Hello everyone!
As we begin the budgeting process for the Spring semester, I want to take a moment to provide some background on the recent Finance Board reforms, their implementation, and some next steps going forward.
Prior to the reforms, Finance Board operated on a first-come, first-serve basis, where organizations requested money a set amount of time before their events, and Finance Board voted on that funding without considering how much money they had left. Last spring, when the Board depleted their funds for the year with several events still in the request queue, they knew that there had to be a better and more equitable way to allocate funds. They also heard from student organization leaders that their relationship with Finance Board was purely transactional and often uncomfortable, and as representatives of undergraduate students that are paid entirely by the student dollar, this was unacceptable.
When the new Budgetary Statutes were drafted, the impact on both student organizations and Finance Board were carefully considered. The writers knew that Finance Board must be able to divide the Club Budgets line item equitably between the Fall and Spring semesters, between on and off-campus events, and between established and new student organizations. They acknowledged the lack of transparency and consistency in funding precedents, and the lack of support from Finance Board before and after the request process.
However, in any systemic overhaul, it is impossible to anticipate all bumps in the road. What was meant to be one summer meeting for Finance Board turned into six, and over 40 hours of deliberation went into the Fall budget allocation process. Finance Board Representatives, who are not paid by SGA over the summer, had to take time off from jobs and internships. The Board received $360,375.72 in requests for the Fall semester, with only $164,835 available to allocate for the Fall and a total of $333,000 available to allocate for the entire year (a $58,000 increase in available Club Budgets funds from last year).
Due to the delay in the Student Activities Fee Review Board approving the overall SGA budget, the promised completion date for Fall budgets was postponed by several months. There was a scramble to send out notifications and liaison assignments as soon as possible so organizations could begin purchasing, and with that came confusion on who organizations could come to for help and what their allocated funds were. Some organizations did not get funded and were unclear on the reasoning.
So, keeping in mind both that communication from the Finance Board about the funding process has been spotty and confusing, and that the Finance Board is working night and day to remedy the mistakes made in the current allocation cycle, there are several next steps SGA is taking to ensure that the Spring allocation process goes more smoothly.
First, event planning, space reservations, and notifications about carryover accounts being in debt are all outside of the scope of the Finance Board, and require communication with Campus Life staff. As elected officers, we are advocating for ways to clarify those processes.
Second, the intention of the liaison system is to provide each of your organizations with a Finance Board Representative who will advocate for and support you through the budgeting and allocation process. All liaison assignments are listed here. In case you are not able to contact your liaison, you can stop in during the office hours for any Finance Board Representative, which are outlined on the SGA website. Please direct any comments or concerns about your liaison to SGA’s Vice Chair of the Finance Board, Justin Conner.
Third, remedying the unpredictability of the new system is an ongoing process. The Finance Board has been amending the Budgetary Statutes to better accommodate the new system to the needs of organizations. You can find a list of all Finance Board legislation, some of which are the mentioned amendments, here.
Fourth, the introduction of our new request platform, Survey Monkey, will allow all budget notification emails to be sent out at the same time and from a single source, and will ensure the detailed documentation of every funding decision the Finance Board makes. The system is currently in use for the Secondary Ad-Hoc Allocation System funds, and will be live for Spring budget requests. You can find all documentation about using Survey Monkey and other treasurer resources on the SGA website.
Fifth, as announced last year, SGA will be launching the Student Organization Resource Center (SORC) with equipment and materials that student organizations can use for free, in order to free up your allocated funding to buy things that are not in SORC. SORC will be open beginning October 1st, 2019. Additionally, we plan to host alternative funding programs throughout the year to brainstorm funding options outside of SGA. All questions about either SORC or programming can be directed to SGA’s Vice President for Student Organizations, Zane Poffenberger.
We appreciate your patience and adaptability as we move forward with a system that we believe, when done correctly, is an enormous improvement on the previous funding structure. We ask of you continued patience and empathy as we work through some of the knots in the system, and to continue providing us with feedback and comments, either through your liaison, the leadership of Finance Board, or at financeboard@umbc.edu.
Thank you, as always, for your dedication to making our campus a better place.
Best,
Vrinda Deshpande
UMBC Student Government Association President 2019-2020
