One of the first things Gaoder Vue looked for at Iowa State was an anime club.

Vue, freshman in art and design, was disappointed to find there wasn’t one. Vue is now president of the Anime Club at Iowa State.

“Starting an organization is simple,” said Laura Bestler-Wilcox, assistant director of the Student Activities Center. “All you need is yourself, one other member and an adviser.”

Bestler-Wilcox said there are 652 organizations currently at Iowa State.

“Every year, there are about 30 organizations created,” Bestler-Wilcox said. “However, this tends to even out in the end, with also about 30 organizations discontinued every year.”

Many organizations are started because of how easy it is to officially register an organization.

In order to form a student organization, there must be a president, treasurer and an ISU faculty adviser who is employed at least on a half-time basis. The group then needs to fill out an organization registration form and hand it in to the Student Activities Center located in the Memorial Union, Bestler-Wilcox said.

“That’s all there is to it,” she said. “After that, you are officially recognized as an organization at Iowa State.”

There are no set rules or regulations in starting an organization. The only rule is that organizations must be open to all students, Bestler-Wilcox said. Fraternities and sororities are exempted.

“In other words, don’t discriminate,” Bestler-Wilcox said.

Despite how easy it is to register a group, other aspects to being a student group aren’t so easy, such as getting funding and office space.

In order to get funding or office space, an organization must fill out forms and be approved by the Government of the Student Body or the Student Union Board, respectively.

Receiving funding can be a lengthy process. Organizations interested in receiving funding must attend an informational meeting at which the process is explained and budget request forms are given. Following the preliminary hearing, organizations have several weeks to prepare their budget requests.

After submitting their budgets and filing fees, clubs face a budget hearing with the GSB Finance Committee. At the end of the hearing, the committee makes a recommendation to the student senate about how much student fee money should be given to the group.

The senate considers the finance committee’s budget recommendations. However, the recommendation by the committee doesn’t guarantee money. The senate may approve, deny or even send the budget back to the finance committee.

The student office spaces, located in the east and west sections of the ground floor in the Memorial Union, are given out by the Student Union Board. Registered organizations must fill out an online application at the Student Union Board Web site and attend an interview to determine the allocation of space.