Gator Dining Services (GDS) has generously donated funds to assist student organizations in need of support for serving food at events that are held on campus and that are open to the campus community. To apply for a catering scholarship, complete the appropriate portion of the online permit application in GatorConnect. For more information about catering scholarships, click here.

Yes, your partially completed permit will be saved under the Submission tab in GatorConnect for you to finish and submit at a later point.

Organizations should submit a permit at least 3 weeks prior to the event. For big events, such as concerts or 5Ks, we recommend submitting the permit more than 4 weeks before the event is to take place.

No, it is not necessary for organizations to submit a permit for a general group meeting-simply book the space with the Registrar’s Office if it is within an academic building or the Reitz Union.

No, only on campus events require an event permit through our office and are completed through GatorConnect.

There are a few reasons why an event permit would be denied. If the location of your event is not available at the requested time and date, your permit will be denied and you may re-submit your permit requesting a different location or a different time and/or date. If your organization has failed to provide the necessary information for the approval of your permit or if your organization did not submit the event permit in a timely manner, your permit will be denied and you will not be allowed to hold your organization’s event. Be sure to check the notes on the permit to understand why your permit was denied.

Generally it takes a permit around 2 weeks to process, depending on how quickly the organization supplies the required information for an event approval.

Once an event permit has been submitted, it will go through an approval process that may involve multiple facilities on campus. It is the organization’s responsibility to check on the submitted event permit on the GatorConnect website and answer any questions/provide any information that may be required for the approval of the permit. Use the discussion board on the permit page for easy communication with the Reviewers involved in the permit’s approval.