arrive sooner.
Criteria: The DAPA Grants Committee looks at the following criteria when making decisions on applications:
Specifics: Be as detailed and thorough as possible.
Consumption: Think about how much money you plan to spend on alcohol (if you will be serving it) and consider spending a comparable amount (if not more) on food and non-alcoholic drinks. Our program looks to fund parties that offer a source of substantial food (not just chips, cookies, etc.).
Timing: We award DAPA Grants to registered parties that occur during high-risk drinking times on campus (i.e. Thursday-Saturday nights). We look for parties that are thrown on social evenings. If your party is not on a Thursday-Saturday night but is during a high risk time (for example, before a weekday formal or on a Sunday of a long weekend) please be sure to explain why your party would still benefit from a DAPA grant.
Thoughtfulness: The more effort and thought that you put into your application, the more it will stand out to us. Take time to explain how your event is both a safe social activity and reduces high risk drinking. Be genuine.
Punctuality: Due to the high volume of applications and in fairness to applications submitted on time, we will not read applications submitted after Wednesday at 8pm EST each week.
** In addition to the criteria mentioned above, the Grants committee also considers the amount of grants awarded to you/your organization during the course of the semester and the amount of applications we receive in a given week.